The Pentagon Thursday abruptly canceled a pre-trial hearing at Guantánamo next week and said it would instead hold “other proceedings” at the war court for an alleged Sudanese terror trainer -- the strongest sign yet that the Obama administration had secured another plea agreement in its revamped military commissions.
Noor Uthman Mohammed, in his 40s, is accused of being a trainer and sometime-commander in charge of a paramilitary camp in Afghanistan where some of the 9/11 hijackers honed their skills before the Sept. 11, 2001 suicide attacks.
Intelligence agents captured him in March 2002 in Faisalabad, Pakistan, in a dragnet that netted a man the CIA considered an early, prized captive in the war on terror -- Zayn Abidin Mohammad al Hussain, widely known as “Abu Zubayda.”
Noor was sent to Guantánamo, where he is now the only captive currently facing war crimes charges -- conspiracy and providing material support for terror. Pentagon prosecutors last year secured convictions in two al Qaeda foot soldier cases in exchange for short sentences. Confessed teen terrorist Omar Khadr, now 24, returns to Canada later this year. Sudanese captive Ibrahim Qosi, 51, pleaded guilty this summer in a deal that could repatriate him in July 2012.
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