The LWOT: Holder Argues for Civilian Trials, ‘JihadJane’ Pleads Not Guilty

Holder continues to press for civilian trials for alleged 9/11 plotters

The civil trial vs. military commission argument continues unabated. This week, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder offered a full defense of civilian trials and a lukewarm justification of the use of military commissions for the alleged 9/11 plotters, currently detained at Guantánamo Bay. At the same time, constitutional lawyers poked holes in the idea of military commissions as a fail-safe if civilian trials do not go ahead. Several argued in the Washington Post that the use of evidence obtained through coercion might taint any potential verdict. Time runs a profile of Holder and his increasingly lonely fight for civilian trials.

Two provocative additional options emerged as well. Geoffrey Corn, a former senior military lawyer, suggested trying terrorist suspects in traditional courts-martial, rather than the shakily defined military commissions. And the Brookings Institution’s Benjamin Wittes and Harvard Law School’s Jack Goldsmith (a Bush administration lawyer) argued for not trying the plotters at all.

And, on March 18, FBI Director Robert Mueller cautioned Congress against writing laws delineating how and when suggested terrorists could be questioned in testimony before the House Appropriations Committee, saying such rules might tie interrogators’ hands to the detriment of national security.  

Who wants to close Gitmo?

Firedoglake blogger Marcy Wheeler reports that in 2007 then-Congressman Rahm Emanuel signed a letter to President George W. Bush calling for the closure of Guantánamo and an end to the indefinite detention of terrorism suspects. Emanuel, now White House chief of staff, reportedly advised President Barack Obama not to promise to close Gitmo within a year of taking office and is currently in negotiations with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on a deal to shutter the prison, which the Wall Street Journal says is "near."

But House minority leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) told CNN that he would not vote to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay "if you put a gun to my head."

Plus, a feud has broken out between CIA counterterrorism officials and the Justice Department. The CIA says Justice Department lawyers supported an effort to give Guantánamo Bay detainees photographs of CIA interrogators in order to be able to identify them.

Obama threatens to veto major intelligence bill

Obama threatened to veto the 2010 Intelligence Authorization Act, currently under the Senate’s consideration, if it contains a provision requiring the White House to brief the House and Senate intelligence committees on certain covert operations and intelligence-gathering activities.

"JihadJane" pleads not guilty

On March 18, Colleen LaRose, the Pennsylvania resident arrested last fall for reportedly planning to kill Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, pleaded not guilty to several terrorism-related charges. Her trial has been set for May 3.

Irish police last week detained another U.S. woman and Muslim convert, Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, on suspicion that she participated in LaRose’s plot. But she was freed along with three others this week. Three alleged JihadJane collaborators remain in custody, two of whom were charged this week with relatively minor initial offenses tangentially related to the plot.

In another alleged case of domestic radicalization causing apprehension in Washington, more details emerged regarding suspected al Qaeda member and U.S. citizen Sharif Mobley. Mobley was arrested by Yemeni authorities in an al Qaeda sweep several weeks ago and attempted to escape from his hospital in the capital city of Sanaa last week. The Washington Post reports that Mobley worked at nuclear power plants in Delaware, New Jersey, and Maryland before he moved to Yemen and that he had been under FBI investigation.

More conflict over Britain’s involvement in torture

Britain’s Intelligence and Security Committee was set this week to publicly release a report detailing new guidelines for officers of the MI5 and MI6 intelligence agencies in interrogations of suspected terrorists. The report’s public release is a response to charges that British intelligence agencies were complicit in the torture of British residents and citizens held by the United States; surprisingly, the Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government will not issue an official criticism of the report. And a report on human rights filed by British Foreign Secretary David Miliband this week acknowledges that the British government cannot guarantee that some of its allies do not torture detainees.

Trials and Tribulations

• On March 18, David Coleman Headley, a U.S. citizen, pleaded guilty to charges that he helped plan the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai executed by the Pakistani group Lashkar-e-Taiba and plotted to kill the Danish cartoonist who depicted the Prophet Mohammed. Headley had originally pleaded not guilty and has been cooperating with U.S. authorities since his arrest by the FBI in October 2009.
• On March 17, the five U.S. citizens held in Pakistan on suspicion of terrorism since November 2009 were indicted and could face sentences of up to life in prison. The men entered not guilty pleas.
• Saudi Arabia has granted suspended sentences to 10 former Guantánamo detainees who have graduated from the country’s controversial deradicalization program.
• The American Civil Liberties Union filed a Freedom of Information Act request, asking for information on the legal justifications for the U.S. government’s Predator drone program. CIA Director Leon Panetta said on March 17 that the drone strikes have crippled al Qaeda and driven its leaders into hiding.
• The Los Angeles Times reports that the U.S. government plans to purchase an Illinois prison meant to hold the Gitmo detainees, whether Congress authorizes the transfer of the detainees there or not.