WASHINGTON: The chief military judge at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, announced his immediate retirement on Monday, all but eliminating the slim chance that the trial of conspirators in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks could get under way before the Bush Administration leaves office in January.
While in Britain Monday, one of their most authoritative judges called the Iraq invasion a serious violation of international law, and accused Britain and the US of acting like a “world vigilante.”
Judge Ralph Kohlmann, a Marine colonel, had been overseeing proceedings against major defendants at the military prison in Cuba, including Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-professed mastermind of the attacks.
It has, however, been the aim of some Pentagon officials, particularly those appointed by the Bush Administration, to begin the capital trial of the Sept. 11 conspirators before leaving office.
Kohlmann stepped down because, he said, he realized that the Sept. 11 trial would not be completed by the time he retired.
He was scheduled to retire in April and already had lined up another job; so he appointed Judge Stephen Henley, an Army colonel, to take over the trial of Mohammed and four co-defendants.
Henley now must hold a hearing at which the defendants can explore the judge’s potential biases, a proceeding that Kohlmann had already overseen. Henley also will have to acquaint himself with Kohlmann’s decisions in the case and prepare for upcoming hearings on defense motions. At the same time, Henley is scheduled to oversee a separate trial of a Guantanamo detainee in January.
ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero told reporters the decision to replace Kohlmann is “highly suspect and disturbing” noting it came a day after President-elect Barack Obama’s pledged in an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” to shut down the prison.
“We cannot allow the Bush Administration to sabotage president-elect Obama’s plans by ramming through these cases in its last days,” said Romero.
Meanwhile one of Britain’s most authoritative judicial figures delivered a blistering attack on the invasion of Iraq, describing it as a serious violation of international law, and accusing Britain and the US of acting like a “world vigilante.”
Lord Bingham, in his first major speech since retiring as the senior law lord, rejected the then attorney general’s defense of the 2003 invasion as fundamentally flawed.
Contradicting opinions that the invasion was lawful, Bingham stated: “It was not plain that Iraq had failed to comply in a manner justifying resort to force and there were no strong factual grounds or hard evidence to show that it had.”
Bingham said that to argue, as the British government had done, that Britain and the US could unilaterally decide that Iraq had broken UN resolutions “passes belief.”
After referring to mistreatment of Iraqi detainees in Abu Ghraib, Bingham added: “Particularly disturbing to proponents of the rule of law is the cynical lack of concern for international legality among some top officials in the Bush Administration.”
