United States Court House in Lower Manhattan (photo by wallyg)
MSNBC has quite a scoop [now confirmed and expanded upon by numerous sources, including Marcy]; they are reporting that Attorney General Eric Holder is set to announce that “Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees will be sent to New York to face trial in a civilian federal court”:
Mohammed and the four others — Waleed bin Attash, Ramzi Binalshibh, Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi and Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali — are accused of orchestrating the attacks that killed 2,973 people on Sept. 11, 2001
I think I know why they are being sent to the Southern District of New York (SDNY).
USAO SDNY was the first US Attorney’s Office to open a dedicated anti-terror unit. That unit was the brainchild of Dave Kelly and was started with Kelly and Pat Fitzgerald as co-unit chiefs. Mary Jo White was US Attorney at the time and really gave the unit a lot of support.
After the murder of Meyer Kahane, of the Jewish Defense League, documents and other physical evidence belonging to El Sayyid Noasair indicated that there was a wider plot to kill other prominent people and to blow up American landmarks. Initially, the plot seemed too over-the-top to be believable, an act of fantasy by a disturbed mind.
However, after much memo writing to DOJ, SDNY was able to begin an investigation to see if any of these plans were even feasible. It turned out that not only were many of these plans feasible–they would work from a demolitions and engineering standpoint–steps had been taken by other individuals to implement these plans. Understand, this investigation took years and years to do and, as far as I know, is probably still ongoing.
During this investigation, the first WTC bombing happened in 1993. The work of the SDNY counter-terror unit and the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), in unraveling the threads of these plots, made identification and conviction of the plotters possible. It also made possible the disruption of the Millennium Bomb Plot set for 2000, and the “day of terror” plot in which the Blind Sheik Omar Abdel Rachman planned to blow up all of New York City’s bridges and tunnels (he had some weird idea that blowing up the tunnels would somehow flood Manhattan).
As a result of all of this, SDNY has evidence rooms full of stuff about the various plots. Including a plot called “Bojinka,” which involved blowing up planes, and a laptop belonging to Ramzi Yousef with plans and airline schedules.
All of this evidence is untainted by what happened in Guantanamo. I’m not saying that there will not be issues relating to GTMO that affect this upcoming trial, however, SDNY has the biggest and best storehouse of what should be admissible evidence relating to these men.
Not inconsequentially, SDNY also has a U.S. Marshall’s Office and District Executive’s Office (the DE runs the federal courthouse) that know how to do the security for these kinds of trials, which is a valuable life skill. And New York has a cadre of judges who are familiar with how to handle these trials because there have been so very many terrorism trials already held in SDNY.
Still, I’m thinking that the decision to try it here has mostly to do with all that lovely stockpile of non-Guantanamo-tainted evidence.
Related posts:
- What If Civilian Trials Prove Torture Wasn’t Necessary?
- With His Children Still Missing, KSM’s Torture Continues
- Can Alleged Terrorists Get Fair Trials? The Case of Aafia Siddiqui
- CIA/SERE Experiments Evidence of Attempt to Mislead on OLC Torture Memos
- Yoo’s Nightmare: A Trial Showing Torture was Unnecessary
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What? A civil solution?
When I say storehouse, it’s more like storerooms.
I don;t want some nut thinking he can make all the evidence go away by bombing a single building. There are stockpiles of info held by various agencies.
Hopefully, unlike the trial in Dallas Federal Court concerning the Holy Land Foundation, the procedures and judicial rulings will reflect constitutionally valid concepts and practices.
“…planned to blow up all of New York City’s bridges and tunnels (he had some weird idea that blowing up the tunnels would somehow flood Manhattan).”
Why are terrorists thought of as “evil geniuses?” They seem efficient, driven and, certainly, evil. But genius? Using one’s imagination to figure out how to kill people doesn’t qualify as genius.
Thanks Cynthia !
Isn’t SDNY Preet Bharara’s district ?
Thanks for filling us in on the likelihood of evidence against KSM that predates torture. I argued that that was probably the case in my diary this morning.
Jus Congens!
I don’t know about efficient.. but I think the problem with this particular bunch is that they were extremely prolific in their ideas and their efforts. If one focuses one’s exuberant enthusiasm on coming up with wacky ways to kill innocent people, then eventually one will stumble on something that works.
I’m glad they’re going to wind up duly convicted by a civilian court, and sentenced to spend the rest of their days with their similarly motivated domestic counterparts well away from the civilized world, if that is the outcome. I vaguely remember seeing somewhere that McVeigh co-conspirator and Christianist nutjob Nicholls has started hanging out with some of the Islamists at wherever they’re being held. I wonder what on earth they have to talk about…. perhaps they’ll find they have something in common with Tiller’s assassin and that guy who tried to blow up the Atlanta Olympics. All the same to me…
Let justice be done
There must be plenty of evidence that was not tainted by torture ,let these men have their day in court and suffer the consequence of their actions.
Indeed it is. Some of the dealy in reaching this decision may have been the WH waiting until Bashara was actually confirmed an in office. You certainly do not want to be undertaking something this important without the boss in his chair
There are a lot of people that should be suffering the consequences of their actions. Just follow the money. Below is a link to a report entitled “Collateral Damage: US Covert Operations and the Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001″. I believe it was deliberately released by the “good guys” working at the Office of Naval Intelligence (OSI) in order to expose some of the darker elements in the US Government.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/4866520/Collateral-Damage-911-Covert-Ops-Funding-Targeted
You can believe what you want to about what really happened on 911 but there is a section in this report titled “The War Chest” (page 6) which has one of the best descriptions of how the Banking Cabal came into existence, the Richard Pearl murder as well as the financing of 9/11.
A more detailed and revised follow-up version of the report can be found here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/16970135/September-11-Commission-Report-Revised-December-2008
Thanks, this adds an interesting twist for me …
Actually, the thing that has always struck me about a lot of these plots was the amount of engineering work that went into them.
Don’t forget Osam Bin Laden’s family made their fortune as a contruction company. OBL understands things like strucutral engineering and one of the ways that the SDNY counter terror group came to realize that the plans were not fantasy was by having engineers look at the blueprints adn demolition plans the plotters had put together.
it wasnt wacky at all. It was plain, old fashioned, engineering work and site plan research
Might some of this evidence be that developed by John P. Oneill, the FBI agent who was forced out in 2001, became a security manager for the WTC, and was killed in 9/11?
So off topic that this deserves shitcanning..who will stand up, what overbearing overpaid worker will be the first to admit how lazy and overpaid they are and volunteer for a huge wage reduction and triple their production and output with procedes going to the managerial upper class citizen stock, preferably white males with the real skills to get things done. Selfish worker drones caused this finance crisis..everyone knows it. heh
I’m sorry for such a naive question – but will this be a jury trial?
If so, will/can anyone raise a stink over the location of the trial (NYC) and how are the defendants supposed to get an un-biased jury?
Thanks.
The Justice Department was severely compromised by the worst president ever, and much effort by the White House has been needed to get the political appointees replaced with functional and ethical – even qualified – personnel.
Whether or not iti is a jury trial is at the defendant’s election. The defendant can either demand or waive a jury.
The argument about biased jury will almost certainly be raised byt he defensse, it would almost be malpractice not to in these circumsatnces, but I’m not too terribly concerned about the outcome of those motions.
This issue was litigated very thoroughly during the trial related tothe 1993 WTC bombing, so the law is pretty settled.
Howeer, since GWB and Cheney, et al keep insisting that “911 changed everything!”, the defense is almost obligated to make the motion.
True. Bashara was previoulsy an AUSA in SDNY. He was also with the Seante Judicary Committee where he was a amjor force in pushing for, and doing, an investigation into the mass firing of US Attorney’s.
You remember the Brad Schlozman, Monica Goodling, AGAG circus?
I remember the 1993 WTC Bombing trials and always wondered why the 9/11 suspects couldn’t have been tried the same way. But then again – GWB and Cheney (obviously) changed a lot of the way things were done – logic and reason were thrown out the window during their administration.
Thank you for answering my question Cynthia. I appreciate the response.
All too well.
Holder just announced that foor 5 of the 911 suspects, it will be a jury trial! so nice to hear.
Jane has a fresh cross-post up: “Goldman Sachs: Insurance Stocks Would Drop 36% By 2019 With House Public Option”
I hope this puts the whole 911 conspiracy theory on trial because my group AE911Truth.org believe that the towers where exploded and did not collapse from fire caused by plane strikes. It’s high time Americans had a real honest investigation about what happen on 9/11. The 9/11 Commission report is so full of mistakes, errors, fraud, deception it’s a joke.
We don’t know who, how and why, but we DO KNOW that these towers did not collapse from fire.
I just finshed watching that Holder Press conference and can I say that my Congressman, Peter King, does NOT reflect the views if THIS constiuent when he goes all chickenhawk about about how having the trial in NY will make NYC more of a target.
If the Omar Abdel Rachman (blind sheik) trial did not get the courthouse blown up–his folowers are rabid in their adoration of him–did not do it, nothing will.
SDNY has hosted terror trials since at least the 1980″s, remeber the Croatian Bombing case? Was that 1982 or 83?
It will be another excuse to show police force and restrict access to the entire area around the court house.
9/11 was all about money, power and geopolitical games being played. Refer to the reading material at post #11.
Canadian Supreme Court now hearing Guantanamo case on C-span2. Very interesting …
Yes, yes! I think everything in Cynthia’s list of advantages to SDNY venue was true in 2002 as these men were rounded up.
In complete agreement with commentor #26. Here’s some more revealing info:
http://911truth.org/article.php?story=20041221155307646
And as you can guess, already the GOP’ers are bleating and braying that KSM and company should be tried by military courts.
The rethuglicons are such morons, really. These guys killed Americans like common low-life thugs and the righties want to dignify their actions by having them tried by military tribunals.
Please, don’t insult military personnel in this country or anywhere else in the free world for that matter. Let our legal system try them as criminals – That’s what they are. To try them under the UCMJ would only serve to dignify them as combat soldiers or worse yet martyrs.