U.S. Attorneys are vying to prosecute Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in federal court, national security be damned:
The U.S. attorney’s offices in Alexandria and Manhattan are embroiled in intense competition over the opportunity to prosecute Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and his co-conspirators, according to Justice Department and law enforcement sources.
At a time when many state officials are determined to keep suspected terrorists out of their jurisdictions, federal prosecutors are in a hidden struggle to have potentially history-making trials held in their districts. “There’s competition on all of these guys, and that’s to be expected — these are big cases,” said a Justice Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity Monday because of the sensitivity of the deliberations.
The two U.S. attorney’s offices have a history of competition, ever since Alexandria prosecutors were chosen to make the case against Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person involved in the Sept. 11 conspiracy to be tried in the United States. The competition over Moussaoui grew so intense that it led to a compromise: The case was brought in Alexandria by a Justice Department team that included a New York-based prosecutor.
This is all about them, the U.S. Attorneys, not “swift and certain justice.” It would be the case of their lifetimes, pave the path to their fame and glory, guarantee them book deals and partnerships at white shoe law firms after government service, and only end up an enormous propaganda victory for al Qaeda.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is competent, not crazy, and wants to represent himself. All the case law and prior judicial rulings indicate that if his trial is held in federal court, he has an absolute right to act as his own attorney. That would mean discovery and KSM, a sworn enemy of the United States, getting to see all the classified intelligence against him even while our troops are in combat and our intelligence agents on the battlefield trying to defeat al Qaeda. The Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA) was not designed to handle terrorism cases against enemy combatants during time of war. Ultimately, the government would have to show KSM the intelligence or not use it against him. If prosecutors used the intelligence, they would be giving it away to the enemy.
What would be left? None of the statements he made under duress, without the option to remain silent, and without the option of advice from counsel will be heard by a federal jury. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is the poster-defendant for Military Commissions; the Act was designed with him in mind.
Make no mistake, elections have consequences; prosecuting KSM is one of them, national security be damned. This mistake was President Barack Obama’s idea and intent all along. Attorney General Eric Holder is still the political fixer he was back when he was fixing the pardons of the FALN and Marc Rich. This mistake will make us less safe at home and get more of our troops killed.