President Barack Obama made a statement on Sunday that he has not yet ruled out a trial for the 11 September plotter Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a New York federal court. However, he is taking the protests being made by the city mayor and the police commissioner into consideration.
Obama’s administration has been criticised, mostly by Republicans, for a pronouncement made by the Justice Department to hear Mohammad’s case in a court located near Ground Zero.
The President defended his administration’s decision by saying that the Bush administration had handled suspected terrorists in a similar manner.
“They prosecuted 190 folks in these Article III courts, got convictions and those folks are in maximum security prisons right now. And there have been no escapes,” said Obama.
Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York reacted to Obama’s decision. He mentioned that based on logistics, cost and security concerns that were brought up by the city mayor and the police commissioner, the plan of holding the trials in New York is impractical.
In an interview, Obama also mentioned that passing the health care bill is still vital to reducing the country’s budget deficit. He added that he has plans to gather both political parties to an assembly this month so that congressional leaders could meticulously discuss the issue.
Obama once again tries to appeal to the Republicans despite their undivided opposition to the health care reform issue.
In addition, he said that the special concessions given to Democratic Senators Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana in exchange for their votes on health care were not helpful.
