More Dems want KSM trial out of NYC By: Kasie Hunt January 26, 2010 02:02 PM EST More Senate Democrats are pressuring the Obama administration to move Sept. 11 plotter Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s trial out of New York City and into a military commission.
Democratic Sens. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Jim Webb of Virginia signed on to a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder condemning the administration’s November announcement of a criminal trial in Manhattan.
“Your decision to prosecute enemy combatants captured on foreign battlefields like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is without precedent in our nation’s history,” the senators wrote. “Given the risks and costs, it is far more logical, cost-effective, and strategically wise to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in the military commissions.”
The letter “shows that there is growing support, especially on the Democratic side, against this decision. Going on the record in a letter to the [attorney general] is a big step for both Webb and Lincoln,” a Senate aide said.
The letter is also signed by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and John McCain (R-Ariz.)
In November, Holder officially announced the Justice Department’s decision to try Mohammed and four other suspects in the southern district of New York. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said it will cost the city approximately $200 million per year to provide the necessary security and infrastructure for the trial—a point the senators cricitized.
The senators also argued holding the trial in a location so close to the World Trade Center site would provide Al Qaeda with little more than a recruiting opportunity.
“You will be providing them one of the most visible platforms in the world to exalt their past acts and to rally others in support of further terrorism. Such a trial would almost certainly become a recruitment and radicalization tool for those who wish us harm,” they wrote.
The Department of Defense officially withdrew the military commission’s charges against the five men last week—though they did so “without prejudice,” allowing officials room to bring charges again if necessary.
