Feds 'close to decision' on trial for 9/11 mastermind, Holder says

AP 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed should be tried by a military commission at Gitmo, Rep. Peter King says. WASHINGTON - Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday said the government is "close to a decision" on how to try Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. Holder's remarks set off a flurry of blowback, with Republicans saying they won't stand for a 9/11 trial on U.S. soil - and Democrats again nixed New York City as a venue. "We have been working on it, and I think we're close to a decision," the AG told reporters. A Justice Department source downplayed the comment, saying political conditions have only worsened - Republicans won the House in last week's election - since earlier this year, when Holder said a decision was weeks away. Congress must provide funding for the expensive, multi-year 9/11 trial. Democrats have done nothing to fight GOP efforts to block budget approval. "I urge Attorney General Holder not to hold any 9/11 trials in New York or anywhere in the U.S.," said Rep. Peter King (R-L.I.), the incoming Homeland Security Committee chairman. King said KSM and his henchmen should be tried by a military commission at Gitmo, where they are held without charges for the 2001 Al Qaeda attacks. The military withdrew its case to make way for a federal civilian trial - but then New York balked at it being held in lower Manhattan's Foley Square courthouse. "The trial should not and will not be in New York," Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php Five Filters featured article: Beyond Hiroshima - The Non-Reporting of Falluja's Cancer Catastrophe .

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Feds 'close to decision' on trial for 9/11 mastermind, Holder says