Yesterday, Attorney General Eric Holder said he's "close to a decision" on how (and where!) 9/11 plotter Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his cohorts will be tried. Holder explained, "The process is an ongoing one. We are working to make a determination about the placement of that trial. I hope that whenever the decision is, it is one that will be based on the merits and what is best for the case and justice in that case."
The Daily News reports "A Justice Department source downplayed the comment, saying political conditions have only worsened - Republicans won the House in last week's election - since earlier this year, when Holder said a decision was weeks away." The Obama administration floated the idea of trying KSM and company in a civilian trial in lower Manhattan, which raised all sorts of rhetoric and blustering about 9/11, security, and agita that was eclipsed by Park 51. Critics of trying KSM and the other defendants in NYC say they should be tried in a military tribunal.
Rep. Peter King, the Long Island Republican who will head the Homeland Security committee next year, said, "I urge Attorney General Holder not to hold any 9/11 trials in New York or anywhere in the U.S.," while Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said, "The trial should not and will not be in New York." And, for the record, Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo doesn't want the trial here either.
