Holder defends charging terror suspect in civilian court

WASHINGTON - Attorney General Eric Holder said yesterday he made the decision to charge the Christmas Day terror suspect in civilian court rather than the military system, with no objection from all the other relevant departments of the government.

In a letter to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, the attorney general wrote that the FBI told its partners in the intelligence community on Christmas Day and again the next day that Umar Farouk Abdulmutal-lab would be charged criminally.

Holder's letter was the latest volley in a vigorous counterattack by the Obama administration to Republican charges that the arrest and FBI interrogation of the Detroit suspect was a mistake that cost a chance to learn key information.

The letter followed less than 24 hours after senior administration officials disclosed that the suspect had resumed talking to U.S. interrogators last week after breaking off his discussions the day of his arrest. Abdulmutallab has discussed his contacts in Yemen and provided intelligence in multiple terrorism investigations, officials say.

Holder said the possibility of detaining Abdulmutallab in the U.S. military system under the law of war was explicitly discussed in the days following the arrest, including at a Jan. 5 meeting that included President Barack Obama and members of the national security team.

"No agency supported the use of law of war detention for Abdulmutallab, and no agency has since advised the Department of Justice that an alternative course of action should have been, or should now be, pursued," the attorney general wrote.

Holder said his decision was consistent with earlier practices followed in both the Obama and Bush administrations.

"The Bush administration used the criminal justice system to convict more than 300 individuals on terrorism-related charges," he wrote. Holder specifically mentioned the case of Richard Reid, who tried but failed to ignite a shoe bomb on a U.S.- bound trans-Atlantic jetliner.

"The practice of the U.S. government followed by prior and current administrations without a single exception, has been to arrest and detain under federal criminal law all terrorist suspects who are apprehended inside the United States," he said.

Holder defended the decision to read Abdulmutallab his Miranda rights, a focus of the Republican criticism.