Khalid Sheikh Mohammed of Pakistan and Kuwait, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, has been in U.S. custody since March 2003, but it is still not clear when or where he will be tried.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced last November that Mohammed, and four other Al-Qaeda terrorists, would be tried in a civilian court in New York City. He expressed confidence that an impartial jury would be found "to ensure a fair trial in New York."
However, the plan was soon dropped when it met up with fierce local opposition. It was claimed that bringing the “most wanted terrorist in the world” would make shambles of police work in New York City, and would endanger residents.
In addition, the very idea of trying Mohammed in a civilian court was seen as controversial. President Barack Obama had promised to take a different approach than his predecessor, George W. Bush, and give a boost to the U.S. justice system by showing that it could deal with the world’s top criminals. But Republicans roundly denounced the idea. Senator John Cornyn (R-Tx.), for instance, said at the time that the suspects should not be tried as "common criminals."
"The attacks of September 11th were an act of war," Cornyn said. "Reverting to a pre-9/11 approach to fighting terrorism and bringing these dangerous individuals onto U.S. soil needlessly compromises the safety of all Americans. Putting political ideology ahead of the safety of the American people just to fulfill an ill-conceived campaign promise is irresponsible."
Another Republican from Texas, Congressman Lamar Smith, said that trying them in a civilian court would mean that they would be able to claim Miranda and Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure. "America already gives terrorists more constitutional rights than any other country," Smith said. "The administration should not prioritize the rights of terrorists over the rights of Americans to be safe and secure."
The issue having thus become a political hot potato, the Obama administration decided in March that the trials would not be held in New York City. Attorney General Holder said a decision as to where the trial would be held would be made “in a matter of weeks” – but the weeks have come and gone, and the decision has not been made.
In fact, it is expected that no decision will be made until after the midterm elections in November, when the Democrats no longer need fear electoral backlash at whatever decision is made. However, this does not protect Obama from criticism for his delay in bringing the accused criminals to justice. “When does an unfulfilled political promise become a lie?” Politico quoted Comdr. Kirk Lippold as saying. Lippold was the commanding officer aboard the USS Cole when Al-Qaeda terrorists attacked it in Yemen in 2000.
At present, the military trial against Mohammed and the other has been called off “without prejudice” in order to make way for a civilian trial – meaning a military trial can still be held, if it is so decided.
Meanwhile, Mohammed’s very positioning as the #1 suspect in the 9/11 attacks has also come under attack. Some say that it is simply “too convenient” to blame Mohammed for the entire mega-attack, and that his confession - “I was responsible for the 9/11 operation, from A to Z” – is suspect. A Justice Department memo from 2005, which was released by the Obama Administration, apparently in its never-ending battle against the Bush Administration, states that Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times in March 2003 - casting doubts on the confession’s acceptability.
Close to 3,000 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks in the year 2001 in New York City, Washington, D.C., and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Mohammed is personally charged with 2,973 individual counts of murder — one for each person killed in the attacks.