The U.S. military is currently in the process of preparing charges against alleged September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and others whom the Bush administration calls “terror suspects” who had been transferred to the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo, Cuba.
Air Force Col. Moe Davis, the lead prosecutor says that many other detainees who had been held in Guantanamo jail would face trial before the 14 "high-value" prisoners who were moved from secret CIA prisons overseas to Guantanamo earlier this month.
Earlier this month, President Bush announced transferring fourteen “suspects”, including Khalid Sheik Mohammed, believed to be the No. 3 Al Qaeda leader before he was captured in Pakistan in 2003; Ramzi Binalshibh, an alleged would-be Sept. 11, 2001, hijacker; and Abu Zubaydah, who was believed to be a link between Osama bin Laden and many Al Qaeda cells before he was also captured in Pakistan, in March 2002, all previously held in secret CIA jails to the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
So far none of the 14 top figures transferred to Guantanamo from CIA custody has been charged.
"The 14 new cases, we really are starting from scratch," Davis said.
"We've got attorneys that are looking at the cases but obviously those are complex cases and it's early in the process. We've got a long way to go on those."
Five years have passed since the brutal 9/11 attacks shook the United States, and still the U.S. detention facility established in Guantanamo Bay following the attacks to hold what the government calls “terrorism suspects’ remains a difficult challenge for President Bush, said a recent Monster and Critics editorial.
The war crimes trials at Guantanamo were once halted after the U.S. Supreme Court in June ruled that the tribunal system set up by President George W. Bush to try foreign terrorism suspects were illegal and that they cannot resume unless Congress passes a new legislation authorizing them.
The numerous scandals that had been uncovered about the disgraceful treatment of detainees at the U.S. prison camp have put President Bush in the difficult position of trying to portray himself as the world's foremost protector of human rights while keeping people locked up for years without trial or charges raised against them.
Bush had on many occasions claimed that he wants to shut down Guantanamo jail but will not free detainees whom he describes as posing security threat to the U.S. and the entire world, a position that has not satisfied human-rights organizations and foreign leaders who have long been calling for the closure of the detention facility that has disgraced the United States.
But Bush ignored their calls as he did calls by the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and European leaders who had been pressuring the White house close the prison camp, especially after the numerous hunger strikes that took place at the jail.
Many prisoners who participated in those hunger strikes were being force-fed through a feeding tube.
Since it was established in the wake of September 11 attacks, Guantanamo has become the focus of accusations by human-rights organisations for the repetitive scandals that had been uncovered regarding the harsh treatment detainees receive at the hands of the U.S. prison guards and the inhuman conditions under which the prisoners are kept.
"What's going on in Guantanamo Bay and other places is a disgrace to the U.S. I wouldn't say it's the cause of terrorism, but it has given impetus and excuses to potential terrorists to lash out at our country and justify their despicable acts," Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, had once been quoted as saying.
President Bush ordered the release of several hundred prisoners, and is now trying to come up with a solution for dealing with those 'enemy combatants' who are still held and have not been charged with crimes, after the Supreme Court ruled he can't set up tribunals to try those suspects.
He is now pressing the Congress to quickly pass administration-drafted law authorizing the use of military commissions for trials of “terror suspects”.
"These are dangerous men with unparalleled knowledge about terrorist networks and their plans for new attacks," Bush claimed, defending the CIA program he authorized after the Sept. 11 attacks. "The security of our nation and the lives of our citizens depend on our ability to learn what these terrorists know."
As made manifest in his speech, his third in a recent series about the so-called “war on terror”, Bush is trying to shore up his administration's credentials on national security as congressional elections draw near amidst increasing frustration amongst Americans, who are growing weary of his anti-war campaign, that has so far brought more terror to the world.
Air Force Col. Moe Davis, the lead prosecutor says that many other detainees who had been held in Guantanamo jail would face trial before the 14 "high-value" prisoners who were moved from secret CIA prisons overseas to Guantanamo earlier this month.
Earlier this month, President Bush announced transferring fourteen “suspects”, including Khalid Sheik Mohammed, believed to be the No. 3 Al Qaeda leader before he was captured in Pakistan in 2003; Ramzi Binalshibh, an alleged would-be Sept. 11, 2001, hijacker; and Abu Zubaydah, who was believed to be a link between Osama bin Laden and many Al Qaeda cells before he was also captured in Pakistan, in March 2002, all previously held in secret CIA jails to the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
So far none of the 14 top figures transferred to Guantanamo from CIA custody has been charged.
"The 14 new cases, we really are starting from scratch," Davis said.
"We've got attorneys that are looking at the cases but obviously those are complex cases and it's early in the process. We've got a long way to go on those."
Five years have passed since the brutal 9/11 attacks shook the United States, and still the U.S. detention facility established in Guantanamo Bay following the attacks to hold what the government calls “terrorism suspects’ remains a difficult challenge for President Bush, said a recent Monster and Critics editorial.
The war crimes trials at Guantanamo were once halted after the U.S. Supreme Court in June ruled that the tribunal system set up by President George W. Bush to try foreign terrorism suspects were illegal and that they cannot resume unless Congress passes a new legislation authorizing them.
The numerous scandals that had been uncovered about the disgraceful treatment of detainees at the U.S. prison camp have put President Bush in the difficult position of trying to portray himself as the world's foremost protector of human rights while keeping people locked up for years without trial or charges raised against them.
Bush had on many occasions claimed that he wants to shut down Guantanamo jail but will not free detainees whom he describes as posing security threat to the U.S. and the entire world, a position that has not satisfied human-rights organizations and foreign leaders who have long been calling for the closure of the detention facility that has disgraced the United States.
But Bush ignored their calls as he did calls by the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and European leaders who had been pressuring the White house close the prison camp, especially after the numerous hunger strikes that took place at the jail.
Many prisoners who participated in those hunger strikes were being force-fed through a feeding tube.
Since it was established in the wake of September 11 attacks, Guantanamo has become the focus of accusations by human-rights organisations for the repetitive scandals that had been uncovered regarding the harsh treatment detainees receive at the hands of the U.S. prison guards and the inhuman conditions under which the prisoners are kept.
"What's going on in Guantanamo Bay and other places is a disgrace to the U.S. I wouldn't say it's the cause of terrorism, but it has given impetus and excuses to potential terrorists to lash out at our country and justify their despicable acts," Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, had once been quoted as saying.
President Bush ordered the release of several hundred prisoners, and is now trying to come up with a solution for dealing with those 'enemy combatants' who are still held and have not been charged with crimes, after the Supreme Court ruled he can't set up tribunals to try those suspects.
He is now pressing the Congress to quickly pass administration-drafted law authorizing the use of military commissions for trials of “terror suspects”.
"These are dangerous men with unparalleled knowledge about terrorist networks and their plans for new attacks," Bush claimed, defending the CIA program he authorized after the Sept. 11 attacks. "The security of our nation and the lives of our citizens depend on our ability to learn what these terrorists know."
As made manifest in his speech, his third in a recent series about the so-called “war on terror”, Bush is trying to shore up his administration's credentials on national security as congressional elections draw near amidst increasing frustration amongst Americans, who are growing weary of his anti-war campaign, that has so far brought more terror to the world.
