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Obama, Senate Near Deal for Military 9/11 Trials

Deal would close Guantanamo, move KSM case forward

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Mar 19, 2010 10:51 AM CDT
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(Newser) – The White House and Senate are near a deal that would close the Guantanamo Bay detention center and pave the way for more of its inmates—including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed—to face military tribunals rather than civilian courts. The deal has been in the works for a while, but a broad framework is now firmly in place, a senior Democratic Senate aide tells the Wall Street Journal. “We’re now at the ‘getting serious’ stage.”

The deal is the brainchild of Lindsey Graham, who says he thinks he can deliver two other, unspecified Republican votes. A few sticking points remain: President Obama doesn’t want a hard definition of which detainees will face civil trials and which military, preferring to honor “prosecutorial discretion,” an official says. The deal is a triumph for administration pragmatists like Rahm Emanuel and a huge embarrassment for AG Eric Holder.

President-elect Barack Obama listens as Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., talks about his recent trip to Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait and Pakistan, Jan. 14, 2009.
President-elect Barack Obama listens as Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., talks about his recent trip to Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait and Pakistan, Jan. 14, 2009.   (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 11 comments
kokuaguy
Mar 20, 2010 1:15 AM CDT
You call Graham a pariah, b_l -- reasonable people would call him a principled public servant who happens to need to belong to the Republican Party in order to gain public office in South Carolina. The reason for that of course is because the Democratic Party is too closely identified with civil rights and equal justice to appeal to the majority of voters in that reddest of red states, the first of all those that seceded from the Union over the issue of slavery 149 years ago. Obama is dealing carefully, deliberately, and honorably with a horribly complex, disgraceful extra-legal system of 'prisoner of war' incarceration in Guantanamo that has made our great nation a pariah in the eyes of millions around the world.
Ghost911
Mar 19, 2010 4:26 PM CDT
911 was an inside job.
stevsie
Mar 19, 2010 4:18 PM CDT
when are they going subpoena. the real criminals.. Cheney, Bush Rumsfield, Myers.. If it's not the most obvious un-disputable fact that these ass clowns did this to us, I just don't know anymore... denial doesn't make a lie, true. sorry but 911 was so obviously a much bigger operation that had to have been orchestrated by the highest levels in our government and if you don't agree, you haven't done enough research.. there is no denying it unless you're part retarded. sorry but that's a fact.

 
military tribunal • Khalid Sheikh Mohammed • Rahm Emanuel • Lindsey Graham • Eric Holder • Khalid Sheikh Mohammed trial

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