Attorney General Eric Holder Announces Terror Trials in New York City

Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and four of his accused conspirators will be coming to New York in about three weeks for a criminal trial. The location where he will likely be held is in Lower Manhattan, at the Metropolitan Correction center close to the WTC and the Brooklyn Bridge. The accused 9-11 mastermind will be tried under the same due process laws to which American citizens are entitled.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced the decision at an 11:00 news conference today. A detention and trial in lower Manhattan will present many problems. Besides being affronted by the offense of having the Al Quaeda operatives who killed close to 3000 people at the World Trade Center site, the trial will present traffic, security, and budgeting problems for the city of New York, already struggling with declining tax revenues and job loss.

While President Obama, speaking from Tokyo, said that Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and the other alleged planners of the attacks would "be subject to the most exacting standards of justice," it's likely that the adjudicative process will be subject to the paralysis of unending defense trial motions. The methods by which information was obtained from and about the prisoners will itself be subject to scrutiny and, if the trial follows typical patterns of civilian trials, much of the evidence will be contested by the defense and some of the evidence is likely to be disallowed.

Yet, outrage is widespread and likely to widen the gap between Obama supporters and his critics. Representative Peter King, of New York, stated to a Fox News reporter that Obama's decision to bring the accused terrorists to New York for trial was the "worst decision by an American president in history."

Debra Burlingame, whose brother died in the 9/11 attacks, said she knew such a decision was forthcoming from the Obama administration. In a voice sounding like a combination of tears and outrage, Burlingame said she was outraged that the men accused of planning and implementing the attack were being brought within a few blocks from ground zero. "

"It's going to be agony, and these men wanted to plead guilty in military court , said Burlingame.

Burlingame pointed out that, had that been allowed by the government, there would be no need of opening raw wounds for victim families. Burlingame feared that it would take "years" just to examine the evidence presented in 5,000 documents. Compounding the difficulty is the fact that Khalid Sheikh Mohammad was water boarded and says his confession was obtained under torture. The Obama administration has outlawed water boarding or other measures in interrogations it regards as extreme.

Tim Brown, a New York firefighter and founder of a victim support group thebravest.com, says he "doesn't understand the Obama decision." Interviewed on Fox New by Juliet Huddy, Brown says he considers the World Trade Center an attack of war and to treat the alleged perpetrators as civilian criminals is an insult to firefighters, civilians, and families of victims. Brown sees the civilian trials as providing a platform for the defendants and their supporters to spew hatred of the U.S.

His organization of concerned citizens and firefighters

Contacted by phone, former New York Governor George Pataki pointed out the potential for a similar propaganda fiasco, recalling the trials following the 1993 Twin Towers World Trade Center attacks. Pataki says a criminal trial in New York jeopardizes our security and reveals secrets to terrorists. He used the example that Usama Bin Laden was tipped off to U.S. investigative interest by information obtained during that civilian trial.

"I think this is a disgrace," Pataki said.

The prevalent feeling of those interviewed this morning on Fox News was outrage but the criminal trial proceedings are supported by another Fox interview with Democratic Representative Joe Sestak of Pennsylvania. Sestak told Fox News' Bill Hemmer that it was important to uphold American ideals, and objected to the means by which investigators obtained information from suspects in the 9-11 attacks.