Hey, wait a minute, I thought bin Laden was the mastermind.
The CIA has said it used waterboarding on al-Na****ri and he has alleged he
was tortured.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080630/ts_nm/guantanamo_usa_cole_dc_2;_ylt=AorQAx09bMUjRfWEpxEh3ucE1vAI
Prosecutors charge accused USS Cole mastermind
By Andrew Gray Mon Jun 30, 5:08 PM ET
WA****NGTON (Reuters) - U.S. military prosecutors have requested the death
penalty for the alleged mastermind behind the bombing of the USS Cole
war****p that killed 17 U.S. sailors in 2000, the Pentagon said on Monday.
Abd al-Rahim al-Na****ri, a Saudi Arabian national of Yemeni descent being
held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, faces eight charges, including murder and
terrorism, for the attack in the Yemeni ****t of Aden on October 12, 2000,
that wounded 47 sailors.
Prosecutors have also charged al-Na****ri over a failed attack on another
U.S. war****p, the USS The Sullivans, in Aden in January 2000 and an attack
on the SS Limburg, a French supertanker, in the Gulf of Aden in October
2002.
"Five of the eight charges carry the maximum penalty of death," said Air
Force Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann, legal adviser to the body that oversees
the military commissions system set up to try terrorism suspects.
Prosecutors allege al-Na****ri was a senior al Qaeda figure. He is one of
14
"high value" detainees held at the prison at the U.S. naval base at
Guantanamo Bay who is regarded as particularly significant by U.S.
officials.
Suicide bombers rammed a small boat laden with explosives into the side of
the USS Cole, ripping a 40-foot hole in the hull. Prosecutors allege
al-Na****ri recruited two co-conspirators to carry out the attack.
The CIA has said it used waterboarding on al-Na****ri and he has alleged he
was tortured.
Waterboarding is a form of simulated drowning that human rights activists
say amounts to torture -- a label the Bush administration does not accept.
Hartmann told re****ters at the Pentagon any questions about the
admissibility of evidence obtained through waterboarding would be
addressed
when al-Na****ri came to trial.
"All the evidentiary issues are going to be resolved in the courtroom.
That
is the beauty of this system," he said. "We'll leave that to the trial
process."
COMMISSIONS SYSTEM
Rights groups have said the military commissions system does not give
detainees a fair trial.
"This case -- like that of other Guantanamo detainees -- is being pursued
in
an unconstitutional and biased system that is a far cry from the
tried-and-true American justice system," said Anthony Romero, executive
director of the American Civil Liberties Union.
The group said it was sponsoring a group of civilian lawyers to represent
al-Na****ri.
The United States has alleged that al-Na****ri was al Qaeda's operations
chief in the Arabian peninsula until his capture in 2002. He has met the
Islamist militant network's chief, Osama bin Laden, several times, U.S.
officials allege.
The top official supervising the military commissions must decide whether
to
approve the charges against al-Na****ri.
If the charges are approved, an initial hearing should take place within
30
days. A trial should begin within 120 days of the charges being approved,
but that time can be extended.
Kirk Lippold, the commander of the Cole when it was attacked, welcomed the
fact that charges had been filed.
"I think it's a long overdue first step, and only a first step, in finally
holding the people who carried out the attack on the USS Cole
accountable,"
Lippold, now retired from the Navy, told Reuters by telephone.
--
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Pucker your lips for the Apocalypse!
Johnny Asia, Guitarist from the Future
http://music.download.com/johnnyasia
http://johnnyasia.info/
"If you want to know what the future of
music sounds like..listen to Johnny Asia,
then you'll know!" - Jazz Guitarist Dom Minasi
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