The White House looked likely to reverse course on plans to bring the alleged plotters of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks to trial at a Manhattan courthouse, amid mounting and bipartisan opposition.
The Obama administration “was considering other options,” an administration official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Conversations have occurred within the administration to discuss contingency options should the possibility of a trial in lower Manhattan be foreclosed upon by Congress or locally.”
The plan, controversial since its announcement, united a range of critics who opposed bringing high-profile alleged terrorists to a court steps from Ground Zero, citing emotional distress, security risks and the projected price tag.
The prosecution of self-described mastermind of the 2001 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and four co-accused in a Manhattan federal court is at the center of US President Barack Obama’s plans to close the Guantanamo Bay, where the men are currently held.
His administration pledged to shutter the facility, sending some detainees home, detaining others indefinitely and prosecuting the rest at either military tribunals or civilian courts.
The trial of the alleged plotters in New York was also intended to be a final repudiation of former US president George W. Bush’s policies, but has instead garnered criticism since its announcement.
The Manhattan courthouse is just blocks from where the World Trade Center stood before hijacked airliners slammed into the Twin Towers.
Republicans and some Sept. 11 survivors and victims’ families argue that terror suspects should not be protected by US laws and that trying Mohammed near Ground Zero is wrong.
More recently, New York businesses and officials have expressed concern about disruption and security risks in the area.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who initially welcomed the White House plan, reversed his stance this week, saying he would prefer a different location.
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