The Benghazi trial belongs in New York || Guardian

A former Gitmo prosecutor explains that the alleged Benghazi assault leader is not a prisoner of war, and should be tried by jury in federal court in New York.- gwc

Why the Benghazi trial should be held in the shadow of the Twin Towers
By David Iglesias  // The Guardian

Now, a man named Ahm-0ed Abu Khattala is finishing up a long trip from Benghazi to a New York courtroom, aboard a Navy ship under interrogation by a team of FBI investigatorsincreasingly focused on gathering intelligence and evidence.

As if being the alleged mastermind behind the 2012 attack on the American consulate in Benghazi wasn't politically thorny enough, Abu Khatalla's trial seems fraught with legal complications – it is, after all, a microcosm of how the Obama administration delivers justice upon that dual legacy of torture and unpunished terror, in its dual system of terror courts.

And while it's conceivable that both federal and military commissions could try Khattala for his alleged crimes, Benghazi was not a war, and the killing of Ambassador Chris Stevens and his security detail wasn't a war crime. Getting the KSM trial out of the shadow of the 9/11 attacks in downtown Manhattan was one thing, but that's exactly where the Benghazi ringleader should be tried....