Key 9/11 Suspect To Be Tried In New York

Bloomberg: try 9/11 mastermind somewhere else
Urges feds to boot 9/11 prosecution as $1B cost looms

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/mike_try_1w1hLYpkm0FihEHooEqUdN

By TOM TOPOUSIS and DAVID SEIFMAN
Last Updated: 7:31 AM, January 28, 2010

Responding to growing pressure from downtown residents and business leaders, Mayor Bloomberg yesterday said the trial for 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and his fellow terrorists should be moved out of the city.

"It would be great if the federal government could find a site that didn't cost $1 billion, which using downtown will, and it will also impact traffic and commerce and people's lifestyles," Bloomberg said.

"And it would be great if we didn't do it."

Bloomberg agrees with a resolution from Community Board 1 this week calling on US Attorney General Eric Holder to move the trial out of the city.

The board suggested another federal site, possibly West Point, an Air National Guard base at Stewart Airport, the federal prison in upstate Otisville, or White Plains federal court.

"The suggestion of a military base is probably a reasonably good one, relatively easy to provide the security," Bloomberg said. "They tend to be outside of cities, so they don't disrupt other people."

The mayor said it's up to the feds to decide the trial site.

"But if they were to move it elsewheres, I'd be very happy with that," the mayor said.

Bloomberg had previously called the decision to try the terrorists near the World Trade Center "fitting," and last week blasted a CB 1 push to move the trial to Governors Island as "one of the dumbest ideas" he's ever heard.

Sen. Charles Schumer yesterday also joined the growing list of lawmakers hoping to move the trial out of the city.

"Senator Schumer is following the guidance of the mayor and the police commissioner, shares their concerns and is certainly open to alternatives," said spokesman Josh Vlasto.

Schumer had previously insisted on getting federal funding to pay for the city's massive security costs during a trial in lower Manhattan. But, like Bloomberg, he had not called for moving the trial outside the city.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly previously estimated the cost of security in lower Manhattan for the trial at more than $200 million a year.

Proposed security measures, including steel barriers throughout the neighborhood, rooftop snipers and street closures, have infuriated local residents and business owners fearful of the economic and emotional impact.

Julie Menin, chairwoman of CB 1, has been pushing to move the trial, citing the impact on a community that is still recovering from 9/11. "Someone has to stand up and say this is unacceptable," she said. "Why on earth would we hold this trial in the financial capital of the nation when we're struggling to dig out of a recession?"

Steven Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, said a terror trial would have a devastating impact on tourism, retail and residential development in a neighborhood that has already suffered from the terror attacks.

"The dramatic economic impact to the city of New York and lower Manhattan will be enormous," he said.

Menin said she has been reaching out to lawmakers and members of New York's congressional delegation to build support for a new trial location.

House Republican leader John Boehner (Ohio) vowed yesterday to keep the trials out of downtown Manhattan.

"There is not going to be a trial in New York," he said. "I guarantee it. There is no appetite for the trials in Congress."

Boehner insisted that the White House can't shift the trials without congressional approval.

Asked for a comment yesterday, a spokesman for the Department of Justice referred back to a statement last week, insisting the trial could be held safely in lower Manhattan federal court.

Experts say 9/11 terror trial must take place where crime was committed, leaving locations limited

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/01/30/2010-01-30_finding_new_venue_isnt_an_openshut_case.html

BY Greg B. Smith
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Saturday, January 30th 2010, 4:00 AM

There are limits to where the U.S. can try the self-professed Sept. 11 mastermind outside of New York City - especially if murder is in the mix, experts say.

Bowing to critics who want the trial of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed out of Foley Square, the Department of Justice Friday appeared close to abandoning plans to bring the case in lower Manhattan.

If the attacks had taken place outside the U.S., prosecutors could bring the case in any federal court in America.

Because the crime occurred in the U.S., the trial has to happen where at least one part of the conspiracy took place.

"The trial has to occur in the venue where the crime was committed," said James Benjamin Jr., a former Manhattan federal prosecutor who handled the appeal of World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef.

Complicating matters is that prosecutors would likely want to bring murder charges against Mohammed and his four co-defendants for the deaths of 3,000-plus.

That, experts said, would restrict the location to the three places where blood was shed: the Southern District of New York, the Eastern District of Virginia or the Western District of Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania has no experience with such cases, while Southern District New York has handled the most terrorist defendants - 52 - since Sept. 11, with Virginia close behind at 34.

Just because Manhattan may be out doesn't mean the whole Southern District is - its borders include the Bronx and several upstate counties.

If prosecutors choose to bring a broader terror conspiracy charge, the case could land in any district where part of the plot happened, including "the planning, the implementation or the coverup," Benjamin said.

That means prosecutors could bring the case in Florida, where some hijackers learned to fly, or Boston or Newark, where they boarded jets that later crashed into the twin towers.

"Wherever conspiratorial activity occurred, you can charge a conspiracy," said attorney Joshua Dratel, who defended Embassy bomber Wadih el-Hage and Gitmo detainee David Hicks.

Critics have suggested other locales: Governors Island, the federal prison in Otisville upstate, Stewart Air Base outside Newburgh, and West Point military academy.

Dratel and Benjamin agreed that some of those spots might be intimidating to jurors and prejudicial to defendants.

White House asks Justice Department to look for other places to hold 9/11 terror trial

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2010/01/28/2010-01-28_white_house_orders_justice_department_to_look_for_other_places_to_hold_911_terro.html

BY Kenneth R. Bazinet, Adam Lisberg and Samuel Goldsmith
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Thursday, January 28th 2010, 8:04 PM

The White House ordered the Justice Department Thursday night to consider other places to try the 9/11 terror suspects after a wave of opposition to holding the trial in lower Manhattan.

The dramatic turnabout came hours after Mayor Bloomberg said he would "prefer that they did it elsewhere" and then spoke to Attorney General Eric Holder.

"It would be an inconvenience at the least, and probably that's too mild a word for people that live in the neighborhood and businesses in the neighborhood," Bloomberg told reporters.

"There are places that would be less expensive for the taxpayers and less disruptive for New York City."

State and city leaders have increasingly railed against a plan to try Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in Manhattan federal court since Holder proposed it last month.

Sen. Chuck Schumer said he was "pleased" that the administration is reconsidering the location of the trial.

Earlier in the day, Schumer spoke "with high-level members of the administration and urged them to find alternatives," said the senator's spokesman, Josh Vlasto.

The order to consider new venues does not change the White House's position that Mohammed should be tried in civilian court.

"President Obama is still committed to trying Mohammed and four other terrorist detainees in federal court," spokesman Bill Burton said Thursday.

"He agrees with the attorney general's opinion that . . . he and others can be litigated successfully and securely in the United States of America, just like others have," Burton said.

Burton referred questions about the location debate to the Justice Department. While not commenting publicly, a department official disputed the characterization that the White House ordered the possible move.

But another insider told the Daily News that Justice officials have been caught off guard by the fiery opposition in New York.

"They're in a tizzy at Justice over Bloomberg," a federal law enforcement official said. "It's like a half-baked soufflé - the plan is collapsing."

Julie Menin, the chairwoman of Community Board 1 who helped rally opposition to the plan, called the shift "a step in the right direction."

"I'm thrilled the White House is reconsidering," Menin said. "The trial has to be moved out of New York City."

Meanwhile, a source told The News that Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly was the driving force behind the push by Manhattan business leaders to change the mayor's mind on the trial.

Kelly made an "extremely powerful" speech to a roomful of 150 prominent business leaders about how disruptive and costly the trial would be for lower Manhattan at an annual police charity event on Jan. 13, the source said.

"What turned this around was when Ray made a presentation to the Police Foundation," the source said. "Everyone went from thinking, 'Justice will be served' to thinking 'We are screwed.' "

What followed was a barrage of complaints to the mayor from some of New York's most powerful tycoons - part of a tide of pressure that led Bloomberg to turn against hosting the trial.

Estimates put the cost of a multiyear terror trial in lower Manhattan at about $200 million a year. Leaders have suggested other venues for the trial, such as the Military Academy at West Point or Stewart Air National Guard Base in upstate Newburgh.

The federal government has said they would reimburse the city for the costs, most of which cover overtime for increased security, but they won't reimburse business owners for lost revenue during the chaos, said Steven Spinola, president of the heavyweight business group Real Estate Board of New York.

"Is the federal government going to give the city $1 billion plus the cost of propping up businesses? I don't think so," Spinola said.

"The mayor clearly has been thinking about this. The tide is turning," he said.

Gibbs: Accused 9/11 plotter likely to be executed
Still no decision on where Mohammed will be tried

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35168785/ns/us_news-security

msnbc.com news services
updated 5:59 p.m. ET, Sun., Jan. 31, 2010

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration said Sunday it would consider local opposition when deciding where to hold Sept. 11 terror trials and pledged to seek swift justice for the professed mastermind of the attacks.

"Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is going to meet justice and he's going to meet his maker," said President Barack Obama's press secretary, Robert Gibbs. "He will be brought to justice and he's likely to be executed for the heinous crimes that he committed in killing and masterminding the killing of 3,000 Americans. That you can be sure of."

Objections from New York City officials and residents have intensified since the Justice Department announced late last year it planned to put Mohammed and other accused Sept. 11 conspirators on trial in federal court in lower Manhattan. In its new budget, the Obama administration is proposing a $200 million fund to help pay for security costs in cities hosting terrorist trials.

White House aide David Axelrod said New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other city officials have changed their minds after initially supporting the decision for trials in the city, citing logistics and costs.

"The president believes that we need to take into consideration what the local authorities are saying," Axelrod said. "But he also believes ... that we ought to bring Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and all others who are involved in terrorist acts to justice swift and sure."

Safety and cost have been issues in the debate, but some officials also have questioned the administration's legal strategy for using civilian courts for the suspects instead of military tribunals.

Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, said the administration should shift the trials to military courts, which he said have been reviewed by Congress to ensure fairness. He and other Republicans have criticized officials for charging Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in civilian court in the Christmas airliner plot instead of turning him over to military authorities.

"We have to make a distinction between a kid who breaks into a sandwich shop in Detroit and a Nigerian terrorist who wants to blow up an airplane flying into Detroit," Alexander said.

Sen. Evan Bayh, an Indiana Democrat, indicated he didn't support the request for $200 million for civilian trials, saying he favored trying terrorism suspects safely, quickly and inexpensively.

"If there's somewhere we can try them without spending that money, why spend the money? We've got a lot of other fiscal problems," Bayh said.

Gibbs spoke on CNN's "State of the Union" while Axelrod appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press." Alexander and Bayh spoke on "Fox News Sunday."

Senators push for 9/11 trials in military court

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6115E320100202?type=politicsNews

2/2/2010

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of nine U.S. senators on Tuesday offered legislation to force special military trials for the accused September 11, 2001, conspirators, further complicating President Barack Obama's bid to try them in a civilian court.

The Obama administration has been caught off guard by mounting bipartisan opposition to trying the self-professed mastermind of the September 11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and four others in a federal criminal court in lower Manhattan.

The nine senators argued against prosecuting the five men in a criminal court because they would receive full U.S. constitutional rights, and they could use the civilian trials to espouse their anti-American views.

They were also upset at the price tag, pegged at $200 million a year. Their legislation would bar funding for civilian trials.

"Civilian trials are unnecessarily dangerous, messy, confusing and expensive," Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told reporters.

He argued that the five men, who are being held at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. military prison, are war criminals who should face military trials that would also ensure that no classified information would spill out.

The Justice Department declined to comment on the bill.

The Obama administration has maintained that most foreign terrorism suspects have been successfully prosecuted in federal criminal courts, but has agreed to reconsider holding the trials in Manhattan amid the security and cost concerns.

'PRETTY OBVIOUS'
"I think it's pretty obvious they're not going to do it in New York but they have not signed off on it," said Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York. A Justice Department official said on Monday Manhattan was still a possibility.

The legislation is sponsored by six Republicans, along with Democrats Jim Webb and Blanche Lincoln and independent Joe Lieberman, a former Democrat who often votes with Democrats.

Lincoln is facing a tough re-election bid in her home state of Arkansas. Other terrorism-related trials may be held in Webb's home state of Virginia.

Graham did not detail how the bill's sponsors would pursue the measure in Congress. The Senate and House of Representatives are controlled by Obama's fellow Democrats, but Graham noted that some Democrats are backing the bill.

Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to prosecute the five accused September 11 conspirators in a civilian court has turned into a political hot potato for the Obama administration. It has forced the White House and Justice Department to spend time and political capital to try to ensure that funding for the criminal trials is not blocked.

"I believe strongly in letting the Justice Department make prosecutorial decisions, and I support this administration's decision to try detainees in federal courts when appropriate," Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Democrat, said in a statement.

Obama on Monday described the opposition to the criminal trial as "rank politics" because most prosecutions of foreign terrorism suspects during his Republican predecessor George W. Bush's administration were held in criminal courts.

"I hope and pray that the president will understand that as commander-in-chief he is pursuing a strategy that will weaken our national security. I do not question his motives, I question his judgment," Graham said, denying a political motive.

"It's really cost, I think it's also security and I think it's appropriateness, it's exactly what I hear from my constituency," Lincoln said. "These are criminals, they're war criminals and they need to be tried in the military courts."

Republican U.S. Representative Frank Wolf plans to introduce companion legislation in the House of Representatives on Tuesday. Similar efforts to force the trials into military court failed last year.

Republicans unite to halt trials of alleged 9/11 plotters

http://rawstory.com/2010/02/republicans-unite-halt-trials-alleged-911-plotters/

By Agence France-Presse
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 -- 7:32 pm

US lawmakers Tuesday unveiled plans to block public funding for US-based trials involving Guantanamo detainees who are accused of plotting the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Republican lawmakers Frank Wolf and Lindsey Graham joined forces to introduce legislation which "would explicitly block this dangerous and wasteful trial from any domestic civilian court," Wolf said.

They also won support from Democrats Jim Webb and Blanche Lincoln, as well as independent senator Joe Lieberman.

If approved, the legislation would stop the Justice Department from using public funds to try the alleged mastermind of the 2001 attacks, Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, and his four co-accused, in domestic US courts.

President Barack Obama's administration has announced plans to prosecute the men in New York, just steps from Ground Zero, where the World Trade Center once stood. The attacks killed almost 3,000 people.

But the plan has been met with howls of protest from lawmakers and New York residents.

"The whole venue of New York would be a circus. When you criminalize the war you make a huge mistake," Senator Graham said.

And he told a press conference that using a "civilian trial with the 9/11 conspirators could be dangerous."

"The law enforcement model being used by the Obama administration should be rejected. We're not fighting a crime, we're fighting a war. And to criminalize this war puts our nation at risk."

He insisted the system of special military commissions, set up to try detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was the best venue to try the alleged September 11 plotters.

Such trials could be held "quickly, securely and with very little additional cost," he said.

The White House said Sunday it was still hoping to bring Sheikh Mohammed and other alleged plotters of the September 11 attacks to trial in New York, despite reservations including from Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

"We are talking with the authorities in New York," spokesman Robert Gibbs said. "We understand their logistical concerns and their security concerns that are involved. We have been discussing that with them."

A civilian trial in New York could cost around 200 million dollars a year, racking up a billion-dollar price tag if it extended over five years as a complex case could, according to figures cited by lawmakers on Tuesday.

Graham, who plans to meet with the White House to discuss the legislation, said he was "confident" the measure had the support to pass a vote.

Democratic Senator Jim Webb threw his backing behind the bill saying the attacks should not be prosecuted in a US civilian court.

"This is not an appropriate type of crime to be tried in an American criminal court," he said.

He also warned that Attorney General Eric Holder had yet to give "a very clear answer" on what would happen to the accused plotters of the attacks if they were acquitted by a US court.

Meanwhile, the second most senior Democrat in the House of Representatives told reporters that the White House was reassessing a decision to transfer some prisoners from Guantanamo Bay to the Thomson prison facility in Illinois.

"I think the administration realizes that this is a difficult issue," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.

"And I think that they are assessing where they are and where they think we ought to be. I think that's appropriate. And I'm looking forward to discussing it with them."

On Monday, Obama requested 237 million dollars in his 2011 budget for the purchase and retrofitting of the Thomson facility, where his administration has said they plan to hold some former Guantanamo detainees.

Thomson would be upgraded to a high-security facility with space for federal prisoners and a wing under Pentagon administration for former Guantanamo prisoners.

Obama's administration has pledged to close the facility at Guantanamo Bay, located on US naval base on Cuba's southern tip. There are 192 detainees still being held at the prison.

Attorney General Eric Holder: Rudy Giuliani is playing politics on 9/11 terror trial move

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/02/05/2010-02-05_attorney_general_eric_holder_rudy_giuliani_is_playing_politics_on_911_terror_tri.html

BY Bill Hutchinson
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Friday, February 5th 2010, 4:00 AM

An unapologetic U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder blasted ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani in a published report for turning his decision to try terrorists in civilian courts into a "partisan issue."

Holder told the New Yorker that it was "exceedingly strange" to hear the one-time zealous prosecutor publicly express a lack of faith in the U.S. justice system.

"If Giuliani was still the U.S. Attorney in New York, my guess is that, by now, I would already have gotten 10 phone calls from him telling me why these cases needed to be tried not only in civilian court but at Foley Square," Holder told the magazine.

Under protest from Mayor Bloomberg and Sen. Charles Schumer, Holder and the Obama Administration have backed away from trying 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in Manhattan federal court.

But Holder is not kowtowing to critics like Giuliani and former Vice President Cheney, who believe Mohammed and his Al Qaeda henchmen should be prosecuted by military tribunals.

"I don't apologize for what I've done. History will show that the decisions we've made are the right ones," Holder said.

"It's distressing to me that on an issue that is truly a matter of life and death for this nation people will find a way to make that a partisan issue," he said.

Amy Jeffress, Holder's national security adviser, told the magazine that military files on terrorist suspects were so haphazardly kept it appeared the Bush Administration "hadn't planned on prosecuting anyone."

"You'd look at what the Department of Defense had, and it was something, but, as a prosecutor, it wasn't what you'd like to see as evidence," Jeffress said.

Holder bristled at Cheney for equating the decision to try terrorists in civilian courts to giving "aid and comfort to the enemy."

"On some level, and I'm not sure why, he [Cheney] lacks confidence in the American system of justice," Holder said.

Senate rejects 9/11 trials in New York City

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=899029&category=STATE

First published in print: Wednesday, February 10, 2010

ALBANY -- The state Senate on Tuesday passed a resolution expressing opposition to the Obama administration's decision to hold the trials of suspected 9/11 terrorists in Lower Manhattan.

"I personally believe that we should not be using the civilian criminal justice system to deal with these terrorists," said Sen. Vincent Leibell, R-Patterson, who authored the resolution. "These are the worst of the worst. ... There is no area of our country that has suffered more than these few blocks."

Leibell said Obama's decision to hold the trials in Lower Manhattan was a "mistake, but there is time to correct that mistake."

Sen. Daniel Squadron, D-Manhattan, was one of seven Democrats who voted against the measure. He made it clear that he didn't want the trials held in the neighborhood, but voted against the resolution because it also calls for the alleged terrorists -- including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed -- to be tried in military tribunals, not civilian courts.

"This is my district, this is my community in Lower Manhattan," Squadron said. "But we are not going to turn our back on the fundamental tenets of our country."

Don't Let Congress Block Trials for the 9/11 Accused

http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/index.aspx?c=jhKPIXPCIoE&b=2590179&template=x.ascx&action=13706

Amnesty International

President Obama made the right decision to try Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and other alleged 9/11 conspirators in U.S. federal court, but now members of Congress are attacking the President's decision and threatening to block funding for the trial. Senator Lindsey Graham called federal trials a "dumb idea" and wants to use the kangaroo courts known as military commissions, that he and other politicians cooked up at Guantanamo, to ensure convictions and cover up evidence of torture. According to military and intelligence experts, the Guantanamo show trials have not only failed to hold the alleged 9/11 plotters accountable, but have also tarnished America's reputation for justice and served as recruiting propaganda for al Qaeda. President Obama chose the right alternative: U.S. federal courts have convicted 195 accused terrorists since September 2001, and those criminals are safely behind bars in U.S. federal prison. Tell Congress not to block fair federal trials. It's time for justice for 9/11, and real justice requires a real court.

White House: 9/11 Military Trial Possible
Attorney General Doesn't Rule Out Military Trial for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as Obama Faces Increased Congressional Pressure

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/02/13/politics/main6204500.shtml

2/13/2010

The Obama administration appears increasingly unsure what to do with professed Sept. 11, 2001 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed after officials indicated they are reconsidering not just where he should go on trial, but whether he should face civilian or military justice.

Both Attorney General Eric Holder and White House spokesman Robert Gibbs did not rule out a military trial when asked Friday about the Obama administration's options.

Trying Mohammed in military court would mark a further political retreat from Holder's announcement last year that Mohammed and the four other Sept. 11 suspects now held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, would be tried in federal court in New York.

On Saturday, White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan said at an event in New York that “support from the local community” and the “funding requirements” were key factors in deciding where to hold the trial, CBS News reports.

Brennan made a two-hour appearance at “A Dialogue on Our Nation’s Security” at New York University's School of Law.

During the event, one audience member, complaining of the “cowardly … not in my backyard” backlash against a federal trial in Manhattan for alleged Sept. 11 conspirators, asked, “Is it possible we might get that trial back here in New York City?”

Brennan wouldn't pin the administration down on a specific location for the trial.

“The administration, the attorney general and others are trying to push this forward as best we can," Brennan said. "But, again, the dependencies are there. Where’s the funding going to come from in order to provide the necessary security? We need non-obstructionism from certain elements from within the government in order to move forward on this."

The Obama administration is trying to head off a possible vote in the Senate that could stop any terror suspects held at Guantanamo from being brought to the United States to face a civilian trial. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham is offering such legislation, after losing a vote last year on the issue.

"These al Qaeda terrorists are not common criminals," Graham said in the Republicans' weekly radio and Internet address Saturday. "A civilian trial of hard-core terrorists is unnecessarily dangerous and creates more problems than it solves."

At stake is the public perception of the administration's handling of national security, already shaken last year by strong congressional opposition to transferring any Guantanamo detainees to American soil. A defeat over the trial issue could embolden the Republican minority to raise national security concerns in midterm elections later this year.

"Military tribunals are the best way to render justice, win this war and protect our nation from a vicious enemy," said Graham.

The prospect of such a vote could test of how many moderate Democrats have abandoned Obama on the issue.

White House officials said Friday that Mr. Obama and his top advisers will play a direct role in ultimately deciding how to prosecute Mohammed. The administration initially decided to try the five terror defendants in New York but have since appeared to backtrack.

As a result of Holder's decision to seek a civilian prosecution, Bush-era military charges that had been pending against the five suspects were dismissed last month. Those military charges could now be revived.

The administration is reconsidering Holder's plan to put the five men on trial in a federal court in Manhattan, after local officials there balked at security complications.

The White House insisted it is sensitive to their concerns.

"We're going to take into account security and logistical concerns that those individuals now have," Gibbs said. "The cost of the trial, obviously, is one thing."

Republican Rep. Peter King, who has repeatedly criticized Holder's decision to try Mohammed in New York, said the White House has bungled the issue from the start.

"What it shows is there was no preparation, no advance work done by the administration," said King.

For his part, Holder said he still expects Mohammed to be tried in a federal civilian court, but he conceded it's possible that won't happen.

"At the end of the day, wherever this case is tried, in whatever forum, what we have to ensure is that it's done as transparently as possible and with adherence to all the rules," Holder told The Washington Post. "If we do that, I'm not sure the location or even the forum is as important as what the world sees in that proceeding."

The administration has been on the defensive about its record on terrorism since a Nigerian man allegedly tried to blow up an airliner landing in Detroit on Christmas. The suspect faces charges in federal court, but Republicans say such suspects should be treated not as criminals but war criminals.

Obama administration officials counter that the Christmas case was handled no differently than Bush's Republican administration had handled similar cases.

Administration 'flexible' on 9/11 trial venue

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hqKSeW2IuYNmUUr3hiqGMVbhvxwgD9DSHIF00

(AP) – 3 hours ago

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration prefers a civilian trial for the alleged 9/11 mastermind, but says that in the face of public and political opposition it must be open to a military tribunal.

In an interview published Monday in The New York Times, Attorney General Eric Holder said, "I have to be more forceful in advocating for why I believe these are trials that should be held on the civilian side."

However, Holder did not rule out a military trial for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, saying, "You have to be flexible."

Vice President Joe Biden defended the White House from critics of its approach to prosecuting accused terrorists, saying in interviews aired Sunday that it is not yet clear where Mohammed and four other Sept. 11 suspects held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will be tried.

However, Biden said he believes Mohammed will be found guilty regardless of the venue.

President Barack Obama will make the final decision about the trial, Biden said.

Republicans and some Democrats argue that terrorists should be treated not as criminals but as enemy combatants and tried by military commission.

"These policies are ill-conceived and they need to stop and start over," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

Graham said he favors closing the jail at Guantanamo Bay because its existence helps recruit terrorists to al-Qaida. But he said that treating terrorists as criminals to be tried in civilian courts "is a huge mistake that will come back to haunt us."

Graham also said he thinks Obama should replace John Brennan, the president's counterterrorism adviser. Brennan on Saturday said that the rate of former Guantanamo inmates engaging in extremist or militant behavior — roughly one in five — "isn't that bad" compared to recidivism rates for U.S. prisoners of around 50 percent.

"Do you want someone in charge of counterterrorism who finds a 20 percent return-to-the-fight rate is acceptable? He has lost my confidence, and it's the best evidence yet how disconnected this administration has come from the fact that we're at war," Graham said.

Obama national security adviser James Jones, while not defending Brennan's statement, said Sunday the counterterrorism adviser does his job well and that the White House National Security Council is fortunate to have him.

Holder announced last year that Mohammed's trial would take place in federal court in New York City. City officials later opposed the idea because of costs, security and logistical concerns, and some senators are trying to stop any Guantanamo detainees from being brought to the United States for a civilian trial.

Jones said Holder is heading a review into the matter and will advise Obama on the course to take.

Biden appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press" and CBS' "Face the Nation." Jones appeared on "Fox News Sunday" and CNN's "State of the Union." Graham appeared on "Fox News Sunday."

Liz Cheney: Civil terror trials led to 9/11

http://rawstory.com/2010/02/liz-cheney-civil-terror-trials-led-911/

By David Edwards and Gavin Dahl
Sunday, February 14th, 2010 -- 4:37 pm

Liz Cheney must have forgotten about the presidential daily briefing ignored by Condoleeza Rice and the Bush administration before 9/11, that said Osama bin Laden was determined to strike within the US.

The daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney said today on Fox that she believes military tribunals, instead of civilian trials, following the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, would have produced intelligence that could have prevented the 9/11 attacks.

"What you have is a situation where unquestionably we did go through a period in this nation's history where we dealt with terrorism as a law enforcement matter," Cheney explained to Fox News' Chris Wallace Sunday.

"As Attorney General (Michael) Mukasey has pointed out recently, when we prosecuted and successfully convicted people after the '93 World Trade Center bombing, after the East African bombing, what it got us was 9/11 and 3,000 dead Americans."

Obama's Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan said this week that 20% recidivism of released Guantanamo detainees is "not that bad." She called his remarks "a diversion."

The discussion was centered on Brennan's accusation that critics of Obama were fear-mongering for political effect.

"So the notion that, well, the Bush administration did this, I find it perplexing as a political argument to hear that from this administration," said Cheney, a former State Department official. "I think they're confusing the facts and the law with respect to many of those terrorists. But it's not surprising because there's a level of incompetence that you're seeing from people like Brennan and others that scares the American people. So I'm not surprised they're trying to divert attention to something else."

In other words, Liz Cheney says it isn't fear-mongering because the American people are scared by Brennan, not Republican histrionics. And the 9/11 attacks could have been avoided, if only the American justice system could have been further bent to the whims of a security-minded government.

She is sounding more and more like her father.

This video is from Fox's Fox News Sunday, broadcast Feb. 14, 2010.

Video At Source

Attorney General Eric Holder: 9/11 terror trial in New York City is still on the table

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2010/02/23/2010-02-23_holder_ny_trial_is_still_on_the_table.html

BY Kenneth R. Bazinet
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
Tuesday, February 23rd 2010, 4:00 AM

WASHINGTON - Attorney General Eric Holder said the Najibullah Zazi case shows his department can handle terrorists - a hint he'd still like to prosecute the 9/11 thugs in a civilian court.

"This demonstrates that our federal civilian criminal justice system has the ability to incapacitate terrorists, has the ability to gain intelligence from those terrorists and is a valuable tool in our fight against terrorism," Holder said at news conference after Zazi's guilty plea.

Holder has faced Republican fire for dealing with the underwear bomber airliner plot as a civilian case and for his decision, now being reconsidered, to try Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four henchmen in lower Manhattan.

A resolution of where to try Mohammed is expected "relatively soon," Holder said. But a Manhattan trial - strongly opposed by New York officials - remains in play, he added.

Under pressure from congressional critics, the Justice Department is also considering sending Mohammed to trial before a military tribunal.

Holder's comments came a few hours after Gov. Paterson lobbied administration officials against holding the trial in Manhattan.

"We don't disagree with the way the White House wants to hold the trial. We just tried to point out to the White House that New York is a very vulnerable place," Paterson told the Daily News.

Later, Paterson told CNN it would be "more appropriate" to move the trial upstate, mentioning West Point and Newburgh as alternatives.

9/11 Mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to be Tried by Military Commission
Some Sept. 11 Suspects Were to Have Been Tried in New York City

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/911-...ohammed-military-commission/story?id=13291750

By JASON RYAN and HUMA KHAN
April 4, 2011

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind behind the Sept. 11 terror attacks, and four co-conspirators will be tried in a military commission at Guantanamo Bay, Department of Justice officials said today.

Mohammed was to have been tried in New York City, but city officials strongly objected to the move and Congress refused to appropriate funds to house Guantanamo inmates on mainland United States and to provide funds for a trial of extraordinary expense.

New York City projected it would cost more than $400 million to provide security for the pre-trial preparation and trial of the suspects in the Sept. 11 terror attacks. It would have cost another $206 million annually if the trial ran beyond two years, Mayor Michael Bloomberg's office estimated.

Mohammed confessed to his role in the attacks in 2008. He will be tried alongside Walid Muhammed Salih Mubarak Bin Attash, Ramzi Bin Al Shibh, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed Al Hawsawi, the four Sept. 11 co-conspirators Mohammed was undergoing proceedings with the first time around.

President Obama announced in March his decision to resume military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay after heavy resistance from both Democrats and Republicans over trying suspects in U.S. courts.

Closing the detainee center at Guantanamo Bay was one of the Obama administration's first orders of business. But the president has faced months of fierce, bipartisan resistance from Congress on his proposal to try Guantanamo detainees on U.S. soil.

The $725 billion National Defense Authorization Act that Obama signed Jan. 7 explicitly prohibits the use of Defense Department funds to transfer detainees from Guantanamo Bay in Cuba to the United States or other countries. It also bars Pentagon funds from being used to build facilities in the United States to house detainees, as the president originally suggested.

The move essentially barred the administration from trying detainees in civilian courts. The president objected to the provision in the bill before signing it, calling it "a dangerous and unprecedented challenge to critical executive branch authority" but also said his team would work with Congress to "seek repeal of these restrictions."

There are about 170 prisoners remaining at the detainee center in Guantanamo Bay, 30 of whom were due to face trial in criminal courts or before military commissions. Since 2002, 598 prisoners have been transferred to other countries.

Pentagon prepares for media focus on 9/11 trials

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/22488/pentagon-prepares-for-media-focus-on-911-trials

Agence France-Presse
10:03 am | Saturday, July 9th, 2011

WASHINGTON—Pentagon officials said Friday they were looking at how to accommodate media interest in upcoming trials of the accused 9/11 plotters after journalists requested a live video feed of the proceedings from the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay.

Only a handful of reporters are allowed into the small court rooms at Guantanamo and other journalists at the base watch the proceedings from a separate room with a video monitor.

Defense officials permit only about 60 reporters at a time at the base in southeastern Cuba, but the high-profile nature of the pending 9/11 cases has prompted the Pentagon to review an appeal from news organizations to provide a video feed outside Guantanamo.

“We think this is a fair request from the media,” said spokesman Douglas Wilson, assistant secretary of defense for public affairs.

“And I have put together a team to look at the options available to be able to address and accommodate the request,” he told AFP. “I should have those options for review very shortly.”

In May, prosecutors filed charges against 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four alleged co-conspirators, with Guantanamo military trials expected to start later this year.

Another defense official said the Pentagon was considering allowing reporters to watch a closed-circuit video feed of the proceedings outside of Washington.

Similar arrangements were being planned for families of victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The video access for reporters would be subject to the same restrictions imposed on journalists at Guantanamo, officials said.

In previous tribunal hearings, reporters watching the video monitors are not allowed to record the proceedings and broadcasters are not permitted to air the footage.

Defense officials say the restrictions are required due to security precautions.

It was also unclear if the video feed would be live or delayed, to allow officials to prevent the disclosure of potentially classified information.

In requesting a video feed outside of Guantanamo, the Pentagon Press Association said the remote location of the Guantanamo base, the restrictions on entering and leaving the base and the limited facilities there “all serve to impose significant practical limitations on meaningful press access to the proceedings of the military commissions.”

The Pentagon also has promised news outlets that legal motions and other relevant documents will be posted promptly on the military commissions’ official website.

Woods prepares Guantanamo for 9/11 tribunals

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/09/16/2409817/woods-prepares-guantanamo-for.html

By Carol Rosenberg
The Miami Herald

In the few weeks since Rear Adm. David B. Woods took charge here, he has looked in on the men accused of killing two of his Naval Academy classmates, walked the camps where President Barack Obama’s closure order has faded in the Caribbean sun and presided over a somber ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of America’s 21st Century Day of Infamy.

Or, as the sturdy, 6-foot-4 career Naval aviator with a flat-top buzz cut sees it: It’s just his latest job in 30 years in uniform.

Woods, 53, considers himself part of “the 9/11 Generation.” He calls it “the event that defined us.” He acknowledges that two fellow midshipmen from his Class of 1981 were killed on Sept. 11, 2001. They were Navy Capt. Robert Dolan, who was inside the Pentagon and former Navy nuclear engineer turned insurance broker Michael McGinty, who lived in Massachusetts but was doing business at the World Trade Center.

The admiral wasn’t assigned to the Pentagon that day. He went on to command an air wing that flew missions meant to jam enemy air defenses in Afghanistan. He worked on a program to thwart deadly roadside bombs in Iraq.

Now, he’s the 11th commander of the controversial detention and interrogation center that Congress wouldn’t let his commander-in-chief close. Resistance was so intense to holding trials in Manhattan that the administration reversed course and now the military gets to put on the capital mass murder trial of the five alleged 9/11 conspirators at the base.

And it is Woods’ job to not only incarcerate those men after years of secret interrogation by the CIA but to prepare Camp Justice for the trial — a role he sees as a natural extension of his career.

“Obviously, over the last 10 years being in the military at 9/11 and the aftermath, the Global War on Terror has been a focal point for much of my operational career,” he said.

“This is just another one of those missions.”

It’s a mission that was never meant to be. He has inherited a prison compound where visitors can glimpse fading copies of Obama’s Jan. 22, 2009 closure order in the recreation yards of the camp for low-value captives — al Qaeda foot soldiers, training camp wannabes, Taliban militiamen. An earlier admiral had guards hang the order for the captives to see while his team built a blueprint for closure.

But recently, the guard force began taking some copies down. “They were tattered or unreadable,” said Navy Cmdr Tamsen Reese, camp spokeswoman.

Far from closing, Woods is expanding: Plans are underway to build a new detention center hospital closer to the camp where seven months ago an Afghan died of a coronary after working out. Workers are doubling the workspace of a crude media center. The admiral has requisitioned reinforcements — troops to secure the court , staff to inspect news photos for “operational security” concerns that doom the images to deletions, and escorts to squire reporters and lawyers around the 45-square-mile base.

The Pentagon plans death penalty trials for six of the 171 captives. So far, Woods has made no contingency plans for how to execute them.

“I don’t have instructions and we don’t have a plan to do it.,” he said. “There’s been no order.”

When he took charge Aug. 24, in a ceremony that was atypically unaccompanied by a news release, Woods told fellow U.S. forces that the eyes of the world would be on this corner of southeast Cuba. But he likened the operation to the flight deck of an aircraft carrier at sea — hot, busy, remote, cacophonous, in constant motion of aircraft coming and going with “spit-second accuracy.”

Did he volunteer for this post, far different from any in a career that has focused on electronic jamming warfare?

“I guess I did when I signed up for the Naval Academy in 1977,” he said.

He confirmed that he’s met former al Qaeda operations chief Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the man who boasted he planned the 9/11 attacks “from A to Z,” but said he never looked up the names of his dead classmates on the Pentagon charge sheet that seeks to execute Mohammed and four alleged co-conspirators. He’s seen and spoken to the men accused of starting his generation’s war — he wouldn’t say more.

“I have,” he said. “It wasn’t uncomfortable.”

Soon, it may be his duty to deliver them to a trial that presumes them innocent, which he says doesn’t cause concern.

“I guess it’s the professionalism I learned over 30 years that takes the emotion out of it. I’ve got a job to do; it’s pretty clear,” he said, reciting the mantra of management on the base: “Safe, humane, legal, transparent care and custody of the detainees.”

Obama administration insists on Guantanamo closure

http://www.abc6.com/story/15502638/obama-administration-insists-on-guantanamo-closure

Posted: Sep 20, 2011 7:15 AM EDT Updated: Sep 20, 2011 7:16 AM EDT

BRUSSELS (AP) - U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder says that the Obama administration will do its utmost to close the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay ahead of next year's presidential elections despite political opposition.

Holder said at the European Parliament on Tuesday that even if the current administration fails to close it ahead of elections, it will continue to press ahead if it wins the November 2012 presidential vote.

Republican presidential rivals Rick Perry has said he was happy the U.S. prison at Guantanamo has been kept open.

Holder said that the administration wants to close the facility "as quickly as possible, recognizing that we will face substantial pressure."

The General Who Would Try KSM
This Army lawyer tried to bring a justice system to Afghanistan. Next assignment: chief prosecutor at Guantanamo.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204226204576600623413286118.html

By MATTHEW KAMINSKI
9/30/2011

In July of 1999, I met a young Army lawyer on a muddy farm field in southern Kosovo. His résumé (first in his class at West Point, Rhodes Scholar, Harvard Law) suggested that Major Mark Martins had his pick of private-sector jobs. But there was this tall and down-to-earth Ranger in a cramped tent, working late into the night. Days after NATO bombers forced Serbia out, Kosovo was scarred by civil war and ethnic strife. There was no government, no courts and effectively no laws. The military had to fill this gap and Maj. Martins was trying to sort out how. At the time, many thought troops were wasting time better spent on tank training in Germany. "We don't need to have the 82nd Airborne escorting kids to kindergarten," said Condoleezza Rice, then the foreign policy adviser to an ambitious Republican governor from Texas.

Fast forward a dozen years. Brig. Gen. Martins, 51, who deployed three times to Iraq, has just wound up a two-year tour in Afghanistan. Far from a distraction, Kosovo was a preview of things to come. The post-9/11 conflicts jolted the military out of the Cold War mindset for good and into the messy work of hunting terrorists, fighting insurgencies and, once again a dirty word in Republican presidential politics, nation-building in failed states.
Related Video

Matt Kaminski on the killing of Al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki.

Gen. Martins serves at the innovative wedges of this long war. He fashioned military-led efforts to provide Afghans and Iraqis with basic governance "in that difficult time that we call the meantime"—the months, usually years, from the collapse of the old regime to the rise of a functioning new state. In between, he helped "detoxify" (his words) American detention and interrogation policies in Afghanistan. He helped draft guidelines for U.S. military commissions adopted by Congress in 2009.

On Monday, a general whom Pentagon chief counsel Jeh Johnson calls a "superstar" begins as the chief prosecutor at the tribunals, which are gearing up to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other terror suspects held at Guantanamo.

As the legal system struggled to adapt to the post-9/11 world, so did military doctrine. The army once favored "a hands-off approach" to civilian governance, says Gen. Martins. That was for the locals. But in the last decade, "important lightbulbs went off," he says. During the 2007 surge in Iraq, Gen. Petraeus decided that to succeed, the military had to step in and help Iraqis deliver justice to their citizens. Gen. Martins set up "rule of law green zones" in seven Iraqi cities. U.S. forces secured courtrooms and protected judges and prosecutors. When Gen. Petraeus moved into Afghanistan last year to lead that surge, Gen. Martins got his own command, a Rule of Law Field Force, that built on the Iraq experiment. The U.S. had written new constitutions and set up legal systems in Japan and Germany after World War II. This was the first time that rule of law was at the heart of counterinsurgency.

The Afghan insurgency feeds off frustration with the ineptitude and rapaciousness of Kabul. "The Taliban is using the idiom of justice as its calling card and recruiting card," says Gen. Martins. "Afghanistan puts in very high relief the need for governance and dispute resolution—not the classic Western form of justice, but more resolution of disputes in a way that's seen as legitimate."

At the beginning of the year, a fifth of Afghanistan's 500 districts, spread out across half its provinces, didn't have a prosecutor or judge. These areas, principally in the south and east, were also the most violent. The Taliban sent shadow courts and traveling judges into this vacuum. Their form of justice is brutal but efficient.

The extra 30,000 troops ordered by President Obama in late 2009 pushed the Taliban out of strongholds. Gen. Martins's teams of up to 25 lawyers, engineers and trainers followed into the areas cleared by the Marines and Army in Kandahar and Helmand provinces in the south and Khost and Paktika in the east. They scouted out space for courts and police offices. They brought in land clerks to address the most common dispute in Afghanistan—who owns what. They put and protected 23 new prosecutors and judges in the districts without them, and plan to have 52 in all.

Yet the formal judicial system is foreign to most Afghans in this tribal, rural society. Four-fifths of disputes are settled by councils of village elders, called jirgas, or the Taliban. The U.S. has tried to support this informal system. Forces have provided security to the elders and brought in Afghan experts to train them. "There's squabbling. There's real vituperative dialogue. But there's no shooting," says Gen. Martins of the jirgas. "This really is about turning shooting into shouting."

The field force is an overdue experiment in the projection of governance. And time is short. Mr. Obama wants to bring home the surge contingent by next summer and finish the military drawdown by 2014. If the Taliban regain control over this territory, the effort of the past year will be wasted. Surveys suggest an improved perception of the Afghan government in the south. Yet as any military officer will tell you, none of this is irreversible, all of it fragile. Every town in Iraq had a courthouse; in all of Helmand province, there's only one. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has resisted the push by Gen. Petraeus, who left last month to head up the CIA, to empower local authorities beyond his direct control. "There's no silver bullet to this," says Gen. Martins.

In previous jobs, he worked to strengthen the legitimacy of weak states and fix tarnished military programs. The next one gets no easier. The challenge for Gen. Martins will be to try to show that the military tribunals can prosecute the men behind 9/11 legitimately and fairly. He certainly has the credentials for it.

No 9/11 trial this year at Guantánamo war court
A briefing scheduled outlined in an email to lawyers makes clear that the alleged Sept. 11 plotters won’t be back at a military commission until next year.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/10/03/2437082/no-911-trial-this-year-at-guantanamo.html

By Carol Rosenberg
[email protected]

The trial of five Guantánamo captives accused of the Sept. 11 mass murder cannot begin until next year at the earliest under a timetable set out Monday by the legal authority in charge of the war court.

Retired Vice Adm. Bruce MacDonald notified lawyers on both sides of the case that he will accept recommendations on whether the case should go forward as a death penalty prosecution until Jan 15, 2012. Moreover, he also set the same deadline for Pentagon-appointed lawyers to offer their opinions on whether all five men should be tried simultaneously.

Prosecutors swore out a capital case against confessed 9/11 plot mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and his four alleged co-conspirators in May after Attorney General Eric Holder abandoned a plan to have a civilian judge and jury hear the case in a Manhattan federal court.

Since then, the case has been mired in delay while some members of the Pentagon-paid defense teams try to obtain security clearances to meet the accused at Guantánamo and start work on their cases.

They have been held at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba since their transfer from CIA custody in September 2006. The government alleges the five men were the organizers, financiers and trainers of the 19 men who hijacked the four aircraft on Sept. 11, 2001, and then slammed them into the World Trade Center, Pentagon building and a field in Pennsylvania.

The Obama administration halted the Bush-era 9/11 prosecution while it reformed the military commissions and considered where to put them on trial.

MacDonald’s instruction to both prosecutors and defense attorneys on Monday was the first written indication that the Navy’s former top lawyer, now overseeing commissions, was considering whether to have the five men tried separately.

He had already indicated that he would entertain arguments on whether the case should go forward seeking the execution of the five men but added in his email to attorneys Monday that, “you may include any comment on the issue of a joint trial.”

Only one other Guantánamo war court prosecution is in the pipeline — the death penalty case against alleged USS Cole bombing architect Abd al Rahim al Nashiri, also a former CIA captive. The chief military commissions judge, Army Col. James Pohl, is expected to hold an arraignment in that case later this month.

Meantime, the Pentagon is preparing a viewing site at Fort Meade, Md., near Washington, D.C., for reporters to watch the proceedings by a 40-second-delayed closed circuit feed as an alternative to making the trip to Camp Justice at Guantánamo. The military is also preparing a viewing site in Norfolk, Va., for the families of the 17 American sailors who were killed in the Cole attack off Yemen in October 2000.

Lawyers of Alleged 9/11 Conspirators Object to Mail Monitoring

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204528204577012910530239928.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

By JESS BRAVIN
11/2/2011

WASHINGTON—Defense lawyers for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other alleged 9/11 conspirators said Tuesday the Defense Department was reading their correspondence with the defendants and called on officials to halt the practice.

In a letter to the Pentagon's top detainee official, William Lietzau, nine defense lawyers said the security procedure violated military-commission rules as well as domestic and international humanitarian law.

The defense lawyers, including seven military officers and two civilians, said the monitoring "destroys the attorney-client relationship" by undermining the trust they must build with the defendants. The lawyers said they had raised the issue repeatedly with Pentagon officials over the past five months, but "received no response to any of our letters."

A spokesman for Mr. Lietzau and other Pentagon officials didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. Guantanamo prison officials have said their procedures are necessary to maintain security at the facility.

The Obama administration has said it plans to try the five accused 9/11 conspirators at a military commission on the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, reversing an earlier plan to try them in a New York City federal court. However, formal charges against the five have yet to be filed at Guantanamo.

The same issue involving lawyer-client communications has arisen in the case against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, who has been formally charged at a Guantanamo military commission with organizing the 2000 attack on the USS Cole.

The Pentagon has scheduled a Guantanamo hearing for Mr. Nashiri on Nov. 9. Mr. Nashiri's attorney, Lt. Cmdr. Stephen Reyes, has filed a motion with a military judge seeking to end the monitoring of communications with his client, a person close to the defense office said.

The lawyers for Mr. Mohammed and his four alleged co-conspirators said the trial, already long delayed, could be even more difficult to carry out because professional ethics require them to maintain confidential communications with their clients. The practice of monitoring mail "will effectively stall this case," they wrote.

Military commissions proceedings have been bedeviled for years by conflicts between Guantanamo prison authorities and the offshore trial system. Prosecution and defense attorneys alike periodically have complained that their access to inmates has been impeded and that detention conditions sometimes interfere with the trial process.