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Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to Be Sent to New York for Trial
 WASHINGTON -- Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and four others accused in the attacks will be put on criminal trial in New York, Attorney General Eric Holder is expected to announce later Friday.
| Brilliant, Bambi, just brilliant. It's a guaranteed media circus for starters, and it'll likely compromise a big chunk of our intel assets just as the 1993 WTC bombing trial did. All so you can look good to the progressive Left, many of whom would like Khalid's birthday to be a national holiday. |
The decision, described by people familiar with the matter, is part of wider announcement planned on how to bring to justice detainees held at the Guantanamo Bay prison. It's the first set of decisions before a Monday deadline on how to deal with the more than 200 prisoners remaining at the facility, which President Barack Obama has ordered closed.
Also expected in the announcement Friday will be plans to hold a military tribunal for Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, alleged to have planned the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole.
President Barack Obama, speaking after a meeting in Tokyo with Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, sought to assure Americans that Mr. Mohammed "will be subject to the most exacting demands of justice." The meeting ended as news was breaking about Mr. Muhammad's trial.
| Most exacting for the prosecution, of course, but the defense legal team will have the usual assortment of connivers and sharps. They won't be interested in 'justice' as we know it ... |
Mr. Mohammed's trial in New York was widely expected since the Obama administration announced a preference to hold criminal trials, instead of military commissions for terror suspects held at Guantanamo. New York's Manhattan U.S. attorney competed with the district in northern Virginia, home to the Pentagon, to prosecute the 9/11 accused and senior al Qaeda leader. A team of prosecutors from both districts will handle the government's case, people familiar with the matter said.
Formal charges aren't expected to be announced for another few weeks. Mr. Mohammed has claimed authorship of the attacks, but he has also accused U.S. interrogators of torturing him.
| Right out of the al-Q playbook, and Alinsky's as well ... |
U.S. officials have acknowledged the use of harsh tactics, including water boarding, a technique intended to simulate drowning, which Mr. Obama and other government officials have called torture.
Posted by: Steve White 2009-11-13 |
