Architect of 9/11 Confesses to Role In Many Attacks

[error]

Judge this one for yourself. See also transcripts of the confession.

Architect of 9/11 Confesses to Role In Many Attacks

By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 15, 2007; Page A01

Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, confessed at a Guantanamo Bay military hearing that he planned and funded that al-Qaeda operation and said he was involved in more than two dozen other terrorist acts around the world, according to documents released by the Pentagon yesterday.

In a rambling statement delivered Saturday to a closed-door military tribunal, Mohammed declared himself an enemy of the United States and claimed some responsibility for many of the major terrorist attacks on U.S. and allied targets over more than a decade. He said that he is at war with the United States and that the deaths of innocent people are an unfortunate consequence of that conflict.

"I was responsible for the 9/11 operation, from A to Z," Mohammed told a panel of military officers through a personal representative, who read off a list of 31 terrorist acts that were either carried out or planned but not executed. According to transcripts released by Defense Department officials last night, Mohammed later spoke in broken English and Arabic, saying, "For sure, I'm American enemies."

Mohammed took responsibility for the attacks on New York and Washington in an interrogation detailed in the Sept. 11 commission's report. But his appearance before the tribunal at Guantanamo Bay marked the first time since his March 2003 arrest that he was allowed to make an extended statement that was not delivered to interrogators.

His capture was followed by years of detention in secret CIA facilities, where he was held without any contact with the outside world.

The Pentagon released the transcript last night along with similar records from two other hearings for alleged terrorists. They were among a group of 14 high-value detainees transferred to Guantanamo Bay from CIA custody last September on orders from President Bush. Each detainee is entitled to such a review to determine whether he is an enemy combatant and whether he should remain in U.S. custody. The hearings may be a prelude to possible charges and, ultimately, military trials.

Mohammed presented evidence, in the form of a written statement, in which he appears to allege abuse. The tribunal president told Mohammed he had received the statement "regarding certain treatment that you claim to have received" before arriving at Guantanamo Bay.

The tribunal president also asked whether any statements he made under interrogation were "as the result of any of the treatment." Mohammed answered: "CIA peoples. Yes. At the beginning when they transferred me . . ." The rest of the sentence is redacted from the transcript.

The other hearings were for Abu Faraj al-Libi, who did not appear at his hearing, and Ramzi Binalshibh, who allegedly played a direct role in the Sept. 11 attacks. He also did not participate in the hearing.

Mohammed described himself as Osama bin Laden's operational director for the Sept. 11 attacks and as al-Qaeda's military operational commander for "all foreign operations around the world."

He claimed to have been "responsible" for the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center, Richard Reid's attempt to ignite a shoe bomb on an airliner over the Atlantic Ocean in December 2001, and the October 2002 bombing of a nightclub in Bali, Indonesia.

Mohammed also said he plotted to assassinate several former presidents, including Jimmy Carter, a scheme not previously revealed.

Mohammed described several other plots that never came about, such as attacks on buildings in California, Chicago and Washington state, and on the New York Stock Exchange.

Despite his statements, it is unclear how much involvement he could have had in the 31 separate attacks he listed. The Sept. 11 commission described Mohammed as a flamboyant operative who developed grandiose plans for attacks even as other al-Qaeda leaders urged him to focus on the Sept. 11 plot.

One of those plans revealed Mohammed as captivated by "a spectacle of destruction with KSM as the self-cast star -- the superterrorist," the commission wrote.

Mohammed contended that he and al-Qaeda are not terrorists, but are in engaged in a long struggle against U.S. oppression in the Middle East. He apologizes for killing children in the Sept. 11 attacks.

"Because war, for sure, there will be victims," he said. "When I said I'm not happy that 3,000 been killed in America. I feel sorry even. I don't like to kill children and the kids."

Mohammed likened al-Qaeda's quest to Colonial America's struggles in the of America's Revolutionary War, drawing parallels between Laden and George Washington.

"So when we made any war against America, we are jackals fighting in the nights," he said, adding later that had Washington been arrested by the British, he, too, would have been considered an enemy combatant.

"As consider George Washington as hero, Muslims many of them are considering Osama bin Laden. He is doing same thing. He is just fighting. He needs his independence."

Mohammed said he wants to make a "great awakening" to force the United States to stop foreign policy "in our land."

He urged the U.S. military to release numerous detainees who were captured in Afghanistan and are now at Guantanamo, saying that many were wrongly swept up. At one point, he contended that a group of men sent to assassinate bin Laden and captured by al-Qaeda were later taken prisoner by U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Bruce Hoffman, a professor of security studies at Georgetown University, said Mohammed sees himself as a "reluctant warrior and justified" in his actions, as many other terorrists have characterized themselves.

Staff writer Ann Scott Tyson and staff researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.

[Rosie the Riveter]

OK -- so they tortured him and he confessed -- surprised?

[error]

OK -- so they tortured him and he confessed -- surprised?

I'm not surprised he confessed. This guy's openly declared his hostility toward the U.S. and his intention to attack the U.S. since at least the early 90's, maybe before.

I am surprised he was tortured at all; aside from it being horrific, it seemed gratuitous and unnecessary in this guy's case to get him to confess.

[Rosie the Riveter]

OK -- so they tortured him and he confessed -- surprised?

I'm not surprised he confessed. This guy's openly declared his hostility toward the U.S. and his intention to attack the U.S. since at least the early 90's, maybe before.

I am surprised he was tortured at all; aside from it being horrific, it seemed gratuitous and unnecessary in this guy's case to get him to confess.

Please, Error, you're surprised he was tortured? I am not surprised by anything these days. Saddened yes, surprised, not at all.

What is the outcome? What is the solution? That's what I want to know.

[error]

The solution is what it always has been: get the government to stop meddling in the affairs of other countries where it doesn't belong.

(Not to mention get the government out of THIS country.)

[error]

I'm in the middle of reading the tribunal transcript. And I was struck that everyone was sworn in to judge "according to your conscience" and "your concept of justice" in addition to the "laws and regulations."

I wish they'd tell juries in THIS country that!

[Russell Kanning]

so now what? are we all safe? does the us government have to find all these guys and torture them?

are we not on high alert anymore?

is it right to torture now?

[Raineyrocks]

OK -- so they tortured him and he confessed -- surprised?

I'm shocked!  Actually he was probably shocked too among other horrible things, well now the government has another patsy as usual.  I feel so much safer.

[error]

Oh, you aren't any safer with this guy sitting in a cell in Gitmo.

I wonder if you actually read his statement from the transcript where he very clearly says WHY he's an enemy of the U.S.: because it's been meddling around in the Middle East for (at least) the last several decades.

Does it mean attacking a non-military target is right? Of course not. I wouldn't try to justify it, and I certainly won't repeat KSM's attempt at justification for it. You can go read it for yourself if you're interested.

You'll be safer when the government brings the military home, not just from Iraq but from the other 140 or so countries where it's stationed a permanent military presence.

You'll be MUCH safer after the nonviolent revolution succeeds in eliminating the scourge of government from the face of the earth.

[Atlas]

To the FTL crowd, this story is there version of case closed. See, I told you the gov had nothing to do with 9-11. Yeah, smoke another one.

[Raineyrocks]

You'll be MUCH safer after the nonviolent revolution succeeds in eliminating the scourge of government from the face of the earth.

I was being sarcastic when I said I feel much safer.  Your right about being safer when the government is eliminated.  I really hope the nonviolent revolution does succeed, I'm ready to do whatever it takes.

[batmanchester]

The Boogeyman's Shadow

This writing is not meant to be, nor should it be interpreted as impartial. I am about as frustrated today with the way our government likes to trot out the 'boogeyman' every single time that there is a major scandal to rock the White House. Yesterday's release of heavily redacted transcripts by the Pentagon of  the supposed hearing that took place concerning Khalid Sheik Mohammed throws into question the administration's committment to finding out what really happened on 9/11. For starters, we have only the word of the Dept. of Defense and the White House that there even were hearings. And these bastions of truth, as we all know by now, would always tell the American people the truth.



For starters, this man was held in secret CIA prisons overseas, subjected to torture, transferred again to Guantanamo, held in deplorable conditions, and subjected to even more torture in the form of waterboarding. For those of you who don't know what waterboarding is, and think it's some form of benign interrogation, think again. Waterboarding entails strapping a person to a pallet, and holding them upside down with just their head underwater. The subject is held in that position until just before the point of actual drowning, then hauled back up, and if passed out, revived. The subject is then asked questions while in their delirous and semi-conscious state, and if the answers that are sought are not forthcoming, the process is repeated until the correct answers are given. Anyone who says they wouldn't have confessed to whatever the torturer wanted after all of this would have to posess superhuman powers, which apparently Mohammed did. He confessed to so many terror incidents, both real, imagined, and non-existent, that I'm surprised they didn't throw in the Hoffa case, JFK, and the slaying of Captain America. The litany of incidents confessed to would make this pathetic man the most prolific serial killer of all time, a genuine Carlos the Jackal of the modern era.



Interesting to note was the fact that he wasn't allowed to call the witnesses he asked to call, and any time that he started to speak about Pakistani involvement, it was 'redacted.' And now he's confessed to the viscious murder of Daniel Pearl. This sham was released to us at the most convienient moment for the administration. As the Congress begins to home in on an administration run amok, breaking laws, abusing the Patriot Act, war profiteering, corporate scandals with administration ties, the Attorney General, Rove, and the President himself under intense scrutiny, they trot out this one guy, one man, who all by himself committed, or intended to committ, the most heinous crimes of our day.



To this writer, it stinks to high heaven. Why were no reporters allowed to observe the proceedings? Could they not have been sworn to not reveal state secrets? We have only the word of a disjointed transcript, made by the military. Mohammed's own Personal Representative was a military person, as was the interpreter.  He had no legal assistance whatsoever, and therefore was denied due process of law. Is this to be believed? I think not. Who in their right mind would 'confess' to a litany of crimes, again, both real, made up, or non-existent? Surely someone subjected to cruel and unusual punishment would. But it all comes full circle to a point brought up last night by Keith Olberman. These hearings were supposedly held on March 10th, 2007 according to the dates on the transcripts. What was the mention by Mr. Olberman that these transcripts had been declassified at the beginning of Feb., but withheld from the public until now? If this is the case, it gives an even greater stench to the entire affair.



That is the state of our union. Use 9/11 every time the administration gets caught with their hand in the cookie jar. If they were trying to debunk and put to rest the Truth movement, and the issue of 9/11 once and for all, they failed miserably. All one has to do is read the transcripts for themselves, and if after reading them and don't see the inconsistencies, the cherry picking of information released, the refusal to allow the public to hear about Pakistani involvement, and the disjointed, childish way in which the transcripts themselves are written and narrated, then you are truly lost. This attempt to distract the country from the scandals rocking the White House should be seen for what it is. The boogeyman's shadow, nothing more. Another attempt to use fear as a political tool. But, since you've got this guy confessing to every crime committed over the past 30 years, would you be kind enough to ask him what happened to my missing Mickey Mantle baseball card. It's always bothered me, and I'd like that issue cleared up. Thanks.    Batmanchester

http://vigilantwatchnewsandblog.com/blog.html

[Insurgent]

"We must never tolerate any outrageous conspiracy theories..."
--GW Bush
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/11/20011110-3.html

[coffeeseven]

An important part of his confession was omitted:

"I admit it...........I'm the Grinch that stole Christmas".

Thank God it wasn't really Osama Bin Laden that did 9/11, or our gummint. This is really some Pulitzer Prize shite on a plate.

[David]

Most people will read that he caused 9-11, and then stop reading before the torture part comes up.  I suppose if he starts admitting to killing JFK, then, maybe, people will realize that torture only gives the answers the torturer believes is true.