9/11 Families Watch Pretrial Hearings For Attack Suspects

A retired New York firefighter who was critically injured on 9/11 says it's been "a long ordeal" leading
up to this week's pretrial hearings for five men charged in the terrorist attacks.

Robert Reeg spoke Monday at the Fort Hamilton Army base in Brooklyn.

He was among the 9/11 families and responders watching the Cuba proceedings via closed-circuit television in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Maryland.

He says those attending "want justice."

The suspects include the self-professed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Reeg says he'd felt "mentally waterboarded" since a 2009 decision to drop earlier military-commission charges. Congress then blocked civilian trials amid opposition to bringing the defendants to U.S. soil.

The public can watch the proceedings at Fort Meade, in Maryland.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)