WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Five Guantanamo Bay detainees with alleged ties to the 9/11 attacks -- including confessed mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed -- will be tried in civilian court in New York, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced Friday.

"After eight years of delay, those allegedly responsible for the attacks of September 11 will finally face justice," Holder said.

Mohammed, Ramzi Bin al-Shibh, Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi will all be transferred to the Southern District of New York -- a few blocks from where the World Trade Center towers stood prior to the September 11, 2001 attacks.

"I would not have authorized the bringing of these prosecutions unless I thought that in the outcome we would be successful," Holder said in response to a question. "I will say that I have access to information that has not been publicly released that gives me great confidence that we will be successful in the prosecution of these cases in federal court."

CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said Holder's comment suggests that there exists evidence not tainted by what critics have described as torture that will prove their guilt.

"But remember, the defense here will argue that the waterboarding alone was so egregious that that is going to justify the dismissal of the case," he said.

"I don't think that that motion will win, but those are the kind of legal issues we are going to see sorted out over these many, many months it will take to get this case to trial."

Friday's move was intended to affect the way the world ultimately views the American legal system, he said.

"The decision was made that if we want a judgment for the execution of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his associates to have credibility around the world in the way that Guantanamo Bay never did, we have to give them the full protections of the American Constitution, and only then will the verdict be seen as fair and be fair around the world," Toobin said.

"Guantanamo Bay was a huge issue, a huge black mark in terms of American international relations and it is a classic difference between the Bush administration and the Obama administration."

Holder said he expected all five men to be tried together, and for prosecutors to seek the death penalty. The trial would be "open to the public," though portions that deal with classified information may be closed, Holder said.

He expressed confidence that an impartial jury would be found "to ensure a fair trial in New York."

Of the 2,752 people killed in the 9/11 attacks, most of them -- 2,606 -- died when the two passenger jets crashed into the World Trade Center towers, including everyone aboard the aircraft.

Five other detainees held at the U.S. military detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will be sent to military commissions for trial, he added. They were identified as Omar Khadr, Mohammed Kamin, Ibrahim al Qosi, Noor Uthman Muhammed and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.

Holder said a venue for the military commissions has not been set.

Al-Nashiri is an accused mastermind of the deadly 2000 bombing of the USS Cole and Khadr is a Canadian charged with the 2002 murder of a U.S. military officer in Afghanistan. Khadr was 15 years old when he was captured in July 2002.

Asked about Holder's announcement before the attorney general's news conference, President Barack Obama vowed that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed "will be subject to the most exacting demands of justice."

"The American people insist on it, and my administration will insist on it," Obama told reporters Friday at a joint news conference in Tokyo, Japan, with Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.

Though Mohammed confessed to organizing the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, his confession could be called into question during a trial. A 2005 Justice Department memo -- released by the Obama administration -- revealed he had been waterboarded 183 times in March 2003.

The CIA has also said it used waterboarding on al-Nashiri, the first person charged in the United States for the 2000 attack on the USS Cole in Yemen that killed 17 U.S. sailors.

The technique, which simulates drowning, has been called torture by Obama and others.

The alleged 9/11 conspirators are among 215 men held by the U.S. military at the Guantanamo detention center. The Obama administration has vowed to close the center, but acknowledges it is unlikely to happen by its self-imposed January 22, 2010, deadline.

The prospect of New York hosting some of the world's top suspected terrorists for trial has sparked outrage, as well as security concerns, among critics.

"Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is the most wanted terrorist in the world, everyone in the world is going to know precisely where he is at precisely one time," Toobin said. "The Foley Courthouse could become the focus of a great deal of interest from terrorists. That's going to take a tremendous security effort."

Toobin said it could be two years before the trial begins.

Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who served under former President George W. Bush, expressed concern that the decision could be exploited by Mohammed. "He will be entitled to the full privileges under the Constitution," he said. "His lawyers will do everything that they can do to exclude certain evidence that they claim was obtained through coercion in violation of his constitutional rights. They will want access to information that we consider extremely sensitive and classified information."

Congressman Peter King, R-New York, said he was "outraged" by the decision to try Mohammed on U.S. soil.

"This decision is not only misguided but extremely dangerous," said King, the ranking member of the Committee on Homeland Security. "Detaining and trying these five terrorists only a few blocks from the World Trade Center site where, by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's design, thousands were brutally murdered, puts our nation -- and New York City -- at greater risk."

In his statement, King accused the Obama administration of having "no long-term plan of what to do with the enemy combatants after the [Guantanamo] detention facility is closed."

But Kristen Breitweiser, whose husband was killed on 9/11, said she welcomed the decision to try Mohammed in New York.

"Some would say New York would now be a target by allowing his trial to take place in New York, but I disagree," said Breitweiser, who still lives in the New York area. "It would give many of us access to attend the hearings."

She also said that, for some who lost loved ones on 9/11, "This will be our opportunity to see justice served and have our day in court.

"Our ability to prosecute terrorists successfully in open courtrooms has less to do with [the] judicial process and more to do with [former President George W.] Bush's policy on torture that will make these prosecutions more difficult," she added.

-- CNN Justice Producer Terry Frieden in Washington and

Chris Kokenes in New York contributed to this report

The-CNN-Wire/Atlanta
TM & © 2009 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.