Will 9/11 Trial Stall Guantanamo Closure?
“Almost 14 years after the Sept. 11 attacks, their self-described mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, is still awaiting trial, and the families of the victims are still awaiting justice,” writes Bloomberg . “Now, President Barack Obama is renewing his effort to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, and Mohammed may prove the biggest obstacle.”
“While criticism in Congress has centered on the prospect that prisoners released to other countries may return to their suspected terrorist ways, there’s no exporting Mohammed. Efforts to prosecute the al-Qaeda strategist and four codefendants accused of plotting the attacks that killed almost 3,000 people remain entangled in procedural disputes at Guantanamo.”
“A 2009 effort to transfer their case from the military justice system to federal court in New York fizzled after vehement opposition from Congress and New York City officials worried about security. A proposal to buy a prison in Illinois to house Guantanamo detainees produced a furor in that state, and the administration promised not to pursue it.”