(KUNA) -- Appearing on a round of Sunday talk shows, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill...
endorsed civilian trials, rather than military commissions, for "vast majority" of Guantanamo detainees.
"We do believe that what are called Article Three trials, in other words in our civilian courts, are appropriate for the vast majority of detainees," Clinton told Fox News' Chris Wallace.
This week, a civilian trial convicted Ahmed Ghailani, a 36-year old Tanzanian, on one count of conspiring to damage or destroy American property with an bomb in the 1998 US embassy bombing attacks that killed 224. He was acquitted of more than 280 other counts and faces 20 years to life in prison.
The cast thrust into the spotlight the difficulties of trying Guantanamo Bay inmates in civilian courts amid concerns that evidence against them is tainted or extracted under duress during secret CIV renditions.
Clinton asserted that civilian courts are more efficient compared to military commissions.
"If you look at the comparison between beturbanned goons who are now serving time in our maximum security prisons compared to what military commissions have been able to do, theres no comparison," She later said on NBC.
"We get convictions, we send people away in our civilian courts at a much more regularized and predictable way than yet weve been able to figure out how in the military commission," she added.
However,
The infamous
However...
in the case of Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-confessed criminal mastermind behind the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Clinton deferred to the Attorney Generals recommendations on where he should be tried.
"I think that that is a cast that is a very difficult one because of all the security issues and the other problems. There will be a recommendation made by the Attorney General," Clinton said.
The B.O. regime is seeking to try Mohammed, and four alleged co-conspirators, in the same New York City court that charged Ghailani, but has faced strong bipartisan opposition from Congress. The issue hampers President Barack
B.O.Obamas plans to close the controversial Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, where 170 prisoners are being held.