After weeks of controversy over its proposal to hold a civilian terror trial in New York, the administration of US President Barack Obama gave ground on Friday and revived the possibility of using a military tribunal to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, professed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Neither Attorney-General Eric Holder nor White House spokesman Robert Gibbs ruled out a military trial when asked about the Obama administration’s options.
Trying Mohammed in military court would mark a further political retreat from Holder’s announcement last year that the five Sept. 11 suspects now held at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, would be tried in federal court in New York.
The Obama administration is trying to head off a possible vote in the US Senate that could stop any terror suspects currently held at Guantanamo from being brought to the US to face a civilian trial. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has proposed the legislation after losing a vote last year on the issue.
At stake is the public’s perception of the administration’s handling of national security, already shaken last year by strong congressional opposition to transferring any Guantanamo detainees to US soil. A defeat in Congress over the trial issue could embolden the Republican minority to raise national security concerns in the congressional elections this year.
The prospect of such a vote could indicate how many moderate Democrats have abandoned Obama on the issue.
White House officials said on Friday that Obama and his top advisers would play a direct role in ultimately deciding how to prosecute Mohammed. The administration initially decided to try the five terror defendants in New York but have since appeared to backtrack.
As a result of Holder’s decision to seek civilian prosecution, pending military charges brought by the administration of former US president George W. Bush against the five suspects were dismissed last month. Those military charges could now be revived.
The administration is reconsidering Holder’s plan to put the five men on trial in a federal court in the New York City borough of Manhattan, site of the destroyed World Trade Center, after New York officials balked at security and logistics complications.
“Obviously there are efforts on Capitol Hill through legislation to restrict either the type of or the venue of a trial for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his coconspirators. That, by definition, involves the White House and ultimately the president,” Gibbs said.
“So since this effort has moved from strictly a Justice Department decision to something that’s in the legislative arena, the White House — and by definition the president — are involved,” he said.
Gibbs also suggested critics’ opposition is disingenuous.
“Some of the people that you hear now that are opposed to the trial in New York were in November supportive of the trial,” Gibbs said.
The White House insisted it is sensitive to their concerns.
“We’re going to take into account security and logistical concerns that those individuals now have,” Gibbs said. “The cost of the trial, obviously, is one thing.”
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