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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
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MONDAY, AUGUST 23, 2004
Guantanamo prisoners to face preliminary hearings
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
GUANTANAMO BAY
NAVAL BASE, Cuba — One man allegedly worked as an al-Qaeda accountant. Another, a poet, is accused of crafting terrorist propaganda.
A third drove and protected Osama bin Laden. A fourth, a baby-faced Australian, fought with Afghanistan's ousted Taliban. None are accused of killing Americans.
These Guantanamo prisoners will be the first suspected terrorists arraigned in preliminary hearings this week before their cases go to military commissions, or trials, in an unprecedented judicial process that foreign governments, lawyers and human rights groups have criticized.
While the maximum sentence the four men face is life in prison, the military commissions will have the power to sentence others to death, and there is no independent appeal process.
Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a 34-year-old Yemeni driver for Osama bin Laden, is scheduled to be arraigned first on Tuesday on a charge of conspiracy to commit war crimes for his ties to al-Qaida.
Two of the other men face similar al-Qaida conspiracy charges: Ali Hamza Ahmad Sulayman al Bahlul, 33, also of
The fourth defendant is David Hicks, 28, of Australia, who faces the broadest set of charges — conspiracy to commit war crimes as well as aiding the enemy, and attempted murder for allegedly firing at U.S. or coalition forces in Afghanistan before his capture.
Yemen; and Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al Qosi, born in 1960, of Sudan.
Only four of the Guantanamo detainees have been charged so far, while 11 others' charges are pending approval. Most of the men in the camp have been refused access to attorneys.
All are considered enemy combatants, a classification that unlike prisoners of war, allots
the men fewer protections under the Geneva Conventions. Military commissions are reserved for foreign-born captives and have lower standards for prosecution than American civilian courts.
Navy Lt. Cmdr. Philip Sundel, an attorney for al Bahul of Yemen, who is to appear Thursday, said he hasn't been able to meet with his client in four months and isn't prepared for the preliminary hearing.
Sundel said that although the commission is supposed to be responsible for getting translators he was told to find his own. Then the government held up her clearance so he had to find
another, who didn't work out. A week ago, he won clearance for an interim translator.
"I've operated in courts martial, federal courts and one international tribunal, and this is the only hearing I've entered with not even a clue as to what was going to take place," he said.
Air Force Lt. Col. Sharon Shaffer, a lawyer for al-Qosi of Sudan who is to appear on Friday, has asked to withdraw from the case after accepting a job as a deputy chief trial judge for the Air Force, said Air Force Col. Will Gunn, chief defense counsel.
A new attorney has yet to be found for al-Qosi, who's accused
of worked as al-Qaida's chief accountant, paymaster and supply chief. Shaffer said she will attend the hearing Friday but declined further comment until she addresses the court.
The prisoner who faces the most charges is Hicks, the Australian cowboy and kangaroo skinner who converted to Islam, fought in Kosovo with fellow Muslims, joined Muslim fighters in India-held Kashmir and in 2001 joined the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Hicks is accused of attending al-Qaida training camps in Afghanistan and learning advanced surveillance to use on U.S. and British embassies in Kabul.
Amanda Kim Stairrett/KANSAN
Andrea Norris served as director of the Spencer Museum of Art until last March when she was fired. She held the position for 16 years.
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Every five years, administrators review the productivity of individuals in campus facilities.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
When Norris and the museum were reviewed in 2003, Norris believes the administration decided to release her.
"It's whether the unit is living up to it's potential." Shulenburger said. "You select personnel according to what the potential of the unit might be."
When making decisions about hirings and firings, administrators must decide if enough is being done to ensure a facility's progress, Shulenburger said.
Because of employment regulations, Administration officials could not comment on why they fired Norris. But according to the Handbook for Faculty and Other Unclassified Staff, employees are terminated before January only for "seriously inadequate performance," or other similar causes. At the time, Norris was not comfortable talking about why she thought University administration fired her.
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But now Norris said she thought her firing had less to do with the work she did, and more to do with the opinions of a few people at the University.
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But Nadeau said that since Norris' firing, his and his wife's support for the Spencer has waned.
Not all donors felt as strongly about the change. Larry Marshall, who donated over $100,000 for a glass sculpture at the Spencer, said that Norris
Don Staples, vice provost in charge of the Spencer, could not comment on whether Norris had been treated fairly, or if her firing would affect donors.
was the reason he became involved with the museum. But Marshall said that even though University administrators fired Norris, he has continued to support the museum.
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"It takes about a year to find another job," Norris said. "All I can do is keep looking."
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While searching for a museum director position in the area, Norris keeps herself busy with projects at her cluttered home office.
"I think the institution transcends its employees," Marshall said. "One employee does not make a museum."
"E very musem director
has people that don't like them. If those people have tenure, and the director doesn't, the director can get fired."
In Norris' time at the museum, she grew close with several donors. She gave the names of one couple close to the museum, Richard and Virginia Nadeau. Virginia serves on the museum's advisory board, but her husband said the way KU administration treated Norris could be enough to drive them away.
Norris cannot worry about whether donors still support the institution. She is focused on moving on with her life.
Her friends in the art business are trying to help her find a job, but Norris said museum director positions are a rare find.
Andrea Norris
Former Spencer Museum of Art director
Spencer officials contend that the changes they have implemented since Norris' departure benefit the profiles of the museum and the University as a whole, including advertising and Internet-based museum tours.
"Our relationship with the museum is up in the air right now," Richard Nadeau said. He
Since her firing, Norris worked at a Kansas City Jewish Museum exhibition as a curator, and as vice president of the College Art Administration Conference in her efforts to keep busy
"Every museum director has people that don't like them," Norris said. "If those people have tenure, and the director doesn't, the director can get fired."
"I had made commitments to do quite a few things that were very time consuming. I've been trying to move on with those," Norris said.
— Edited by Ryan Greene
said he understood the University's right to fire Norris, but did not agree with the way the provost's office handled the firing.
Richard Nadeau said the advisory committee was not informed that Norris was being reviewed, let alone that the administration was considering letting her go.
"If someone serves for 16 years, they should be honored, not treated like their presence didn't even matter," he said.
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