The trial of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed won’t be held in lower Manhattan and could take place in a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay, sources said last night.
Administration officials said that no final decision had been made but that officials of the Department of Justice and the White House were working feverishly to find a venue that would be less expensive and less of a security risk than New York City.
The back-to-the-future Gitmo option was reported yesterday by Fox News and was not disputed by White House officials.
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Such a move would likely bring howls of protest from liberals already frustrated that President Obama has failed to meet his deadline for closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay.
It would also indicate that after years of attacking the Bush administration for its handling of the war on terror, Obama officials are embracing one of the most controversial aspects of it.
The administration is likely considering Gitmo because Congress is moving to cut off funding for holding the expensive trials in civilians courts.
Rep. Peter King (R-LI) has introduced a bill that would prohibit the use of Justice Department funds to try Guantanamo detainees in federal civilian courts, and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said he would introduce a similar bill in the Senate next week.
The Washington Post, meanwhile, reports that wherever the terror trials are eventually held, it is virtually certain that they will not take place in New York City.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly yesterday credited Mayor Bloomberg, who spoke out against the holding the trials in New York, with spurring the Obama administration to reconsider.
“I think the president responded to, certainly, the mayor’s statement yesterday and community concerns, and it, quite frankly, gives us a little more room in the Police Department,” he said.
“The mayor’s position is the right position, and I think the mayor was the reason it was moved.
“There was a lot of concern in the community. A lot of other political leaders were worried about it, but it wasn’t until the mayor made the statement that the White House reacted. It’s the right decision.”
But the administration insisted that Justice officials had been reviewing other options well before Bloomberg changed his mind and voiced his opposition.
It was not until word leaked out that the DOJ was reconsidering that Bloomberg spoke up, one official said.
Other domestic sites mentioned for the trials include a former military base in New York Harbor that welcomes summertime picnickers and bike riders, the US Military Academy at West Point, and Stewart Air National Guard Base in upstate Newburgh.
Bloomberg said yesterday that he would not brand Obama a flip-flopper over his turnabout.
“To me, it’s a sign of maturity, strength and intellect,” Bloomberg said on WOR radio yesterday.
“If somebody comes up with a better idea — if the world changes — you change.”
Gov. Paterson said he was “elated that our concerns are being considered by the president and the federal government.”
The effort to nix New York as the venue for the “terror trial of the century” also got a boost yesterday when Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) urged Obama to hold the trial elsewhere.
She cited the high threat of terrorist strikes, especially for a city like New York.
“Without getting into classified details, I believe we should view the attempted Christmas Day plot as a continuation, not an end, of plots to strike the United States by al Qaeda affiliates,” she wrote.
“Moreover, New York City has been a high-priority target since at least the first World Trade Center bombing, in 1993. The trial of the most significant terrorist in custody would add to the threat.”