An Angry Holder Announces Militiary Commissions Terror Trials

This afternoon, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other terrorism detainees will not be tried in federal court but rather will be referred out to a military tribunal, marking a major reversal by the administration on terror-related cases.

But as the Attorney General made clear in his press conference, this is a decision that was forced upon the administration by Congressional Republicans who imposed a series of restrictions banning the transfer of detainees from Guantanamo Bay to the United States for any reason, effectively making a civilian trial unnecessary.

Congress’ Fault
Attorney General Holder held no punches in placing the decision at the feet of Congress, saying “Congress took one on the most effective counterterrorism tools out of our hands, and with serious ramifications.” Holder called the restrictions “unwise” and “unwarranted” and repeated the intention of the Obama administration to have them repealed.

Holder continued his attack noting that it is the executive branch, and its seasoned prosecutors, and not the legislative branch and its spoiled politicians who should make strategic decisions of who, where and how to prosecute individuals. And he is completely right.

Guantanamo Laws Made in Spite
When Congress passed the Guantanamo restrictions they did so principally out of political spite. But our justice system should not be used to score political points. Our Article III courts remain among the best in the world and have successfully brought justice to the families of terrorism victims–a claim the military tribunal system cannot make.

Furthermore, as Attorney General Holder repeated, our national security interests demand we lead by example with fair, open and transparent trials for every accused.

It was clear during the press conference that this was a decision the Attorney General did not want to make. The Department of Justice has spend countless hours investigating the charges, coordinating efforts with the intelligence communities, and preparing for trials. Now jurisdiction of this and a handful of other trials will be handed over to the Department of Defense.

Finally, the restrictions passed by Congress do one more thing that clearly bothers the Obama administration–they force the Guantanamo Bay facility to remain open in the immediate future.

Attorney General has every reason to fume at Congressional Republicans. The restrictions set up the Obama administration for failure should they continue to pursue federal court trials for terrorism detainees. They are an unprecedented overreach into prosecutorial discretion and a slap in the face of democratic process. And now they just ensured that one of the darkest points on our nation’s history continue on without remedy, all for the sake of a few political points.

What a shame.

TAKE ACTION: Sign the petition asking that the 9/11 attackers be tried in the American justice system.

photo courtesy of steakpinball via Flickr

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Caroline L.

3:05PM PDT on Apr 18, 2011

What are all these pin head right wing religous nuts doing on Care2? Haven't you got Newsmax to hang out on? You ain't changing hearts and minds by making stupid comments; you just look foolish. Stick with your Michelle Bachmann rallies and your Reagan memorials and leave us liberals alone. UGH

send a green star

Jeffrey W.

10:43AM PDT on Apr 6, 2011

Holder can be angry, have a tantrum, and hold his breath until he turns blue for all I care. I always think it's funny when somebody from the far left is forced to confront reality and deal with the cognitive dissonance. He was wrong and can't stand it.

Patricia S.

3:39AM PDT on Apr 6, 2011

Sending a Green Star is a simple way to say "Thank you."

You cannot currently send a star to Ant because you have done so within the last week.

Gloria C.

9:01PM PDT on Apr 5, 2011

somebody doesn't want us to know something. justice dept. can't let this stand and must get it to the american electorate.

Marilyn T.

6:13PM PDT on Apr 5, 2011

since when has anything obama or his hand picked commies done anything that was transparent?

Vivianne M.

4:18PM PDT on Apr 5, 2011

My problem with this all is..............Our government cause this all to happen ( 9/11) 'stuff'.
It was our under cover people that was picking up all the paper that was blown out of the building....and it was our government that allowed all the supports to be taken away and melted, and the building was taken down by a very good demolition team.

Soooooo all the 'stuff' about Guantanamo is more of the same 'Stuff'.

the people that keep putting Obama in the middle of it all is blowing wind up their dark places.
The rep. said they would not co-operate with him or the Dem. They are the problem as they want to stop any thing he is doing. And have said this over and over again.
No one can govern with un-co-operative people. The rep. are waiting for 2012 elections to put the rest of them in office. Some couldn't even wait to be instated into their jobs before they were canvassing for donations for the 2012 elections. Illegally by the way.
The rep have broken all the rules of being representatives of the people.
They have been stopping every right we all are supposed to have.
Get a clue people, stop the wrongs and co-operate with others to get them back.

Jamie C.

1:34PM PDT on Apr 5, 2011

Sharlene, "Obama has been fighting this since he became President." Fighting hard for who the republicans? His corporate puppet master? What has he done besides bend over backwards to continue the exact same policies that Bush started? He could have made executive orders, he could have grown a backbone and stood up for something even if he lost then at least I could have some respect for the man. Give me one reason to support a spineless weasel who has done nothing for us.

Ronald E.

12:45PM PDT on Apr 5, 2011

I for one am appalled at the pandering of terrorists in the first place. They should have all been kept in Iraqi prisons for the Iraqi's to deal with, like they did the Husseins.

James G.

9:12AM PDT on Apr 5, 2011

During the first two years of the Obama Administration (the 111th Congress), Republicans did not have the numbers to impose anything, but the administration did not have the balls to emulate George Bush. Holding fast to their dream of bipartisanshit, the Administration and the Democratic controlled Congress stood by while an opportunity for real change went down the drain. Instead of getting meaningful health care reform, regulation of financial institutions, and economic stimulus, we came up with chump change and continuing imprisonment of suspected terrorists in Cuba.

That Holder is angry is understandable and good but he should have talked to the Boss a long time ago. Who knows, maybe he did. Now it is too late.

Past Member .

9:09AM PDT on Apr 5, 2011

Hi Toni, Kenny, Rob, Jay, and Mike,

Civilian courts are definitely qualified to try cases of terrorism under peacetime conditions. These, however, are prisoners of war, captured under wartime-conditions.

In war, all present at the time of a crime tend to be combatants on one side or the other. Forget about impartial witnesses. Battles don't stop when someone breaks the rules so the site of the crime is about as disturbed as it can get. Forget about forensics from there. The criminal is caught red-handed, without having his home investigated or communications watched prior to arrest. The location from which the attack was planned is not even known so you can forget about pretty much all the evidence used in terrorism-cases. Now try to convict anyone under normal civilian rules. Their standards are just too high for wartime-conditions.

Beyond that, the U.S. is bound under the Geneva Conventions to try these prisoners by military tribunal. It's amazing how many commentators here call obedience to the Geneva Conventions, the basis of nearly all laws of war, an act of barbarism. The argument can be raised that as illegal combatants (yes that is a legal term, not something Bush made up) they are not protected by the Conventions. In that case, however, they have no rights and should not get any trial at all. Acting on that assumption after the fact, though, means presuming guilt, violating Article 84, Paragraph 2 of the 3rd Geneva Convention.