Guantanamo military commission
There are five cases currently ongoing in the commissions and another two pending appeal, including United States v. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, et al.—the prosecution of the detainees alleged to be most responsible for the September 11 attacks.
For the next fifty years, however, the U.S. relied on its established federal court and military justice systems to prosecute alleged war crimes and terrorism offenses.
On November 13, 2001, President Bush issued a military order governing the "Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War Against Terrorism".
According to the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO), from fiscal years 2012 to 2018 the Department of Defense spent $679.6 million on the military commissions.
There are five cases currently ongoing in the commissions—and another two pending appeal—including United States v. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, et al.—the prosecution of the detainees alleged to be most responsible for the September 11, 2001, attacks.
That same day, The New York Times reported that "General Martins submitted his retirement papers ... after repeatedly butting heads with Biden administration lawyers over positions his office had taken on the applicable international law and the Convention Against Torture at the Guantánamo court, according to senior government officials with knowledge of the disputes.
Alleged to have planned, organized, and directed the October 6, 2002 attack against the French supertanker MV Limburg, killing one, injuring 12, and spilling 90,000 barrels of oil into Gulf.
Conviction vacated by the Court of Military commission Review pursuant to Al Bahlul v. United States (D.C. Cir.
Through the Fiscal Year 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, Congress required the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to study the feasibility and advisability of expanding access to military commissions proceeding that are open to the public.
Moreover, GAO notes that "while selected victims and family members and non-government stakeholders are able to view proceedings in-person [at Guantanamo] the vast majority of the general public cannot, due to DOD policy.
However, GAO found that "DOD has generally not met this standard for the timely posting of documents, which substantially limits public access to information about proceedings."
"[8] Defense Department officials told GAO that "unlike most—if not all—federal criminal trials or courts-martial, commissions' court documents and proceedings regularly involve an unprecedented amount of classified information that cannot be shared with the public.
"[8] Consistent with GAO's findings, on August 4, 2021, 75 Members of Congress wrote to President Biden urging greater transparency in the military commissions process.
The United States has two parallel justice systems, with laws, statutes, precedents, rules of evidence, and paths for appeal.
The differences include: International human rights law prohibits trying non-military personnel in military tribunals.
The United States has also never ratified the International Criminal Court statute, and withdrew its original signature of accession when it feared repercussions of the Iraq War.
There has been outrage directed at the United States' usage of military commissions to try Guantanamo Bay detainees by the international community.
[32][33] In an amicus brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court on August 20, 2021, September 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows – an organization of more than 250 family members of those killed in the attacks of September 11, 2001 – wrote the following: "Through their collective experience, the pursuit of justice has appeared increasingly quixotic to the members of Peaceful Tomorrows, and they have lost confidence in the fairness and integrity of the Proceedings.
