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Five planners of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were arraigned on Sunday before a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. The 13-hour proceeding was a theatrical farce, which unfortunately gives a taste of things to come. The five terrorist defendants - Ramzi Binalshibh, Walid bin Attash, Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi, Ammar al-Baluchi and reputed mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed - face 2,976 counts of terrorism and capital murder for their role in the 9/11 attacks. The arraignment was the first step in a lengthy process of trial and appeal that is likely to stretch for years, if the arraignment...

The arraignment of accused Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four top Al Qaeda lieutenants opened Saturday in a heavily guarded island courtroom with the so-called “Gitmo 5” launching a silent protest, refusing to cooperate, listen to translations or even answer fundamental questions about a process that could end their lives. The long-awaited trial began with defense lawyers speaking for the alleged terrorists and arguing that the protest was over their clients’ anger about alleged CIA torture and mistreatment at the prison on the southern rim of Cuba. … (Updated at 10:14 a.m., May 5:) Three hours into the...

President Obama's advisers are nearing a recommendation that Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, be prosecuted in a military tribunal, administration officials said, a step that would reverse Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.'s plan to try him in civilian court in New York City. The president's advisers feel increasingly hemmed in by bipartisan opposition to a federal trial in New York and demands, mainly from Republicans, that Mohammed and his accused co-conspirators remain under military jurisdiction, officials said. While Obama has favored trying some terrorism suspects in civilian courts as a symbol of...

Obama says he has not made a final decision to move the 9/11 trial out of New York City but he indicates the trial and security costing a mere billion dollars from “his stash,” i.e. taxpayer dollars, will not be the deciding factor. Wherever it is held, Attorney General Eric Holder wants transparency. Apparently, Obama has finally found something he is willing to see C-SPAN conduct non-stop coverage of: the 9/11 trial. Do they still prefer a federal show trial? You betcha! Meanwhile, Obama’s “intelligence” choir is singing the praises about a Bush 43 intelligence failure: Richard Reid being allowed...

The Obama administration on Friday gave up on its plan to try the Sept. 11 plotters in Lower Manhattan, bowing to almost unanimous pressure from New York officials and business leaders to move the terrorism trial elsewhere. “I think I can acknowledge the obvious,” an administration official said. “We’re considering other options.” The reversal on whether to try the alleged 9/11 terrorists blocks from the former World Trade Center site seemed to come suddenly this week, after Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg abandoned his strong support for the plan and said the cost and disruption would be too great. But behind...

"The legislation expected to be introduced early next week would prohibit funding for any Justice Department prosecution in civilian courts of a person being tried in connection with the 9/11 attacks.".....You have to give them credit for pushing back any way they can..

Gitmo Does Not Cause Terrorism"Terrorism is caused, and terrorist recruitment is driven, by Islamist ideology and by American weakness in the face of terror attacks. In that sense, Senator Durbin causes more terrorism than Gitmo ever will. Terrorist organizations are encouraged when they come to believe they can win — when they come to believe they can outlast America because we lack resolve." -- Andy McCarthy 12/18/2009 Americans Oppose Closing Gitmo, Moving Prisoners to U.S."Americans remain opposed to closing the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba and moving some of the terrorist suspects being held there to U.S. prisons: 30% favor...

Five years ago, the 9/11 commission reported that Khalid Shaihk Mohammed initially proposed a Sept. 11 attack involving 10 planes that would be used to attack CIA and FBI headquarters, unidentified nuclear plants and tall buildings in California and Washington state. KSL told interrogators that he planned to lead the hijacking of one aircraft himself. He intended to kill every adult male passenger aboard, then land at a U.S. airport and make a “speech denouncing U.S. policies in the Middle East before releasing all the women and children,” according to the report. Now, thanks to President Obama he will get...

Attorney General Eric Holder's announcement Friday that five Guantanamo Bay terror suspects will face trial just blocks from Ground Zero, where almost 3,000 people were killed, has added more fuel to the already heated debate over whether civilian courts can handle terror prosecutions. The transfer of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, and four other detainees to New York for trial presents daunting logistical and security problems for the Southern District, as well as a thicket of novel legal issues for the judge who handles the case. The detention and trial of the five defendants will...

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has instructed U.S. diplomats abroad to defend its decision to seek the death penalty for six Guantanamo Bay detainees accused in the Sept. 11 terror attacks by recalling the executions of Nazi war criminals after World War II. A four-page cable sent to U.S. embassies and obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press says that execution as punishment for extreme violations of the laws of war is internationally accepted and points to the 1945-46 International Military Tribunals as an example. Twelve of Adolf Hitler's senior aides were sentenced to death at the trials in Nuremberg, Germany,...

After having released Mounir El Motassadeq, the German Court in Hamburg has dropped the terrorism charges against him (3066 counts of accesory). One Charge remains - membership in a terrorist organisation. Until June he remains free, but must remain in Hamburg (at least initially) and must report to the police twice a week. If convicted of the remaining charge, he could face from 1 to 10 years. [my opinion - he will walk on this charge as well.] The entire case has been essentially thrown out based on statements made by others whose connection to the attacks on 9/11 is...

Mr Mzoudi admits knowing the hijackers but not their plans A German court has agreed to allow a new prosecution witness in the trial of an 11 September suspect which appeared to have all but crumbled last month. The dramatic move has delayed the verdict in the case of Abdelghani Mzoudi which was expected this week. Mr Mzoudi, 31, is accused of being an accessory to the murder of more than 3,000 in the 2001 attacks on America and membership of a terrorist group. The Moroccan national was freed after new evidence cast doubt over the case. It's a...

<p>Terrorism suspects will be tried by military tribunals — not in criminal courts — and the justice system is ready to start trials immediately, Pentagon officials told Fox News Thursday.</p> <p>The process for military commissions, or tribunals, is now in place and what's being called an "appointing authority" has been named, sources said.</p>