Judge Considers Letting Sept. 11 Suspect Fire Lead Attorney

FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) -- A military judge is deciding whether a Guantanamo Bay detainee charged in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack can fire his lead defense attorney.

Army Col. James Pohl has scheduled arguments Thursday morning in a pretrial hearing in Cuba for Walid Bin Atash, one of five men accused of planning and aiding the 2001 attack.

Bin Atash said Wednesday he wants to replace civilian attorney Cheryl Bormann, but his reasons haven't been revealed. Pohl says the court must find good cause for severing their attorney-client relationship.

Replacing Bormannn could significantly delay the trial. Her successor would have to gain top-secret security clearance before getting up to speed on the case.

The Associated Press covered a closed-circuit video feed of the hearing at Fort Meade, near Baltimore.

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