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WASHINGTON — pResident Barack Obama made a decision in record time today, appointing Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to the position of Terrorism Czar after learning of the idea just this morning from Attorney General Eric Holder following a recent bow-ful trip through Asia. Mohammed, detained as an enemy combatant since 2003, was scheduled to undergo a federal trial in Manhattan as the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Instead, he’ll be in charge of establishing terrorist camps throughout the U.S. to train Daily Kossacks, Democratic Undergroundlings, ACORNuts, public school children, and circus midgets in tactics proven to maim...

To try Mohammed in a criminal court is to treat his act as criminal, and coming from a young administration that has already ceased using the phrases ‘terrorism’, ‘Islamic fundamentalism’ and ‘war on terror’ this serves as confirmation for many who, like myself, view the struggle against terrorism and against the oppressions of fundamentalism as the most important international (and moral) task facing our nation. Trying Mohammed in a criminal court is not necessary, and one could argue that he does not deserve to be treated as even the least respected criminal by the United States. He is by every...

Attorney General Eric Holder adopted a tough-guy pose when he announced that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others will be tried in federal court for the most heinous terror attack on Americans in history. “After eight years of delay,” he intoned, “those allegedly responsible for the attacks of September 11 will finally face justice. It is past time to finally act.” Where to begin? The claim that the Bush administration was somehow dilatory sets a new standard for gall, particularly coming from Eric Holder. As former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy points out, “The principal reason there were so few military...

Here are a few facts we can’t overlook. *A retired Army lawyer speaking at a TEA Party rally this past week explained the dangers this trail poses to national security. He predicted a “civilian” trial will lead to the exposure of some of America’s most important military secrets and methods of keeping us safe since 9-11. During the trial of John Walker Lindh he was in charge of a team of military lawyers whose only job was defeating ACLU filings designed to expose America’s secrets. He confidently predicted this would happen again during this trial, but sadly concluded the military’s...

Barack Obama's suggestion that the alleged September 11 mastermind would be convicted could affect the verdict in the trial, legal experts have warned. Remarks by the US president and Eric Holder, the Attorney General, forecasting a conviction for the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed could create unnecessary delays in the trial, analysts said. Defence lawyers were sure to apply to have the charges dismissed after Mr Obama made an overarching effort to reassure Americans that the decision to put Mohammed on trial at a federal court in New York was sound. "I don't think it will be offensive at all when he's...

I mean the president's statesments on a guaranteed death penalty, Holder's 'certain' convictions. etc. etc. All the defense attorny has to do is claim that his clients cannot get a fair trail ANYWHERE in the US due to the presidents and attorney generals comments

-- For a moment, he became judge, jury and executioner. President Obama yesterday blurted out a predicted conviction and death sentence for 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed -- then sheepishly qualified the prejudgment. In one of several TV interviews at the end of his Asia trip, Obama said those offended by the legal privileges offered to Mohammed in a civilian rather than military trial won't find it "offensive at all when he's convicted and when the death penalty is applied to him." And then he quickly backtracked, saying he didn't mean to suggest he was prejudging the self-confessed mass murderer....

The Obama's administration's decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other alleged 9/11...

Attorney General Eric Holder lacks authority to make a decision on moving terror detainees to civilian courts for trial, one of his predecessors said Wednesday. Former Attorney General John Ashcroft, who held his position during the Bush administration from 2001-2005, said that Holder lacked the legal standing to decide to move alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and other terror detainees to federal courts in New York City to stand trial. >p> "The attorney general doesn't have the authority to mandate that the secretary of Defense turn somebody over to him and yield jurisdiction so that something that would have...

Six critical reasons to never try those who wage Jihad terror against America, or any other irregular enemy combatant, in any U.S. civilian criminal court: It extends American juris prudence rights and procedure to enemy combatant irregulars who, according to the Geneva convention, don't deserve prisoner of war status and deserve, according to the same, to be executed after a military tribunal. It offers a very real prospect because of venue, how testimony was obtained, miranda readings to someone who deserves none, etc., etc. that terrorists will get either reduced sentences or be aquitted. As a result of giving testimony...

Sen. Linsey Graham puts AG Holder's feet to the fire. From Hot Air. It needs no comment from me other than we have an Attorney General being put in a position to spin the case for a trial unnecessary and one that puts this nation in danger. AP at Hot Air writes: " The real worry in a district-court trial isn’t what’ll happen to archterrorists like Osama or KSM, whose perpetual detention is assured; the worry is that those trials will establish precedents that’ll be exploited by lesser jihadis at their own trials later on. KSM won’t be released because...

Sen.Graham takes AG Holder on the decision to put KSM on trial in NYC. From Hot Air. It needs no comment from me other than we have an Attorney General being put in a position to spin the case for a trial unnecessary and one that puts this nation in danger. AP at Hot Air writes: " The real worry in a district-court trial isn’t what’ll happen to archterrorists like Osama or KSM, whose perpetual detention is assured; the worry is that those trials will establish precedents that’ll be exploited by lesser jihadis at their own trials later on. KSM...

Sen. Lindsey Graham in one of his rare moments of political clarity dresses down AG Eric Holder and the Barry Hussein Soetoro administration for their decision to make “bad history”, according to Graham, by deciding to try Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (KSM) in New York City. Graham essentially told Holder and the Barry Hussein Soetoro administration that they are making up a situation that could have grave and dangerous implications for America. Graham skillfully fillets Holder’s reasons for bringing the five terrorists to United States soil. Graham exposes Holder’s stated reasons as arbitrary, capricious and serendipitous opposed to being plans that...

Per the last post, here’s how “carefully” Holder consulted the law before pulling the trigger on KSM. Not only does Graham have to tell him that there’s no precedent for trying battlefield detainees in civilian court, but Holder’s emphasis on how we don’t need a confession to convict Bin Laden completely misses the larger point Graham’s trying to make.

Violent Islamic Web sites pose a clear and present danger to the U.S. If it accomplished nothing else, the Obama administration's announcement last Friday to try 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in lower Manhattan blew the Nidal Hasan murders out of the news. The KSM fiasco deserves all the attention it gets. What Hasan represents, however, is a more immediate concern. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is an old-school jihadi. They sit in far-off redoubts, assembling terror teams of foreign nationals who now must figure out how to get themselves and their plot inside the U.S. Not impossible, but harder than before...

US President Barack Obama, defending plans to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in civilian court, predicted the accused September 11 author would be convicted and executed. And US Attorney General Eric Holder assured lawmakers that prosecutors know "failure is not an option" and that Sheikh Mohammed would not be freed even if acquitted by a jury in New York, a city still scarred by the 2001 attacks. Obama, speaking to NBC television during a trip to Asia, said that anger and security worries over the planned civilian trial would fall away "when he's convicted and when the death penalty is applied...

Senator Lindsey Graham, of all people, destroys Our Attorney General (and Obama) on their idiotic decision to fight this war as a law enforcement issue: Ann Althouse: Holder imagines that he can hide inside that “thoughtful” routine that Obama so often relies on, but it is utterly pathetic here. Either he knows damned well what he’s doing and he’s lying or he’s outrageously unqualified for his job. His evasive style is so similar to Obama’s that he makes Obama look worse. Dan Karipides at Wizbang isn’t buying it. He doesn’t believe Holder is this much of an amateur: Which unfortunately...

<p>Accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four others must be, and will be, convicted, Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday in defense of his controversial recent decision to try the five alleged terrorists in a federal court in Manhattan.</p>

Last January, several Republican legal stars wrote a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee supporting Eric Holder's nomination to be attorney general. Now, in light of Holder's decision to grant 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed full American constitutional rights and try him in federal court in New York, some of those veteran lawyers are having second thoughts. The January letter called Holder an "extraordinary lawyer" of "unfailing integrity" who is "superbly qualified" to lead the Justice Department and whose appointment as the first African-American attorney general "should be hailed as a milestone." "From his experience Eric fully understands and appreciates...

In fairness to The One, I don’t understand why America’s prosecutor-in-chief can’t express confidence in convicting a guy whom his own DOJ is trying. When Nixon called Manson guilty 40 years ago, he was meddling in a state trial without having seen the evidence. Not so here, but oh well. This is indeed a gift to the defense, although aside from giving the court an extra procedural headache to dispose of, it won’t matter ultimately. No judge is going to free the mastermind of 9/11 on a technicality and no president is going to let the mastermind of 9/11 walk...

One more KSM post before we move on to other business. A riveting exchange here, not because it’s contentious but because it isn’t: Our heroine very politely stresses that she doesn’t want her son’s murderers given a soapbox to rant and rave, and Holder very politely tells her to trust in the justice system and the secret evidence that’s going to bury KSM. Which, again, is super, but doesn’t solve the problem of setting legal precedents that’ll be used by lesser terrorists against whom no super-secret evidence exists. Beyond that, I want you to watch this clip because the meme...

Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Lindsey Graham, skewers Attorney General Eric Holder's .... Must see video

Attorney General Holder has several times offered a spirited defense of federal prosecutors — including expressions of confidence that KSM and the other jihadists will be convicted

There's nothing like a retiring Representative to hold nothing back. He lays into Holder and the Administration for having no plan, no decision methodology, and no logic for their approaches to the KSM NYC trial, the Ft. Hood terrorist attack, and the closing of Gitmo. Here's the raw audio of the conference call Bill and I just finished. The full interview runs just under 30 minutes:

Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to bring self-professed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four of his alleged co-conspirators to trial in New York City is a disaster. Barring a repetition in civilian court of an earlier confession, it is at least as likely that the terrorist known internationally by his initials, KSM, will be set free as it is that he will be executed for the murder of nearly 3,000 innocent Americans eight years ago.

--snip-- Despite the fact that Mohammed has confessed to virtually everything, his trial will face daunting challenges, unless he decides to plead guilty as he tried to do last year when he sent a note to a military judge at Guantanamo. If he changes his mind and decides to fight the charges, he will have some powerful legal weapons at his disposal. First and foremost is the reality that he was subjected to torture, both physical and psychological. He was waterboarded, which clearly amounts to torture under the law. It was also reported that when he was arrested, his young...

Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to try Khalid Sheik Mohammed in a federal civilian court is inconsistent, indefensible and inexplicable. It is inconsistent with Holder's own decision to try Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri in a military commission. It is indefensible in light of the unmistakable intentions of the Framers of the Constitution. It is inexplicable by any prudential analysis of the national interest in dealing with an enemy like al-Qaida. Some strange ideological impulse -- rather than common sense and respect for the rule of law -- is driving the Obama administration to give special treatment to the perpetrator of one...

Hey folks, I was in on a conference call with Rudy today. Unfortunately, only the big girls got their questions in - seems the moderator cherry-picked. Oh well. The topic was the terror trial in NYC. Here's the raw audio:

President Obama said in one of a series of TV interviews during his trip to Asia that those offended by the legal privileges given to Mohammed by virtue of getting 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 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."

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama predicted that professed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be convicted and executed as Attorney General Eric Holder proclaimed: "Failure is not an option." Even if a terror trial suspect were acquitted, Holder said, he would not be released in the United States. In one of a series of TV interviews during his trip to Asia, Obama said those offended by the legal privileges given to Mohammed by virtue of getting a civilian trial rather than a military tribunal won't find it "offensive at all when he's convicted and when the death penalty...

For if we are at war, why is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed headed for trial in federal court in the Southern District of New York? Why is he entitled to a presumption of innocence...? And if we must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that KSM was complicit in mass murder, by what right do we send Predators and Special Forces to kill his al-Qaida comrades wherever we find them? For none of them has been granted a fair trial. We conduct those strikes in good conscience because we believe we are at war. But if we are at war, what is...

Should KSM and other 9/11 terrorists be tried on American soil six blocks from the WTC or by a military tribunal?

Live Senate Hearing on holding terrorism trials in NY. Erik Holder being brought in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee

WASHINGTON -- Attorney General Eric Holder is defending his decision to put the professed Sept. 11 mastermind on trial in New York -- and urging critics of the plan not to cower in the face of terrorists. Holder is set to testify Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where lawmakers are likely to spar over the attorney general's decision last week to send Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four alleged henchmen from a detention center at Guantanamo Bay to New York to face a civilian federal trial.

The Obama Administration via Attorney General Holder has announced that they will try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) in the US, specifically New York. The location of the trial is rationalized as the so-called location of where the crime was committed. As with many things liberals foist upon the public it seems to make some shallow sense until we start digging beneath the surface. Why would President Obama and liberals in general insist on the location of the trial being in the jurisdiction of the crime? In general principle of US Law, the trial of any defendant should occur as a...

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four co-conspirators detained at Gitmo are to face trial in a federal district court in New York City, where the death penalty may be sought. They had been facing trial by a military commission at Gitmo, but President Obama decided that he would prefer that the trial be in a civilian court. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder expressed confidence that the cases were strong, and said the trials would not be impaired by the harsh interrogations of Mohammed and others: I am confident in the ability of our courts to provide these defendants a fair trial,...

So now Khalid Sheik Mohammed (KSM) and five self-confessed 9/11 co-conspirators are to be tried not as war criminals in a military tribunal but rather in civilian court just blocks from Ground Zero. A civilian format will allow challenges of evidence obtained under duress (ie. water-boarding), question the legality of KSM’s 2003 capture, and even negate confessions extracted without the full protections of the Constitution being first explained to the detainees. And thus do I have a horrible feeling that these trials will degenerate into a case against the Bush Administration as much as the terrorists themselves. As for demonstrating...

The government is going to be in a position where it either has to defend the process that brought the Sheikh to court or seek ways to prevent these issues from arising. However, because Mr. Obama promised that Mr. Mohammed would enjoy the most exacting demands of justice, they probably will be given a full airing. We await a further explanation from the president to clarify how this makes the country safer, particularly if Mr. Mohammed leaves New York a free man.

On Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace gave Jack Reed, Democratic Senator from Rhode Island, an opportunity to defend the decision to give KSM a civilian trial in New York. After enumerating the many injuries this could cause the country, Wallace asked Reed for one advantage Attorney General Holder’s decision might bring. Reed, well known as a talking head for the White House, said that such a trial will “stand as a symbol in the world of something different than what the terrorists represent.” That this comment comes shortly after the President bowed deeply to the Japanese emperor (an obeisance even...

For if we are at war, why is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed headed for trial in federal court in the Southern District of New York? Why is he entitled to a presumption of innocence and all of the constitutional protections of a U.S. citizen? Is it possible we have done an injustice to this man by keeping him locked up all these years without trial? For that is what this trial implies — that he may not be guilty.

the White House made up its mind about this six months ago--that would be in May, roughly four months after President Obama's inauguration....why did it wait until last week to make the announcement? That it was the week after an election is bound to raise suspicions that the timing was politically motivated.

Although many in the mainstream media write off the Democratic Underground as somewhat sanity challenged, they continue to praise the Daily Kos Kossacks as somehow being "reasonable progressives." The truth is that the Kossacks are every bit as loony as their DU cousins as you can see in this Daily Kos thread about what they hope will be the real outcome of the civilian trial of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. As you will see, the conviction or acquittal of KSM is pretty much beside the point for most of the Kossacks. Their real hope for this trial is that...

Are we at war -- or not? For if we are at war, why is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed headed for trial in federal court in the Southern District of New York? Why is he entitled to a presumption of innocence and all of the constitutional protections of a U.S. citizen? Is it possible we have done an injustice to this man by keeping him locked up all these years without trial? For that is what this trial implies -- that he may not be guilty. And if we must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that KSM was complicit in mass...

Brilliant Like most Americans, I was initially shocked at the decision announced by the Obama administration to prosecute Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSD) and other Guantanamo Bay Naval Base detainees in New York under civilian law. I was shocked by the prima facie stupidity of the decision to unnecessarily avail terrorists with the full rights, legal processes and courtroom procedures due an American citizen. I love America, and I want what’s best for her. But, when one hates the traditional American way of life, this decision is a masterstroke. To cripple and ultimately destroy a stronger or entrenched adversary, invest in...

Gov. David Paterson openly criticized the White House on Monday, saying he thought it was a terrible idea to move alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other suspected terrorists to New York for trial.

Assembling defense team will be among the initial challengesFederal court set to confront issue of self-representation By Peter Finn Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, November 15, 2009 In a military commission at Guantanamo Bay, Khalid Sheik Mohammed kicked his military attorney off the defense team, forced a civilian lawyer to sit at the back of the courtroom and reluctantly accepted the presence of another advisory civilian counsel to help him defend himself. **SNIP** That is, of course, if Mohammed doesn't attempt to plead guilty to capital charges so he can be executed -- his stated desire in a quest for...

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has decided that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be tried in federal court in New York. Holder’s decision was driven by the need for the U.S. government to decide how to dispose of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, a U.S. Naval base outside the boundaries of the United States selected as the camp in which to hold suspected al Qaeda members. We very carefully use the word “camp” rather than prison or prisoner of war camp. This is because of an ongoing and profound ambiguity not only in U.S. government perceptions of how to define those held...

Attorney General Eric Holder's announcement Friday that five Guantanamo Bay terror suspects will face trial just blocks from Ground Zero, where almost 3,000 people were killed, has added more fuel to the already heated debate over whether civilian courts can handle terror prosecutions. The transfer of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, and four other detainees to New York for trial presents daunting logistical and security problems for the Southern District, as well as a thicket of novel legal issues for the judge who handles the case. The detention and trial of the five defendants will...

The prosecutors face several barriers that would actually guarantee an acquittal or the charges to be dropped in most trials.