Durbin: Try Terrorists Through Federal Court, Not Military Commission

By Sam Wechsler – Talk Radio News Service

Suspected terrorists must be prosecuted through federal civilian courts and not military commissions, said Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill) at a Terrorism and Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing Tuesday.

Senator Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) argued that unforseen national security risks arise when terrorists are tried in federal civilian courts. He explained how during the prosecution of Ramsey Yusef, who was involved in plotting the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, a seemingly innocent piece of testimony concerning the delivery of a cell phone battery allowed at-large terrorists to discover that a means of communication had been compromised.

According to Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the only reason that the security risk occurred during Yusef’s trial was because prosecutors failed to employ the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA). Durbin says the government prosectors bypassed the use of CIPA so as to not release the names of several unindicted co-conspirators. Durbin added that he believes the government has learned from its mistakes.

“To argue that American courts cannot prosecute terrorists? Look at the facts. We’ve not only done it in the past, we’re doing it now,” said Durbin. He explained that 145 terrorists were convicted and sentenced in federal courts from September 11, 2001 through the end of 2007. Jeh C. Johnson, General Counsel for the Department of Defense, said that only three terrorists have been convicted through military commissions since 9/11.

Durbin also made his case for closing down the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying that no prisoner has ever escaped from a federal super maximum security facility.

“If we don’t bring suspected terrorists to this country to be prosecuted and detained, it’s almost impossible to close Guantanamo,” he said.