Gitmo Trial Will Proceed After Judge Threatens Delay

Federal prosecutors will give lawyers for Osama bin Laden's ex-driver access to accused 9/11 planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed this weekend, ensuring that the first Guantanamo tribunal will begin Monday as scheduled, the Miami Herald reports. The judge in the case apparently forced the hand of the government lawyers prosecuting Salim Hamdan by threatening to delay the opening of the trial.

Mohammed and six other Gitmo prisoners have been at the heart of a lengthy dispute over Hamdan's defense. He says they can testify that he had no prior knowledge of the 9/11 attacks; prosecutors say alowing him access to them imperils national security. "We'll solve it," the chief prosecutor said today. "We'll be at trial." (More Salim Ahmed Hamdan stories.)