Civil Liberties

Guantanamo Judge: No to Televised Trial

Rejects a bid by defense attorneys in the USS Cole bombing trial

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The chief judge of the Guantánamo war court has rejected a defense bid to get the Pentagon to televise the USS Cole bombing trial from the U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba.

In his two-page ruling Judge James Pohl, an army colonel, said he didn't have the authority to order the broadcasts. Only the Secretary of Defense can authorize it, he said.