Friday, November 20, 2009
Khalid Sheikh Muhammed: prison until he dies
Critics who blasted the Obama administration’s decision to try Sept. 11 plotters in a New York City courtroom need not worry about terrorists going free. Regardless of how the trial turns out, alleged mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his four co-conspirators aren’t going anywhere outside imprisonment. Attorney General Eric Holder apparently has told members of Congress that even if the jury were to find the accused not guilty, the Justice Department intends to keep them locked behind bars indefinitely as enemy combatants.
Responding to questions from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Holder said, “I certainly think that under the regime that we are contemplating, the potential for detaining people under the laws of war, we would retain that ability.”
“It’s heads I win, tails you lose,” Joshua Dratel, a New York criminal-defense lawyer who worked on terrorism cases, told Newsweek. “It does unfortunately ruin the effect of the notion that we are bringing them to federal court to uphold the rule of law, if you say, ‘If the rule of law doesn’t work, we’ll try something else.’”
-Noel Brinkerhoff
'Heads I Win, Tails You Lose': In 9/11 Case, KSM Won't Walk Free Even If Found Not Guilty (by Michael Isikoff, Newsweek)
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