Obama, Holder predict conviction in 9/11 case
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Eric Holder testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009,
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By DEVLIN BARRETT, Associated Press Writer Devlin
Barrett, Associated Press Writer </cite> – <abbr title="2009-11-18T18:37:49-0800" class="timedate">Wed Nov 18, 9:37 pm
ET</abbr>
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WASHINGTON – From opposite ends
of the globe, President Barack
Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder firmly rejected
criticism Wednesday of the planned New York trial of the professed Sept. 11 mastermind and predicted
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would be
exposed as a murderous coward, convicted and executed.
"Failure is not an option," Holder declared.
The president, in a series of TV interviews during his trip to Asia,
said those offended by the legal
rights accorded Mohammed by virtue of his facing a civilian trial rather
than a military tribunal
won't find it "offensive at all when he's convicted and when the death penalty
is applied to him."
Obama, who is a lawyer, quickly added that
he did not mean to suggest he was prejudging the outcome of Mohammed's trial.
"I'm not going to be in that courtroom," he said. "That's the job of the
prosecutors, the judge and the jury."
The president said in
interviews broadcast on NBC and CNN that experienced prosecutors in the case who
specialize in terrorism have offered assurances that "we'll convict this person
with the evidence they've got, going through our system."
In Washington, the Senate Judiciary Committee questioned Holder for
hours about his decision to send Mohammed and four others from the U.S. military detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to New York for trial in a federal courthouse blocks
from the site of the World Trade Center towers destroyed in the 9/11 attacks in
2001.
The attorney general said he is certain the men
will be convicted, but even if a suspect were acquitted, "that doesn't mean that
person would be released into our country."
Tempers flared
when Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.,
challenged Holder to say how a civilian trial could be the best idea, since
Mohammed had previously sought to plead guilty before a military
commission.
"How can you be more likely to get a conviction in
a (civilian) court than that?" pressed Kyl, to applause from some in the hearing
room.
The attorney general said his decision was not
based "on the whims or the desires of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. ... He will not select the
prosecution venue. I will. And I have."
Critics of Holder's decision
— mostly Republicans — have argued the trial will give Mohammed a world stage to
spout hateful rhetoric.
Holder said such concerns are misplaced,
because judges can control unruly defendants and any pronouncements by Mohammed
would only make him look worse.
"I have every confidence that the
nation and the world will see him for the coward that he is," Holder told the
committee. "I'm not scared of what Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has to say at trial —
and no one else needs to be, either."
Democrats on the panel were
largely supportive of the administration's decision.
"We're the most
powerful nation on earth; we have a justice system that is the envy of the
world. We will not be afraid," said Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.
Among the
spectators were some relatives of 9/11 victims who disagree with Holder's plan
to put Mohammed, the most senior al-Qaida suspect in U.S. custody, on public trial.
Opponents of the plan, including Holder's predecessor, Michael Mukasey, have accused
him of adopting a "pre-9/11" approach to terrorism.
Holder
emphatically denied that.
"We are at war,
and we will use every instrument of national power — civilian, military, law
enforcement, intelligence, diplomatic and others — to win," Holder said.
But South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham
called the decision "a perversion of justice" by putting wartime enemies into
the civilian criminal justice
system. "We're making history, and we're making bad history," Graham
said.
The attorney general said he does not
believe holding the trial in New
York — at a federal courthouse that has seen a number of high-profile
terrorism trials in recent decades — will increase the risk of terror attacks there.
He also voiced support for extra federal money for
the city to help safeguard the area while the trials are under way.
Alice Hoagland, whose son Mark Bingham died aboard Flight 93, spoke with
Holder after the hearing had ended. One of four jetliners hijacked on 9/11,
Flight 93 crashed into a Pennsylvania field after passengers rushed the cabin.
"We are heartsick and weary of the delays
and machinations," said Hoagland, of Redwood Estates, Calif.
Holder sought to reassure her there was evidence,
not yet made public, that makes federal court the best place to try Mohammed.
"I guess what I'm saying is trust me," the
attorney general said quietly, as reporters and security staff crowded around
the pair.
"I will trust you. I will defer
judgment," said Hoagland, though she added she still has serious doubts about
his plan.
