Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration said yesterday it would consider local opposition when deciding where to hold the Sept. 11 trials and pledged to seek swift justice for the professed mastermind of the attacks. “Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is going to meet justice, and he’s going to meet his maker,’’ President Obama’s press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said on CNN’s “State of the Union.’’ “He will be brought to justice, and he’s likely to be executed for the heinous crimes that he committed in killing and masterminding the killing of 3,000 Americans.

The U.S. has finally started the prosecution of five Guantanamo Bay prisoners charged in the Sept. 11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, but the trial won't be starting anytime soon, and both sides said Sunday that the case could continue for years. Defense lawyer James Connell said a tentative trial date of May 2013 is a "placeholder" until a true date can be set for the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-described mastermind of the attacks, and his co-defendants.

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department probably will never receive congressional approval to put the alleged Sept. 11 conspirators on trial in a civilian court, a key senator on the issue of terrorism trials said yesterday. Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said he believes he has the votes in the Senate to block alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed from a civilian court. The suspect and his alleged conspirators should be tried in military court at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Graham said.

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) — The self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks repeatedly declined to respond to a judge's questions Saturday and his co-defendant was briefly restrained at a military hearing as five men charged with the worst terror attack in US history appeared in public for the first time in more than three years. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-defendants appeared for arraignment at a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay on charges that include 2,976 counts of murder for the 2001 attacks.

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration is conducting an intense security review as part of a plan to bring one of the world’s most notorious terrorism suspects from Guantanamo Bay to Washington for a trial steps from the Capitol, officials said. Republican critics said the plan would make the city more dangerous, risk compromising US intelligence methods, and provide a powerful and expensive bullhorn for Osama bin Laden’s alleged lieutenant Riduan Isamuddin and two associates.

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration appears increasingly unsure what to do with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the professed mastermind of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, after officials indicated they are reconsidering not just where he should go on trial, but whether he should face civilian or military justice. Attorney General Eric Holder and White House spokesman Robert Gibbs did not rule out a military trial when asked Friday about the Obama administration’s options. Trying Mohammed in military court would mark a further...

NEW YORK - The five men facing trial in the Sept. 11 attacks will plead not guilty so that they can air their criticisms of US foreign policy, the lawyer for one of the defendants said yesterday. Scott Fenstermaker, the lawyer for accused terrorist Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, said the men would not deny their role in the 2001 attacks but “would explain what happened and why they did it.’’ The US Justice Department announced earlier this month that Ali and four other men accused of murdering nearly 3,000 people in the deadliest terrorist attack in the US...

NEW YORK - Mayor Michael Bloomberg said yesterday that he wants the federal government to move the trial of five suspects in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks away from its intended site in lower Manhattan. Bloomberg said it would cost as much as $1 billion to provide security for the trial, should it proceed over several years, and suggested the Justice Department consider an alternate venue such as a military base outside the city. “It would be great if the federal government could find a site that didn’t cost $1 billion, which is what using downtown will and will...

NEW YORK - Stepped-up security measures for the upcoming trial of the suspects in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, are now expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars - a far heftier price tag than originally thought. In a letter obtained yesterday by the Associated Press, Mayor Michael Bloomberg put the cost at $216 million for the first year after professed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other suspects arrive in Manhattan from the Guantanamo Bay prison.

NEW YORK — The first Guantanamo Bay detainee set to be prosecuted in a civilian court was cleared for trial yesterday by a judge who said lengthy interrogation and detention were not grounds for dismissal because they served compelling national security interests. Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani was interrogated for two years in a secret CIA site for important intelligence information, US District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan wrote in a decision that rejected defense requests to toss out the indictment on the grounds that Ghailani was denied a speedy trial.

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department probably will never receive congressional approval to put the alleged Sept. 11 conspirators on trial in a civilian court, a key senator on the issue of terrorism trials said yesterday. Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said he believes he has the votes in the Senate to block alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed from a civilian court. The suspect and his alleged conspirators should be tried in military court at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Graham said.

NEW YORK — The first Guantanamo Bay detainee set to be prosecuted in a civilian court was cleared for trial yesterday by a judge who said lengthy interrogation and detention were not grounds for dismissal because they served compelling national security interests. Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani was interrogated for two years in a secret CIA site for important intelligence information, US District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan wrote in a decision that rejected defense requests to toss out the indictment on the grounds that Ghailani was denied a speedy trial.

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration appears increasingly unsure what to do with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the professed mastermind of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, after officials indicated they are reconsidering not just where he should go on trial, but whether he should face civilian or military justice. Attorney General Eric Holder and White House spokesman Robert Gibbs did not rule out a military trial when asked Friday about the Obama administration’s options. Trying Mohammed in military court would mark a further political retreat...

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration said yesterday it would consider local opposition when deciding where to hold the Sept. 11 trials and pledged to seek swift justice for the professed mastermind of the attacks. “Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is going to meet justice, and he’s going to meet his maker,’’ President Obama’s press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said on CNN’s “State of the Union.’’ “He will be brought to justice, and he’s likely to be executed for the heinous crimes that he committed in killing and masterminding the killing of 3,000...

NEW YORK - Mayor Michael Bloomberg said yesterday that he wants the federal government to move the trial of five suspects in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks away from its intended site in lower Manhattan. Bloomberg said it would cost as much as $1 billion to provide security for the trial, should it proceed over several years, and suggested the Justice Department consider an alternate venue such as a military base outside the city. “It would be great if the federal government could find a site that didn’t cost $1 billion, which is what using downtown will and will...

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration is conducting an intense security review as part of a plan to bring one of the world’s most notorious terrorism suspects from Guantanamo Bay to Washington for a trial steps from the Capitol, officials said. Republican critics said the plan would make the city more dangerous, risk compromising US intelligence methods, and provide a powerful and expensive bullhorn for Osama bin Laden’s alleged lieutenant Riduan Isamuddin and two associates.

The U.S. has finally started the prosecution of five Guantanamo Bay prisoners charged in the Sept. 11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, but the trial won't be starting anytime soon, and both sides said Sunday that the case could continue for years. Defense lawyer James Connell said a tentative trial date of May 2013 is a "placeholder" until a true date can be set for the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-described mastermind of the attacks, and his co-defendants.

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) — The self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks repeatedly declined to respond to a judge's questions Saturday and his co-defendant was briefly restrained at a military hearing as five men charged with the worst terror attack in US history appeared in public for the first time in more than three years. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-defendants appeared for arraignment at a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay on charges that include 2,976 counts of murder for the 2001 attacks.

NEW YORK - Stepped-up security measures for the upcoming trial of the suspects in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, are now expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars - a far heftier price tag than originally thought. In a letter obtained yesterday by the Associated Press, Mayor Michael Bloomberg put the cost at $216 million for the first year after professed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other suspects arrive in Manhattan from the Guantanamo Bay prison.

NEW YORK - The five men facing trial in the Sept. 11 attacks will plead not guilty so that they can air their criticisms of US foreign policy, the lawyer for one of the defendants said yesterday. Scott Fenstermaker, the lawyer for accused terrorist Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, said the men would not deny their role in the 2001 attacks but “would explain what happened and why they did it.’’ The US Justice Department announced earlier this month that Ali and four other men accused of murdering nearly 3,000 people in the deadliest terrorist attack in the US will face a...