Eight years after 9/11, the self proclaimed mastermind of the Al-Qaeda attack has been set for trial in federal court in New York City.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others now held in Guantanamo could face the death penalty.
"Nothing can bring back those loved ones but they deserve the opportunity to see the alleged plotters of those attacks held accountable in open court," Attorney General Eric Holder said when announcing the trials.
Holder and President obama are breaking with the Bush administration by
closing the prison at Guantanamo and bringing the notorious inmates to the United States.
Holder says he plans to seek the death penalty.
Critics are calling for trials in Cuba.
Some worry the trials will inspire a new attack.
"New York City and the suburbs are the number one terrorist target in the world without these additional terrorist defendants being in lower Manhattan," complained New York Republican Congressman Peter King.
Waterboarding is sure to be an issue in court.
Mohammed was subjected to it 183 times.
The administration also announced that five more alleged terrorists held in Cuba will be tried by military tribunals in the U.S. for attacks committed outside this country.
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