Pols oppose having 9/11 trial in Pa.

Republicans and Democrats alike are coming out against a reported proposal to try the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the Keystone State.

With reports surfacing that the Obama administration might seek to relocated the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed from lower Manhattan to western Pennsylvania, GOP candidates are speaking up in outright opposition to the idea, and Democrats are more than lukewarm to the idea, too.

“Holding Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s trial in New York City was a terrible idea from the beginning due to the many security concerns,” Republican Senate candidate Pat Toomey said in a statement. “But moving the trial elsewhere does not solve the problem. Mohammed should be tried in a military court, not in a civilian court that affords him generous rights that will give his fellow terrorists access to crucial information about our intelligence and anti-terrorism methods.”

Republican Pat Meehan, who’s running for Congress in the 7th District, echoed Toomey’s sentiment.

“As a former U.S. Attorney, I strongly maintain that the correct forum for the trial of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and his confederates is a military tribunal,” Meehan said in a statement. “They will be afforded appropriate due process at a secure facility offshore. The administration has already designated other participants for trial by military tribunals, underscoring the legitimacy of the process.”

Democrats have hardly embraced the idea.

“Although we are not dead set against it, we would have to hear two things,” Gov. Ed Rendell told The Tribune-Review. “First, why it would be safer for western Pennsylvania than for New York City; and second, what portion of the cost for security and other things would the federal government absorb?”

Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato, a Democratic candidate for governor, was more dismissive of the prospect.

“As Pennsylvania directly experienced part of the attack on Sept. 11, we are acutely interested in seeing the perpetrators brought to justice,” he told the newspaper. “However, the last thing Pennsylvania needs is a terrorist trial that raises security concerns and places even more of a burden on our taxpayers.”

January 30, 2010 at 4:52 pm

--pa2010.com Staff

Tags: Dan Onorato, Ed Rendell, Pat Meehan, Pat Toomey