Dear Mr. Schaefer,
Thank you for contacting me regarding the trial of terrorism suspects in federal court. I appreciate hearing from you.
The White House is currently considering whether to try five Guantanamo Bay detainees accused of conspiring to commit the September 11 attacks in federal criminal court or by military commission. I believe we must bring these men to justice and believe that our federal court system is more than capable of securely, effectively and fairly trying alleged terrorists. Federal courts have been used successfully for years to prosecute terrorists, including Zacarias Moussaoui for his involvement in the 9/11 attacks, Richard Reid, the so-called "shoe bomber," and Timothy McVeigh for the Oklahoma City bombing.
It is important to note that only a handful of convictions have ever been achieved in the military commissions process, and two of the people convicted have since been released to their home countries. While exact figures of how many people have been convicted in the federal court system are harder to pin down, the Bush administration said in 2008 that since 2001 it achieved 319 convictions or guilty pleas in terrorism or terrorism-related cases in the federal court system. I am concerned that using the comparatively untested military commission process would be riskier than prosecuting these individuals in our federal courts.
Thank you again for contacting me. I look forward to hearing from you in the future.
Sincerely,
Russell D. Feingold
United States Senator
Monday, September 20, 2010
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