The Washington Post reports that the president’s advisers will soon recommend that Khalid Sheik Mohammed and other 9/11 plotters be prosecuted via military tribunals and not civilian courts as recommended by Attorney General Eric Holder.

The president’s advisers feel increasingly hemmed in by bipartisan opposition to a federal trial in New York and demands, mainly from Republicans, that Mohammed and his accused co-conspirators remain under military jurisdiction, officials said. While Obama has favored trying some alleged terrorists in civilian courts as a symbol of U.S. commitment to the rule of law, critics have said military tribunals are the appropriate venue for those accused of attacking the United States.

Administration officials say the decision could come before President Obama’s Indonesia trip on March 18 (allowing it to coincide with a final vote on health-care reform?) But it appears that the KSM decision could be part of a swap with Congress for funding to close Guantanamo Bay and transfer remaining detainees to a facility on American soil:

If Obama accepts the likely recommendation of his advisers, the White House may be able to secure from Congress the funding and legal authority it needs to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and replace it with a facility within the United States. The administration has failed to meet a self-imposed one-year deadline to close Guantanamo. . . .
Top Obama advisers have been negotiating with Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) — a vocal critic of trying the Sept. 11 plotters in civilian court — in pursuit of a deal that would secure his help in closing Guantanamo. Graham has sought the creation a legal framework that would spell out how the government would detain and try future captives, but an administration official warned that a “grand bargain” is not likely in the immediate future. The official, also speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the talks with Graham have been mostly about “limited issues” involving the Mohammed trial and the future of Guantanamo.

Full story here.

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