you know, the ksm trial, the khalid shaikh mohammed trial is a whole other matter. one approach with khalid shaikh mohammed, a cynical approach, would be to not put him on trial at all. >> keep him in detention indefinitely? >> it comes with they cans jeffrey's already alluded to. that's not particularly satisfactory on a lot of levels. but you can imagine a situation where you defer this and defer this and defer this. the counterargument would be that we're coming up on the tenth anniversary of 9/11. i think americans would like to have this guy put on trial in some forum during that anniversary. and not to have him on trial i think during that anniversary year would be a significant setback, just generally. but, you know, the fact is, there will be a problem with the torture issue with khalid shaikh mohammed. >> we'll leave it there. appreciate all of you being on. thanks. let us know what you think, the live chat is up and running right now. >>> up next, sarah palin for president in 2012, tonight what she said in a "new york times" magazine article and what she t

khalid shaikh mohammed and four other co-conspirators are set to face similar trials. we don't claim toft answers tonight, that's not our job, it's up to you to decide what you think but our gets have strong opinions, joining us now jeffrey toobin, former federal prosecutor, peter bergen and former commander of the "uss cole," which was bombed in the yemen port, 17 u.s. sailors were killed and 40 others were injured. he joins us on the phone. some of the bombing suspects are being held at gitmo, by the way. was it a miscarriage of justice? >> i think it's important to remember. ghailani himself is not going anywhere. he's looking at 20 years, probably life in prison, so it's not like this guy is walking out the door. however, this is an extremely disappointing verdict for the obama administration, and it's a reminder that when you go to civilian courts to these federal district courts you don't get a guaranteed result. juries are unpredictable and this judge excluded some evidence which happens and there was almost an acquittal here. >> was this a complete mischarge of

khalid sheikh mohammed would have been subject to it he asked for a guilty verdict in advance. he asked to be executed. and obama steps in, holder steps in and says oh no, we are going to reinvent the wheel. we're going to put you in new york. of course that's never going to happen. the fall back is indefinite detention which i have no argument with, but if you could also have a military trial and you find him guilty, you ought to do it. it all there and these people decided they are all wise, owe omniscient. this is a calamity. >> bret: gitmo stays open. >> it stays open for sure. i think they are going to have to resort to the military commissions. >> yeah, i agree with charles. >> yeah, if not gitmo then somewhere else. i think it's more likely than not that gitmo stays open and we go back to commissions. >> bret: not the end of this story. when the panel returns, we will talk about what looks like a major set back for the president's nuclear arms treaty with russia. in the meantime visit the show notes section of our home page at foxnews.com/"special report" >> it was almos

>> now khalid sheikh mohammed different category.stermind of 9/11. >> juan: here was a trial that was held with no security concerns. let me say something else to you, michael. if you look at the four people who have been tried in military tribunals under bush administration, only one got a life sentence. the other throw got off pretty lightly as compared to the sentence that ghailani is getting. so, in fact, didn't the civilian court work better? >> depends on the case. no, no. it depends on the case. -- it depends on the details of the case. >> juan: your point to me a minute coagulate was, look, you know this was supposed to build confidence and here i'm saying you know what? they got a pretty good result in terms of a conviction and this guy is likely to go away 20 years i think more close likely life. >> acquitted of every single charge of murder in this case. like i said, the question here is not just this case. it's whether khalid sheikh mohammed would use a trial in new york as a platform to essentially embrace martyr martyrd

khalid sheikh mohammed was the chief operating officer of al-qaeda. i don't know if they call themselves that, but that's how i viewed him. here's the man that slit danny pearl's throat because danny pearl was jewish. danny pearl had one of the greatest statements of religious principle ever when he said my grandfather's you, my father's jewish, and i'm jewish.athe and then khalid sheikh mohammed, you know, slits his throat. and we capture him, and i'm told that he's got information thatu could lead, that could prevent another attack. i also was told that the interrogation techniques that wo were using at the time were ineffective. as a matter of fact, khalid sheikh mohammed said i with will talk to you when i get my lawyer in new york. i asked -- and the cia said that they would like to take over the interrogation. and they talked about techniques that were available to them that they thought would be effective in getting information from thif killer that could save lives. i then went through an exhaustive legal review of their recommendations unders

now, i have no problem with khalid sheikh mohammed being held indefinitely.d attorney general said, the president during the campaign and eric holder throughout the administration. >> clayton: another thing is happening in ongoing, watching the outcome of the trial of ahmed ghailani, the guantanamo bay detainee, transferred to the u.s., under the obama administration and the jury has been deliberating two days now. heaven forbid that it turns out to be a not guilty verdict. does that throw everything off for the administration's plans? >> i assume the administration can claim they can hold him because he's an enemy combatant and the war has not ended but it shows the issues that arise and some people make the comparison between the ghailani case and khalid sheikh mohammed and there is no comparison, the african embassy is tragic, those bombings were and human life is human life, but the fact is, the emotional attachment to the african embassy case is nowhere near what it would be with khalid sheikh mohammed. as far as the civilian jury comes back in, i think

but, there is no question this khalid sheikh mohammed thing. this is a centerpiece of my book.t is just inexplicable that president obama would put his currency on the line to this thug and get the beating in the public arena that the president has taken because of this guy when he could have put him in front of the military tribunal and kissed him off. that's amazing. >> bill, i think this is an example and a number of others that this is a president to ho for all his talent and all his charm didn't know enough to know what he didn't know. and for this administration to have plunged ahead as it did into this morass with the khalid sheikh mohammed trial, the closing of guantanamo and these other things, which didn't get into the posture they were in for no reason, for them not to be able to foresee that was a sign of political knive at a which i think was striking. >> bill: brit's series airs sunday night at 9 p.m. here on fnc. ted koppel, remember him? he lashes out at cable news. later, congressman charlie rangel walking out of his hearing on ethics violations. wait until you

>> gregg: khalid, the -- khalid sheikh mohammed may not be tried in either a civilian or a military courtefinitely in military detention. that at least according to a reported in the "washington post" citing obama administration officials. but that is not what attorney general eric holder led reporters to believe, last week. take a listen: >> we are working to make a determination about the placement of that trial and i would hope that whatever the decision is, will be one that will be judged on the merits, and, that what is best for the case and for justice in that case. will be the thing that will guide the decision. we have been working on it and i think we're close to a decision. >> gregg: to a decision. well, "new york post" columnist michael goodwin writes about holder and the case in the most recent column and joins us live. michael, good to see you. >> thank you, gregg. >> gregg: i year ago yesterday, i checked the date. eric holder announced that ksm would be transferred to manhattan and tried in a civilian courtroom and two months later the plan was abandoned and the springtime

for me and for families, this will be a tremendous propaganda coup for khalid sheikh mohammed who willave a platform a stone's throw from where 3,000 americans were killed. that would be a travesty. and what for. when military commissions have created a state of the art courtroom for this purpose that will cost us nothing. megyn: they significant protection of their rights under the military commission tribunal rules. it's not as though you have no rights. i want to underscore. we don't know what the decision is. we don't know whether he decided to try ksm in a federal court. then there was a lot of blowback. now we learn he's close to a decision. i want to ask you, do you think it's niko incidence the timing? as i mentioned in the introduction to you, we are a week and a day past the elections. this is not the kind of issue i would imagine they want to call attention to prior to the election. the same way we were told. we were told those two would be postponed and all they would say is until after the election. >> i believe there is an article in politico in which high-ranking member

khalid sheikh mohammed gave it up, gave it up. the second thing that bush points out in his book is very interesting. khalid sheikh mohammed said to his cia interrogators, look, by putting me in the water, all those times, you gave me license to tell you things because all my religion says is that i have to hold out until a certain threshold is reached and then i can tell you without sin, fascinating part of bush's book. fascinating. there is no question that waterboarding worked in the sheikh mohammed situation. and to continue to hang on to it didn't is just misleading. >> bill, i'm not saying that it didn't. what i'm saying is in the vast majority of cases waterboarding or physical coercion i know this because i worked -- >> bill: only three cases. concede upon the three cases to condemn the whole administration and whole anti-terror policy. >> not on three cases. you asked me whether waterboarding is a good idea? one it violates the anti-torture statute. the lawyers were wrong when they told the president that leaving that asi

you could have the same problem with khalid sheikh mohammed. patti ann: yeah to remind people. >> ga -- ghailani the first gitmo detainee brought to the united states for a civilian trial. >> correct. patti ann: if it is a criminal trial for ksm the neck question is obviously where? new york city prompted rage but any other site that is suggested prompts outrage as well. no one wants this trial in their backyard. where might it end up? >> you raise a great, well there is federal district court in guam, okay? let me answer your question. you raise a great point. the fact of the matter is if you try khalid sheikh mohammed in a federal district court, you afford him the rights of the constitution and you may get a judge willing to uphold the law as judge caplan was and suppress evidence and run the risk this guy will get acquitted. quite frankly the guy should be tried in a military tribunal. i understand why we're doing this but i have never understood and i asked the administration repeatedly to explain it to me, why do we, why risk an acquittal

this, obviously, could have a huge impact on any future plans to try khalid shake mohammed and the other 9/11 conspirators. >> couric: bob, stand by, because bob has been following another story related to terrorism. the backlash over those new security measures at the airport. today the t.s.a. announced one change: young children will no longer face full pat-downs but the head of the agency told congress everyone else better get used to the procedures. >> reporter: facing growing anger over probing pat-downs and so-called naked x-rays, transportation security chief john pistole today appealed for cooperation. >> look, this is for your safety, security, work with us. this is a partnership here. >> reporter: but testifying before the senate commerce committee, pistole took a hard line, saying planes face an ongoing threat from hidden explosives so travelers who refuse both body imaging scans and pat-downs won't be allowed to fly. >> do i understand the sensitivities of people? yes. if you're asking am i going to change the policies? no. >> reporter: criticking are calling for a thanksgivi

so we captured khalid sheikh muhammed. he was the chief operating officer of al qaeda.he was the man who slit danny pearls throat he was jewish. one of a great statements of religious principle ever when he said my grandfather is jewish, my father is jewish and i am jewish then his throat was slit. recapture him and i am told he has information that could prevent another attack. i was also told the interrogation techniques that we reusing at the time as a matter of fact khalid sheikh muhammed said i will talk to you when i get my lawyer in new york. the cia said they would like to take over the interrogation. talked-about techniques available to them that they thought would be effective to get information from this killer to save lives. i then went through the exhaustive legal review of their recommendations understanding there are laws against torture. i was not going to break the law to protect you legal opinions came back and i approve the techniques including waterboarding on three people. in my book i just make the two points clear. bond. of the information we rece

khalid sheikh mohammed still in a legal limbo. that story, coming up.ick: airline security may be in the skies has to be a little less friendly these days and one passenger not happy with the latest screenings, why our own homeland security chief says, we all need to relax a little bit. martha: and the commander-in-chief back on american soil but it is a different washington than the one he left, why the president says he may have been too focused on some of the wrong things. and what republicans say we needed to do now. >> what we need to do is go back to 2008, spending levels immediately, we need to repeal the trillion dollar obama care, take back the bailout money, and what stimulus money hasn't been spent. [scraping] [piano keys banging] [scraping] [horns honking] with deposits in your engine, it can feel like something's holding your car back. let me guess, 16. [laughing] yeeah. that's why there's castrol gtx... with our most powerful deposit fighting ingredient ever. castrol gtx exceeds the toughest new industry standard. don't let deposits hold y

khalid shaikh mohammed may just continue to be held and never tried. is that a possibility?. certainly the forseeable future. because the obama administration sort of boxed itself in. and the first closed guantanamo and a year ago, november 13th, a year ago this week, without consulting anyone at all in new york or the state or any of the federal protective services the attorney general announced that the trial would be held in lower manhattan and then he had a retreat from that and now, they have absolutely nothing. occasionally, somebody in the white house indicated to me that the trial is not going to be in new york and that's like all behind the scenes and really kept it tightly under wraps and i think it was wrong. i think before the election remained known, if it's so important to the administration, they shouldn't be keeping a secret so long. >> congressman king, there's definitely bipartisan support in new york not to have it here and now that the house majority has changed what will be the impact with that? >> jamie, it will be impossible for them to bring the trial

how the public reacted and i think the public has reacted incredibly negatively to the idea that khalid shaikh mohammed and his coke used would never face justice well i mean they are already you know they've tried omar kotter and a military commission in guantanamo they've already they're trying out for the right now in federal court so i mean those two things are happening which of course you could say are not appeasing one side or the other so why would it be such a bigger deal well i don't really know the answer to that because this trial is so incredibly important to so many americans it seems that if anyone would be tried it would be those accused of plotting the september eleventh attacks it's incredibly important to a lot of the victims of september eleventh and family members of those victims to be able to go to court and actually see justice being done just like the victims and family members of victims of many other terrorist attacks around the world have been able to do it's only here in america where they haven't been given that opportunity now you said that you scorsese or

and i did. >> you talk about khalid sheikh mohammed. was another guy you write about in the book, abu zabeta. he was waterboarded. khalid sheik mohammed was water boarded 183 times. this guy was waterboarded more than 80 times. his understanding of islam was and waterboarding helped him reach that threshold and fulfill his religious duty and then cooperate and then you have a quote from him. quote, you must do this for all the brothers, end quote. >> yeah. isn't that interesting? >> abu zabeta went to someone and said you should waterboard all the brothers? >> he said you should give brothers the chance to fulfill their duty. >> i don't think he said waterboarding. an assumption in your case. >> you must do this to all the brothers to allow them to get to that threshold. >> yeah, that's how i interpreted it. first, we used the technique on three people. captured a lot of people and used it on three. we gained valuable information to protect the country, and it was the right thing to do, as far as i'm concerned. >> so if it's legal, pres

if khalid shaikh mohammed is tried in downtown manhattan and he's acquitted, do you let him go and thereby undermining the law or do you keep him and equally undermine the respect for the law? either way it's a lose, lose. >> let me read you a statement from someone you know well, congressman peter king. "this tragic verdict, tragic verdict he calls it demonstrates the absolute insanity of the obama administration's decision to try al qaeda terrorists in civilian courts. this is a tragic wake-up call to the obama administration to immediately abandon its plan to try guantanamo terrorists like the admitted 9/11 mastermind khalid shake omommed in federal civilian courts." >> people are politicizing this and we're america and standprin. you should get a trial by the jury of your peers. these are very distinct principals that america s tha about and people in new york city decided that he should be a acquitted of 280 some counts and guilty on one. the system works and anybody that is trying to make this an obama issue is kind of undermining americans and the people that sat on that jury and ma

that he's the one who ordered that it was his decision that he authorized it both of the beta and khalid shaikh muhammad and these were crimes that were being there would be ordered by american president sitting in the white house in washington and occurring in secret in secret prisons in the case of khalid shaikh muhammad in poll . and so you know these are these are crimes across the board you know international where there's a mission there i mean did he just get himself in trouble or knowing our political landscape knowing the way that it seems our justice system seems to work do you think he's going to get off scot free and there'll never be a real investigation a real consequences for what they did well i think for the united states i think for any. the country that is you know prides itself on you're living under the rule of law what you need to have to have to do is make clear that nobody is above the rule of law it doesn't mean. that president bush will definitely charge or definitely be convicted or or that this was over this was absolutely a crime those are all things that wou

does this spell the end of all the trials including khalid shaikh mohammed.s mercedes and -- this case was supposed to be the easiest of all the terror cases which is why they tried it first. this guy killed 224 people, no, they nailed him on conspiracy charge. he was acquitted. he walked. he skates on 284 charges out of 285, does this prove that perhaps this policy of eric holder to try these foreign terrorists here in civilian courts, does it prove to be folly? >> not all a. even if you look at all the prosecution, there is a study by nyu, there is 828 civilian types of cases just like this one in the u.s. out of all of them there was 89% success rate by the prosecution. so that tells you a lot of them can be put in the jury system, in our federal judges which you know goes through tremendous vetting and the ultimately the jurors. >> they said there are three lies, lies, damned lies and statistics. mercedes has fallen in the last category. that has nothing to do with the military combatants that was held at guantanamo. let's talk about galani and it's more

you refuse to allow khalid sheikh mohammed to have a platform.u save new york city the cost of hundreds of millions of dollars over several years and the trial is held in cuba with a military tribunal. if that's the outcome do you consider that to be a win-win-win? >> yes, i do. it will be a win pore those murdered on september 11, a win for their families and a win for the american system of justice. the military commissions are perfectly constitutional and valid. khalid sheikh mohammed is not entitled to the same rights as an ordinary criminal quote-unquote. and the protections he's not entitled to as an enemy combatant. we don't have to worry about classified intelligence coming out or americans being put at risk. bill: can president obama step in and take over this decision? >> i think he did. eric holder was ideologically committed to having the trials in new york. if they move out it will be because of president obama. yes. bill: we don't have a final word yet but we are waiting on that. martha: it is veteran's day. the new york stock excha

when it comes to where to try this man, 9/11 mastermind khalid shaikh mohammed. bill: good question. david lee miller leads our coverage from the newsroom. first, how did ghailani escape these charges? >> reporter: arguably, bill, it looks like the prosecution lost this case before the trial even got underway. during the jury selection, the judge made a ruling, and said that the government's star witness, a man named hussein abibi, was not going to be allowed to testify. the judge ruled that the prosecution only knew about his existence because they say that name was learned through coercive questioning of ghailani when he was in cia customer ce -- custody and had he been allowed to testify, what aibi -- abibi would have told the court is he sold the defendant the explosives that were used to phro*e up the embassy. that information -- to blow up the embassy, that information was never heard in court and the defense during the trial simply told the jury over and over again their client was a dupe who may have helped al-qaeda operatives but had no idea what the con

khalid sheikh mohammed yet to be put on trial.appen soon or not at all. plus, it's a heart-breaking statistic. >> eric: tens of thousands of children will be kidnapped by a family member this year. coming up, federal laws and how they're keeping some parents from key information that could help reunite them with the children. it's an interview jamie will have that you will not want to miss. >> we all watched these pictures. the thick plume of smoke in the sky that caught our attention. it sure looked like a missile. at first no one seemed to know what it was exactly. the government saying just a jetliner. was it? end of story or media overhype? ♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] last year, the u.s. used enough plastic water bottles to stretch around the earth over 190 times. each brita filter can take up to 300 of those bottles out of the equation. you don't decide when vegetables reach the peak of perfection. the vegetables do. at green giant, we pk vegetables only when they're perfect. then freeze them fast so they're are as nutritious as

and then khalid sheikh mohammed slit his throat. we capture him.'m told that he has done information that can lead -- that can prevent another attack. i also was told that the interrogation techniques that we were using at the time were ineffective. as a matter of fact, khalid sheikh mohammed said abel talk to you when i get my lawyer in new york. the cia said that they would like to take over the interrogation. they talked about techniques that were available to them that they thought would be effective in getting information from the skillet that could save lives. i then went through an exhaustive legal review of their recommendations, understanding that there are laws against torture. i wasn't going to break the law to protect you. legal opinions came back, and i approved techniques including water boarding on three people. in my book and make two points clear. one, the information we receive from those on whom we used enhanced interrogation techniques saved american lives. secondly, i could not have lived with myself had i not, under the law, u

that a sweeping guilty verdict would help clear the way for other gitmo inmates, such as the beloved khalidheikh mohammed to be tried in federal court. but if the president is honest here and if he truly puts american security first, he will now admit that trying major terror figures in open federal court is wrong and potentially dangerous. military tribunals are far more effective use for these cases because of the sensitive intelligence involved and their less stringent admissibility rules. one key witness was excluded by the judge because his identity was discovered through enhanced interrogation techniques. consider the evidence presented to the jury. ghailani purchased the flammable gas that made the bombs more deadly. he stored the electric detonator. he provided the cell phone to the suicide bomber in tanzania. and he was pals with al qaeda operatives and the other convicted bombers and, by the way, he spent time at their safe house. yet, for all of, this he was convicted of merely conspiring to blow up a government building but not for the murders of the 224 people, including 12 ame

and behind khalid shaikh mohammed. the obama administration remains undecided about his fate.s ever see justice in their lifetimes. joining us a retired fdn ychfdn chief lost his son. >> and only one charge was he convicted on. the justice department gave the impression that that couldn't happen. >> yeah, it's totally absurd. >> he bought the bomb and the truck and cell phone, it seems like ready for the civilian trial and made a mistake, one out of 285 charges and what's going to happen with khalid shaikh mohammed when they come in next and i think this is the first one and i think they're going to have to reassess because they made a mistake. >> his case is relevant as well what the job objected to, the enens had aed interrogation techniques, the judge didn't like it and he threw out star witness testimony and that may also happen with ksm. >> i hope they look at it because they look at the evidence and the witness who sold him the bomb got thrown out. we met with obama in january of '09 and they held up this, this trial khalid shaikh mohammed because of an election and now

. >> he was asked if khalid sheikh mohammed, the man thought to be behind the 9/11 attacks should be watered boarded. he responded, damn right. he believes that this also prevent the attacks in the uk. >> he did not believe that he was authorized to torture. that is clear from his book, is statements, his statements at the time. he also believed that there was many many lives saved and plots foiled. >> on iraq, mr. bush defended his decision to go to war. he called the moment on the aircraft carrier and mistake where the mission accomplished banner seemed to ignore the coming chaos. he also was regretful that no weapons of mass destructions were found. >> apologizing would say that the decision was a wrong decision and i don't believe it was a wrong decision. >> and tony blair, he says that he found an echo of churchill. when they spoke of invading iraq, he remembers mr. blair saying that he was in even if it cost him the government. he has found a way to reshape the legacy and to make americans feel more kindly about him in retrospect. in general, americans do look kindly upon past

y tenemos uno de los operativos de mayor rango de al qaeda: khalid sheik muhammad, que es el directorÓ el ataque del 9-11. y me dicen que Él tiene informaciÓn. entonces, ordenÉ que investigaran lo que Él sabÍa, asÍ que le preguntÉ a nuestro equipo: "¿son las tÉcnicas legales?" y me dijeron que sÍ lo eran. asÍ que ordenÉ que las usaran. >>usted dice que es legal y que el abogado le dijo. >>sÍ. >>los crÍticos dicen que usted le pidiÓ al departamento de justicia que preparan asesoramiento legal y los memorÁndum legales que usted necesitaba para esto. >>ellos pueden sacar cualquier conclusiÓn, pero yo te puedo asegurar esto: el uso de esas tÉcnicas salvÓ muchas vidas. mi trabajo fue proteger a los ee.uu. y asÍ lo hice. >>en una conversaciÓn que creo que usted tuvo con dick cheney durante un almuerzo, en el perÍodo en que se planeaba la guerra en iraq, cheney le dijo a usted: "¿te vas a hacer cargo de este tipo no?" refiriÉndose a sadaam husein. ¿le sorprendiÓ? >>no. bueno, quiero decir que nosotros tenemos una relaciÓn muy franca y es que Él me aconsejaba sin adornos o rodeos. >>sus palab

. >> chris: there is a report that the mastermind of 9/11 khalid shaikh muhammad will likely remain in military detention without a trial past the 2012 election. why not trial him either in a military court or in a civil court? >> the attorney general is working through those issues and we are working through those issues as an administration. they will make a decision and we will proceed. obviously it is is complicated issue because of the sensitive issues and localities and congress have expressed and we have to work through all those issues and we will. >> in 2008 your campaign expanded the electoral map turning states like, virginia, and north carolina blue. if you look at the house tracker of how people voted this election night in the mid terms you are looking at roughly the same map that john gore and kerry faced. >> two years is an etern knit. two years before the last election you nor anybody else would have predicted that barack obama is going to be president of the united states. i think the american people are looking to see that we make progress on the fundamental issues i

but the ghailani verdict cast a new shadow on plans to try other guantanamo suspects, especially khalid sheik mohammed, the accused mastermind of september 11. new york congressman peter king -- incoming chair of the house homeland security committee -- said the verdict demonstrates the absolute insanity of the obama administration's decision to try al-qaeda terrorists in civilian courts." ghailani will be sentenced on january 25. he faces a minimum of 20 years and a maximum of life in prison. two views now on the implications of the ghilani trial and verdict. michael mukasey was attorney general during the last year of the bush administration. he is now an attorney in private practice in new york city. eugene fidell is president of the national institute of military justice, and he's a senior research scholar at yale university law school. eugene fidell, let me begin with you. what, if anything, does the gail gail verdict tell us about the idea of trying terrorist suspects in civilian courts? >> ray, i think the answer to that depends on your perspective going into the case. from my pe

chris: brit, i want to hit a couple of subjects, big story in the "washington post" this weekend, khalidthe self-proclaimed master mind of 9/11 will likely remain in military detention and not face trial in either a civilian or a military court until after the 2012 elections. what do you make of that. >> it is a sign the policies out lined for dealing with terror suspects doesn't work. they wanted to try him in federal court and couldn't and for all the political -- when the haggling was over with they couldn't pull it off. it was a a failure. where will you try him? no place in the continental u.s. where anybody would accept it. so, what will they do? try him in guantanamo bay? my god, that would be a political confession of the utter foolishness of their whole policy and will put the -- kick the can down the load road and put it on hold and is a blow to the idea the terror suspects can be ready to not like ordinary but similar to ordinary criminals through the normal processes of justice. >> chris: the way the post portrayed it there was politics on this, on this one hand local officia

. >> chris: there is a report that the mastermind of 9/11 khalid sheikh mohammed will likely remain in military detention without trial past the 2012 election. why not try him, either in a military court or a civilian court? >> well, the attorney general is working through those issues. we are working through those issues as an administration. they will make a decision and we will proceed. obviously, it's a complicated issue, because of the sensitivities, localities and congress have expressed. we have to work through all the issues and come to the right conclusion and we will. >> chris: in 2008, your campaign expanded the eelectoral map. turning red states like indiana and virginia and north carolina blue. but if you look at the house tracker, of how people voted this election night, in the mid-terms, you're now looking at roughly the same map that al gore and john kerry faced. how do you win back those states that turned red again? >> well, chris, as you know, two years is an eternity. two years before the last election you nor anyone else would have predicted that barack obama would