Atty. Gen. Eric Holder on hot seat about sending 9/11 trials to NYC: 'We need not cower in the face of this enemy'

It was a hearing in which both sides gave as good as they got.

The ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Alabama's Jeff Sessions, criticized Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. for deciding to hold the trials of alleged 9/11 plotters in New York City, calling the move "dangerous, misguided and unnecessary" because it would put the city at greater risk and give Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind behind the attacks, a platform.

But Holder, noting the long and successful record of New York prosecutors in managing terrorism trials, scoffed at that, insisting that the defendants' "hateful ideologies" will be no louder in civilian court than before a military commission. Noting that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Chief Ray Kelly think the city can be protected during the trial, Holder said:

I have every confidence that the presiding judge will ensure appropriate decorum. And if Khalid Shaikh Mohammed makes the same statements he made in his military commission proceedings, I have every confidence the nation and the world will see him for the coward he is. I'm not scared of what Khalid Shaikh Mohammed will have to say at trial, and no one else needs to be either. 

The attorney general also took a swipe at the George W. Bush administration, saying, "For eight years justice has been delayed for the 9/11 attacks. No more delay. It is time; it is past time to finally act." 

In short, said the attorney general, "we need not cower in the face of this enemy."

 -- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Credit: Alex Wong / Getty Images

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Eric Holder defends decision to try 9/11 terrorists in federal court

Gitmo fallout: White House lawyer resigns; alleged 9/11 mastermind faces trial in NYC; Obama reacts

One of the first promises of the new Obama administration was to close, within one year, the Guantanamo prison, symbol of the Bush administration's terrorism policy of torture, detention and suspension of civil rights.

Today Atty. Gen. Eric Holder is set to announce that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and four others caught in the web of that fatal conspiracy will be tried in a civilian court in New York City, scene of the crime.

Mohammed, who has long claimed responsibility for the attacks that killed 3,000 Americans was subjected to repeated waterboarding by U.S. officials, which could pose a legal complication in his case.

Holder also plans to report his decision that another group, including the accused mastermind of the 2000 attack on the U.S. warship Cole, will be tried in military tribunals, which were recently revamped by Congress.

But the decision leaves others at the Cuban prison caught in a limbo. The 215 prisoners come from 25 countries, many from Yemen, and U.S. officials fear returning them to their homes will only recycle them into the Al Qaeda network. For domestic political reasons, governors in many U.S. states are reluctant to house the prisoners in their jails.

So with prospects dimming to meet the one-year deadline, the issue claimed its first political victim today as the White House announced the resignation of counsel Greg Craig, who directed the defense of President Clinton during his impeachment trial.

Defenders insist that Craig had wanted to leave for some time. Actually, reports ABC's Jake Tapper, Craig would have preferred a job in diplomacy, but faced a hurdle in that Secretary of Sate Hillary Rodham Clinton resented Craig's public defection to the Obama camp.

Stepping in: campaign lawyer Bob Bauer, who was fierce in his strategic fervor on Obama's behalf, crashing a conference call organized by rival Clinton's campaign and going head to head against Republican John McCain's counsel.

Could that be why his wife, Anita Dunn, announced her departure as White House communications director this week? Dunn has publicly taken on Fox News, describing the network as an arm of the Republican Party. So despite what some on the right thought, maybe her exit was not a victory for Glenn Beck but a shuffling of the chairs so somebody could stay home.

Asked about all of this in Japan on the first stop of his eight-day mission to Asia, Obama said Mohammed "will be subject to the most exacting demands of justice. ... The American people insist on it, and my administration will insist on it."

-- Johanna Neuman

Photos: Top, White House Counsel Greg Craig, left, and Atty. Gen. Eric Holder at the White House on Aug. 24. Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images. Bottom: Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. Credit: AFP/Getty Images.

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The USS New York returns some of 9/11 to the city

This item isn't really about politics, although it's obviously related.

We were struck yesterday, amid all the hoo-hah around here too about today's elections and politics, by the solemn, yet celebratory cruise into a gray New York harbor of the Navy's newest amphibious assault ship, the USS New York.

In case you haven't heard, the ship's keel includes more than seven tons of recycled steel from the wreckage of the World Trade Center on 9/11. And the ship's crest carries the motto "Never Forget." There's a video below of the ship's recent sea trials.

The city had warned denizens of lower Manhattan in advance. So the ship paused in the same Hudson River that had guided the terrorist-flown planes to....

... their targets. And the crew fired a 21-gun salute.

The new vessel, which carries a complement of 700 Marines and assorted aircraft and hovercraft, will stay in New York City a few days. But its image, we suspect, will live on a good while longer in the minds of many who witnessed those awful hours and all that has gone on at home and abroad during the 2,975 days since.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Associated Press

John Kerry's Afghan war speech; Foreshadowing Obama's decision?

It's been about two months now since Gen. Stanley McChrystal submitted his Afghan war report to the Pentagon and White House, reportedly asking for something like 40,000 more U.S. troops. Monday Obama and his advisors had yet another meeting.

And the diligent Jake Tapper reports on his Political Punch blog that the current target is to announce his decision between the Nov. 7 Afghan runoff presidential vote and Obama's Nov. 11 departure on a long Asian trip.

Oh, look! Those dates also come after the U.S. elections, especially the crucial governors' races in Virginia and New Jersey so widely seen as 10-month referenda on Obama.

However, Tapper also reports the Afghan announcement could be delayed until after the Asian trip, which puts it close to Thanksgiving. And nearly three months after the report's delivery.

The long policy pondering has now even made the late-night comedy shows. Last night NBC's Jay Leno noted that former VP Dick Cheney had chastised Obama for "dithering" on his war decisions. And, Leno claimed, the White House response was that it was pondering a reply and would have one within six to eight weeks.

Obama wasn't backing off his war of necessity argument in a Florida speech to sailors and Marines earlier Monday (full text here), the necessity being to deny Afghanistan as Al Qaeda's safe haven to repeat the 9/11 attacks.

A major new troop surge (adding to the 68,000 U.S. troops already there) would anger the Democratic left, which Obama needs for the healthcare vote, especially if he gives up on the public option. And the left is already impatient about other issues, including the promised but continually delayed abolition of don't ask-don't tell.

The need for unifying distractions could help explain all these gratuitous....

California GOP governor's race II -- Steve Poizner

As the nation's most populous state, California has even more voters than the new Obama White House has policy czars.

The state's politics and personalities have often been harbingers of trends, policies, tax revolts, etc. that eventually work their way across the country and draw international attention.

This past weekend, California's Republican Party held its state convention, a prime podium for its major gubernatorial hopefuls to address the party faithful and lay out their initial profile and policy declarations. This included former Rep. Tom Campbell, state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner and businesswoman Meg Whitman.

They've each been raising money and endorsements for months, of course, with varying degrees of success. But because this is the de facto public campaign start, The Ticket decided to run the unfiltered speech text given by each declared candidate so readers can get a feel for who's coming, how they choose to describe themselves at the outset and what to watch for.

We'll publish them here this morning about two hours apart in last-name alphabetical order and add links to each when all are posted. Campbell's speech text was published earlier today.

Poizner's campaign website is here.

As always, feel free to leave your civil comments at the bottom.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Remarks by Steve Poizner to the California Republican State Convention, Sept. 26:

Thank you. Good evening.

First of all, Dennis, thank you very much for that fantastic introduction. I have to say a word or two about Sen. Hollingsworth. Now, I get to watch him closely in Sacramento. The fact is, Sen.Hollingsworth is a fantastic Republican leader and you know what? I've learned a lot by watching how tough he is.

The fact is, you don't have to compromise all the time. You don't have to give in all the time. Sen. Hollingsworth has shown that if you stand tall on Republican conservative principles, you can win.

So, this is my 10th California Republican Party convention in a row, and it's nice to see all my friends and all kinds of folks I've been working with over a long period of time. I have to....

7 ex-CIA chiefs ask Obama to abort Holder's probe

Warning that the new Justice Dept. probe into past CIA activities will "create an atmosphere of continuous jeopardy," seven men who've run the intelligence agency under presidents of both parties over the past 35 years called today for President Obama to abort the investigation.

The Democrat has said he wants to look to the future. But he's not stopped his attorney general, Eric Holder, from proceeding with the announcement last month that he would appoint a special investigator to examine nearly 10 cases of possible interrogation abuse by intelligence employees or contractors operating under guidelines approved by the previous Republican administration of George W. Bush.

Those cases have already been rejected for prosecution by federal authorities.

The former intelligence chiefs wrote: "If criminal investigations closed by career prosecutors during one administration can so easily be reopened at the direction of political appointees in the next, declinations of prosecution will be rendered meaningless."

The seven former directors are John Deutch, Porter Goss, Michael Hayden, James Schlesinger, George Tenet, William Webster and James Woolsey.

They expressed concern that fears of such future probes by an administration of a different party would compromise not only the aggressive interrogation necessary to combat terrorism but the cooperation of foreign governments.

A spokesman for current CIA chief Leon Panetta said he was focused on today and tomorrow, not the past.

A spokesman for Holder indicated no change in plans and said the Democratic appointee of Obama's was confident the investigations would not affect current employees' work.

The White House had no immediate comment.

-- Andrew Malcolm

Promise -- and you know what they're worth in politics -- there will be no criminal probes of anyone who clicks here for Twitter alerts on each new Ticket item. Or follows us    @latimestot

Weekly remarks: John Cornyn on 9/11; Obama on, of course, healthcare

Weekly Republican remarks by Sen. John Cornyn of Texas,
as provided by the Republican National Committee

Hi, I’m Senator John Cornyn of Texas.

Eight years ago, the American people experienced the worst terrorist attacks in our history.  On September 11, 2001, thousands of innocent people lost their lives in the fields of Pennsylvania, and in the ruins of the Pentagon and the fallen towers of the World Trade Center.  This year and every year, we honor those we lost on 9-11.  And our hearts go out to all of those who remember that day as both a national tragedy – and a personal tragedy.

The terrorists who attacked us on 9-11 enjoyed safe haven in Afghanistan – and that’s why winning in Afghanistan remains so important.

The Afghan people, like the American people, are tired of war.  But they do not want their country returned to the control of religious extremists.  And neither do we.
 
“President Obama has renewed America’s commitment to Afghanistan.  He has the....

Obama at Pentagon on 9/11: 'No turning of seasons can diminish pain and the loss of that day' (text)

In April, President Obama issued a presidential proclamation marking 9/11 as an annually recognized National Day of Service and Remembrance. Some conservatives objected. The American Spectator called the declaration "a cynical, coldly calculated political effort to erase the meaning of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks from the American psyche and convert Sept. 11 into a day of leftist celebration and statist idolatry." 

Perhaps that was the first sign of the wing-driven pathology of Washington's current political climate.

This morning, in a steady rain, accompanied by First Lady Michelle Obama, the president marked his first 9/11 in much the way his predecessor George W. Bush did. Arriving at the Pentagon eight years almost to the minute after American Flight 77 crashed into the western side of the Pentagon, he greeted some of the family members of the 184 victims who died at the site -- 59 on the plane and 125 on the ground -- and many of those who were wounded.

Joined by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen, Obama laid a wreath of white flowers at the 9/11 Memorial at the Pentagon, where victims who were on the plane and in the building are listed in the order of their birth, from the 3-year-old to the 71 year old.

They stood for a moment of silence. Then they spoke.

Mullen, noting that more than 1 million Americans had enlisted in the military since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, said, "We are here to remember but who among us can ever forget where we were, what we saw, how we felt." He urged the audience to " face the future with the same resolve our men and women [in the military] exhibit."

Gates, the only Republican holdover from the Bush Cabinets, said, "Words are inadequate to remove the pain of that loss. In the lives of those patriots we can find some solace." Because of their sacrifice, he added, "we remain a strong and free nation."

Unshielded in the pouring rain, Obama spoke next.

"On a day when others sought to sap our confidence, let us renew our common purpose," he said. "Let us remember how we came together as one nation, as one people, as Americans, united not only in our grief, but in our resolve to stand with one another, to stand up for the country we all love."

 A full transcript of the president's remarks, as provided by the White House, is below.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo (top): 9/11 Memorial at the Pentagon lists the 184 victims of the terrorist attack, the 59 on the plane and 125 in the building, by their date of birth from 1998 (age 3) to 1930 (age 71). Credit: Getty Images Photo (bottom): President Obama lays a wreath with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen at his side. Credit: Associated Press

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Obama, in first 9/11 as president, honors victims' memory with moment of silence

On Sept. 11, 2001, Barack Obama was a 40-year-old state senator, driving to a hearing when he heard the first reports of a plane hitting the World Trade Center in New York.

Days later, he issued a statement about how the nation had to bolster security, root out "organizations of destruction" and understand "the sources of such madness." No Chicago daily used his words.

Eight years later, President Obama stood with his wife, First Lady Michelle Obama, in a moment of silence to honor the more than 3,000 victims of the terrorist attack that crashed into both trade centers in New York, the Pentagon near Washington, and thanks to a rebellion by passengers on United Flight 93, into a field in Shanksville, Pa.

A bell rang three times, then they bowed their heads for a minute. They placed their hands over their hearts while a bugler played taps. With them were 200 White House staff, from maintenance workers and chef to key advisers Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod.

-- Johanna Neuman

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Photo Credit: Spencer Platt for Getty Images of the trade center towers; Reuters of the Obamas

Breaking: Charlie Sheen demands Obama meeting on 9/11 cover-up

Normally, when an A-/B+ celebrity issues some political pronouncement at the start of a new television season or just before a movie release, people might suspect it has something to do with publicity.

A lot of rich, pretty people speak out on causes they support at times like that and the world goes, So what?

But when someone with the gravitas of a Charlie Sheen issues a statement, anyone is forced to listen.

In an exclusive contact with the PrisonPlanet.com website, Sheen reveals 1) that he voted for Barack Obama in November and 2) that he [Sheen] has become convinced that the 9/11 attacks were an inside government job perpetrated by people inside government for inside and no doubt nefarious reasons.

The idea being that Osama bin Laden and his posse were (maybe still are?) really working for the U.S. government to help justify faraway wars. (This might also explain why the U.S. government has "so far" been "unable" to capture or kill ObL.)

Sheen apparently figures that if Obama can waste all that time talking to American schoolchildren who can't even vote or pay $2,500 for a Democratic fundraiser yet, the president who garnered so many millions from Hollywood people ought to make time to talk with one of them. Or at least read their letter.

Just in case he doesn't get the Oval Office confab, Sheen has published the fictional transcript of a hypothetical 20-minute conversation with Obama in which the actor instructs the president on the ins and outs of the conspiracy and presents irrefutable evidence on "that bottomless warren of unanswered questions surrounding that day and its aftermath."

As the self-professed agent of change to believe in, Obama, Sheen reasons, should be burrowing into this obvious conspiracy to uncover the truth, unlike previous administrations.

Raising such questions about a 9/11 coverup recently cost green aide Van Jones his White House job. Or the other way around.

Oh and coincidentally, Charlie will appear today on the Alex Jones radio show to discuss his charges.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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