9/11 Mastermind Will be Convicted: Obama

Uss New York built from steel girders of World Trade Centre

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, chief plotter

President Barack Obama predicted Wednesday that alleged September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be convicted and put to death, as a top aide urged Americans to trust their courts and not "cower" from terrorists.

Obama, speaking to NBC television during a trip to Asia, predicted that anger at the planned civilian trial for Sheikh Mohammed would fall away "when he's convicted and when the death penalty is applied to him."
"I think this notion that somehow we have to be fearful, that these terrorists possess some special powers that prevent us from presenting evidence against them, locking them up and exacting swift justice, I think that has been a fundamental mistake," he told CNN television in a separate exchange.

The president also explicitly acknowledged for the first time that he will not meet the January 22, 2010 deadline he decreed on his second day in office for closing the Guantanamo Bay prison for suspected terrorists.
"Guantanamo -- we had a specific deadline that was missed," Obama has described the facility as a recruiting tool for extremists and a black mark on the US human rights record.

Attorney General Eric Holder, speaking to the US Senate Judiciary Committee, blamed "unexpected difficulties" for the delay and that he hoped to overcome "the biggest problem" to shutting the facility later this year by finding destinations for some of the detainees cleared for release. With relatives of some of the September 11 victims looking on disapprovingly, Holder also firmly defended his decision to have Sheikh Mohammed and four other alleged co-plotters face a civilian trial in New York.
Prosecutors know "failure is not an option," Holder told the committee, which includes some of his toughest congressional critics. "I don't expect that we will have a contrary result."
"We need not cower in the face of this enemy. Our institutions are strong, our infrastructure is sturdy, our resolve is firm, and our people are ready," said Holder.

"I believe this decision is dangerous. I believe it's misguided. I believe it is unnecessary," said Senator Jeff Sessions, the top Republican on the committee. "The correct way to try him is by military tribunal."

Obama expressed "complete confidence" in the "tough prosecutors from New York who specialize in terrorism" and insisted he was "not prejudging" the outcome.
The five men face trial at a courthouse just steps from Ground Zero, where thousands lost their lives after hijacked airliners were flown into the two World Trade Center towers.
Relatives of victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks, most wearing white commemorative ribbons pinned to their jackets, and many with badges bearing the name and photograph of their slain relatives, denounced Holder's decision.
"This decision is not thoughtless, because a lot of thought went into it, but it is mindless," said David Beamer, whose son Todd is hailed as a hero for battling the hijackers aboard United Flight 93, which crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.
"To put us through this again is unconscionable," said Geraldine Davie, whose daughter Amy O'Doherty, 23, was killed in the attack on the World Trade Center.

Holder rejected some of the principle objections to his decision, denying that a civilian trial would pose a security risk, reveal secret US information, or give Sheikh Mohammed a platform to preach extreme anti-US messages.
"If KSM makes the same statements he made in his military commission proceedings I have every confidence the nation and the world will see him for the coward he is," Holder said, using the common abbreviation for the alleged terrorist's name.

"By holding these terrorists responsible for their actions, we are finally taking ultimate steps towards justice. That is why I made this decision," he said