Washington — The following is the statement of U.S. Senator Susan Collins regarding Attorney General Eric Holder’s announcement that Khalid Sheikh Mohammad will be tried in a military commission at the Guantanamo Bay prison. Senator Collins is the Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
"The Obama Administration made the right decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a military tribunal – reversing its earlier ill-conceived proposal to try him in a United States civilian court. A trial in civilian court could compromise classified evidence, including sensitive sources and methods used by our intelligence community. Moreover, KSM undoubtedly would have made his trial a spectacle to recruit and radicalize others to violent Islamist extremism. That is why I have long believed that KSM and other 9-11 suspects should be tried in the military tribunal system that Congress worked with the President to create in 2009. It is unfortunate that it took so long for the President and Attorney General Holder to come to this belated decision."
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