The retired naval officer who commanded the USS Cole when it was attacked by terrorists hopes President Obama will reverse his decision to try a confessed 9/11 mastermind in New York City.
Attorney General Eric Holder announced in October that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees would be tried in a courthouse just blocks from where the World Trade Center once stood. The announcement sparked bipartisan opposition to the decision to take the self-proclaimed mastermind of the attacks to New York and try him in a federal civilian court, but last week The Washington Post reported that top advisors to the president may recommend that Mohammed be prosecuted in a military tribunal.Cdr. Kirk Lippold (USN-Ret.), senior military fellow at Military Families United, hopes that report is true. "I think it is indication of a positive development," he suspects. "No final decision has been made yet; they're kind of floating it out there. And quite frankly I will stand by what I have discussed before: the proper venue is military commissions. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is a war criminal. He should be tried under the laws of armed conflict." Also at issue is the location of where those tribunals might take place, and Lippold believes the president should abandon his plan to close down Guantanamo Bay and relocate the terrorist suspects to a facility on U.S. soil. "The American people and members of Congress have been very clear in their desire to keep our nation safe by keeping these terrorists in Guantanamo Bay, by ensuring that we don't allow them to set foot on U.S. soil, thereby triggering us having to read them their Miranda rights," the military fellow adds. Officials told the Post that an announcement would come soon and they hope to finalize their plans by the time Obama leaves for Indonesia March 18.
Attorney General Eric Holder announced in October that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees would be tried in a courthouse just blocks from where the World Trade Center once stood. The announcement sparked bipartisan opposition to the decision to take the self-proclaimed mastermind of the attacks to New York and try him in a federal civilian court, but last week The Washington Post reported that top advisors to the president may recommend that Mohammed be prosecuted in a military tribunal.Cdr. Kirk Lippold (USN-Ret.), senior military fellow at Military Families United, hopes that report is true. "I think it is indication of a positive development," he suspects. "No final decision has been made yet; they're kind of floating it out there. And quite frankly I will stand by what I have discussed before: the proper venue is military commissions. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is a war criminal. He should be tried under the laws of armed conflict." Also at issue is the location of where those tribunals might take place, and Lippold believes the president should abandon his plan to close down Guantanamo Bay and relocate the terrorist suspects to a facility on U.S. soil. "The American people and members of Congress have been very clear in their desire to keep our nation safe by keeping these terrorists in Guantanamo Bay, by ensuring that we don't allow them to set foot on U.S. soil, thereby triggering us having to read them their Miranda rights," the military fellow adds.
Officials told the Post that an announcement would come soon and they hope to finalize their plans by the time Obama leaves for Indonesia March 18.
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