Word: civilian
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...even with the President's affirmation, Holder was fighting a losing battle. The public backlash against a civilian KSM trial had already cost the White House the support of many Democratic leaders in New York. Republicans, meanwhile, were busy turning Holder into the poster child for White House weakness on terrorism, and some polls showed that most Americans agreed with them. "The only two people who still believe in civilian trials," says one of the meeting's attendees, "are Holder and the President."(See the top 10 unfortunate political one-liners...
...defensive - about the way their handling of the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed trial has turned out. Obama rejected military tribunals during his presidential campaign and suspended them soon after he took office. By July, Obama had asked Holder to decide whether it was feasible to prosecute KSM in a civilian court. Holder chewed on that question for weeks. Meanwhile, Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, who opposed civilian trials, asked Holder to meet with Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a key centrist vote on matters of counterterrorism. Graham told Holder he strongly opposed civilian trials for the alleged...
...American people and our legal traditions and the prosecutors, the tough prosecutors from New York, who specialize in terrorism," Obama said after the announcement. In private he was even more supportive of Holder. When Obama met with Graham in early December, the Senator laid out his case against civilian trials. But the President said he thought Holder had the better side of the argument. "I just agreed to disagree with the President on that issue," Graham told TIME...
...Detroit-bound airliner gave the GOP an opening. Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani launched a campaign against the trials, saying they could lead to new terrorist attacks against the city, while Republicans on Capitol Hill prepared to kill the Holder plan by simply defunding the civilian proceedings - just as they had defunded any domestic alternative to Guantánamo Bay a year before. On Jan. 27, the dam broke: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg reversed his previous position and said he opposed a trial in Manhattan because it could cost the city as much as $1 billion...
...Graham can deliver the votes needed to close Gitmo even if the talks are successful. Still, it is increasingly clear that everyone would like to find a way out of the stalemate. One compromise might involve trying KSM and other 9/11 conspirators in a tribunal, or even a new civilian terrorism court with special rules, while permitting other alleged terrorists to be tried, as originally planned, in the existing federal system. Holder doesn't have a feel yet for where the President will come down on the talks. "I'm just not sure where the President is on this," Holder...