Glitches mar debut of Gitmo courtroom

GUANTÁNAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba — First, the sound went out in the U.S. military's new war-crimes courthouse. Then the lights went dark. To top it off, the defendant announced he was boycotting the proceedings.

By anyone's account, Wednesday's debut of the new facility where the Pentagon hopes to try the alleged Sept. 11 terrorists did not go smoothly. Even the presiding judge, Army Col. Peter Brownback, got frustrated.

"I don't know what's wrong with the AV in this place," Brownback snapped after audiovisual equipment intermittently cut out as an interpreter translated the words of Ali Hamza Ahmad Sulayman al-Bahlul.

Wednesday's hearing marked the opening of the $12 million "Expeditionary Legal Complex." Laid out on the tarmac of an unused airfield, it features a windowless, corrugated-metal courthouse and nearly 100 tents where lawyers and journalists sleep. Previous hearings were conducted in the air-traffic-control terminal nearby.

The temporary nature of the new facility reflects the uncertain future of America's first war-crimes trials since World War II. The Pentagon initially wanted a permanent, three-courtroom structure at a cost of $125 million, but those plans were scaled back.

The administration of President Bush plans to prosecute dozens of terror suspects on this isolated U.S. military base in southeast Cuba, including men accused of planning the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

But the courthouse and tents can be easily dismantled if Bush's successor agrees with critics who condemn the military's detention of foreign "enemy combatants" outside the reach of traditional U.S. courts.

On Wednesday, a technical problem initially kept journalists in a spectators' gallery from hearing courtroom sound — the room is soundproof so speakers can be turned off when classified evidence is presented. And in a press room not far from the courthouse, a video feed froze, showing Brownback's mouth agape.

Later, sound carrying the English translation faded in and out, forcing journalists watching the closed-circuit television to rely on an Arabic-speaking colleague to tell them what al-Bahlul was saying.

The Yemeni detainee said he was boycotting the trial, that he does not recognize the military court and that the prosecution of Muslims at Guantánamo will only further enrage America's enemies.

"We will continue in our jihad and nothing is going to stop us," he said, using the Arabic word for holy war. "You look at yourselves as gods on earth. ... What happened on Sept. 11 is because of what you did."

A few minutes later, as a military prosecutor read the charges against al-Bahlul, the courthouse was plunged into darkness.

Alarms beeped. Dim backup lights sprang on immediately. Military guards jumped out of their seats and surrounded the detainee, who was not shackled and was sitting alone at one of six long defense tables.

Al-Bahlul, 39, is the fifth detainee to declare a trial boycott. He sat by himself because he did not want to be near his military attorney, Air Force Maj. David Frakt. He refused to answer questions about whether he accepts Frakt as his counsel and did not enter a plea.

Frakt poked fun at the courtroom glitches, saying the military could have learned from his client's skills as a supposed media specialist.

"I think they should hire Mr. al-Bahlul to do a sound check next time," he said after the hearing.

The U.S. alleges al-Bahlul was a recruiter and personal secretary for Osama bin Laden who armed himself with an explosives belt, a rifle and grenades to prevent the terrorist leader's capture.

He allegedly created a propaganda video glorifying al-Qaida's October 2000 attack on the destroyer USS Cole in Yemen that killed 17 American sailors.

He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted on charges of conspiracy, solicitation to commit murder and providing material support for terrorism.

Military prosecutors say they plan to prosecute as many as 80 of the 270 men held at Guantánamo on suspicion of links to the Taliban or al-Qaida.