Much of the world has forgotten about Guantanamo Bay. Even fewer are aware of the U.S. government’s fraught efforts to prosecute the five detainees accused of planning the 9/11 attacks, a case that has remained mired in pretrial proceedings for more than 15 years. Though ignored by most media outlets, Guantanamo’s military tribunal system has hosted a riveting courtroom drama to determine if a democracy has the legal and moral authority to prosecute the people it tortured.
The last half of 2024 is finally expected to bring a conclusion to the pretrial dispute that has occupied the core of the 9/11 case since its inception—whether the government’s most important evidence is tainted by the CIA’s past torture of the defendants at overseas black sites. This reckoning will determine the fate of U.S. accountability efforts for the worst-ever attacks on American soil and offer important lessons about the legal and policy choices made by the United States in the war on terror. John Ryan—one of just two reporters to cover the case regularly over the past decade—will provide coverage from Guantanamo’s highly secure court, building on the sources and expertise he has developed over 50 trips to the U.S. Naval Base.
