White House: No decision on terror trial
By Tom BruneNewsday
November 14, 2010
WASHINGTON - The White House Saturday pushed back on a report that its administration has concluded it can't try self-proclaimed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed in a federal civilian court and so will continue to hold him as detainee until after the 2012 presidential election.
No decision has been made about how Mohammed and his alleged accomplices will be brought to justice or even what the timing is for that decision, a White House official told Newsday Saturday.
The decision-making process continues, the official added, referring to the internal discussion and debate that has been going on since the planned New York trial was put on hold in January.
The official's White House statement came after The Washington Post Saturday reported that unnamed officials said the Obama administration had concluded it can't put Mohammed and his four alleged accomplices on trial in New York because of opposition in Congress and from New York.
The article reflected the political reality that a conservative GOP is poised to take control of the House in January and would not support a trial, but also suggested the liberal Democratic base would not support a military tribunal.
The Post reported that President Barack Obama will make the final decision and has not ruled out a New York trial, but said if one were held it would be unlikely to happen before the 2012 presidential election. And even then it would take a change in the political climate.
Meantime, sources told the Post, Mohammed and accused terrorists would remain in military custody as detainees under the laws of war, a status defended by Bush administration officials and upheld by federal courts.
The fate of Mohammed resurfaced last week when Attorney General Eric Holder said a decision on the trials was close. Holder's remark was in response to reporters questions prompted by a Washington Post editorial calling for the administration to make a decision on the trial.
Responding to Holder last week, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said a New York trial should and will "never" be held. Referring to the Post story Saturday, Schumer said,
"The administration seems to be coming to the realization that the trial should not and cannot be held in New York and that is a good thing."
In an interview with Newsday, Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford), the incoming House Homeland Security Committee chairman, said he hasn't been briefed on the deliberations and he protested their secrecy. But he said, "Detention is fine with me. I don't think we have to hold a trial."
King has argued that if Mohammed had to be tried, it should be before a military commission at Guantánamo.
"If they do decide to detain KSM for the duration of the war, I think that's perfectly legal," he said. "That was a principle of President [George W.] Bush that we have a right to do it."