The Pentagon's senior judge overseeing terror trials at Guantanamo Bay dropped charges Thursday against an al-Qaida suspect in the 2000 USS Cole bombing, upholding President Barack Obama's order to freeze military tribunals there.

The charges against suspected al-Qaida bomber Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri marked the last active Guantanamo war crimes case.

The legal move by Susan J. Crawford, the top legal authority for military trials at Guantanamo, brings all cases into compliance with Obama's Jan. 22 executive order to halt terrorist court proceedings at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Crawford withdrew the charges against al-Nashiri. However, new charges can be brought again later, and al-Nashiri will remain in prison for the time being.

"It was her decision, but it reflects the fact that the president has issued an executive order which mandates that the military commissions be halted, pending the outcome of several reviews of our operations down at Guantanamo," Morrell said late Thursday night.

The ruling also gives the White House time to review the legal cases of all 245 terror suspects held there and decide whether they should be prosecuted in the U.S. or released to other nations.

Obama was to meet with families of the USS Cole and 9/11 victims at the White House on Friday afternoon and may announce the move.

Seventeen U.S. sailors died on Oct. 12, 2000, when al-Qaida suicide bombers steered an explosives-laden boat into the Cole, a guided-missile destroyer, as it sat in a Yemen port.

The Pentagon last summer charged al-Nashiri, a Saudi Arabian, with "organizing and directing" the bombing and planned to seek the death penalty in the case.

In his Jan. 22 order, Obama promised to shut down the Guantanamo prison within a year. The order also froze all Guantanamo detainee legal cases pending a three-month review as the Obama administration decides where — or whether — to prosecute the suspects who have been held there for years, most without charges.

Two military judges granted Obama's request for a delay in other cases.

But a third military judge, Army Col. James Pohl, defied Obama's order by scheduling a Feb. 9 arraignment for al-Nashiri at Guantanamo. That left the decision on whether to continue to Crawford, whose delay on announcing what she would do prompted widespread concern at the Pentagon that she would refuse to follow orders and allow the court process to continue.

Retired Navy Cmdr. Kirk S. Lippold, the commanding officer of the Cole when it was bombed in Yemen in October 2000, said he will be among family members of Cole and 9/11 victims who are meeting with Obama at the White House on Friday afternoon.

Groups representing victims' families were angered by Obama's order, charging they had waited too long already to see the alleged attackers brought to court.

"I was certainly disappointed with the decision to delay the military commissions process," Lippold, now a defense adviser to Military Families United, said in an interview Thursday night. "We have already waited eight years. Justice delayed is justice denied. We must allow the military commission process to go forward."

Crawford was appointed to her post in 2007 by then-President George W. Bush. She was in the news last month when she said interrogation methods used on one suspect at Guantanamo amounted to torture. The Bush administration had maintained it did not torture.

Last year, al-Nashiri said during a Guantanamo hearing that he confessed to helping plot the Cole bombing only because he was tortured by U.S. interrogators. The CIA has admitted he was among terrorist suspects subjected to waterboarding, which simulates drowning, in 2002 and 2003 while being interrogated in secret CIA prisons.

This article is from the Associated Press.

W-T-F? The new economic plan, now at $900 BILLion dollars, includes $11 billion in tax breaks for car purchases. But, hey, at least they got rid of the $246 million tax break for movie producers. Again, W-T-F?

<blockquote>Associated Press

<strong>Obama economic plan now tops $900 billion</strong>

The cost of President Barack Obama's economic recovery plan is now above $900 billion after the Senate added money for medical research and tax breaks for car purchases.

It could go higher Wednesday if a tax break for homebuyers is made more generous, even as centrists in both parties promise to clear away spending items that won't jump-start the economy right away.

In an interview on CNN, Obama signaled a willingness to drop items that "may not really stimulate the economy right now." He also signaled he'll try to remove "buy American" provisions in the legislation to avoid a possible trade war.

In a victory for auto manufacturers and dealers, Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., won a 71-26 vote to allow most car buyers to claim an income tax deduction for sales taxes paid on new autos and interest payments on car loans. The break would cost $11 billion over the coming decade but could mean savings of $1,500 on a $25,000 car.

"Just as we need to get the housing market going, we need to get auto sales going," said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.

Wednesday's session could produce even more generous savings for homebuyers.

Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., is pressing for a tax credit of up to $15,000 for everyone who buys a home this year, at a cost of $18.5 billion. The pending measure would award a $7,500 tax credit only to first-time homebuyers.

At the same time, centrist senators, including Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, are seeking to cut tens of billions of dollars from the legislation. They're operating with the blessing of Democratic leaders, who hope a successful effort could attract some GOP votes for Obama's plan.

Democratic leaders conceded they may soon be obliged to cut billions of dollars from the measure. "It goes without saying if it's going to pass in the Senate, it has to be bipartisan," said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranking Democratic leader, adding that rank-and-file lawmakers in both parties want to reduce the cost of the bill.

In a series of skirmishes Tuesday, the Senate turned back a proposal to add $25 billion for public works projects and voted to remove a $246 million tax break for movie producers. Both moves were engineered by Republicans who are critical of the bill's size and voice skepticism of its ability to create jobs.

But several hours later, GOP conservatives didn't contest approval of a $6.5 billion increase in research funding for the politically popular National Institutes of Health. That amendment, by Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, drove the price tag of Obama's plan just above $900 billion.

Democratic leaders have pledged to have the bill ready for Obama's signature by mid-month, and in a round of network television interviews Tuesday, the president underscored the urgency. He told CNN that even three months ago, most economists would not have predicted the economy was "in as bad of a situation as we are in right now."

He also spoke out against efforts to require the use of domestic steel in construction projects envisioned in the bill, telling Fox News, "We can't send a protectionist message."

Mikulski's office put the cost of the automobile tax break she sponsored at $11 billion over 10 years. It would apply to the first $49,500 in the price of a new car purchased between last Nov. 12 and Dec. 31, 2009. Individuals with incomes of up to $125,000 and couples earnings as much as $250,000 could qualify, including those who do not itemize their deductions.

Republicans are expected to seek a vote later in the week on a plan to inject the government into the mortgage industry in an attempt to drive down interest rates on mortgages to as low as 4 percent. Democrats treaded carefully on the proposal, saying they would consider it but also claiming the $300 billion Republicans allocated would not come close to accommodating the demand.</blockquote>

Barack Obama's administration seems too focused on terrorists - and not in a good way.

First, his main priority once in office was to close Guantanamo Bay. Now, a supposedly bipartisan bill, HR 559, has been passed in an effort to clear mistaken names from watch lists. The bill even makes the Homeland Security Department maintain a "comprehensive cleared list."

Yes, HR 559 really was a bipartisan bill, only opposed by 3 people, but it was sponsored by Democrat Yvette D. Clarke in the first place.

I'm all for making sure that people are not wrongly jailed or accused, but Obama's fixation on keeping the terrorists happy just frightens me. I'd feel much safer if Obama would focus on actually tightening security instead of catering to the terrorists.

Bill to Clear Mistaken Names From Watch Lists Passes

The House passed a bill Tuesday aimed at helping people who have been misidentified as terrorists clear their names from government watch lists and databases.

The bill (HR 559), sponsored by Yvette D. Clarke, D-N.Y., passed by a vote of 413-3.

"It is important to keep in mind that the watch list is only as good as the information on it," said House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss.

The bill would require the Homeland Security secretary to establish a "timely and fair" process of appeal and redress for people wrongly delayed or prevented from boarding a flight, among other things, because of an erroneous match with a terrorist watch list.

In addition, the bill would task the Homeland Security secretary with creating an Office of Appeals and Redress and maintain a "comprehensive cleared list" of people who have been inappropriately included on terror watch lists or databases.

The "cleared" list would be supplied to the Homeland Security Department's component agencies, such as the Transportation Security Administration and Customs and Border Protection, as well as state and local government agencies and airlines that use watch lists.

"This is a good bill," said Pete Olson, R-Texas. "This is a bipartisan bill."