Human rights lawyer Joanne Mariner argues that the "outcome of military proceedings will enjoy none of the legitimacy of results reached in normal civilian trials.

No doubt, when the 35-year-old French citizen of Moroccan origin was indicted 21 months ago, many people thought the case would be over by now. As efforts continue to track down those who carried out the 11 March attacks on commuter trains in Madrid, suspicions now appear to focus mainly on  Islamic militants, perhaps linked to al-Qaeda.
But it has hardly started.
Individual groups or cells appear to have a high degree of autonomy, raising their own money, often through petty crime, and making contact with other groups only when necessary. Because they act so independently, getting rid of one cell does not end the problem, nor would capturing Bin Laden.
That cell was wakened for the embassy bombing, but it shows that al-Qaeda knew the area well and could operate there with some ease. And many crooks prefer dealing with the big places, where the sheer volume of money changing hands covers their tracks.
Analysts say it is the only group with the capacity to carry out such an attack, though some believe it would still have needed outside help. I picked up this next piece of coolness from Dave Zatz. It bombed the US embassy in Nairobi in 1998, killing 213 people. Share this articlewith the world:                           Note: Comments are owned by the poster.
Mr Acebes said all five were believed to be linked to the sale of the phone and falsification of the SIM card. "I believe the military trial threat is just rhetoric to pile on the pressure," says Professor Silliman, who heads the Center on Law, Ethics and National Security at Duke University, North Carolina. Some analysts believe Bin Laden himself had security training from the CIA.
The man in charge of the detainees, General Geoffrey Miller, said nothing was finalised yet.
The tank targets, I have to say, looked remarkably unscathed.
Hambali is reported to have arranged for Imam Samudra and others to train in al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan.
As well as the detainees, American justice will also be on trial and the base is already preparing for the global media invasion that will come with the first hearings.
In some cases, existing insurgent groups have been radicalised through contacts with al-Qaeda and drawn into a wider network.
He could face up to seven years in jail.
One of his key associates is thought to be Riduan Isamuddin, also known as Hambali, who fought the Soviets in Afghanistan. But even the suggestion of some kind of alliance marks another twist in the much disputed tale of the relationship between Zarqawi and Bin Laden.
"The ultimate goal is to allow families who have no access to lawyers to get access to them. Many of the most high-profile attacks, whether suicide bombings or kidnappings, have been claimed and attributed to Zarqawi's group. But there is a problem here with definition. After 1996 its headquarters and about a dozen training camps moved to Afghanistan, where Bin Laden forged a close relationship with the Taleban. But don't make the mistake of thinking that the two are identical. It seems unlikely that the hearings will proceed until the Supreme Court has dealt with the habeas corpus challenges - and that might not be for another year or so. At one trial in Germany, a witness said that Zarqawi had ordered his followers not to co-operate with al-Qaeda. US officials said they believed al-Qaeda had rebuffed these advances.
There was a flash and a loud bang.