WASHINGTON--The Obama administration bluntly urged the U.S. Congress on Thursday to steer clear of directing where terrorism suspects should be prosecuted, pushing back against efforts to require military rather than civilian trials.
A bipartisan group of senators has offered legislation aimed at forcing the administration to prosecute terrorism suspects, like the self-professed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, in special military commission trials instead of traditional criminal courts.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder ordered Mohammed and four alleged co-conspirators to be tried in a criminal court in Manhattan. But concerns by some lawmakers about security costs and granting full legal rights to the suspects have forced administration officials to reconsider.
Holder and Defense Secretary Robert Gates wrote leaders in the House of Representatives with their opposition to legislation directing how and where to prosecute the cases. "The exercise of prosecutorial discretion has always been and should remain an Executive branch function," they said in the letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Republican Minority Leader John Boehner.
"We believe it would be unwise and would set a dangerous precedent for Congress to restrict the discretion of our departments to carry out specific terrorism prosecutions," Holder and Gates said.
The fight over where to prosecute terrorism suspects has become a growing distraction for the administration, forcing officials to expend political capital fighting legislation that could tie their hands on dealing with terrorism suspects. The administration plans to prosecute almost three dozen terrorism suspects held at a U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba--but has not announced where all the trials will be held and in what venues, criminal or military trials.
So far, only one Guantanamo detainee has been sent to federal criminal court for trial, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, who has been accused of being involved in the bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa.
Holder has said six other detainees will be prosecuted in revamped military commission trials. Those military courts were overhauled to ban the use of coerced testimony and limit the use of hearsay evidence against the suspects.
Moving forward with the prosecutions is a key part of President Barack Obama's plan to close the Guantanamo prison, which has been criticized for harsh interrogations of suspects that took place there.
Obama's fellow Democrats control both the House and Senate, but that has not stopped Congress from imposing limits on moving Guantanamo detainees. The administration must first notify Congress of any moves and offer security assessments.
