Attorney General Holder defends terrorism trial plans (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday defended the Obama administration's use of criminal courts to try terrorism suspects after a renewed call to send them to military trials at the naval base in Cuba.

Republicans and even some of President Barack Obama's fellow Democrats have sought to keep open the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and forced the administration to use military courts for the most significant terrorism suspects, those accused of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Holder offered a rebuttal backing traditional criminal trials for terrorism suspects, describing the backlash as "overheated rhetoric that is detached from history and from the facts."

Those who back military trials for terrorism suspects have argued that the accused should not receive full U.S. legal rights and the cities where such trials are held could become targets for attacks, pointing to Guantanamo as the best venue.

"Not one of these individuals has escaped custody. Not one of the judicial districts involved has suffered retaliatory attacks. And not one of these terrorists arrested on American soil has been tried by a military commission," Holder told the American Constitution Society, a liberal-leaning group.

A year ago before a similar audience Holder was defending both military and civilian courts for such cases.

The problem of how to arrest and prosecute terrorism suspects has dogged Obama for the last two years. Congress has blocked attempts to close the Guantanamo prison by choking off funds for transfers to U.S. soil for any reason, including prosecution.

Holder's comments follow a call by the top Senate Republican, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, for the administration to transfer two Iraqi men arrested last month in Kentucky to military custody at Guantanamo for prosecution.

"They should be hunted and captured, detained and interrogated, and tried away from civilian populations according to the laws of war," McConnell said on Tuesday.

The two were accused in federal court of trying to help al Qaeda militants in their home country. One of them was also charged with taking part in roadside bomb attacks on U.S. troops.

Waad Ramadan Alwan and Mohanad Shareef Hammadi were charged in a 23-count indictment for allegedly trying to provide support and weapons to an al Qaeda affiliate in Iraq, in a sting operation subsequently run by U.S. authorities.

They entered the United States in 2009 after receiving refugee status and have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Holder tried to send the five men accused of the September 11 attacks, including self-proclaimed mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, to federal court in New York, but after pressure he had to reverse his decision, so they will be tried before a military court at Guantanamo.

Holder acknowledged those setbacks, but told the group: "There is, quite simply, no more powerful tool than our civilian court system."

(Editing by Eric Walsh)

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9/11 memorial: General reservations start July 11 (AP)

NEW YORK – The general public can start making reservations next month to visit the Sept. 11 memorial after the terror attacks' 10th anniversary, and victims' relatives will have special provisions to schedule visits to the monument taking shape in the World Trade Center's footprints, organizers said Friday.

Family members will be able to start making reservations July 6 , five days before the general public, and use a special phone number instead of the public's online system, the National Sept. 11 Memorial & Museum told them in an email message. An as-yet undetermined number of passes will be set aside every day for family members, and they'll be able to use a separate entrance, the museum added.

The memorial's massive, waterfall-filled reflecting pools, inscribed with the names of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the Sept. 11 attacks and the 1993 trade center bombing, are to be dedicated on the 10th anniversary in a ceremony for victims' families.

But with an estimated 4 million to 5 million visitors expected within a year as construction continues on the trade center site, the memorial has to schedule visitors for now, museum President Joe Daniels said. Organizers haven't yet settled on how many visitors will be allowed per day, but preliminary plans called for a limit of 1,500 visitors at a time.

While the idea of needing tickets to a memorial may puzzle or rankle some, it was being done only to manage when people come to visit, Daniels said, noting that the passes will be free.

"Having these kinds of procedures will make it safe for people to go to the memorial, pay their respects and see the construction happening around them," he said.

And there is plenty of construction. The 1,776-foot 1 World Trade Center, formerly known as the Freedom Tower, is being built just northwest of the memorial site and won't open until 2013. Hundreds of trees will still need to be planted, and cobblestones will need to be filled in to the 8-acre memorial plaza after Sept. 11, 2011, and its accompanying, largely underground museum is scheduled to open in 2012. A transit hub is under construction until at least 2015, along with at least one other skyscraper.

Museum board member Tom Roger, whose daughter was killed in the attacks, acknowledged that the reservation plan "is going to be part of the challenge initially."

"But for people who would complain about it ... what they need to understand is that having access at all is a privilege" given the surrounding construction, Roger added. His daughter, Jean Roger, was a flight attendant aboard one of the hijacked planes that crashed into the trade center.

He's pleased with the arrangements to give victims' families priority in scheduling and making visits. It's unclear how many people that might be, but it's expected to be a fraction of overall visitors, Daniels said.

Those who seek to use the special provisions will be asked for their relative's name and relationship to them. But organizers have pointedly shied, at least for now, from more stringent verification procedures.

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