There are steps President Barack Obama could take right now to expedite the closing of Guantanamo Bay prison camps, where prisoners currently engaged in a major hunger strike continue to be held in detention. Yet, Obama and his defenders insist Congress is solely responsible for why the prison continues to be open and why prisoners cleared for release have not been freed.

The headlines were ablaze with stories regarding the outbreak of violence at Guantanamo, as on April 13 the military mounted raids in the dead of night to force hunger-striking prisoners from the communal living in the prison’s Camp 6 into solitary confinement isolation cells in the hated confines of Camp 5.

Considering the way the military has handled the situation at Guantanamo — forbidding reporters at the island, making nice to the ICRC only to conduct violent raids on detainees as soon as Red Cross officials leave, force-feeding hunger-striking detainees against all medical ethics and protocols — you’d think the Pentagon thought they had another Koje-do prison camp rebellion on their hands

President Barack Obama signed the intelligence authorization bill—the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Included in the bill were restrictions that would make it harder for his administration to transfer detainees from Guantanamo Bay prison and the Bagram prison in Afghanistan.

A military judge has ruled that statements made by defendants on trial for their involvement in the September 11th attacks could be censored if they make statements about how they were tortured or abused.

Judge Col. James Pohl ruled the government had “submitted declarations…from representatives of the CIA, [Department of Defense], and FBI invoking the classified information privilege and explaining how disclosure of the classified information at issue would be detrimental to national security in that the information relates to the sources, methods, and activities by which the United States defends against international terrorism and terrorist organizations.” These explanations included how the government believed disclosure of methods of interrogation or torture would be harmful.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other 9/11 terror suspects had a pre-trial hearing before the Guantanamo Bay commission just over two weeks ago. And, yesterday, The Nation published a dispatch on the proceedings that is well worth reading and I wrote about how the government maintains the Guantanamo defendants’ thoughts and memories of torture at the hands of CIA interrogators should be considered classified.

I went on RT America to talk about the military commissions.

Just over two weeks ago, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other 9/11 terror suspects had a pre-trial hearing before the Guantanamo Bay commission. The judge presiding over the commission is Army Colonel James L. Pohl. Key issues argued were whether a forty-second daly between the press and courtroom was constitutional and whether the suspects could testify about being tortured by CIA interrogators or not.

In a significant ruling today, a federal appeals court overturned a conviction of Salim Hamdan, Osama bin Laden’s driver, obtained through a military commission. Judge Brett Kavanaugh, a George W. Bush appointee seen as a possible conservative Supreme Court justice, wrote in a ruling for a three-judge panel of the DC Circuit Court that Hamdan could not be convicted under a military commission for “material support” for terrorist organizations before 2006, when the military commission process was inaugurated.

Five individuals accused of being involved in the September 11th attacks were arraigned and formally charged by a military commission at Guantanamo Bay over the weekend. Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin ‘Attash, Ramzi Binalshibh, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam Al-Hawsawi, as required by the Constitution and the Military Commissions Act, were brought before a military judge.

What is a typically routine process turned into a twelve hour farce, which is not surprising. Those executing these proceedings are to some extent making it up as they go along. Hundreds of terror suspects have been tried in federal courts. The same cannot be said for military commissions. These supposedly reformed tribunals are an attempt to give some semblance of due process to terror suspects without granting foreign individuals access to the civilian US justice system.

Five individuals suspected of being involved in plotting the September 11th attacks are due for arraignment on May 5. They are to be formally charged with “terrorism-related crimes that could bring the death penalty if the defendants are convicted.” And, as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) reports, the government under the Obama administration is moving to censor any testimony from the individuals on torture or inhumane treatment they experienced while detained in CIA “secret” prisons.

The Guardian highlights the rendition and torture of a Libyan militant, who led the fight against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and his pregnant wife. Part 1 highlighted details surrounding the rendition of Abdel Hakim Belhaj and his pregnant wife, Fatima Bouchar. Now, Part 2 focuses on how the US could potentially interfere with their attempt to bring British intelligence agents to justice and expose the CIA’s role.