Carol Rosenberg

Good morning from Camp Justice at Guantanamo Bay. The USS Cole case hearing is in recess for the judge to consider the defense team's claim that the defendant is not competent to stand trial. They blame the torture he endured in CIA custody. An Army psychiatrist found the prisoner competent.

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--An update from the judge on whether he will have the competency ruling done in time, or will postpone jury selection to Nov. 9.

nytimes.comJudge Throws Out Last Defendant’s Confession in Sept. 11 Case (Gift Article)The government is now 0-5 in its efforts to admit the so-called clean team confessions to the capital cases at Guantánamo Bay.

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--Defense lawyers told the judge they want reconsideration of his earlier decision to let prosecutors use the Guantanamo interrogations of a defendant in the 9/11 case against the USS Cole case defendant. The Cole judge admitted it before the 9/11 judge suppressed it. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/07/u...

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Now, the weather: We are having another soggy morning at Guantanamo Bay. It has been raining, on and off, since last week with some trailer park residents experiencing noisy nights and leaky roofs. Streets have flooded and receded, leaving ponds and puddles across the more typically arid base.

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Hearings are expected to resume on Thursday with three possibilities: --A defense motion to continue the trial, as in put it on hold, based on declarations from various team members that they are not ready to proceed.

Good morning from Guantanamo’s Camp Justice. The USS Cole case hearing is in recess for the judge to consider the defense team's claim that the defendant is mentally unfit for trial. They blame his torture by the CIA two decades ago. An Army psychiatrist found him competent.

justsecurity.orgArmy Doctor Diagnosed USS Cole Bombing Defendant with PTSD and Depression, Found Him Fit for TrialA U.S. military psychiatrist found the USS Cole bombing suspect to be suffering from PTSD but cogent enough to face trial at Guantanamo Bay.

This article offers insights into the psych exam. --Through an Arabic translator the prisoner interpreted the expression “People in glass houses should not throw stones” to mean “If you are weak then don’t fight with others.” www.justsecurity.org/161994/uss-c...

justsecurity.orgjustsecurity.org

nytimes.comTrial Guide: The Cole Bombing Case at Guantánamo Bay (Gift Article)What to know about the death-penalty prosecution of a Saudi prisoner accused of plotting the suicide bombing on a Navy destroyer off Yemen in 2000 that killed 17 sailors.

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Court is in recess until 0900 Thursday. The judge left open the possibility of pushing jury selection past Nov. 2 — if he wants more time to complete his ruling on whether the defendant is competent or not.‬ www.justsecurity.org/161994/uss-c...

Carol Rosenberg@carolrosenbergfeed.bsky.social

Good morning from Camp Justice at Guantanamo Bay on Week 3 of these pretrial hearings in the USS Cole bombing case. We anticipate open court arguments today to wrap up eve-of-trial competency hearings. We've updated our guide with information about the court and commissions.

The Navy base was pummeled with heavy rain throughout the weekend. I'll be looking to see if the bad weather seeped into the expeditionary court complex.

It’s transition day in the USS Cole bombing case at Guantanamo Bay. Some court staff are heading home and others are inbound ahead of Monday’s closing arguments on the question of the prisoner’s competency to face trial. Meantime, the judge has been getting ready for jury selection on Nov 2.

nytimes.comAs Trump Squeezes Cuba, U.S. Military Exists in a Bubble (Gift Article)The Navy base at Guantánamo Bay sparkles at night while neighbors across a Cuban minefield struggle in darkness driven by a Trump fuel embargo.

Meantime, workers here are assessing the impact of an unscheduled power outage last night that left the base in the dark for an hour so. No doubt, unintentional solidarity with their neighbors across the minefield. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/30/u...

Good morning from the USS Cole Bombing Case hearings at Guantanamo. We expect more testimony from Maj. Anthony Ralston, the Army psychiatrist who found the defendant competent for trial. Defense lawyers argue that, because of his torture, the accused bomber cannot understand his court proceedings.

Sounds like Dr. Crosby is the last witness in these competency hearings. —The judge denied a defense request to call former prosecutor Tim Stinson. —New prosecutor CDR Clay Trivett said his side is calling no witnesses, and that Dr. Welner expired today as a paid expert consultant.

Judge Fitzgerald wants closing arguments on the competency issue on Monday. Each side gets an hour. He also is seeking information on how the first 18 members of the Nashiri jury pool will be seated in the courtroom starting on Nov. 2. Court’s in recess until Monday at 0900.

‪Dr. Crosby, testifying remotely, offered a survey of the PTSD and trauma she has learned from the defendant in 13 years on the case, and described several episodes of torture by CIA, some corroborated by classified documents.

Asked whether the prisoner was malingering, she replied it is not possible to keep that up for 13 years. ‬

‪Dr. Ralston has been reviewing his finding of competence with lead prosecutor CDR Trivett. The psychiatrist said defendant Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri definitely has PTSD but also is competent to stand trial and competent to make his own medical decisions.‬

‪In discussing treatment options for PTSD, the doctor described a combination of meds (SSRI) and different modalities of therapy. “We wouldn’t waterboard to get him over the waterboard.”‬ ‪On the high threshold for incompetence: A schizophrenic can be competent. A florid psychotic probably not.

After that we expect testimony from Dr. Sondra Crosby, an internist who has been meeting the prisoner longer than anyone on his team. As rules changed through the years she was able to testify in open court to what was done to him, notably this.

justsecurity.orgDefense Psychiatrist Calls USS Cole Defendant Unfit for TrialA forensic psychiatrist testified this week that the USS Cole bombing suspect is unfit for trial as a result of his torture by the CIA.

Good morning from Camp Justice at Guantanamo. Competency hearings resume later this morning in the USS Cole case. Jury selection is now set for Nov. 2. We have so far heard from two defense team experts, a psychiatrist and psychologist. The story so far... www.justsecurity.org/161589/defen...

Court is in recess until tomorrow. Prosecutor CDR Clay Trivett is deciding whether he has questions for Dr. Ralston, the Army psychiatrist who found the Cole defendant competent to stand trial.

Meantime, defense lawyer Allison Miller wants to call former lead prosecutor Tim Stinson to testify. She wants to ask the Navy Reserve captain how he was able to relay to Ralston atmospherics and, sounds like, privileged conversations she had with the prisoner -- nside a holding cell by the court.

justsecurity.orgPentagon Reducing Rank of Top Military Commission LawyersAn order from Secretary Hegseth will lower the ranks of the top two Guantanamo military commission lawyers starting in January.

Updated: This article on the coming demotions of the role of chief prosecutor and defense counsel at the Guantanamo war court. The current admiral and general got a six-month reprieve before the jobs are downgraded to colonel or Navy captain. @justsecurity.org www.justsecurity.org/160438/penta...

It sounds as though the prosecution is calling just one expert: The forensic psychiatrist Michael Welner. (Hoping for some fidelity on whether Dr. Welner has examined or spoken with the defendant, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. The two defense experts spent time with him this year.)

The hearings are in a lunch recess. The Army psychiatrist who evaluated the accused Cole bomber is testifying today, as a defense witness. Maj. Anthony Ralston, the doctor, said soon after he met Nashiri at the prison, the captive told him: "I'm not crazy." The doctor later found him competent.

Latest in Guantanamo's longest running capital case, with a warning and a link to a @justsecurity.org article at the end of this thread: Competency hearings are underway with mental health experts for the prisoner declaring the defendant in the USS Cole bombing case is not fit to face trial.

An Army psychiatrist who disagrees may testify tomorrow. With up to three more possible witnesses yet to testify, including the psychiatrist Dr. Michael Welner for the government, the judge has once again postponed jury selection -- this time to Nov. 2.

Here's my dispatch, with a warning... It dwells on the defendant's time in CIA detention, and ends with a sharp exchange between a Navy prosecutor and psychiatrist over the practice of "rectal refeeding." www.justsecurity.org/161589/defen...

Good morning from Camp Justice at Guantánamo. Hearings resume this morning with more mental health testimony on the competency of prisoner Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri to go to trial, starting with jury selection next week, in the USS Cole bombing case.

This is open court testimony. During testimony yesterday, a security officer twice hit the censorship switch during a discussion between Dr. Kupers and a defense lawyer over what was described as the defendant being beaten in host country detention after his capture in Dubai.

Court went late today, wrapping up two days of testimony from Dr. Kupers on his lengthy forensic psychiatric opinion that the defendant is unfit to stand trial. Tomorrow we expect testimony from the next defense expert, the psychologist Heather Holmes.

nytimes.comTrial Guide: The Cole Bombing Case at Guantánamo BayWhat to know about the death-penalty prosecution of a Saudi prisoner accused of plotting the suicide bombing on a Navy destroyer off Yemen in 2000 that killed 17 sailors.

Yesterday, the defense expert Dr. Terry Kupers, said the prisoner suffers intrusive flashbacks, memory loss and confession linked to his torture and solitary confinement in CIA custody 2002-06. Today, prosecutors question the forensic psychiatrist. www.nytimes.com/article/uss-...

Good morning from Camp Justice at Guantánamo Bay. We expect the start of a pretrial competency hearing in the USS Cole case to start after lunch with the first of four mental health experts testifying on the Saudi prisoner’s PTSD and other disorders.

‪Good afternoon from Camp Justice. The hearing is in recess. A defense expert, Dr. Terry Kupers, testified that he spent a week at Guantanamo meeting with and observing the defendant, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, and dug into classified records…

… to conclude the prisoner lacks to capacity to understand and contribute to his defense. A prosecutor questions the forensic psychiatrist tomorrow.‬

nytimes.comUnusual Issues in Court at Guantánamo Stand Out as a Case Finally Heads to TrialProsecutors want remote testimony for witnesses unable or unwilling to travel to Guantánamo. The defense wants jurors to be told that, guilty or innocent, the defendant will not go free.

Expect all testimony this week by video link. The judge issued the order for the 909 hearing Friday afternoon — too late for to get witnesses to Saturday's shuttle. Death penalty experts discuss the rarity of remote testimony in capital cases here. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/02/u...

justsecurity.orgGuantanamo Dispatches: Military Psychiatrist Finds Cole Bombing Case Defendant Competent; Federal Judge Refuses to InterveneCourt-ordered psychiatrist finds USS Cole defendant competent to be tried by Guantanamo military commission.

Here is where the story left off last week. The military judge issued the order for this week’s hearing in the midst of a federal court hearing that sought to stop jury selection over the competency question. It failed. www.justsecurity.org/161173/milit...

Carol Rosenberg reposted

Just Security

@justsecurity.org

Court-ordered psychiatrist finds USS Cole defendant competent to be tried. The latest dispatch by Carol Rosenberg on Guantanamo military commissions. www.justsecurity.org/161173/milit...

Good afternoon. The war court shuttle has reached Guantánamo Bay for next week’s pretrial hearing in the USS Cole bombing case. Here’s my latest dispatch: : Military Psychiatrist Finds Cole Bombing Case Defendant Competent; Federal Judge Refuses to Intervene www.justsecurity.org/161173/milit...

Good morning from Andrews airbase outside Washington D.C. We are about three dozen passengers headed to Guantánamo Bay, a few of us bound for next week’s pretrial hearings in the USS Cole case. The judge, lawyers, support staff are already there. www.nytimes.com/article/uss-...

They are: —an MD expert on treating torture victims, who has been working with the defendant for more than a decade; —a psychiatrist in California who specializes in the consequences of solitary confinement; —a forensic psychologist, based in Florida.

The judge ordered their testimony for Monday afternoon. By video link, apparently.

NOT on board: The three defense experts on the question of the prisoner’s competency whose testimony was ordered yesterday afternoon by the judge — too little time in the Pentagon bureaucracy to get them to this shuttle.

Now updated: This guide with jury selection postponed by a week. www.nytimes.com/article/uss-...

justsecurity.orgFour Possible Obstacles to Jury Selection in the USS Cole CaseThe judge in the USS Cole bombing case postponed the start of jury selection to Oct. 26. Several unresolved issues could delay it further.

Meantime, defense lawyers have asked two federal courts to stop the start of trial. --One asks a federal judge to halt the trial pending a full competency hearing at the Guantanamo level. --Another asked a appeals court to stop it over torture tainted evidence. www.justsecurity.org/161003/guant...

An addendum to this story: These two military commission lawyers just got a six-month reprieve. An aide to Secretary Hegseth, in a memo this week, said the two leaders’ roles will be downgraded from one-star to colonel or Navy captain on July 1, 2027 instead of New Year’s Day.

Just Security@justsecurity.org

The roles of chief prosecutor and chief defense counsel at the Guantanamo Bay military commissions will be reduced in rank as part of Secretary Hegseth's shakeup of top brass at the Pentagon. Carol Rosenberg reports: