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Underscoring what a political quagmire this has become, the American Civil Liberties Union ran a full-page advertisement in The New York Times on Sunday, criticizing Obama for even considering military tribunals for Mohammed. The ad portrayed Obama morphing into President George W. Bush, reflecting a disappointment expressed by several supporters. "The president must know, as a constitutional scholar, that he's making a horrible, horrible deal. I have no doubt about that," said David Nachman, a New York attorney who handles detainee cases and who supported and donated to Obama. "And I have no doubt that the people around him believe the deal is necessary to preserve other goals of the administration." But he said that doesn't excuse a compromise he sees as unprincipled. Retired Brig. Gen. James P. Cullen, who met with Obama when he announced in January 2009 that Guantanamo Bay would be closed, said Monday that the White House should not give up on Attorney General Eric Holder's plan to prosecute Mohammed in New York. "Go back. Do the political groundwork that should have been done originally," Cullen said. One clear sign that such 9/11 criminal trial is unlikely is that Justice Department experts on Guantanamo Bay, national security and international law aren't taking part in the negotiations over the fate of Mohammed and others, several U.S. officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the deliberations. The Justice Department could legally prosecute Mohammed in New York, Virginia or Pennsylvania
-- states that were involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. But New York politicians already have eliminated their state as a possibility and the political sentiment doesn't appear any friendlier in Virginia or Pennsylvania. That leaves Obama with little or no ability to insist on a criminal case if he still wants to close Guantanamo Bay and keep criminal courts open for terrorism cases down the road. And those remain the top priorities.
[Associated
Press;
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