Guilty plea in NYC bomb plot a political victory

NEW YORK (Reuters) - In the end, it was not the threat of waterboarding or Guantanamo Bay prison that persuaded Najibullah Zazi to cooperate with investigators. It was love for his mother and the threat she would go to jail.

Zazi's guilty plea on Monday provided a much-needed political victory for U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and U.S. President Barack Obama, who have come under criticism from conservatives calling them soft on terrorism.

Zazi, 25, admitted to receiving al Qaeda training and plotting a suicide bomb attack on the New York subway system, pleading guilty to three felony counts that could put him in prison for life -- all after being read his rights and given a defense lawyer in civilian proceedings.

"It does show that it's possible to get suspected terrorists to talk without inflicting brutal abuses on them," said Jameel Jaffer, director of the National Security Project for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

"It is further evidence that the criminal justice system is capable of handling complex terrorism cases. Protecting against the threat of terrorism does not require jettisoning due process or the rule of law," Jaffer said.

The Obama administration has adopted what it calls a flexible approach, favoring military commissions in some cases and civilian trials in others.

That has generated outrage from opponents who call the White House naive for seeking to transfer accused September 11 plotter Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to civilian from military court and for treating the suspected Christmas Day underpants bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab as a civilian defendant.

"Both individuals seem to be cooperating, and if they continue to cooperate successfully they will provide both material information to stop other attacks and to have other people arrested," said James Cohen, a critic of the military commissions and a lawyer who represents two defendants held at Guantanamo.

In the Zazi case, the defendant was in custody more than four months before he started cooperating.

MILITARY COMMISSIONS DEFENDED

A law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation told Reuters Zazi changed his mind about three weeks ago after federal investigators threatened to jail his mother for an immigration offense.

Abdulmutallab has also begun cooperating with investigators.

But experts say the military justice option must be maintained, and there is no guarantee civilian justice is the best option.

"If he (Zazi) had not been provided a defense attorney, maybe he would have talked earlier and they could have gotten intelligence to go after his handlers in Pakistan," said Aitan Goelman, a trial lawyer and former U.S. prosecutor who helped convict Oklahoma City bombers Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols.

"My concern is that this administration does not have a principled distinction between Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who they want to try in New York, and the other five guys who they decided should be tried by military tribunal on the same day."

When Holder announced his decision to try Mohammed and four September 11 defendants in civilian court, he said five other defendants held at Guantanamo would receive military trials.

Holder said the decisions were based on protocols that weigh the nature of the offense, where it occurred, the identity of the victims and how the case was investigated.

In the face of intense opposition in New York City, Holder has since announced he was reviewing the decision to try the September 11 defendants in civilian court a few blocks from where the World Trade Center towers were destroyed.

(Additional reporting by Edith Honan; editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Todd Eastham)