so that yeah, there is a possibility that khalid sheikh mohammed could be detained under the laws ofwar stack my final question, madam chair, what, sir, is your backup plan to protect the safety of americans if you cannot rely on an immigration detention law? what's the plan here if those things they'll? >> well, as i think i indicated in the interview that you mentioned, there is -- i have great confidence in our ability in the first instance to try the case fairly and effectively, and to get the good result. there are beyond that though, there are other options that we have beyond the trial. there are immigration laws. there are the laws of war, and with regard to the khalid sheikh mohammed, there are other charges that could be brought against him because of a other acts he did beyond what happened on september the 11th. >> i guess time will tell. thank you, madam chair. >> a gentleman's time is expired. i am now very delighted to yield to the distinguished new member of this committee, mr. deutsch from florida for five minutes. >> thank you, madam chair. delighted to have the opp

holder has taken a huge hit promoting civilian trials for people like khalid sheikh mohammed.her than being milk toast about the war on terror in general. yesterday eric holder was drilled by the house judiciary committee especially about his avoidance of the islamic terror description. >> do you feel that these individuals might have been incited to take the actions that they did because of radical islam? >> because of? >> radical islam. >> i mean we are in the process now of talking to mr. shahzad to try to understand what it is that drove him to take the action. >> but radical islam could have been one of the reasons? >> a variety of reasons. >> was radical islam one of them. >> there are a variety of reasons why people do these things. some of them are potentially religious. >> all i'm asking is if you think among those variety of reasons lad dick call islam might have been one of the reasons that the individuals took the steps that they did. >> you say radical islam, i think those people who espouse a version of islam that is not -- >> are you uncomfortable attributing an

that turned up not to be true because we didn't realize khalid sheikh mohammed was an al qaeda or pledged osama bin laden so abu zubaydah was probably lower ranking but still within the leadership. we knew that he was the commander of the larger of al qaeda's training camps in afghanistan and that he was a logistics with is and by that i mean the other al qaeda fighters described him as the hub of the wheel from which all of the folks go out. he knew everything. he knew was the middleman and he knew bin laden. we suspect that the time he may have had something to do with the september 11th attacks. in the end he wasn't directly involved but he was aware of al qaeda's operations and knew that the attacks were coming so we started looking for him. finally we heard he was either there or in a major pakistani city. chris portales will you describe for us a lot it wasn't new york. >> guest: it was one of the most horrible places i've been in my life and i've been in terrible places are one of the world. i never felt so far from home in my life as i did in fisa log. is the city of 7 million peo

that turned out to topics ackle teacher because of the time we didn't realize khalid sheikh mohammed was an al qaeda or pledged to osama bin laden abu zubaydah was probably a little bit lower ranking but still within the leadership. we knew that he was the commander of the larger of al qaeda's main trading camps in afghanistan. we knew he was a logistics whiz and by that i mean other al qaeda fighters described him as the hub of the wheel from which all of the spokes go out. he knew everybody. he was the middleman and he knew bin laden. we suspect at that time he may have had something to do with satori 11 attacks. i think in the end she was not directly involved but certainly was aware of al qaeda's operations and he knew the attacks were coming. so we started looking for them. finally, we heard that he was either in faisalabad or in nearby major pakistani city. host katella so you describe faisalabad. it wasn't new york. >> guest: know it was one of the worst places i've ever been in my life and i have been in terrible places around the world. i never felt so far away from home in

and there's a lot of talk about the initial decision for khalid sheikh mohammed, politics, and whether or not we said something first. i complimented the doj for its deliberation and its studiousness. i would like you to clarify that. and i will say this. the comments made by a president, a commander-in-chief, who is also a politician and a citizen, are among many comments that have been made. the president has a right to make comments. because he has the first amendment right of freedom of speech. my understanding is that lawyers go into courtrooms, many times around america, and in this instance, u.s. attorneys, against all kinds of comments being made in the general forum. but that does not take the place of a vigorous prosecutorial presentation as i understand it, so if you would comment and clarify again with the times square bomber, whose family members came and encouraged that individual to participate fully, and i think you said -- there is so many bombers, but let me just finish the question and i'll clarify, but came and asked them to fully participate, and to give answers an

the plan to track khalid sheikh mohammed and other 9/11 conspirators in the federal court in new york has been derailed. no institution that i know of is better equipped to show the world how america deals with miscreancts then where the trial was originally intended to occur. i hope these plans can be put back on track. the administration has taken some steps to curb the misuse of the state secrets privilege. while the justice department has issued new guidelines, the privilege continues to be over used, and i think that the need for uniform and consistent handling by the court still remains. it is true, and i commended the administration for ending the practice of secret prisons and calling a halt to waterboarding and enhanced interrogation techniques. these actions tarnished the nation's reputation as a beacon of liberty and served as a recruiting tool for our enemies. the attorney general hasn't released rejected tortured memos and brought a much needed -- hasn't released and brought an attitude of transparency to the department which has helped us understand the workings of the o

square bombing doesn't change the administration's thinking on the trial of 9/11 mastermind khalid sheikh mohammed and still considering new york city as a trial for k.s.m. the administration only shows that on this issue it really doesn't get it. that much was clear to anyone who watched yesterday's press conference. here was the new york police commissioner reminding reporters that no fewer than 11 terrorist plots have been directed at new york city since 9/11 and that, as he put it, nothing has changed with respect to terrorists coming to new york to hurt and kill americans. to me, it was jarring in the face of that kind of cold reality that the repeated pleas of elected officials in new york from both parties to see the attorney general still stuck -- still stuck -- on the notion that holding these trials in downtown manhattan is anything but a bad idea. trying k.s.m. in new york city was a bad idea last year. it's a bad idea today. the only thing that's changed is the american people have just been reminded of how determined terrorists are to carry out their deadly plans. as i've said repeate

the question of the proper venue for trials, they announced they would try the mastermind khalid sheikh mohammed new york city, then realized maybe that wasn't a good idea. when it came to the christmas day bomber, they treated him like a common criminal and realizrealized that wouldn't bee best route either. now they're wondering outloud if they should revisit their approach to administering miranda warnings. let's make it easy for the attorney general, every terrorist -- every single one of them, every single terrorist should be treated like one. in the first months of the administration the president signed executive orders ending the c.i.a.'s terrorist program and closing guantanamo and essentially putting the attorney general in the war on terror. more than a year after the executive orders were signed and after several failed attacks on the homeland, the administration finally -- finally seems to realize that the war on terror is not a simple matter of law enforcement. a clear and forceful strategy is needed just as much at home as it's needed abroad. republicans have been saying this all