[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 6]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 7997-7998]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




ACCUSED PERPETRATORS OF 9/11 SCHEDULED TO FACE TRIAL BEFORE A MILITARY 
                               COMMISSION

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 30, 2012

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, no one in this body needs 
to be reminded that on Sept. 11, 2001, the United States suffered one 
of the most horrific acts of mass murder in the history of our country. 
The deaths of nearly 3,000 Americans thrust this nation into a fight 
against an unconventional, non-state enemy that embraces terror, 
violence, and human destruction in a purposeful attack on civilian 
populations. That fight continues today.
  In March 2007, the alleged mastermind of the plot, Khalid Sheikh 
Mohammed, was captured. He and four others have been charged with 169 
overt acts in furtherance of the 9/11 attacks on innocent Americans, 
including 2,973 individual counts of murder in violation of the law of 
war and providing material support of terrorism. They are now scheduled 
to face trial at Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba.
  Despite the horrific nature of the crime that was perpetrated against 
our nation and our citizens, a foundation of the American justice 
system is the right of the accused to receive a fair trial no matter 
how abhorrent the action. While we have an obligation to use all of the 
instruments of our national power and authority to counter the threats 
of terrorists who maim and murder with utter impunity, we cannot allow 
our outrage and thirst for justice to trump this uniquely American rule 
of law. We must be guided, and when appropriate, constrained by our 
core values. This is essential to our effort, and to our legitimacy, in 
engaging and defeating enemies who traffic in fear and live in 
darkness. Our enemies continue to pose a serious, adaptive and 
asymmetric threat and our efforts to deter them must be equally 
zealous.
  We must ensure that all of our efforts are relentlessly empirical and 
pragmatic, while demanding compliance with the rule of law. All 
instruments of our national power and authority must be used to oppose 
these modern asymmetric threats. We must recognize that the instruments 
that are constrained and guided by our core values, including the rule 
of law, are the only truly effective and sustainable instruments. While 
the most effective instruments for countering these threats are those 
that are constrained and guided by our core values, including the rule 
of law, we must also, as Justice Jackson said at the Nuremburg Trials, 
``stay the hand of vengeance'' and ensure that ``power [pays tribute] 
to reason.'' Our reformed military commission will ensure the steady 
hand of justice is applied with these alleged war criminals. Justice, 
after all, ``is the greatest interest of man on earth . . . and so long 
as it is duly honored, there is a foundation for general security, 
general happiness and the improvement and progress of our (human) 
race.'' Daniel Webster, Sept. 12, 1845.

[[Page 7998]]

  Reformed military commissions are fully integrated within our federal 
framework of criminal justice, are overseen by our Article III 
appellate courts, and are severely confined to their law of war 
jurisdiction. Reformed military commissions can and will deal 
effectively, independently, and fairly with the law of war violations 
referred to them for trial, and they are already featuring a 
specialized interagency legal practice within the law of armed conflict 
and counterterrorism. Our military commissions are comparable to a 
civilian court, in that they have been modeled on the federal criminal 
justice system and incorporate all of the guarantees that are essential 
to a fair and just trial. To begin with, the accused is presumed 
innocent, and the prosecution has the burden of proving his guilt 
beyond a reasonable doubt. The accused is also protected against self-
incrimination. Statements obtained through the use of torture or cruel, 
inhuman, or degrading treatment are not admissible, and before any 
statement of the accused may be admitted, a military judge must find it 
to be reliable, probative, and voluntary.
  The simple fact is, the rights of the accused before a military 
commission are virtually identical to the rights of the accused in a 
federal court: the right to notice of the charges; the right to counsel 
and choice of counsel; the right to be present during the proceedings; 
the right to present evidence, cross-examine witnesses, and compel 
attendance of witnesses in his or her defense; the right to exculpatory 
evidence that the prosecution may have as to guilt, sentencing, and the 
credibility of adverse witnesses; the right to an impartial decision-
maker; the right to suppression of evidence that is not reliable or 
probative or that will result in unfair prejudice; the right to not be 
deposed without his or her consent; and the right to appeal to a 
federal civilian court of appeals and, ultimately, to the United States 
Supreme Court.
  While there may be differences between the military commission and 
the federal court venue, the divergence exists for principled reasons. 
It is grounded in necessity. It remains consistent with the rule of 
law. And it ensures that the commission has the ability to provide 
accountability during a time of armed conflict when no other adequate 
or effective means to do so exists.
  Finally, let me say that the proceedings before military tribunals 
are transparent. In this regard, they also closely parallel federal 
practice. Prosecutors are committed to allowing family members of the 
victims, the media, and the public to access to the proceedings. This 
reflects the belief--not only within the commission structure, but 
among our citizenry as a whole--that there is great value in allowing 
Americans, and the world, to witness criminal trials and to see first-
hand the fairness and impartiality with which our nation dispenses 
justice.
  These cases of alleged terrorists and murderers will be handled 
fairly within the rule of law, persistently and consistently to their 
end. Brigadier General Mark Martins, the chief prosecutor of the 
military commission, recently indicated that he has foregone an 
opportunity for promotion to ensure consistent handling of these 
important matters to their conclusion. We have come to expect no less 
than this selfless and heroic act from this General. He is a lawyer of 
exceptional skill and a man of extraordinary principle. He not only 
understands the form of the law, but also its spirit. And he 
recognizes, as Dr. Martin Luther King once said, that denial of justice 
anywhere diminishes justice everywhere. There is no better person for 
this job than Gen. Martins, a Harvard classmate of our President, and I 
for one am grateful that he has agreed to remain in this position, and 
to see this trial through a full and fair hearing of the alleged 
heinous acts of war and terror on the American public.
  Mr. Speaker, it is no secret, nor is it an overstatement, to say that 
we live in a dangerous world. My state of Mississippi knows this well 
with the proud service of thousands of our sons and daughters serving 
the military and the nearly 100 Mississippians who have given their 
lives in protection of our freedom in Iraq and Afghanistan. We should 
not allow our fears--or our outrage over acts designed to stoke those 
fears--however to guide our actions, even in these challenging and 
sometimes anxious times. Only fairness and justice can lead us to 
peace, and when the world thinks of fairness and justice, I want it to 
think of America. I have no doubt that when the accused perpetrators of 
9/11 are brought to trial before a military commission, this country, 
and our system and values, will be considered in precisely that way.

                          ____________________