more here http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...303409_pf.htmlResumed military panels face new challenges
By Peter Finn
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 4, 2009
GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA -- Military commissions at Guantanamo Bay, which President Obama suspended amid much fanfare immediately after taking office, quietly resumed this week with new signs of the legal complexities of the cases and the challenges for prosecutors.
The military court had to grapple with determining where a defendant, Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al Qosi -- and by extension other detainees -- stand under the new military commissions law enacted in October to provide more due process for detainees.
Under the old system, Qosi and other detainees were called "unlawful enemy combatants," but the new law refers to them as "alien unprivileged enemy belligerents," a moniker that military prosecutors said is more in line with the Geneva Conventions. The government said it wanted to amend the charges against Qosi to reflect the new language, but his defense attorneys argued that a separate court hearing was necessary.
The military judge agreed Thursday, and set a hearing for Jan. 6. One military prosecutor feared it could become a "mini-trial" in itself, adding to the government's burden in that case and others.
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