Obama administration's anti-terror architecture: Too much like Bush

[n2doc]

April 10, 2011
President Obama last week decided to try Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four other accused Sept. 11 conspirators before a military commission in the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, rather than in a civilian court in the United States. It's the latest example of Obama, who was acidly critical of George W. Bush's policies in the war on terror, embracing those policies or acquiescing in their continuation. Explanations abound: an assertive Congress, a lack of public support, a seductive bureaucracy or a change in Obama's thinking from candidate to president. Each example tells a different story, but the end result is disappointing. And the responsibility ultimately lies with the president.

The fiasco of the Mohammed trial is an example of good intentions followed by inept execution. When Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. announced in 2009 that the self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind and his confederates would be tried in a civilian court, we said that the decision "makes an eloquent statement about the Obama administration's determination to avenge the victims of terrorism within the rule of law." Holder said Mohammed and the other defendants would be tried in New York "to answer for their alleged crimes in a courthouse just blocks from where the twin towers once stood." But that was precisely the problem for many New Yorkers, who regarded a trial near ground zero as a sacrilege or who feared it would be a magnet for terrorists.

The uproar over a trial in New York drowned out the compelling arguments for a civilian trial somewhere in the United States. Civilian courts have ample experience in trying suspected terrorists, including Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called 20th hijacker. A trial before a military commission, which lacks some of the protections accorded to defendants in a civilian trial, would make it easier for America's enemies to portray it as a show trial.

So Obama eventually backed down. Why? Partly because public and congressional opinion had quickly moved from hostility to a trial in New York to hostility to a trial anywhere in the United States. But Obama cooperated in dooming civilian trials. First, he provided cover to his critics by retaining the option of military commissions for some detainees, an inconsistent policy that encouraged critics to urge a military trial for Mohammed and the other Sept. 11 conspirators. Second and more important, Obama was maneuvered into signing a defense authorization bill that barred funding for transferring any Guantanamo inmate to the United States. Obama issued a limp statement saying he would "work with the Congress to seek repeal of these restrictions, will seek to mitigate their effects, and will oppose any attempt to extend or expand them in the future." Those protestations aside, by signing the legislation, Obama guaranteed two outcomes: The detainees wouldn't be tried in a civilian court, and Guantanamo wouldn't be closed.

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http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-obama-20110410,0,7387245.story