The 82nd U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder, has made a series of careful and in the eyes of many veteran legal observers correct moves that have led to his decision to take the responsibility of trying the 911 suspects are being held at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba out of the jurisdiction of a military tribunal. Instead, these five suspects, including self-confessed 911 planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, will face trial in civilian Federal District Court, in Lower Manhattan just steps away from where the twin World Trade Center towers once stood.
This in the city where the worst terrorist attacks in U.S. history happened. The city is of course New York City, one of the most vibrant and well-visited cities not only in the United States, but the world. And as it happens, these 911 trials will probably be some of the most anticipated, well attended and watched trials in the annals of jurisprudence. They together will become as U.S. Attorney General Holder put it in a interview with Jim Lehrer of the PBS program The News Hour, "the Trial of the Century."
"The Stakes are Enormous"
Attorney General Holder went on to say that, "The stakes are so enormous...Where should this case be properly housed? How do I deal with the concerns of the victims? Am I placing it in a jurisdiction where we can handle the security? There were a whole series of questions that I had to ask, and answer before I was able to say that this was the right decision to make."
In making the final decision to have the trials in New York City, Holder said he talked to, "prosecutors in the Justice Department, prosecutors from the Department of Defense, people on the staff of the Justice Department, people at Defense...the Solicitor General's Office, appellate people in both the Eastern District of Virginia and the Southern District of New York, as well as the U.S. Marshall's Service, and the C.I.A."
"What We Have Here is a Conspiracy"
Attorney General Holder said he felt that these 911 suspects, "played a variety of roles, all designed to effectuate the plot. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was clearly the person I guess we would call the mastermind. But they all -- the other ones all played key roles or are equally culpable and we think ultimately worthy of the ultimate penalty, the death penalty, as I indicated in the news conference," Mr. Holder said.
Attorney General Holder went on to say, "I think what we have here is a conspiracy among these five men to bring down the towers, to hijack those planes, and to do all the things that happened on September the 11th [2001].
"This is not a Show Trial"
According to the Attorney General, this is not a show trial. Although the symbolism of bringing the prosecution to Lower Manhattan has not been lost on him. Holder said, "There are certain standards that you have to reach in any Justice Department-brought-case. And the standards, the level at which that bar is set, I thought was met here. [In fact,] I thought it was exceeded here. And we are going to be able to prosecute all five of them."
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