Military Judge Refuses Obama Request for Trial Delay

A military judge overseeing the tribunal of the alleged mastermind of the attack on the USS Cole has denied a request from military prosecutors for a 120-day suspension. President Obama ordered prosecutors to seek delays in all of the military commissions, so that his Administration could review the status of each. But Col. James Pohl would have none of it. In a sharply worded ruling, Pohl rebuked the Obama Administration, and asserted that the military tribunals must proceed.

"The Commission is unaware of how conducting an arraignment would preclude any option [to alter the process after it's review] by the Administration. Congress passed the military commissions act, which remains in effect. The Commission is bound by the law as it currently exists, not as it may change in the future."

The White House was caught flat-footed by the ruling, which it did not anticipate, and was unable to say how the Administration would proceed. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs insisted that the ruling would not change the Administration's review of detainee cases. "We are consulting with the Pentagon and the Department of Justice to explore our options in that case," Gibbs said.

But those options appear to have been severely limited by Pohl's ruling. President Obama and his national security team must now decide whether to continue the case, or drop the charges against the accused, Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri. That is a choice fraught with political consequences for the Administration. Obama's radical left-wing support base will be bitterly disappointed if the trial continues, and conservatives will sharply criticize Obama if he drops the charges. Pohl's ruling could cause the Obama Administration to regret its apparently lightly thought out decision to seek delays in the terror trials.