Detainee transfer debate

Coffman says ‘acts of war’ should be tried before a military tribunal

Peter Marcus, DDN Staff Writer

Monday, November 16, 2009

Colorado Congressman Mike Coffman and fellow Republicans are outraged at the Obama administration for supporting transferring the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks and four co-conspirators to New York for trial.

Coffman calls the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon an “act of war,” and says Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees should be tried by military tribunals, not by civilian criminal courts.

“I believe that acts of terrorism against the citizens of the United States are acts of war. Misguidedly, the President believes that terrorist attacks against the United States are not acts of war, but law enforcement matters that should be handled by our criminal court system just like any other criminal justice problem,” said Coffman, a decorated U.S. Marine who has served several times in the Middle East.

President Obama’s move is part of his effort to close the Guantanamo Bay prison by mid-January, though reports indicate that it is unlikely the base will close by then. Mohammed and others had been facing trials in military commissions at the U.S. naval base in Cuba.

Critics of transferring the detainees to the states for trial say the move could open the United States up to new attacks. The trial is scheduled for a court near the site of the World Trade Center, where in 2001 nearly 3,000 people died in addition to the attack on the Pentagon and a hijacked plane that crashed in western Pennsylvania. If the prosecution fails or the trial prompts new attacks in a city already traumatized by numerous terror attacks and attempts, Obama could be setting himself up for a political nightmare.

But at a news conference Friday announcing details of the transfer, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder expressed confidence in the prosecution.

“I am confident in the ability of our courts to provide these defendants a fair trial, just as they have for over 200 years,” he said. “I am quite confident that the outcomes in these cases will be successful ones.”

The Obama administration points out that other terrorism suspects have been successfully tried in the United States.

Holder has authorized prosecutors to seek the death penalty against the five defendants in New York. They will be held in a federal detention facility in New York while awaiting outcome of the trial.

The Justice Department also said that five other Guantanamo prisoners, including the alleged mastermind of a 2000 attack on the USS Cole warship in Yemen, Abd al-Rahim al Nashiri, and a young Canadian, Omar Khadr, accused of killing a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan, will be tried in revamped military tribunals.

The Obama administration has been having trouble convincing other countries to take 215 detainees still at Guantanamo who have been cleared of any connection to terrorism. Congress has barred the release of any detainees into the United States.

The Supermax prison in Florence was originally eyed as a spot to dump some of the detainees, and Gov. Bill Ritter back in January said the prison would be well suited for international terror suspects. He later backed off on that comment, suggesting that a neutral foreign country would be a better option.

Critics of the transfer say trial before a civilian judge could result in the suspects’ acquittal over rights afforded to American citizens, not suspected war criminals from other countries.

“This will set a dangerous precedent that terrorists can undergo a trial affording the same protections as an American citizen with the possibility that a federal judge might simply just let them go,” said Coffman.

Of concern is that while in custody in the United States before being brought to Guantanamo, Mohammed was subjected 183 times to “waterboarding,” which simulates drowning by pouring water over the face while restrained. Any confessions or other information from coercive interviews could probably not be used during a civilian trial.

Holder, however, says the evidence was available for prosecutors, despite the fact that judges have barred such evidence.

In addition to claiming responsibility for the September 11 attacks, Mohammed has also said that he carried out other attacks, and in 2002 beheaded kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan.

Coffman says men like Mohammed and his co-defendants don’t deserve the civilian court process.

“The September 11th attack was unquestionably an act of war. Those behind it should be tried by military tribunals and not by civilian criminal courts designed to try American citizens for the enforcement of our domestic laws,” he said. “These terrorists are war criminals given their indiscriminate targeting of civilians. Whether they are found innocent or guilty of war crimes does not change the fact that we are still a nation at war and they must be detained until this war is won.”

Ń Reuters contributed to this story

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