8/19 Motions Session #1: Housekeeping

The fated hour arrives, and the military judge, Army Col. James Pohl, ascends the bench.  Your correspondents hear the starting gun; our week-long hearing commences in earnest.

All five of the 9/11 accused are present, along with their attorneys.   House is kept first, as the court trots through the familiar advisory regarding their presence rights, and the significance of a knowing and voluntary decision to waive those rights, and thus not to attend a subsequent session.  (As the court explains, KSM reviews a legal pad; Mustafa Al-Hawsawi stares blankly; and Ammar Al-Baluchi solemnizes the event with a scratch of his nose.)  Do all five accused understand what the judge has said?  Yes indeed.

To the podium comes CDR Walter Ruiz, lawyer for Al-Hawsawi.  The latter wears a neck brace, Ruiz says, because of a particular condition that causes headaches and severe pain.  The injury also grows worse when the accused must sit for extended periods---as he must during this and all other commission sessions.  Ruiz earlier asked to speak to a GTMO doctor about the problem; his requested was denied by JTF.  Additionally, Ruiz has sought discovery from the prosecution about his client’s medical records---and received no response.  The lawyer therefore requests, on his client’s behalf, for Al-Hawsawi to be excused for medical reasons.  For his part, prosecutor Bob Swann says that Ruiz’s discovery request was extensive, and landed at his office only on Friday afternoon; he also doesn’t object to Ruiz’s request to speak to a doctor about Al-Hawsawi’s ailment.  Finally, any presence waiver, Swann says, should come from the client, and not Ruiz.