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Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009

Sept. 11 mastermind, 4 others to go to trial in N.Y.

WASHINGTON -- Setting the stage for a historic criminal trial, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced Friday that the government would prosecute the self-proclaimed architect of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and four others in a civilian courthouse just blocks from the scene of their alleged crimes.

Americans - especially the victims and family members of those who perished in the suicide hijackings - "deserve the opportunity to see the alleged plotters of those attacks held accountable in court," Holder said. "After eight years of delay, those allegedly responsible ... will finally face justice." He said he expected prosecutors to seek the death penalty.

Holder's decision raised a raft of legal, political and ethical questions, including what kind of evidence will be used against men whom the U.S. government subjected to brutal interrogation methods. In the case of alleged plot mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the CIA has acknowledged using a simulated drowning technique known as waterboarding, which many legal experts have said is torture.

"There could be all kinds of problems with the evidence. Some of it might be linked to waterboarding. Other evidence may have come from intelligence-gathering overseas," said Matthew Waxman, a Columbia University law professor who served as a top Pentagon lawyer in the Bush administration.

"That said, the government would not be moving forward if they were not confident they can prove their case" with untainted evidence, Waxman said.

And the trial almost certainly would turn into a propaganda forum for the accused terrorists, Waxman said. "We hold our trials in the open, and that gives defendants an opportunity to spew propaganda," he said. "They will try to the put the U.S. government on trial."

Holder's long-awaited decision drew praise from some and harsh condemnation from others, including key Republicans in Congress.

"It is fitting that 9/11 suspects face justice near the World Trade Center site where so many New Yorkers were murdered," New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said.

Some survivors and family members of the nearly 2,900 people who died that morning - in New York, at the Pentagon and in a field in Pennsylvania - also welcomed the news. Several indicated that they wanted to witness in person the trials of Mohammed and the other alleged al-Qaida operatives whom Holder said soon would be indicted for their key roles in the attacks.

Others shared the concerns of some legal experts that such a public trial would give Mohammed and his alleged associates a very public soapbox to exhort sympathizers to join in their jihad, or holy war, against the United States.

Debra Burlingame, whose brother piloted one of the hijacked planes, said she also feared that a public trial might result in the attacks being overshadowed by details of alleged CIA torture and by "the prospect of these barbarians being turned into victims by their attorneys."

Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, said holding the terrorism trials in civilian court could result in acquittals, mistrials or shorter sentences. He vowed that Republicans would redouble their recent efforts to block the proceedings through a congressional vote.

But Holder, who called this the toughest decision he has had to make as attorney general, said he believed the suspects would be convicted based on evidence that would be allowed at trial - including "information that has not been publicly released."

"I am confident," Holder said, "in the ability of our courts to provide these defendants a fair trial, just as they have for over 200 years."

To the extent that there are political consequences, the attorney general said, "Well, you know, I'll just have to take my lumps."

President Barack Obama, traveling in Japan Friday, said he was "absolutely convinced that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be subjected to the most exacting demands of justice."

The five detainees - including two alleged top aides to Mohammed, his nephew and an al-Qaida paymaster - had been facing trial before military commissions at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, before the Obama administration said it wanted to reassess the way the United States treated and tried terrorism suspects.