To some 9/11 families, hearing is 'a joke'

Moans, sighs and exclamations erupted Saturday as relatives of Sept. 11 victims watched four closed-circuit TV feeds from Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, that showed the self-proclaimed mastermind of the attacks and co-defendants trying to slow their arraignment, a move that drew outbursts from viewers of "c'mon, are you kidding me?"

"It's actually a joke, it feels ridiculous," said Jim Riches, whose firefighter son, Jimmy, died at the World Trade Center. Riches watched the hearing from a movie theater at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, one of four U.S. military bases where the arraignment was broadcast live for victims' family members, survivors and emergency personnel who responded to the attacks.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the other defendants were arraigned on charges that include terrorism and murder. During the hearing, they generally refused to cooperate.

Like other family members, Riches expressed frustration about the proceedings.

After his first glimpse inside the military courtroom, he said, "It looks like it's going to be a very long trial. . . . They want what they want."

Riches, a retired firefighter who worked digging up remains in the days after Sept. 11, said he carried with him dark memories of the days after the attacks, and he hoped that if convicted the five men would be executed.

About 60 people representing 30 families were in the theater at Fort Hamilton. The other bases providing feeds were Fort Devens in Massachusetts, Joint Base McGuire Dix in New Jersey, and Fort Meade in Maryland, the only one open to the public.

Six families chosen by lottery traveled to Guantánamo to see the arraignment in person.