Rep. King hammers Obama after first al Qaeda trial in civil court
Saturday, November 20, 2010 at 12:17AM 
Embassy bombing at Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. [US Dept. Justice photo.]Congressman Peter King (R - N.Y.) has called the Obama administration's decision to try terrorists in US civilian courts instead of military tribunals at Guantánamo Bay (GTMO) "absolute insanity."
In the first civilian trial of a GTMO detainee, a jury convicted a Tanzanian man in Manhattan federal court of conspiring to destroy US embassies in 1998. Ahmed Ghalfan Ghailani, 36, purchased oxygen, acetylene, and a truck used in the twin suicide bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and stored explosive devices for the attack in his residence. The bombs killed 224 people - twelve of which were Americans - and wounded more than 4,000.
Ghailani fled to Pakistan along with other al Qaeda members the day before the attack, but was captured in Pakistan in 2004 and sent to the detention facility at GTMO.
"I am disgusted at the total miscarriage of justice today in Manhattan's federal civilian court," said King, who will be Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee once the 112th Congress is seated in January.
King continued, "In a case where Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani was facing 285 criminal counts, including hundreds of murder charges, and where Attorney General Eric Holder assured us that 'failure is not an option,' the jury found him guilty on only one count and acquitted him of all other counts including every murder charge."
A key witness was expected to testify that he sold the TNT used in the Tanzania attack to Ghailani. However US District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan (appointed in 1994 by Bill Clinton) disallowed any evidence or witnesses obtained while Ghailani was allegedly "under duress" during his CIA custody. Following the five-week trial, the jury convicted Ghailani on just one charge of conspiring to destroy U.S. buildings and property, dropping the 284 other charges, including murder and attempted murder.
King called the case a "tragic wake-up call." He said, "We must treat [GTMO detainees] as wartime enemies and try them in military commissions at Guantanamo."
King pledged to hold "hearings and conduct the necessary oversight on this issue.”
(Filed by Chris Carter/Nov. 20, 2010)
*Photo is part of the report 'Terrorism in the United States, 1998, produced during the administration of President Bill Clinton by the US Dept. of Justice.