Iraqi held by US at Guantanamo pleads guilty to war crimes

By BEN FOX
Associated Press

FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) — An Iraqi man who has been held at the Guantanamo Bay detention center for more than 15 years has pleaded guilty to war crimes charges for his role in al-Qaida attacks against U.S. and allied forces along with civilians in Afghanistan. The pleas by the prisoner known as Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi before a military commission at the U.S. base in Cuba amounts to a legal milestone. It’ll help in efforts to resolve the long-stalled Guantanamo tribunals and wind down operations at the detention center. Prosecuting Hadi al-Iraqi has been delayed for years by some of the same legal and logistical challenges that have held up other Guantanamo cases as well as by his deteriorating spinal condition that has left him partially paralyzed.