Plans to try 9/11 plotter in New York dropped

Washington: The Obama Administration has abandoned its plan to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of 9/11 attacks, in New York amid concerns that bringing the accused back to the scene of crime could add to security threat and cause emotional trauma to some people.
     
"New York is out," an administration official was quoted as saying by 'The Washington Post'. "We're considering other options," he said.
    
The New York Times also said that the Justice Department officials are studying other locations, focusing especially on military bases and prison complexes, and no obvious new choice had emerged.
    
Both newspapers termed it as another setback for the Obama Administration, after US lawmakers and business leaders had raised their banners of revolt against the decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a New York court saying it could add to security threat and cause emotional trauma to some people.
    
"Without getting into classified details, I believe we should view the attempted Christmas Day plot as a continuation, not an end, of plots to strike the United States by Al-Qaida and its affiliates," said Senator Feinstein, Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
    
"Moreover, New York City has been a high-priority target since at least the first World Trade Centre bombing in 1993. The trial of the most significant terrorist in custody would add to the threat," she said.

However, officials of the Obama Administration said they remain committed to putting Mohammed and the other defendants who are currently held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on trial in a federal court, not in a military commission as some in Congress have been demanding.
    
"Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is a murderous thug who has admitted to some of the most heinous crimes ever committed against our country. And the (US) President is committed to seeing that he's brought to justice," White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton said on Thursday.
    
President Barack Obama agrees with the Attorney General's opinion that Mohammad and others can be litigated successfully and securely in the United States, just like others have, such as Richard Reid, he said.
    
"Currently our federal jails hold hundreds of convicted terrorists, and the President's opinion has not changed on that," Burton said.
    
This week, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg backed away from the idea of conducting the trial a short distance away from the World Trade Centre in a Lower Manhattan court on the grounds that it would cause too much disruption.
    
For several weeks, New Yorkers have been divided on the issue but many civilian and business groups have expressed a great deal of distress about having the trial in the city that could last for years.
    
Bloomberg said the trial is going to cost lot of money and disturb many of people an suggested a military base as an option.
    
Bloomberg had originally supported the idea of having the trials in New York City.  The trial would have demanded tremendous security costs and elaborate plans to secure large parts of areas around the courthouse by the New York Police Department.
    
Besides Mohammed, four plotters will be on trial. Mohammed faces the death penalty if convicted.
    
All five plotters are being held at the notorious detention facility, Guantanamo Bay, which Obama has promised to close down.