"GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba -- Someone else besides the judge and security officer sitting inside the maximum-security court here can impose censorship on what the public can see and hear at the Sept. 11 trial, it was disclosed Monday

The role of an outside censor became clear when the audio turned to white noise during a discussion of a motion about the CIA’s black sites.

Confusion ensued. A military escort advised reporters that the episode was a glitch, a technical error. A few minutes later, the public was once again allowed to listen into the proceedings and Army Col. James Pohl, the judge, made clear that neither he nor his security officer was responsible for the censorship episode.

“If some external body is turning the commission off based on their own views of what things ought to be, with no reasonable explanation,” the judge announced, “then we are going to have a little meeting about who turns that light on or off.”"

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/28/3205391/strange-censorship-episode...

"GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba -- Some victims wept. So did at least one of the U.S. military officers assigned to defend the accused Sept. 11 conspirators at their murder trial.

For 90 exceptional minutes Sunday, lawyers for the accused terrorists and the parents of young men killed in the World Trade Center huddled in a ramshackle hangar at the war court ahead of this week’s hearing. And they exchanged stories through a veil of pain.

“In the beginning there was discomfort. There was some anger. There was some tears,” said Phyllis Rodriguez, whose 31-year-old son Greg was killed working at the finance firm Cantor Fitzgerald on the 103rd floor of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

But by the end, said Loreen Sellitto, mother of 23-year-old Matthew who also was killed at Cantor Fitzgerald, “I saw them love our Constitution. Their goal is to present a case and defend someone. It’s what our country is built on.”"'

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/28/3205262/911-relatives-defense-atto...

Ryan J. Reilly
Posted: 01/28/2013

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba --A judge expressed frustration on Monday that an unknown U.S. government entity censored his courtroom audiovisual feed, cutting public access to pretrial hearings for five accused Sept. 11 plotters.

"If some external body is turning the commission on or off based on their own views of what things ought to be, with no reasonable explanation ... then we’re going to have a little meeting about who turns that light on and off," said the judge, Col. James Pohl.

Pohl's comments came after an unknown censor cut off a live media feed to the court proceedings as David Nevin, a lawyer defending Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, began discussing his request for information on his client's case.

Proceedings at Guantanamo's maximum-security court are broadcast over closed-circuit television to journalists observing from an adjacent room. Additional reporters monitor the feed from a nearby media center, and at Fort Meade, Md.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daphne-eviatar/battles-over-government-s_b...

October 19, 2012

This is the print preview: Back to normal view »
Battles Over Government Secrecy Dominate 9/11 Hearings
Posted: 10/17/2012 1:49 pm

The definition and use of classified information, and the public's right to hear it, is proving to be one of the most important issues arising in pre-trial hearings in this historic September 11th terrorism prosecution. With only two of the defendants actually in the courtroom on Wednesday (the others elected not to come), lawyers from the government, defense, ACLU and 14 media organizations over the last two days have argued vehemently over whether the government is properly classifying information -- particularly the memories and experiences of the defendants, who were subjected to the CIA's classified "enhanced interrogation" program. Even if it is deemed classified, argue the ACLU and news organizations, it still has to meet a strict First Amendment standard for the court to lawfully prevent the public from hearing it.

The First Amendment only allows the closing of a courtroom, argued ACLU lawyer Hina Shamsi and media lawyer David Schulz, if it will "cause grave harm to national security."

"The government fails utterly to explain how it has a legitimate interest, let alone a compelling one, in suppressing information about a CIA coercive interrogation and detention program that was illegal and has been banned by the president," the ACLU says in its brief to the court.

The issue is important, both for the public's right to know what its government did and for the legitimacy of this historic trial. As Schulz told the court yesterday: "Nothing is likely to shape the public perception of the fairness of these proceedings more significantly than the way the court handles this request for a protective order."

The current proposed order, he said, "covers things that quite clearly can't credibly constitute a threat to our national security."

It would appear that, contrary to statements previously attributed to them, the alleged "mastermind" of 9-11 and his alleged cohorts will not plead guilty, but will resist. Their attorneys likewise appear to be providing them with an aggressive defense.

***

5 charged in 9/11 attack resist Gitmo hearing
By Ben Fox
-
Associated Press
Saturday, May 5, 2012
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) — The self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks repeatedly declined to answer a judge’s questions Saturday and his co-defendants knelt in prayer in what appeared to be a concerted protest against the military proceedings....

***

The entire article can be found at http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/may/5/911-mastermind-back-guant...

By BEN FOX, Associated Press

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) — The self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks repeatedly declined to answer a judge's questions Saturday and his co-defendants knelt in prayer in what appeared to be a concerted protest against the military proceedings.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other men appeared for the first time in more than three years for arraignment at a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay, charged with 2,976 counts of murder for the 2001 attacks.

The hearing quickly bogged down before they could be arraigned. The men took off the earphones that provide Arabic translations and refused to answer any questions from the judge, Army Col. James Pohl, dramatically slowing a hearing that is heavy on military legal procedure.

At one point, two defendants got up and prayed alongside their defense tables under the watchful eyes of troops arrayed along the sides of the high-security courtroom on the U.S. base in Cuba.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed faces Guantanamo trial for 9/11

The BBC reports....

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, and four of his alleged co-conspirators will be tried in a military commission at Guantanamo Bay, reports say.

The Obama administration had planned to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a civilian court, but abandoned that plan in the face of fierce opposition.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12964588

9/11 Suspects to be Tried at Guantanamo, Not NYC

NBC New York reports....

The Obama administration's announcement in 2009 that it would seek to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the other four suspects in civilian court was met with fierce opposition from many elected officials, families of victims and those who live and work in Lower Manhattan, who would have had to contend with several rings of heavy security for the months of the trial.

 www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/03/george-bush-us-waterboarded-terror-mastermind

US hid waterboarding of 9/11 accused, says former MI5 chief
MI5 had no idea that the architect of the September 11 attacks had been waterboarded when the Americans passed them intelligence from his interrogation, the former head of the Security Service has said.
By Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent
Published: 7:05AM GMT 10 Mar 2010

Baroness Manningham-Buller said she only discovered that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed had been waterboarded 183 times when the US Justice Department released a memo last year and it was reported in the press.

She also said that MI5 had protested to the Americans about their treatment of detainees at one stage but declined to go into details.

Speaking during a question and answer session following a lecture at the House of Lords, she also insisted that torture could never be justified even if it saved lives.

It is unclear whether the information passed to the British was acquired through torture but makes clear that MI5 either did not ask or was not told how prisoners were being treated by the Americans.

GENEVA (Reuters) – United Nations human rights investigators called on the Obama administration on Tuesday to prosecute the accused September 11 masterminds in a civilian court, declaring that U.S. military tribunals would not be fair.

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon on Friday officially dropped military charges against the accused mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and four other alleged conspirators, a development that likely foreshadows their transfer to New York City to face charges in a civilian federal court.

Source:
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/01/22/1097055/pentagon-drops-charges-...

The Pentagon said the dismissal of the charges "without prejudice" against alleged plot leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the others, Walid Bin Attash, Ramzi Bin al Shibh, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi, was a procedural step to clear the way for their civilian trials.

There was no word on when indictments would be issued in New York against the men or when they would be transferred from Guantanamo to the United States.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced on Nov. 13 that the five men would be tried in federal court for the 9/11 attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people. Criticism quickly followed by Republicans and others who said trying the men inside the United States would create security risks and allow the defendants legal protections that they shouldn't have.

Posted on Fri, Feb. 26, 2010
Experts: Plenty of proof to convict alleged 9/11 mastermind
Marisa Taylor | McClatchy Newspapers
last updated: February 26, 2010 05:24:49 PM

WASHINGTON — U.S officials once described the confession of accused 9-11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as a gold mine of intelligence that proved his role in a litany of terrorist plots.

However, now his admissions — because they were made during interrogations in which he was waterboarded 183 times — have become a liability for the Justice Department as it readies to hold him accountable in a U.S. court.

As a consequence, prosecutors who are preparing the case against Mohammed and other Sept. 11 defendants are faced with piecing together a much more complicated narrative that will need to include seized evidence, financial transactions, recorded phone conversations and a shadowy web of cooperating witnesses willing to betray al Qaida in court.

Kevin Fenton has updated this article; visit the original via the link at the bottom - loose nuke

A July 2001 telephone call between alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (KSM) and 9/11 coordinator Ramzi bin al-Shibh was intercepted, apparently by the NSA. Prosecutors and FBI agents working on the Zacarias Moussaoui case later obtained detailed information about the call, and shared it with the 9/11 Commission.

A memo about the meeting with the commission was found at the National Archives by History Commons contributor Erik Larson, who posted it to the 9/11 Document Archive at Scribd.

Amnesty International is calling for people to lobby Congress to allow US trials for the 9/11 accused go forward; currently Sen. Lindsey Graham is spearheading attempts to block US trials in favor of military commissions - loose nuke

http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/index.aspx?c=jhKPIXPC...
ONLINE ACTION CENTER: DON'T LET CONGRESS BLOCK TRIALS FOR THE 9/11 ACCUSED

President Obama made the right decision to try Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and other alleged 9/11 conspirators in U.S. federal court, but now members of Congress are attacking the President's decision and threatening to block funding for the trial. Senator Lindsey Graham called federal trials a "dumb idea" and wants to use the kangaroo courts known as military commissions, that he and other politicians cooked up at Guantanamo, to ensure convictions and cover up evidence of torture.

Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/01/29/eveningnews/main6155613.shtml

Jan. 28, 2010

Pressure Mounts to Move Terror Trial
Obama Administration Considers Moving Trial of Accused Sept. 11 Mastermind to Remote Location

By Bob Orr

(CBS) Pledging to bring justice to the victims of Sept. 11, Attorney General Eric Holder declared that accused mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would stand trial at the scene of the crime, "in a courthouse just blocks away from where the twin towers once stood."

But with mounting political pressure, the Obama Administration is now strongly considering moving the trial from Manhattan to a more remote location, reports CBS News correspondent Bob Orr.

Defense lawyer Scott Fenstermaker in an interview with The Populist describes how he was blocked by the government from representing 9/11 detainees and how the judges and lawyers in the New York trial may themselves be prosecuted in a future war crimes tribunal.

Scott Fenstermaker, the 9/11 Lawyer, Speaks Out The Populist, November 30th, 2009

Scott Fenstermaker has become the lightning rod for 9/11. He is the only defense lawyer mentioned in the upcoming trials of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his four co-conspirators. Although he won’t be defending them in court, he’s been pilloried by the press for daring to suggest that these detainees have any legal rights.

I called him this weekend, and asked him why.

Scott Fenstermaker has represented Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali in various legal proceedings at Guantanamo Bay. Mr. Ali stands accused of conspiracy, murder, destruction of property, hijacking, and terrorism for his part in the September 11th attacks. I could not understand why Mr. Fenstermaker would not defend his client in court, so I began the interview by asking him to clarify this:

As I mentioned in the above video, I think the NYC Trials will be a perfect opportunity for people to remind everyone that there are more suspects for the crime of 9/11. The following are some flyers I have created naming some of those suspects.

Dick Cheney
Click Here (PDF Color)
Click Here (PDF BW)

George Bush
Click Here (PDF Color)
Click Here (PDF BW)

Donald Rumsfeld
Click Here (PDF Color)
Click Here (PDF BW)

Good Job Lorie... stick to your guns. - Jon

Source: nydailynews.com

By Michael McAuliff
11/24/2009

Some 9/11 widows who want to see a terror trial in New York today questioned why a group strongly linked to Liz Cheney is leading the charge in opposition to the trial.

Her father, after all, is the man many Democrats and liberals think broke the law in pushing for interrogation techniques now deemed torture by the Obama administration, and which were used on Al Qaeda plotter Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.

The anti-trial group is led by Debra Burlingame — whose brother piloted one of the doomed planes — and who is a guiding light at 9/11 Families for a Safe & Strong America.

The 9/11 Families group had as a springboard Keep America Safe, a Liz Cheney vehicle where Burlingame serves on the board.

Here's a flyer I made that you can hand out during the NYC Trials. - Jon

Source: www.foxnews.com

11/23/2009

Former Vice President Dick Cheney suggested Monday that Attorney General Eric Holder wants a "show trial" for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other alleged 9/11 conspirators who are to be tried in a civilian court just blocks away from where the World Trade Center once stood.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney suggested Monday that Attorney General Eric Holder wants a "show trial" for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other alleged 9/11 conspirators who are to be tried in a civilian court just blocks away from where the World Trade Center once stood.

In an interview with conservative talk radio host Scott Hennen on Monday, Cheney called it a "big mistake" to try Mohammed in a civilian court rather than before a military tribunal.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/11/22/2009-11-22_kill_all_five_...

Poll finds broad support among New Yorkers for death penalty in Khalid Shaikh Mohammed terror case

BY ROBERT JOHNSON AND DAVID SALTONSTALL
DAILY NEWS WRITERS

Sunday, November 22nd 2009, 4:00 AM

An overwhelming majority of New Yorkers believe the terrorist thugs who planned the 9/11 attacks should and will be sentenced to death - and two-thirds of city residents say they'd be unafraid to serve on the jury.

An exclusive Daily News/Marist poll found that 77% of New Yorkers agree with President Obama that alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and his four cowardly cohorts will be found guilty in a Manhattan federal courtroom.

"If I'm on that jury, there's no doubt they get a conviction - no doubt," said Larry Amandola, 48, an electrician from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and one of a dozen regular New Yorkers interviewed separately by The News. "I had a few friends who died on Sept. 11 and I worked [at Ground Zero] immediately after. The people that suffered through this have a right to judge them."

Source: news.yahoo.com

By KAREN MATTHEWS, Associated Press Writer Karen Matthews, Associated Press Writer – 47 mins ago

NEW YORK – The five men facing trial in the Sept. 11 attacks will plead not guilty so that they can air their criticisms of U.S. foreign policy, the lawyer for one of the defendants said Sunday.

Scott Fenstermaker, the lawyer for accused terrorist Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, said the men would not deny their role in the 2001 attacks but "would explain what happened and why they did it."

The U.S. Justice Department announced earlier this month that Ali and four other men accused of murdering nearly 3,000 people in the deadliest terrorist attack in the U.S. will face a civilian federal trial just blocks from the site of the destroyed World Trade Center.

Ali, also known as Ammar al-Baluchi, is a nephew of professed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Mohammed, Ali and the others will explain "their assessment of American foreign policy," Fenstermaker said.

"Their assessment is negative," he said.

Also see this poll with a similar but slightly different question:
Poll: Most Americans want military trial for 9/11 suspects
http://rawstory.com/2009/11/poll-americans-military-trial-911-suspects/

Scroll down for the 2nd poll. Visit originals for hyperlinks. Posted in full for posterity - loose nuke

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_state_su...
55% in New York Oppose Civilian Terror Trials
Friday, November 20, 2009

Just 35% of New York State voters agree with Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to try the confessed mastermind of the 9/11 terror attacks and five other suspected terrorists in a civilian court in New York City rather than before a military tribunal.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state finds that 55% are opposed to that decision, which is part of the Obama administration’s effort to close the terrorist prison camp at the Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba.

But 57% are at least somewhat confident that New York City will be safe and secure during the trials of the terrorism suspects. Twenty-three percent (23%) are very confident.

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1514616.php/R...
Report: Fearing death penalty, Berlin to send team to 9-11 trial
Europe News
Nov 21, 2009, 10:32 GMT

Berlin - The German government is to send observers to New York to ensure that evidence it provided in the case against five men accused of masterminding the September 11, 2001 attacks does not lead to them receiving the death penalty, news magazine Der Spiegel reported Saturday.

On November 13, the US Justice Department announced that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other men would be tried in a federal court - and that the government was seeking the death penalty should they be convicted.

Members of the al-Qaeda cell including Mohamed Atta that led the suicide attacks on New York and Washington were based in the northern German city of Hamburg in the period leading up to the event.

Germany, which does not have a death penalty, has provided items of evidence for the trial on the condition that a possible death sentence would not be based on their materials.

We need a real criminal investigation into 9/11. I am not defending KSM, nor do I think people in the 9/11 Truth Movement should.

For Immediate Release
11/19/2009

We are encouraged by Attorney General Eric Holder's announcement that the trial of alleged 9/11 mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and four additional detainees, Walid Muhammed Salih Mubarak Bin Attash, Ramzi Bin Al Shibh, Ali Abdul-Aziz Ali, and Mustafa Ahmed Al Hawsawi, would be moved to our Federal Court system in New York City.

Unfortunately, this has evoked a knee-jerk reaction that has been brought to an almost feverish pitch by the media pundits and the politicians. This response seems to be agenda driven rhetoric unsupported by facts.

Fear mongering is a tactic that is often used by those in power to hide wrongdoing. Perhaps those responsible for ordering torture have something to hide. Could those people be creating this frenzy?