In record time, they passed a bill stipulating that no Guantanamo detainee would be released inside the U.S. and mandating Obama to give Congress advance notice before moving a detainee to the U.S. for trial (that was back in the days when civilian Federal trials for GITMO detainees were still on the table).
Most legal experts, legal and human rights organizations, the entire
Administration and at least a few in Congress, insisted that trials in Article Three courts were most likely to result in real justice.
Dozens of accused terrorists -- including Zacarias Moussaoui, dubbed the "20th hijacker," had been tried and convicted in downtown Manhattan. Moussaoui is now serving a life sentence at the supermax prison in Colorado.
Supporters of Federal trials for GITMO detainees noted that virtually no one noticed a terrorist trial in progress, and said the verdict vindicated the U.S. justice system; opponents pointed to the one-out-of-281-count conviction, and fanaticized about Ghailani on parole, enjoying breakfast at McDonalds.
New York Republican Rep. Pete King, who has bitterly opposed Federal trials, called the mixed verdict "a disgraceful miscarriage of justice."
Congress sided with King and the trial's many other opponents. It cut off funding for the transport of any GITMO detainee to the U.S. for any purpose whatever.
Ergo, the Administration was left with only bad options, and not many of those.
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