Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

9/11, Barack Obama, Congress, Debra Burlingame, detainees, Guantanamo, indefinite detention, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Military Commissions, National Security, Thompson prison, Tim Brown

Moving danger? So what if Obama is reconsidering moving 9/11 trials

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“In what communities in the United States of America are children required to walk by military conveys and snipers on a daily basis on their way to school?” — unidentified lower Manhattan resident, addressing New York City’s Community Board 1 meeting, January 27, 2010, just before the Board voted 42 to 0 to ask the Obama administration to move the 9/11 trials.

Be very skeptical of reports saying the Obama administration is “strongly” considering moving the 9/11 trials out of lower Manhattan. Otherwise, this CBS report fairly describes what is going on. (My fellow co-founders of the 9/11 Never Forget Coalition, Debra Burlingame in cameo and Tim Brown briefly interviewed, appear within it):

Taking on the task of hosting the 9/11 terror trials and housing indefinitely detained terrorists in Newburgh, NY and Thomson, IL, respectively, outwardly appear as economic boons to those desperate economies. Why should the danger just be shifted from Chinatown and lower Manhattan to somewhere else? It would not solve the national security risks of a federal trial. It moves the danger to ill-equipped rural civilian populaces. It does nothing to lower the billion dollar cost for both the trial and detention. (The annual operating cost of the detention facility at Gitmo is $100 million.)

Congress must fix the law. It must restore national security solely to the elected branches, remove judges from the conduct of war, prosecute war criminals while protecting our secrets, detain captured enemies for as long as necessary, and isolate detainees from any civilian populace. Those are the things an overwhelming majority of Americans want done.

Barring those steps being codified in statute, terror trials and detentions should remain at Guantanamo. This is not a pipe dream yet it will not get done if America is lolled back to sleep thinking “we won” because the Obama administration is reportedly “strongly” considering moving the trials. To put it another way, I’ll remind you of an old Army axiom to troops: Stay alert; stay alive.

9/11, Abdulmutallab, Barack Obama, Eric Holder, Flight 253, Gitmo, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Military Commissions

AG Eric Holder ‘not scared’ what KSM might say yet dodges reporter’s questions on 9/11 trial (Update: Bloomberg sings)

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Attorney General Eric Holder dodged a reporter’s questions yesterday about the 9/11 trials by sending security to block a clearly marked Fox News crew from approaching him. While Mr. Holder testified on November 18, 2009 that he was, “not scared of what Khalid Sheikh Mohammed might say at trial,” he has noticeably avoided tough questions since that day.

One might ask Mr. Holder if he is considering moving the 9/11 trial out of New York City and back to a Military Commissions. Many want to know who at the DOJ sent in the clean team with instructions to read Miranda warnings to Abdulmuttalab on Christmas Day, whereupon the Flight 253 bomber went silent and the gathering of intelligence ended. In addition, is there a Plan B for closing Gitmo if Congress does not lift the restrictions on moving those there to the United States for detention purposes?

On a related note, the advisory community board that encompasses the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan where the 9/11 trials would take place voted last night to ask the Obama administration to consider moving them elsewhere. [Added note: The New York Post reports that the board’s vote was unanimous, 42 to 0.] One resident had a pointed question that the Attorney General should also answer:

“In what communities in the United States of America are children required to walk by military conveys and snipers on a daily basis on their way to school?”

You can run, Mr. Holder, but you can not hide from the American people forever your views and plans on national security.

Update: New York City Mayor Bloomberg joins the chorus asking the trials to be moved. (Most are suggesting they be held on a military installation. Great idea! How about at Gitmo, using the military commissions Congress modified last year and President Obama signed into law?)