¶ I agree with this Editorial in the New York Times.
Putting the five defendants on public trial a few blocks from the site of the former World Trade Center is entirely fitting. Experience shows that federal courts are capable of handling high-profile terrorism trials without comprising legitimate secrets, national security or the rule of law. Mr. Bush’s tribunals failed to hold a single trial.
(...)
The Obama administration has yet to completely figure out how to rectify the disgraceful Bush detention policies, but it is getting there.
¶ Sometimes, Giuliani should keep his anti-terror advice to himself (Salon): not surprisingly ex-mayor Giuliani is opposed to a federal trial in New York for the 9/11 plotters, but in 1994 he was celebrating the first WTC bombers conviction by a federal court, and more:
As mayor, Giuliani was in a unique position to learn from the 1993 bombing and prepare his city for the next terrorist attack. He failed on both counts, with the most obvious evidence of his failure coming in the decision about where to place the city's emergency command center: He ultimately chose the World Trade Center, which had been bombed only a few years earlier. Giuliani has since tried to put the blame for this on his emergency management director, Jerome Hauer, but Hauer had fought for a site in Brooklyn before caving in to his boss.
Last year, the New York Times revealed a memo prepared by the New York Police Department that revealed the NYPD's strenuous objections to the choice. They had good reason to be concerned: On 9/11, the command center was useless, and -- despite what Giuliani says now -- it took hours for him to find a spot that could serve as a backup, Hauer's previous requests to build a secondary facility having been turned down.
¶ Obama's Gitmo blame game (Politico): Greg Craig the White House Counsel is resigning over the failed strategy to shut down Guantanamo Bay prison by January. Politico explains why.