BBC NEWS
"We simply cannot allow a trial to be delayed any longer," Attorney General Eric Holder said, in a sharp U-turn.
The Obama administration abandoned plans to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a US court, amid fierce opposition.
President Obama recently lifted a freeze on new military terror trials.
He accused the US Congress of harming national security by opposing his plan to close the controversial Cuban prison and try some terror suspects in US civilian courts.
Death penalty
Mr Holder vigorously defended his earlier decision to use US federal courts to try the accused men during a news conference announcing the reversal on Monday.
He said that the US prison system had successfully held hundreds of convicted terrorists, and that the Obama administration would continue to prosecute terror cases in US courts.
Mr Holder blamed Congress for the high profile policy reversal, saying his hands "were tied" by "unwise and narrow" restrictions they had placed on the administration.
But, he said, the Justice Department had been prepared to "bring a powerful case" against Mohammed and his four co-conspirators.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (centre) had a pre-trial hearing at Guantanamo in December 2008
Mr Holder noted though that the death penalty could be still sought in the case.
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1 comment:
Holder needs to go. He is a liability to Dems. His inane idea of trying KSM in a civilian court at the expense of at least $800 million dollars and making us more vulnerable to terror attacks, is one for the records. His lawsuit against AZ. for enforcing Fed. Immigratio¬n Law and his failure to prosecute the Black Panthers caught on video tape intimidati¬ng voters only because they are black gives him a trifecta for ignorance. And that is without mentioning the gun running scandal to Mexico.
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