<![CDATA[RealClearPolitics - Articles by Jim Comey And Jack Goldsmith]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/authors/?id=19806Author <![CDATA[Holder's Decision is Reasonable]]> Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600 Reasonable minds can disagree about Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to prosecute Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four other alleged Sept. 11 perpetrators in a Manhattan federal court. But some prominent criticisms are exaggerated, and others place undue faith in military commissions as an alternative to civilian trials.

Mohammed is many things: an enemy combatant in a war against the United States whom the government can detain without trial until the conflict ends; a war criminal subject to trial by military commission under the laws of war; and someone answerable in federal court for violations of the U.S. criminal code. Which system he is placed in for purposes of...]]>