If they are convicted and sentenced before the 20th, would not Obama at least still have the power to commute that sentence to Life?

Notoriety and martyrdom is what they are looking for. Frustrate them, and do not play their game.

Always the strategist, he sees an opportunity to screw us up and takes it. If he can bind Obama, can block Obama's "Love America Again" world tour. Brilliant. I just have to wonder, with KSM's interests and the interests of the Neo Con Lawyers running Guantanamo so closely aligned, is there collusion going on? The Neo Cons are desperate to keep the commissions going because they fear the federal court system so much. And they also fear Obama winning over the world with his liberalism and justice and what not. A big Obama federal court case propaganda win would be devastating to the Bush legacy. And devastating to the legacy of KSM and ALQ.

There has to be more to this. They all decided, man, time to get martyred quick, enter these guilty pleas before the new president can shut down these kangaroo courts. The timing suggests that interpretation. KSM decided it was time to plead guilty for death AFTER the election of Obama. It can't just be a cooincidence.

There have been man-centuries of legal work by the prosecution in these "trials" and they still can't answer such a simple question?

If the last eight years had not happened I would have thought this ionospheric level of ineptitude impossible, these cretins couldn't lawyer their way out of an aerogel bag. In light of the last eight years though I'm barely even mildly surprised.

Bin Laden has (or had) strategic vision to the point he has played the US government like Yehudi Menuhin on a Stradivarius, he correctly predicted the US reaction and laid a remarkably shrewd trap for us.

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."- Sun Tzu

Bin Laden knows us better than we know ourselves and we still think they hate us for our freedoms. Believing your own lies is about as dumb as they come.

I'm reminded of the story of David and Goliath.

I'm reminded of the old saw: "If I had some ham, I'd have some ham and eggs, if I had some eggs." This is what we end up with by lying, cheating, weaseling, torturing, killing, lying, cheating.....and on and on.

Wherever he is hiding out, Osama bin Ladin must still be amazed at how successful he has been. He has reduced "The mightiest nation the world has ever known!" to this.

Holy Mother of Christ!

Incompetence and legal voodoo notwithstanding, all of Guantanamo

trials and foolishness are being tried in the court of world opinion. And in good time, all of the architects of the ridiculous make believe legal proceedings will get their comeuppance. This is America, the home of the brave, the land of the free. Justice trumps all. We do not suffer lack of accountability for years of unindicted suspects having kangaroo trials. Just as surely as the U.S. Courts have negated every case so far submitted, this one too, will have the proper resolution. The solution to incompetence is competence; the answer to legal voodoo is the rule of law. Justice will prevail.

Jesus Christ in a chicken basket!

My recommendation would be to go down there yourselves and shoot them as is their wishes.

I am totally TV addicted

And furiously Fox fearing

My advice:

Delay and prolong this trial.

Force all of the defendants to be represented by female attorneys.

Release photographs and video of these women assisting the defendants as they shuffle in and out of the courtroom, while shackled at the ankles, handcuffed behind their backs.

Dress them in one-piece pink fuzzy pajamas that small children wear.

Hack Al Jazeera's web site and post the images there

Show the world that these "tough guys" aren't so tough anymore. . . . They rely on women for their existence.

And before you get all sympathetic regarding their plight, remember Daniel Pearl,. . . khalid ordered his head chopped off.

Here I can agree

Put 'em all in kiddie jim-jams

Take the toughy

And present him as Fluffy

That would be a propaganda coup alright, for the defendants.

Apparently you are unable to see the world except through American eyes, if we treat these defendants as anything other than common criminals, innocent until proven guilty, then the rest of the world will see it very differently than will most Americans.

When we act in a manner at odds with our own oft and loudly proclaimed rhetoric we expose ourselves as hypocrites. The majority of Americans may be blind to that hypocrisy but many non-Americans will see it all too clearly, particularly those whom we wish to influence positively in the Muslim world.

Hypocrites do not carry moral authority, they are moral laughingstocks.

It doesn't surprise me in the slightest that you are utterly blind to this fact.

This trial has all the indications of being similar to the WW II Nuremberg War Trials. It was a first and no one really knew what the hell they were doing. Obviously none of the Jurists in Gitmo know either. First of all the trial should not be held in Gauntanamo, put them on trial in New York, in front of a REAL judge and a real jury.

Not this mock trial and an intentional insult by appointing a female defense attorney. Doing this only points the finger of disrespect and FIX at the United States. They will not be viewed or remembered as myatars, that's ancient stuff. They are self confessed killers and deserve to die for their crime. As it stands they are smart enough to use the system and the media to gain even greater sympathy and arouse their countrymen to more and even greater crimes against America.

Hang them publicly and do it quickly, just like they do in their country . . . no mercy, just quick justice and then walk away.