Wednesday’s pretrial hearing, which has been scheduled for months, followed a whiplash decision by Austin to revoke a plea deal that had been announced just two days prior last week. “What he did was illegal,” Eugene Fidell, who teaches military justice at Yale University and co-founded the National Institute of Military Justice, told CNN. But Sowards argued Wednesday that by revoking the deal, Austin was actually doing more harm to the families. While the terms of the pretrial agreement had not been released publicly, among them was the assurance that the detainees would answer questions by 9/11 victim family members. Sowards said family members had already “been submitting questions in good faith,” and expecting answers in return as part of the deal.

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Persons: Lloyd Austin, ”, ” Walter Ruiz, Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi, Austin, Susan Escallier, Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin ‘ Attash, Ruiz, “, ” Austin, ” Eugene Fidell, Gary Sowards, Mohammad, ” Sowards, Clayton Trivett, ’ ”, Austin “, Antony Blinken, “ I’m, Sowards, Wells Dixon, Majid Khan, Khan, Dixon, ” Dixon, Eugene Fidell’s Organizations: CNN —, Defense, Guantanamo, Pentagon, White, White House, Yale University, National Institute of Military, CNN, Military Commissions, Austin, Military, Australian, American, ”, Center for Constitutional Rights Locations: Guantanamo, Austin, Belize