The Fog Lifts, Ever So Briefly

This sort of thing is obviously why the military
and the administration are resisting public hearings or trials for these
guys…

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba – A Yemeni prisoner confessed to being
a member of Al Qaeda
during
a
preliminary
hearing
before a military commission Thursday, but was cut off in mid-sentence
by the presiding official and was not allowed to complete his statement.

In a show-stopping moment in the third day of military hearings for suspected
terrorists, Ali Hamza Ahamad Sulayman al Bahlul said in Arabic: "People
of the entire globe, know that I testify that the American government put me
under no pressure. I am from Al Qaeda and the relationship between me and Sept
11th…"

Bahlul was halted by retired Army Col. Peter Brownback
III, who told his four fellow commission members serving as judges to
disregard the statement. Brownback said the trial had not reached the
stage at which the detainee could offer a plea.

from the Los Angeles Times