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For New York, 9/11 justice

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By PETER FINN and CARRIE JOHNSON

The Washington Post

Published: November 14, 2009

Updated: 11/14/2009 12:23 am

WASHINGTON - Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, and four co-conspirators will be tried in a Manhattan federal courthouse, the Justice Department announced Friday, the most concrete demonstration yet of the Obama administration's desire to reassert the primacy of the criminal justice system in responding to terrorist acts.

The decision, announced by Attorney General Eric Holder, could mean one of the highest-profile and highest-security terrorism trials in history would be set just blocks from where al-Qaida hijackers destroyed the World Trade Center, killing nearly 3,000 people.

In planning to transfer Mohammed and his co-defendants from the U.S. military detention center at Guantanamo Bay to civilian court, the administration takes a significant step toward reversing the Bush administration's practice of declaring suspected members of al-Qaida and related groups to be unlawful enemy combatants subject to extrajudicial or military detention.

The decision also adds momentum to the administration's lagging effort to close the military prison camp on the southeast tip of Cuba.

"For over 200 years, our nation has relied on a faithful adherence to the rule of law to bring criminals to justice and provide accountability to victims," Holder said.

"Once again we will ask our legal system to rise to that challenge, and I am confident it will answer the call with fairness and justice."

The effort to criminalize the events of Sept. 11 and accord Mohammed the full panoply of rights enjoyed in a federal trial has infuriated and dismayed Republicans as well as some organizations of victims' families.

They argued that military commissions at Guantanamo Bay offered a secure environment, a proper forum for war crimes and adequate legal protections for a ruthless enemy.

"The Obama Administration's irresponsible decision to prosecute the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks in New York City puts the interests of liberal special interest groups before the safety and security of the American people," said House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.

"The possibility that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-conspirators could be found 'not guilty' due to some legal technicality just blocks from ground zero should give every American pause."

The trial of the man the 9/11 Commission Report calls a "superterrorist" probably will draw extraordinary attention and could burrow into the raw details of the Sept. 11 plot and its fallout, from its conception in Afghanistan to the treatment of al-Qaida prisoners at CIA "black sites" around the world.

Officials said they hope that in placing Mohammed before a jury of ordinary Americans, he will be denied the warrior status he craves.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other officials applauded the decision, but on the streets of Lower Manhattan, the financial district wreathed in ash when the World Trade Center came down in 2001, reaction was more nuanced.

"The jurisdiction of the crime is New York, so I guess it makes sense," said Gwen Taylor, an office worker grabbing lunch at the All American Diner. "However, I would rather try them in Guantanamo. Bringing them here and trying them here may cause other radicals to show up and protest. Or it might provoke them into doing something in support of their brethren."

Speaking in Japan, President Barack Obama said, "I am absolutely convinced that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be subject to the most exacting demands of justice. The American people insist on it, and my administration will insist on it."

The administration is required to give Congress 45 days' notice of its intent to transfer detainees, so the Sept. 11 defendants will not immediately be moved to the United States.

The administration also announced that Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi accused of orchestrating the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000 when it was docked off the coast of Yemen, will be tried by a military commission.

Holder said one factor in deciding to keep Nashiri's case within the military justice system was that the attack targeted a U.S. warship docked in foreign territory rather than a civilian target on American soil. Seventeen sailors were killed in the bombing.

While in CIA custody, Mohammed was subjected to a series of coercive interrogation techniques, culminating in waterboarding. Asked about the prospect that defense attorneys could use the acknowledged waterboarding to derail the case, Holder said he would not have authorized the prosecutions were he not convinced of a good outcome.

Prosecutors still must present evidence before a New York grand jury, and while the specific charges are not known, Holder said he is all but certain to order the death penalty against the five Sept. 11 conspirators.

Mohammed and his co-defendants have said at Guantanamo Bay that they want to be executed so as to achieve martyrdom.

"The transfer of these cases is a huge victory for restoring due process and the rule of law, " said Anthony Romero, executive director of the ACLU.

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