Ex-prosecutors embrace courts for terror cases

[maddezmom]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal courtroom may be the proper place to dispense justice in the terrorism case of confessed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, two former federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

Attorneys Richard Zabel and James Benjamin made the comments after examining 123 terrorism prosecutions and concluding that civilian courts are able to produce just, reliable results while protecting national security.

Their examination, entitled "In Pursuit of Justice," comes as Mohammed faces a military commission trial at Guantanamo Bay. He and four other defendants are scheduled for arraignment June 5.

With less than eight months remaining in office, the Bush administration is still struggling to make its system of military commissions for top terror suspects fully operational. After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the president authorized the military commission setup. It has faced repeated legal challenges and was overturned by the Supreme Court before its latest reincarnation.



Read more: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jla21_N0pOpyN7nT0XklUl1UkCYQD90UOPV80

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Tracking Use of Bin Laden’s Satellite Phone
Evan Perez reports on terrorism.

It’s one of those often-repeated cautionary tales in the war on terrorism: al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden stopped using a satellite phone after an associate’s phone records were introduced as evidence in a New York trial.

The story has circulated for years, mostly by those who argue the government’s secretive and extrajudicial methods to combat terrorism are essential. But a new report by two former federal prosecutors in New York found the Bin Ladin satellite phone story is dubious.

Richard B. Zabel and James J. Benjamin, now lawyers with Akin Gump LLP, produced the report for Human Rights First, an organization that argues the judicial system can handle most complex terrorism cases without the need for military commissions or extra-judicial detentions.

Some have argued that there needs to be a new national security court to handle terrorism cases, citing incidents when regular federal trials resulted in information making its way to terrorists overseas. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, without naming Bin Laden, cited the stories in an August 2007 op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal; at the time, Mukasey was in private practice. A spokesman for Mukasey didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.

more:http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/05/28/tracking-use-of-bin-ladens-satellite-phone/


In Pursuit of Justice
Prosecuting Terrorism Cases
in the Federal Courts
May 2008

http://www.humanrightsfirst.info/pdf/080522-USLS-pj-exec-sum.pdf

[Jefferson23]

1. Oh my. a trial that is above board?..this I gotta see.