Bush administration prepares to try KSM and other high-ranking members of Al Qaeda

The Bush administration, the New York Times reports, has set up a secret war room in Virginia to assemble evidence in order to prosecute high-ranking members of Al Qaeda currently in U.S. detention, including the mastermind of the September 2001 attacks, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.

As the Times reports, "The preparation of cases against the high-value operatives appears to rebut many who doubted that Qaeda suspects like Mr. Mohammed would ever be brought to trial. Critics in Congress and human rights groups had asserted that such trials would not be feasible because they would expose harsh interrogation techniques used by the Central Intelligence Agency."

According to the Times, "In preparation for the trials, the Justice Department has been quietly recruiting lawyers from the ranks of experienced terrorism prosecutors, mainly in New York and Virginia.

"The new war crimes trials will operate according to rules modeled after the military justice system which were approved in legislation known at the Military Commission Act, which was signed into law last fall. The law has been criticized by some Democrats in Congress and human rights groups who say the procedures are flawed because they tilt in the government’s favor.

"Prosecutors could use hearsay evidence or second-hand testimony, but could not use information obtained under torture. Even so, that would mean virtually any information obtained by the C.I.A would appear to be admissible because, under Justice Department legal opinions, none of the harsh techniques amounted to torture.

"At their trials, the accused would have the right not to testify and would have the opportunity to present evidence and cross-examine witnesses against them. The trials would be open unless a military judge determined that they should be closed to protect classified information. Defendants would have the right to review the evidence to be used against them."

The C.I.A. has indicated that it would prefer that these high-value Al Qaeda detainees not be allowed to divulge details of their confinement because of national security concerns. As the Times reports, in an affadavit filed in an on-going case, C.I.A. lawyers argued that such disclosure would “permit terrorist organizations to adapt their training to counter the tactics that C.I.A. can employ in interrogations.” No ruling on the case has yet been made.