Sketch of September 11, 2001 attack co-defendant Khalid Shaikh Mohammed done during a hearing at Guantanamo Bay. (Janet Hamlin / Getty Images / January 19, 2009)
WASHINGTON — Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. is poised to announce that the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks and four other suspects will face justice before a U.S. military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay rather than a civilian court in New York.
The decision, to be announced Monday at the Department of Justice in Washington, marks a major reversal both for President Obama and Holder, especially since the president initially promised to shut down the prison at the U.S. Naval Base on Guantanamo Bay – where Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and the others will now be tried.
Holder has scheduled a 2 p.m. EDT news conference to announce the decision.
In late 2009, the attorney general said that the trials of the five men would be held in the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan, a decision that at first was met with general public approval.
But by early 2010, Holder and the Justice Department were running into steep opposition from New York politicians from both parties, along with much of the public, who were concerned that a civilian trial would cost too much, place New York once again in the terror spotlight, and possibly endanger the New York public. At the same time, there were mounting protests over a new Muslim mosque center near the trade center site as well.
Republicans were so incensed that on Capitol Hill, joining with a good number of Democrats, they passed legislation to prohibit spending any federal funds to move terror detainees from the Cuban prison to the U.S. for civilian trials.
That move in essence blocked the administration's attempts for civilian trials, and last month Obama announced that he was restarting the military tribunal process at Guantanamo Bay.
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