WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric Holder faced tough questions during a Senate hearing yesterday, but the toughest of all came after the lawmakers filed out of the room.
Alice Hoagland, whose son, Mark Bingham, was killed in the 9/11 hijacking of Flight 93, politely laid out her own concerns with the plan to put accused terrorists on trial in Manhattan.
“I can’t help thinking that it does make New York City a more dangerous place and a target and it will give these ugly people . . . every elegant access to all of the media sources in the United States. We are heartsick and weary of the delays and mechanizations of the courts, and the theatrics that are going to take over,” Hoagland said.
Holder had said in the hearing that he had consulted with family members like Hoagland.
The attorney general assured her that he considered all of the concerns she brought up. He said he had wrestled with what was “a tough decision.”
“I think what we have done is put in motion a process that will finally, finally resolve these matters,” Holder told her.
Brooklyn firefighter Peter Regan, who lost his father Donald in the attacks, piled into his car with his mother and sister late Tuesday night so that they could attend the hearing.
Regan said he didn’t hear anything that convinced him that Holder had made the right decision, but that he was grateful for the opportunity to see the process himself.
“You’re giving people that aren’t American citizens American rights — why?” Regan said.