While the Justice Department is planning a military trial of accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and alleged co-conspirators, President Obama still says the proceedings should have taken place in New York City.
"I remain convinced we could have handled this in New York," Obama told the Associated Press in an interview. "We could have handled it in a normal court." Obama also told AP he would to close the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay where KSM and others are being held, but he did not make a firm commitment to do so.
Asked if Gitmo would be closed during his presidency -- a campaign pledge he made in 2008 -- Obama said: "I still believe it should be closed. I still believe that it is a symbol of our past efforts that, sincere as they were, ended up cutting some corners in terms of our commitment to due process and our commitment to rule of law."
Note the word "should."
The comments come after the 1:55 mark of the video, following a discussion of Libya and Afghanistan.
Obama has been unable to close Gitmo for a couple of reasons. One is that other countries don't want to take prisoners who are housed there. Another is that congressional lawmakers don't want the terrorism suspects moved here, or tried in the United States -- as illustrated by the story of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
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