WASHINGTON--US President Barack Obama faced criticism Saturday for a decision to try the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks in a civilian court just steps from Ground Zero, with victims' families and political foes voicing opposition.
As victims' support groups lambasted plans to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four alleged co-plotters in the New York court, Obama's political foes warned the decision would harm efforts to combat terrorism.
Republican Senator John McCain, Obama's former election rival, warned the decision sent "a mixed message about America's resolve in the fight against terrorism.
"We are at war, and we must bring terrorists to justice in a manner consistent with the horrific acts of war they have committed," he said.
The criticism came after Attorney General Eric Holder on Friday announced that prosecutors would seek the death penalty against the five men, who are being held at the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
"After eight years of delay, those allegedly responsible for the attacks of September 11 will finally face justice," Holder said.
Five more Guantanamo detainees, including Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, accused of plotting the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole destroyer off Yemen that killed 17 US sailors, will be tried before military commissions.
The announcement, key to President Barack Obama's plans to close Guantanamo by January, was quickly condemned by families of the nearly 3,000 victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
"To allow a terrorist and a war criminal the opportunity of having US constitutional protections is a wrong thing to do and it's never been done before," said Ed Kowalski of the 9/11 Families for a Secure America Foundation.
Peter Gadiel, who lost his 23-year-old son James in the World Trade Center's north tower, accused Obama of trying to establish a "show trial" that would end up being "a circus."
Such reactions left legal experts, including those involved with the case, warning of the legal difficulties ahead, particularly in the search for an impartial jury.
"I am very worried that it will not be possible to find jurors who have no opinion and who have not suffered from the attacks," said Suzanne Lachelier, a military attorney for the men.
The move away from much-criticized military trials signaled a major shift in the treatment of "war on terror" suspects under Obama, but also raised serious legal questions about evidence potentially tainted by harsh interrogation techniques.
After his March 1, 2003 capture, Sheikh Mohammed -- self-proclaimed as the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks -- was handed over to US agents who held him in secret prisons for over three years before sending him to Guantanamo in September 2006.
The Pakistani man is known to have been waterboarded -- subjected to simulated drowning -- 183 times during his years in US custody.
Holder, citing information not yet made public, asserted the tainted evidence would not prevent a "successful" outcome of the trials. He insisted a New York jury could still be impartial and that all legal requirements would be met before the suspects are brought onto US soil.
Republicans in Congress have mounted a vigorous campaign to block the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to the United States.
But Obama did get some support from the mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, who said the venue was "fitting" as the suspects will "face justice near the World Trade Center site where so many New Yorkers were murdered."
A leading US rights group, the American Civil Liberties Union, also hailed the move.
"The transfer of cases to federal court is a huge victory for restoring due process and the rule of law, as well as repairing America's international standing, an essential part of ensuring our national security," the group's executive director, Anthony Romero said.
Obama's defense secretary, Robert Gates, said the pivotal decision was a major step forward as the administration seeks to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay by the president's self-imposed January 22 deadline.
