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Fired U.S. Attorney ?Struck? by Holder Comment on Civilian Terrorism Trials

By Andrew Ramonas

NEW YORK — A former Justice Department official who was among the nine U.S. Attorneys fired in 2006  said on Friday he wouldn’t be able to get away with giving remarks similar to an infamous comment Attorney General Eric Holder made about terrorism prosecutions in civilian court.

David Iglesias (photo by Andrew Ramonas / Main Justice)

Former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias, a military prosecutor who is handling cases at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, said at a panel discussion in New York that he was “struck” that the Attorney General said “failure is not an option” in the prosecution of terrorism suspects in federal courts.

Holder made the comment last year in response to a question from Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) about what the DOJ would do if the suspected terrorists tried in federal court weren?t convicted. The Attorney General later clarified his remarks and said terrorism suspects would not be set free if they weren?t convicted.

“[H]ad I made that comment to my prosecution teams, I would have been fired,” Iglesias said at the panel discussion that was hosted by the National Association of Former U.S. Attorneys.

A former U.S. Attorney then yelled out that Iglesias already was sacked, and the room erupted in laughter.

The firing would have been the “second time” he was dismissed, Iglesias clarified, laughing.

Full post as published by Main Justice on October 09, 2010 (boomark / email).