And they were given a prime-time podium in the briefing room built for up to 60 media members. Sixteen organizations were there last week, ranging from Al Jazeera to The Washington Times.

``The question is whether President Obama and the current administration will delay justice for us,'' said Melissa Long of Leesburg, Va., whose boyfriend was killed on 9/11 and who later married a man who lost his parents that day.

WRONG MESSAGE?

``If given the choice, these men would do it over again,'' she said after watching three prisoners make brief war-court appearances. Closing the prison camps, she said, ``makes us look foolish and weak and invites more attacks.''

It is no coincidence that the observers are such ferocious defenders of Guantánamo, said John Gerardo, a Defense Department civilian who manages the victim lottery system.

Although the guests are picked at random, family members self-select in volunteering.

At times, Gerardo said, the lottery has chosen family members who are critics of the camps and court. But those people have decided against traveling there because of their opposition.

A Fox News Channel correspondent suggested to Reiss that her message would be an unpopular one in the White House.

Reiss said her son's death had left her inconsolable, she said, and she ``never recovered'' and is determined to speak out against the closure policy of the president she endorsed last year as, in her words, ``A Mama for Obama.''

``I have a right to say, `Mr. President, you are making a mistake.' I'm a patriotic American. I have the right to say, `I don't agree with you,''' she said. ``I didn't have the right to say that for eight years. I'm saying that now.''