President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder should not have said what they said about the upcoming trials of Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and four other terror suspects.
Holder announced recently that Mohammad and the other four would be tried in civilian courts in New York City rather than in military courts at Guantanamo Bay, where they have been held in prison.
Defending his decision before a Senate committee, Holder said that he felt positive Mohammad would be convicted, that “Failure is not an option.” Obama commented to the press that Mohammad, the professed 9/11 mastermind, would be convicted and executed.
Obama’s contention has been that the Guantanamo Bay prison and military tribunals set up by the Bush administration have been a black eye for American justice.
We have no problems with trying these individuals in a civilian court, even though some, including the relatives of 9/11 victims, have objected.
They say public trials will give the terrorists a platform to spout hate and insult the memory of the American dead. In an open society that happens, but it’s a small price to pay for the privilege of individual rights.
Others contend American security and top secret information will be compromised by a public trial. But we doubt that anything will come out in court that has not been reported in the media already.
But if we are going to have open and just courts, then public officials should not declare the outcome of a trial before it happens, possibly prejudicing a jury. Obama is getting what he said in the presidential campaign that he wanted, at least for these five Guantanamo terror suspects. And that was a fair and open trial, not prejudgment.
