u/GooseberryGOLD

A U.S. military judge set June 5, 2028, as the trial date for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and three co-defendants accused of plotting the September 11, 2001, attacks. The date is 18 months later than the January 2027 start prosecutors had requested — the judge said the extra time is needed to resolve pretrial disputes, including what evidence can be presented. The ruling comes about three weeks before the 25th anniversary of the attacks.

Much of the coverage centers on the same basic fact — a nearly quarter-century gap between the attacks and an actual trial — but frames it differently. Some outlets emphasize the scale of the delay itself and the toll on victims' families who have waited decades for resolution, some noting past outrage over a 2024 plea deal (later blocked) that would have let defendants avoid the death penalty. Other coverage leans into the procedural mechanics: the case has been tied up for years over disputes about evidence obtained through interrogation methods now widely described as torture, and legal commentators note this 2028 date is itself only provisional and could slip again, as a previously scheduled 2021 trial did.

There's also a narrower but recurring thread in commentary: whether the length of pretrial litigation reflects a genuinely complicated legal situation (evidence admissibility, detainee treatment issues) or a broader failure of the military commission process at Guantanamo to function at all after two decades.

(Sources: The Guardian, CBS News, The New York Times, DW, Verity.news)

Given how long this process has already taken, is another delay to 2028 a reasonable cost of getting the legal process right, or a sign the system itself isn't working?