Poll: Most want military commission trial for Benghazi suspect

More than 6 in 10 people believe the captured Benghazi attack suspect is an enemy combatant who should be tried by military commission. 

According to a Fox News poll released Wednesday night, 63 percent want Ahmed Abu Khattala tried by military tribunal, and 29 percent believe he is a criminal who should be tried through the U.S. court system. Another 9 percent do not know. 

{mosads}Earlier this month, the U.S. military and FBI captured Abu Khattala, a “key figure” involved in the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. He is the first suspect captured by the United States since the attack nearly two years ago. 

Khattala is expected to face trial in the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia and is faced with three criminal charges. He is currently being transferred to the states on the USS New York. 

The poll finds a majority of nearly every demographic believes he should be tried in a military tribunal, including 74 percent of Republicans, 66 percent of independents and 50 percent of Democrats. 

Democrats are the most likely to say he should be tried in a U.S. court, but that number only reaches 39 percent. Twenty-five percent of independents and 20 percent of Republicans feel the same. 

A number of Republicans — including Sens. John McCain (Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Marco Rubio (Fla.) — have called for the suspect to be tried and held at the detention facility in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. 

The administration backs civilian trials for people like Khattala and points to the number of successful convictions of terrorists in U.S. courts, including Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law earlier this year.