News and Press Releases :: November 17, 2010

McKeon Statement on Ghailani Verdict

Washington, D.C.— Today Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, 36, was acquitted on all but one of 285 charges brought against him from the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Ghailani was convicted on one count of conspiracy to blow up a U.S. government building. 

U.S. Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.), the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, today released the following statement regarding the verdict delivered in the Ghailani terrorism case.

“Today’s verdict is a blow to the Administration’s failed terrorist detention and prosecution programs, which are not guided by the law of armed conflict as they should be.  While the Administration continues to grasp at the hope that trying terrorists in civilian courts will improve our standing in the international community, Congress has already provided the Administration with a bipartisan system to try terrorists in military commissionsm.  

“Early this week, I called on the Administration to work with members of the Armed Services Committee to craft a legislative framework for terrorist detention and prosecution that protects the homeland, respects the rule of law and upholds our high ideals.  Hopefully, the Ghailani verdict will encourage the Administration to work with us in a bipartisan manner to hold terrorists accountable for their crimes and keep them out of the United States."

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