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Missouri Republican speaks out against civilian trial of alleged 9/11 mastermind

Akin (file photo: UPI/Bill Greenblatt)

By Adam Allington, St. Louis Public Radio

St. Louis – Several Congressmen held a news conference on the steps of the Supreme Court in Washington Thursday to speak out against trying alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in federal court.

Attorney General Eric Holder said last month that Mohammed would be tried in Manhattan, several blocks from where the World Trade Center towers stood.

Suburban St. Louis Republican Todd Akin said such a trial would recklessly blur the line between civilian and military justice.

"I think if you take this precedent to its logical conclusion, you're going to have our soldiers trying to give Miranda rights to the people they're shooting at in a war," Akin said. "It's absolutely insane. What we're doing here is we're setting an absolutely terrible precedent with a misuse of our court system."

Akin said extra security at the federal courthouse in Manhattan could cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and a trial could still end in acquittal.

Akin said Mohammed should be tried in a military court.

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