Johanna Neuman
Los Angeles Times
January 28, 2010
From the beginning, conservatives denounced Atty. Gen. Eric Holder‘s plan to try Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-described mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and other suspects in a civilian court in New York City. If the trial happens, said former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, “the terrorists win.”
The Senate voiced its concern too. In a letter to Holder, a bipartisan group of senators –South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham, Connecticut independent Joe Lieberman, Arizona Republican John McCain, Arkansas Democrat Blanche Lincoln, Maine Republican Susan Collins and Virginia Democrat Jim Webb — urged him to reconsider. The letter said, “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.”
Perhaps the biggest push-back to the idea of civilian trials for the terrorist suspects is coming from New York. “I believe it would destroy the economy in Lower Manhattan,” said Steve Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York. After a unanimous vote by a Lower Manhattan community board urging that the trial be held elsewhere, Mayor Michael Bloomberg this week came out against a New York trial.
The article, with video, continues at the Los Angeles Times.
