Prosecutors compete for Gitmo terror cases

WASHINGTON, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- Rival U.S. prosecutors are conducting a quiet competition to see who will get to try accused Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack organizers, sources say.

Justice Department and law enforcement sources told Tuesday's Washington Post prosecutors from New York and Alexandria, Va., are carrying out a hidden struggle with the top prize the chance to prosecute alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and his co-conspirators in history-making trials.

"There's competition on all of these guys, and that's to be expected -- these are big cases," an unnamed Justice Department official told the newspaper.

The competition was triggered when the Justice Department sent the files for Mohammed and 29 other terrorism detainees now held at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention facility to U.S. attorney's offices in the District of Columbia, Alexandria and the Southern and Eastern districts of New York in preparation for the prison's closing, the newspaper said.

"There is a presumption, where feasible, that referred cases will be prosecuted in federal court," Assistant Attorney General for National Security David Kris said to a Senate Judiciary subcommittee last week.

Each jurisdiction is expected end up with a handful of high-profile criminal trials, the newspaper said.