Possible KSM Trial Move Draws Backlash
The administration had initially vowed to try the men in civilian court, but news reports Friday indicated that White House advisers were on the verge of recommending that the trials take place in military tribunals.
The White House says no decision has been made. But spokesman Robert Gibbs did not seriously push back against the reports, noting in an email to CBS News that Attorney General Eric Holder acknowledged weeks ago that military commission trials were a possibility.
Major General William L. Nash, deeming the tribunals a "kangaroo court," told reporters Friday that if the administration goes through with military tribunals, "I would not look back as fondly as I once did on that second day in office."
That's when Nash and others stood with President Obama as he signed an executive order to shut down the Guantanamo Bay prison facility. The White House has missed its self-imposed deadline to close the facility within a year amid resistance from Congress, and it appears the potential decision to try Mohammed and his cohorts in military courts is partially grounded in an effort to win funding from a skeptical Congress to close the facility.
The Washington Post reported Friday that Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham, an opponent of trials in civilian courts, has been negotiating with the White House "in pursuit of a deal that would secure his help in closing Guantanamo."
But the three military leaders said such a compromise was unacceptable.
"Closing Guantanamo Bay and moving the military commissions to the United States doesn't really close the concept of Guantanamo," said Nash, who pointed to the president's comments that America's security and values are not in competition.
Lieutenant General Harry E. Soyster, former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said America's enemy would be "delighted" with a decision to try Mohammed and the other men in military tribunals.
Mr. Obama initially "chose the harder right over the easier wrong," said Soyster, arguing that the president "should hold firm to that."
Rear Admiral John D. Hutson, former Navy Judge Advocate General, acknowledged that the administration was "probably being pushed" to try the suspects in military tribunals. But he said it would be "sad and a mistake that we should politicize these decisions and get Congress involved in what is clearly the constitutional responsibility of the president."
Holder, who initially proposed civilian trials, told the New Yorker last month he was "distressed" that people "who know better" have suggested that civilian trials would not work.
And on Feb. 14th, Vice President Biden said on "Face the Nation" that "we have no doubt the best, most effective legal way to get his guy behind bars for the longest time and get the most information with the most certainty is in an Article Three court."
He added, however, that that the president would consider a military tribunal if Congress were to limit funding an expensive federal case.