The LWOT: Holder to announce 9/11 trial site “soon”; no verdict yet in Ghailani trial

Holder says KSM trial decision coming "soon"

In a press conference Nov. 10, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told reporters that a decision was coming "soon" over the location and venue of an eventual trial of 9/11 plotter Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (CNN, WSJ).  Holder created an uproar after announcing last November that KSM and the other four alleged 9/11 plotters would be tried in civilian court in lower Manhattan. He also testified in April of this year that a decision on a trial site would be made within weeks (Reuters, NYT). GQ has a lengthy profile of Holder in their upcoming issue (GQ).

The statement provoked immediate opposition from New York Democratic Senator Charles Schumer, and Rep. Peter King, the presumptive incoming chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said, "I urge Attorney General Holder not to hold any 9/11 trials in New York or anywhere in the United States…These 9/11 terrorists should be tried before a military commission at Guantánamo [Bay]" (The Hill). King also pushed back against calls from Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) to investigate President George W. Bush’s statements in his recently-released book that he personally authorized the waterboarding of KSM, saying, "In the big picture, to hold someone’s head underwater, the chance of permanent damage is minimal and the rewards are great" (Politico).

Jury deliberations ended for the week with no verdict Nov. 11 in the trial of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, the first former CIA and Guantánamo detainee to stand trial in a civilian court (NYT, BBC, AP). And Lawfare Blog features a fascinating discussion between the Brookings Institution’s Benjamin Wittes and Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer on Guantánamo and the Court’s role in providing oversight of the executive branch during war (Lawfare Blog).

The most dangerous man on earth?

In a briefing with reporters on Nov. 10, a New York Police Department (NYPD) intelligence division officer told reporters that, given his links to several terrorism plots and attempts, radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki could be considered "most dangerous man in the world" (ABC). The U.S. military’s Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) has reportedly deployed more drone aircraft to Yemen to help look for Awlaki, and the U.S. government has reportedly sent additional intelligence assets to the country (CNN). Yemen is requesting ramped up U.S. counterterrorism aid, though questions abound about the government’s ability – and willingness – to battle Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) (AP, TIME).

The Telegraph and others report this week on the alleged increased cooperation between AQAP and al Qaeda’s core, including reports that Saif al-Adel, a key al Qaeda leader reportedly released from house arrest in Iran in April, helped plan last month’s failed parcel bomb attacks (Telegraph, NPR). And CNN profiles Pakistani militant Ilyas Kashmiri, who allegedly met twice with Mumbai attack planner David Coleman Headley, and is according to the article al Qaeda’s "military brain" (CNN).

And reports this week indicate that the parcel bomb found on a cargo plane in England Oct. 29 may have been timed to explode somewhere off the east coast of the United States or Canada (CNN, Washington Post, NYT, AP, WSJ). Germany authorities reportedly wanted to check that parcel in Cologne, but did not receive information they needed to perform the search until after the flight carrying the parcel had left for England (Spiegel).

Trials and Tribulations

• On Nov. 9 a San Diego judge denied bail to Isse Doreh, a Somali man arrested last week for helping funnel money to the militant al-Shabaab group (AP). The two men arrested with Doreh, Mohamed Mohamed Mohamud and Basaaly Saeed Moalin, waived their rights to a court hearing and did not appear with Doreh on Tuesday.
• While prosecutor John Durham cleared CIA officials this week of any wrongdoing in the 2005 destruction of "brutal" interrogation tapes of two high value detainees, the National Archives and Records Administration may open an investigation to see if the tapes’ destruction violated the Federal Records Act, which prohibits destroying government records without the Archives’ approval (CBS).
•  A 118-page United States Army report on last November’s Ft. Hood shootings, a crime for which Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan stands accused, found that no one action could have prevented the shootings (CNN). The report did, however, recommend increased army cooperation with terrorism investigative task forces and changes in how the army responds to shootings on bases, among other things.
• Yemeni authorities have once again delayed the trial of American Sharif Mobley, accused of killing a Yemeni guard at a hospital in March after being arrested on suspicion of terrorism involvement (Reuters). The trial was delayed because the government could not find a qualified English translator to explain the charges to Mobley; the trial is now scheduled for November 21.
• A 23-year old British member of the group Revolution Muslim has been arrested after posting a list of members of parliament who voted for the Iraq war online (BBC). A British student, Roshonara Choudhry, was sentenced to life in prison last week for stabbing a parliamentarian twice in the stomach.
• U.K. Home Secretary Theresa May announced earlier this week that the government would review its counter-radicalization program, Prevent, which May said, "isn’t working as well as it could" (Guardian).
• More details are emerging about the five young French citizens arrested this week on terrorism charges, including that at least two were "ready to die", and only one of the five had actually been to Afghanistan, allegedly for training (BBC, Reuters). French authorities have arrested over 90 people this year over suspected terrorism links (NYT).
• The Washington Post looks at the NYPD intelligence division’s International Liaison Program, which has officers in 11 countries, an undisclosed budget, and no real government oversight (Washington Post).