Word: trial
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...against his plan to try 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a federal courthouse in lower Manhattan, one man stood by him. And he was a good friend to have. At a Situation Room session on Jan. 29, Holder was virtually alone in arguing for sticking with a civilian trial for KSM. A Manhattan jury, he said, would produce a quick conviction - and that image would help restore America's reputation in the world. When others in the room argued in favor of military tribunals with special rules favoring the government, it was Barack Obama who took Holder's side...
...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...
...easy to imagine that Holder and Obama, in those private moments, might be a little bewildered - and 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...
Then the failed Christmas bombing attempt on a 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...
ERIC HOLDER, U.S. Attorney General, on the prospects of the al-Qaeda leader ever being put on trial, during questioning by members of Congress about trying terror suspects in federal civilian courts...