GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba — At the war court Tuesday, the alleged Sept. 11 mastermind pressed his military judge to reveal his religious affiliation — and the Marine colonel presiding at the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorism trial made it clear that he is not Jewish.
The curious scene took place in the voir dire, ahead of the military mass murder trial, in which lawyers question a judge on his potential bias at trial.
Since Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the accused al-Qaeda kingpin and Sept. 11 architect, is acting as his attorney, he was allowed to question his judge, Marine Col. Ralph Kohlmann.
At issue was the judge’s refusal — on grounds it was not relevant — to answer written questions about his religion.
“(President) Bush said this is a crusader war and Osama bin Laden said this is a holy war against the crusades,” said Mohammed, insisting his questions were relevant to determine whether Kohlmann were a religious extremist. “If you were part of Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson’s group,” he said, offering an example, “then you would not be impartial.”
The judge relented, replying that he was currently unaffiliated with a church “because I’ve moved so often.” In the past, he said, he had worshiped at “various Lutheran churches and Episcopal churches.”
At that point, Sept. 11 co-defendant Ramzi Binalshibh, a former resident of Hamburg, Germany, blurted out: “As far as I know your last name is a Jewish name, not a Christian name.” Kohlmann denied it.
“With regard to your observation about my heritage and background,” he said, “it’s actually inaccurate. And I’ll leave it at that.”
Much of Tuesday’s hearing was expected to be devoted to the questioning of the judge by the Sept. 11 accused. Other motions being argued this week will revolve around access to evidence, defense planning and resources.
All five of the alleged terrorists were in court, unshackled and sitting at their defense tables in the white uniforms of the prison camp compliant.
The hearing was delayed by a day after Binalshibh refused to leave his cell.
The judge allowed his co-defendants to write him notes that coaxed him back to court, rather than have guards employ a tackle-and-shackle technique called a forced cell extraction.
