The Day: As Another Sept. 11 Anniversary Passes, Still Waiting for Justice On another Sept. 11 morning with skies so blue you could hurt your eyes as well as your heart looking at them, the annual remembrance of the city's worst day echoed across the space where the twin towers once stood. At the mayor's direction, this 11th ceremony commemorating the 2001 terrorist attacks was free of politicians - not that they had much of a speaking role in years past, other than to read a poem or a snippet of a historical document that someone had Googled. But if they are true to their nature, the politicians will speak later at other forums. They can be counted on to extol American freedom and resilience. Some are certain to declaim about the strength of this country's institutions and how no terrorist could make us afraid. That last part will not reflect reality. That we can be rendered fearful is evidenced by the fact that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed - remember him? - is imprisoned down in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and not standing trial in the shadow of the towers whose destruction he claims to have masterminded. The Obama administration had wanted to put Mr. Mohammed in the dock at the federal courthouse in Lower Manhattan. That was three years ago, and six and a half years after he was captured in Pakistan. The superiority of civilian trials in dealing with suspected terrorists has been amply demonstrated. Several hundred terrorism and national security cases have been run through the normal courts, with a conviction rate of about 85 percent and an average prison sentence of more than 15 years. By comparison, only half a dozen or so convictions, most of them yielding comparatively short prison terms, have resulted from military tribunals like the one that Mr. Mohammed and the four men accused as his co-conspirators now face at Guantánamo. And some of those guilty men were set free in fairly short order. The mayor's instinct was to applaud the decision to put these men on trial here as being true to ourselves and to history. Then he got cold feet, as did his police commissioner and pretty much the city's entire political class, along with just about every Republican in Congress or running for president. They all talked tough. But at bottom they were afraid to uphold the rule of law in this case. Their queasiness is hard to understand. Plenty of terrorism trials have already been held at the federal courthouses in Brooklyn and Manhattan, sometimes several simultaneously. The normal rhythms of the city have been disrupted not one whit. But the Obama administration gave in to the naysayers and fear peddlers. Mr. Mohammed and his brethren sit at Guantánamo, where the wheels of justice move one labored cog at a time. There was a pretrial hearing in May. More hearings were supposed to be held in late August, but Hurricane Isaac got in the way. The next date on the military commission's calendar is Oct. 15. As for the actual trial, the earliest it is expected to begin is next spring or summer. One defense lawyer has been quoted in the British press as saying it may not get under way for several more years. Serious issues remain to be settled, including what may or may not be said in open court. The government's position is that statements made by Mr. Mohammed and the others are "presumptively classified," pending review. That would include anything they or their lawyers might say about how they were treated years ago when they were in the hands of Central Intelligence Agency interrogators. Mr. Mohammed was subjected 183 times to waterboarding, which gives the sensation of drowning and is a technique that the Obama administration agrees amounts to torture. This is not a topic that the government wishes to have aired in open court. At the military commission, censors are at the ready to cut off an audio feed to a public gallery where spectators can follow the proceedings behind soundproof glass. So as the years tick away, another anniversary passes without the start of a trial for those held most responsible for the Sept. 11 horrors - those still alive, anyway. More anniversaries may come, and fade, before this is all over. How does that line go, the one about justice delayed? It applies not only to the defendants. The families of the nearly 3,000 victims of 9/11, along with the rest of America, have reason to feel that they, too, are being denied.