WASHINGTON : President Barack Obama on Sunday acknowledged fierce opposition to his plans to bring accused September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to justice in New York, but would not rule out such a trial.
The administration had hoped to prosecute Sheikh Mohammed and four co-defendants in a federal court in lower Manhattan, close to the site of the World Trade Center attack which killed nearly 3,000 people in 2001.
But the plan has faced blanket opposition from local lawmakers and authorities who have balked at the huge costs of such a trial, while others have warned of perceived security implications.
"I have not ruled it out, but I think it is important for us to take into account the practical logistical issues involved," Obama said in a live interview from the White House on CBS.
"If you have got a city that is saying no, and a police department that is saying no, and a mayor that is saying no, that makes it difficult," Obama said.
But he added: "we have not ruled out anything -- we will make a definitive judgement based on consultations with all the relevant authorities."
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg initially welcomed the idea of holding a September 11 trial in New York, but reversed his position last month, saying that a military base would make more sense as a venue.
"It's going to cost an awful lot of money and disturb an awful lot of people," Bloomberg said.
"Can we provide security? Yes. Could you provide security elsewhere? Yeah, and I mean the suggestion of a military base is probably a reasonably good one."
Sheikh Mohammed and the four co-defendants are currently incarcerated in the Guantanamo Bay US military facility in Cuba, which Obama says he will close down, although he has missed a one-year deadline to do so.
Republicans have also adamantly opposed any trial on the US mainland for September 11 suspects, arguing it would become a "show trial" and a recruitment tool for al Qaeda.
But Obama argued in his interview that his administration was using similar methods for terror suspects as the former Bush administration, which processed some al Qaeda conspirators through the civilian court system.
"We are not handling any of these cases any differently than the Bush administration did all through 9/11."
"It is a virtue of our system that we should be proud of."
Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2010
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