we specifically asked the attorney general about that timing and he insisted that the timing was not political. no decision was made with regard to where the trials will be held. but the conversations that we re having are ongoing and the political thing that you mentioned, the fact of the elections, is not part of the conversation. the bottom line is that even though five of the defendants are in custody, they re not charged either in the federal system or in the military commission system with the attacks of 9/11. shepard: katherine, thanks. we ll be right back.
was passed by congress, so they re going to proceed with this case and a lot riding on it, thomas. it s really the first big test of this new military commission system and whether or not the obama administration can proceed with its plans to try as many as 30 to 40 detainees under this new system will depend a lot on how this trial comes out. michael, explain to us about the jury pool and the selection. jury pool consists of military officers who are brought in, flown here to guantanamo and they re being questioned by prosecutors and defense lawyers now. they ll get chosen and they ll start hearing the case starting tomorrow. all right, michael isikoff in guantanamo bay for us. thank you so much, michael. south carolina authorities are investigating the beating of an inmate at a deteng center. surveillance video shows the deputy hitting an inmate dozens of times with a baton. the inmate suffered a broken
planting ieds to kill american soldiers. they got a confession from him calling his killing of special forces medic spear the proudest moment of his life, but there s one big problem. he was only a teenager at the time of the alleged incident and this has caused an outcry from human rights groups. here is his lawyer joe jackson talking about this. and, unfortunately, the president is starting the military commissions with a case of a child soldier. forever, obama s military conditions will start with a case against a child soldier. privately, pentagon officials acknowledge that this is not the case they would have wanted to start the new military commission system with. but publicly they say, look, teenagers get prosecutors for serious crimes all the time and there s no age limit in the military commissions act that
we re back with the most news in the morning. on the security watch this monday morning, the long delayed trial of gitmo detainee omar cotter set to begin this week. the canadian citizen is accused of killing a u.s. soldier in afghanistan eight years ago. it is the first trial under the obama administration s new guidelines for military commissions. homeland security correspondent jeanne meserve is following the story for us this morning live from washington. it is an understatement to say everybody s going to be watching this especially in legal circles and political circles to see how it goes down. reporter: that s right. cotter is the youngest guantanamo detainee and only westerner held there and his trial has drawn international criticism and is also being closely watched because it is the first test of the obama administration s revised military commission system. omar cotter, sobbing during an interrogation at guantanamo bay in 2003. for eight years, the young canadian has
presidential candidate wyclef jean is joining us live this hour. he is returning to haiti to run for president. it will take more than star power to save his country. we begin the hour on a security watch. he s the youngest gitmo detainee and the first to be tried under the obama administration. this could provide a glimpse in how the white house plans to punish detain knees in the future. our correspondent is following this case. who is he and what is he facing? reporter: well, he is the youngest detainee at guantanamo, only 15 and the only westerner, he s canadian. his trial has drawn international criticism and it is being closely watched as the first test of the revised military commission system under