Today, The Associated Press released the story shown below. There are a few unanswered questions this news report creates.

First, this is confirmation of another attack on America by Saudia Arabia. It’s a fact that 14 of the 19 hijackers on 9-11 were Saudis. Now, another Saudi is being charged with an attack targeted at the United States. It will be very interesting to see how George W. Bush and his father, George H. Bush, try to spin this away from their friends, the royal family of Saudia Arabia.

If this military tribunal does move forward, what will the reaction be from Saudia Arabia? It seems highly unlikely they will stand idly by letting “justice take its course”. Will they try to influence George W. Bush to intercede on behalf of the Saudi citizen? Will they threaten retaliation with even higher oil prices? The government of Saudia Arabia will do something, even if it’s behind the scenes. So far, George W. Bush has shown he has little to no influence with the Saudis, and has actually acted repeatedly to shield and protect them.

There is also the issue of the George W. Bush authorized torture to extract the “confession”. All of the experts on torture have indicated that “confessions” extracted through torture have little value. Even John McCain, who I don’t doubt is a patriot, succumbed to the torturers demands and made anti-American statements during his time as a P.O.W. The legality of “confessions” arising out of torture will become an issue, perhaps a public issue, as our government is forced to admit to the world that we’re just as barbaric as any third-world dictatorship.

It will be interesting to see what steps and length the Bush administration goes to keep this military tribunal secret from the American people and rest of the world. It’s possible some of the information that potentially could be established in the course of this military tribunal could generate a risk of charges of war crimes directed at the president and members of his administration.

As our nation prosecuted Nazi war criminals, the trials were open for the world to see. We were respected around the planet for how we conducted those trials. The verdicts rendered were accepted, understood and respected as civilized judgments. A secret military tribunal only harms our already damaged and tainted image around the world, and serves as a great propaganda tool for terrorist organizations to accelerate their recruitments.
It’s a mess, a mess created by George W. Bush, and how it plays out is anyone’s guess. There doesn’t appear to be any good outcome available to the United States. We can thank George W. Bush for that.

Pentagon to charge Saudi in USS Cole bombing
Death penalty sought; suspect was subjected to waterboarding

Associated Press - June 30, 2008

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon said Monday it is charging a Saudi Arabian held at Guantanamo with "organizing and directing" the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, and will seek the death penalty.

Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann, legal adviser to the U.S. military tribunal system, said charges are being sworn against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi of Yemeni descent. The charges still must be approved by a Defense Department official who oversees military tribunals set up for terrorism suspects.

Al-Nashiri has been held at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 2006.

CIA Director Michael Hayden said early this year that al-Nashiri was among terrorist suspects subjected to waterboarding in 2002 and 2003 while being interrogated in secret CIA prisons.

Hartmann said the allegations against al-Nashiri include conspiracy to violate laws of war, murder, treachery, terrorism, destruction of property and intentionally causing serious bodily injury. Seventeen American sailors were killed when the Navy destroyer was attacked in the Yemeni port of Aden as it refueled.

Al-Nashiri told a hearing at Guantanamo Bay last year that he confessed to helping plot the bombing only because he was tortured by U.S. interrogators. Asked at a Pentagon press conference how a trial could go forward under those circumstances, Hartmann said all evidence — including the issue of torture or abuse — would be before the tribunal.

How many is this now? I've lost count.