It also added to the problems surrounding Obama's plans to shutter the controversial military prison for suspected terrorists at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. No date has yet been set for the trial for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-described chief organiser of the September 11, 2001 attacks, and four other co-accused. "Conversations have occurred within the administration to discuss contingency options should the possibility of a trial in Lower Manhattan be foreclosed upon by Congress or locally," the official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Among the possible options were other sites in the Southern District of New York, home to some of the most seasoned terror prosecutors in the country, such as a federal courthouse in White Plains, a federal prison in Otisville and Stewart Air National Guard Base.
But the sites present concerns over either their security measures, or whether they have the appropriate facilities to try or house the suspects. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg unleashed the latest wave of disputes on Wednesday, when he expressed opposition to the Obama administration's plans, reversing his initial support over concerns about costs and disruption.
City officials have estimated that security and logistics for such a trial in Manhattan would cost 200 million dollars. No date has yet been set for the hearings. His about-face reopened sores on an already highly divisive issue: how to bring to justice the men accused of killing nearly 3,000 people in the United States during a sobering day of co-ordinate attacks.
Republicans, and some of Obama's fellow Democrats, in Congress have already sought to halt funding to hold criminal trials for the terror suspects in a bid to have them tried at Guantanamo, where they are still held, or at another US military base. Obama has vowed to close the controversial detention center, but has already missed his self-imposed deadline of January 22 due to firestorm of opposition at home over transferring the suspects to US soil and scarce support from international allies to take them in.
The narrowly averted Christmas Day attack aboard a US-bound airliner carrying nearly 300 people has also further stoked fears of further attacks on US soil and complicated the plans to hold civilian trials for terror suspects. A group of eight New York lawmakers wrote to US Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday expressing concern about plans to bring Sheikh Mohammed and his co-defendants to trial in Manhattan.
But a White House spokesman said that Obama still believes holding a civilian criminal trial for Sheikh Mohammed and his accomplices could take place "successfully and securely in the United States," without however specifically mentioning New York. Opposition Republicans, including leading Senator John McCain, are demanding the suspected terrorists be tried by military commissions at Guantanamo.