Kohlmann ruled that three understood their rights enough to serve as their own attorneys -- Mohammed, 43, known to the CIA as KSM; his nephew, Baluchi, who spoke near-perfect English and explained he was qualified as a ''Microsoft-certified computer engineer''; and Waleed Bin Attash, 30, a Yemeni who allegedly trained some of the 9/11 hijackers at an Afghanistan camp.

At one point, after earning the right to defend himself, Bin Attash interjected with a question: ``If we are executed, will we be buried in Guantánamo or sent back to our home countries?''

Kohlmann didn't answer.

Mohammed struck a radical Muslim note in rejecting the court.

''I will not accept anybody, even if he is Muslim, if he swears to the American Constitution,'' he said, vowing to follow Islamic shariya and scorning the U.S. Constitution ``because it allows for same sexual marriage.''

The nephew, accused of sending money to the suicide squads, sounded more secular in his repudiation of the free legal services.

`NOT A CRIMINAL'

''I am in the wrong court. I am not a criminal. My case is political,'' he said. ``Even though the government tortured me free of charge for all these years, I cannot accept lawyers under these circumstances.''

Kohlmann withheld a decision on whether to let Bin al Shibh and Hawsawi act as their own lawyers, like the others, while keeping their Pentagon-appointed counsel as legal advisors.

Hawsawi's attorney, Army Maj. Jon Jackson, told the judge that he believed his client was intimidated by the others. He asked that his trial be severed from the others.

All the men had grown beards in captivity.

But Mohammed's appearance was the most striking. The Pakistani looked 20 years older than the disheveled man in a T-shirt who was rousted from his bed in the widely published photo from his 2003 capture. This Mohammed was tidily attired in pristine white tunic and turban -- and had grown a massive, mostly white, bushy beard that reached his chest.

He spoke in the broken English he learned as an engineering student in his 20s in North Carolina.

The eavesdrop-proof courtroom was specially designed to mute the alleged terrorist's audio feed, if they divulged national security secrets such as their treatment in CIA custody.

The CIA director, Air Force Gen. Michael V. Hayden, has confirmed agents employed a controversial technique called waterboarding on Mohammed. But he has not said where, nor has he specified other special interrogation tactics.

''I do not mention the torturing. I know this is a red line,'' Mohammed told the judge.