DETAINEES

No Civilian Trials for Gitmo Suspects

Major setback for Obama administration.

After an attempt to try professed 9/11 attacks mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a civilian court erupted in months of controversy, Attorney General Eric Holder has acquiesced to Republican demands. The Obama administration admitted defeat Monday, announcing that the trials of KSM, as he is known, and four other 9/11 suspects will take place at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. naval base instead. The about-face is a major setback for President Obama, who repeatedly pledged to try terrorism suspects in civilian court, and indicated a similar judicial path for other al Qaeda suspects in custody. After the announcement, a federal judge in Manhattan dismissed the previously unreported 10-count indictment against Mohammed and others pending transfer to the military tribunal. Navy prosecutor John Murphy said charges would be filed to get the military trial under way “in the near future.”