Accused 9/11 plotter likely to face execution

Reuters ^ | January 31, 2010

[La Lydia]

Accused Sept. 11 plotter Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be tried and convicted and is likely to be executed, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said on Sunday. Interviewed on CNN's "State of the Union," show, Gibbs said: "Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is going to meet justice and he's going to meet his maker. He will be brought to justice and he's likely to be executed for the heinous crimes he committed."

Gibbs did not confirm reports that the Obama administration has begun looking for places other than the heart of New York City to prosecute self-professed mastermind Mohammed and four accused co-conspirators in the face of fierce criticism tied to security and costs.

"We are talking with the authorities in New York. We understand their logistical concerns," Gibbs said. "We will work with them and come to a solution that we think will bring about justice."

Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," senior White House adviser David Axelrod said President Barack Obama still wanted Mohammed and the other Sept. 11 defendants to be tried in the U.S. justice system.

"The president believes we need to take into consideration what the local authorities are saying. But he also believes this: He believes that we ought to bring Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and all others who are involved in terrorist acts to justice, swift and sure, in the American justice system."...

Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell, also on CNN, said the accused plotters should be tried by a military commission, preferably at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. He said Republicans would deny the administration the funding to mount a trial in New York and predicted that many Democrats would join them.

"Interrogate them, detain them and try them in a military commission offshore at Guantanamo," McConnell said....

[fatnotlazy]

Even if the administration coughs up the bucks for this travesty, why would any jurisdiction want to put its citizens in such danger? Oh yeah....jobs will be created. I doubt that, but even if they would be, is it worth putting everyone’s life in danger?

Nothing wrong with GITMO or any other military installation, preferably somewhere outside the US.

[paudio]

Another efforts from this administration to portray American Justice system in a negative light: pre-determined trial court. Not much different from during the inquisitions. The non-Americans have heard ‘innocent until proven guilty’ zillion times on TV series, Hollywood movies, etc. Now, 0bama & Co. want to show the world that those words do not matter at all.

[LachlanMinnesota]

If KSM is tried in a military court, in order for him to be sentenced to death, doesn't Obama have to give the final OK for that? If so, to avoid having to sentence KSM to death, Obama needs to have the civilian courts try him. There, the court is the final sentencing agent.

However, Obama has the power to pardon in the civilian court, which I am certain is not a problem for him.

I believe the motive for getting KSM out of the military system is so that Obama cannot be blamed for ordering the execution.

Any Military lawyers or others who know think this in incorrect?

[Mr. Wright]

Would not surprise me at all — I put nothing past these people!

[La Lydia]

If he is tried in a federal court, the President doesn’t have to OK the death penalty, the court sentences him if convicted. The President does, however, have the authority under the Constitution to grant reprieves and pardons for federal crimes.