MIAMI _ A top Pentagon official sought to extinguish a firestorm of fury Wednesday by publishing a three-paragraph apology to America's legal community for casting as dishonorable any attorney who offers free-of-charge legal service to U.S.-held captives at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

By BEN FOX SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A military defense lawyer asked the Pentagon on Wednesday to move the trial for an alleged bodyguard of Osama bin Laden to the U.S., saying difficult access for witnesses and the media make it impossible to hold it fairly at Guantanamo Bay.