I upset some people when I did my piece about Bin Laden and how he was a figurehead and his capture would be great but would not end al-Qaeda because although he publicly took credit for 9/11, he, personally wasn't the one that planned and executed the plot that killed approimately 3,000 people on American soil.
Tough.
This man is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and he was the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks.Here is a transcript from the US Department of Defense of a hearing held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Saturday, of Mohammed's hearing. (It is a PDF file)
Here is the press release from the American Forces Press Service.
Al Qaeda Operative Admits to Masterminding 9/11 Attacks
By Fred W. Baker III
American Forces Press ServiceWASHINGTON, March 14, 2007 – Suspected al Qaeda operative Khalid Sheikh Muhammad has admitted masterminding the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as well as the World Trade Center bombing in 1993.
“I was responsible for the 9/11 operation, from A to Z,” an interpreter read from Muhammad’s statement to the Combatant Status Review Tribunal on March 10 in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The tribunal was an administrative trial to determine only whether Muhammad could be designated as an enemy combatant. Muhammad used the opportunity to submit, through an interpreter, a two-part personal statement with 38 terrorism-related admissions.
He led the list by pledging his jihad allegiance to Osama bin Laden and finished with an admission to trying to destroy the American oil company in Indonesia owned by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
Muhammad claimed responsibility for the 2001 attempted shoe bombing of American Airlines Flight 63 from Paris.
He offered a chilling confession to “managing and following up on the Cell for the Production of Biological Weapons, such as anthrax and others, and following up on Dirty Bomb Operations on American soil.”
He also named four other skyscrapers that were supposed to be destroyed in a “second wave” of attacks after 9/11. They were the Library Tower in Los Angeles, the Sears Tower in Chicago, the Plaza Bank in Seattle and the Empire State Building in New York City.
“I shared responsibility for the assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II while he was visiting the Philippines,” Muhammad also admitted.
Muhammad’s lengthy closing oral statement began with a pledge to Allah in Arabic followed by a refusal to take an oath as part of the tribunal. He explained that he was not lying, but that his religious beliefs prevented him taking the oath and thereby accepting, at least in part, American law and its constitution.
Muhammad went on to say that he was not trying to make himself out to be a hero, but an enemy of America.
He drew a comparison between bin Laden and George Washington, both fighting for independence, and said that the term terrorist is “deceiving.” He said that during the Revolutionary War, Washington would have been considered a terrorist by the British.
Muhammad said he did not like to kill people, especially children.
“I don’t like to kill people. I feel very sorry they been killed kids in 9/11,” Muhammad said in broken English. But, he said, their deaths are part of the “language” of war.
He closed by stating that war is part of life and that it will never stop.
Unclassified transcripts of the tribunal are online at: www.defenselink.mil/news/Combatant_Tribunals.html at the bottom of the page.
Muhammad’s tribunal was one of three for the 14 high-value detainees who were transferred Sept. 6 to Guantanamo Bay from CIA custody.
Proceedings were March 9 for Abu Faraj al-Libi, an alleged senior member of al Qaeda, and Ramzi bin al-Shibh, who is said to have helped Muhammad plan the Sept. 11 attacks.
Shibh also elected to not participate in the tribunal. His personal representative said that Shibh was “uncooperative and unresponsive.”
Evidence submitted by the U.S. government against Shibh included a diary recovered in a 2004 raid detailing his involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks. He was also identified on a videotape of potential suicide operatives, the evidence cited. Shibh attempted to obtain a U.S. visa four times in 2000 for the purpose of attending flight school here, the evidence states. All applications were rejected.
Many other connections to pre-9/11 terrorist activities were cited in the evidence, including wiring money to the actual terrorist hijackers.
Libi elected to not participate in the tribunal, citing through his personal representative that his freedom “far too important to be decided by an administrative process” and that he is awaiting legal proceedings.
Evidence submitted against Libi included sources who stated that Libi was the supervisor of an al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan. Computer and other documentation were seized during his capture that contained manuals for explosives, detonators, chemicals, military tactics, missiles and tanks.
CSRTs are a one-time administrative process used to determine whether detainees at Guantanamo Bay can be designated as enemy combatants. No decisions have been made about the detainees’ status.
Not all of the three detainees chose to participate in the CSRT proceedings. It was not released which detainees did or did not participate. The detainees have a right to personal representation and to receive an unclassified summary of evidence in advance of the hearing.
The CSRTs for the detainees were not open to media because of national security concerns.
The U.S. government established the CSRT process at Guantanamo Bay as a result of a June 2004 Supreme Court decision in the case of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a former driver for bin Laden who challenged his detention at Guantanamo Bay. Between July 2004 and March 2005, DoD held 558 CSRTs at Guantanamo Bay. At the time, 38 detainees were determined to no longer meet the definition of enemy combatant, and 520 detainees were found to be enemy combatants.
I show it in full because this is the man that bears the majority of responsibility for the terrorist attack on 9/11 and it is worth reading.
If you did not click the PDF file above, click it now and go to page 17 where the list of plots he confessed to planning, starts.... he had the right to interject if the translator said something wrong and he did so on plot #29 which was:
#29- "I was responsible for the assassination attempt against Pope John Paul the Second while he was visiting the Philippines"
DETAINEE: I was not responsible but share.
PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE: "I shared responsibility. I will restate number twenty nine.
#29- "I shared responsibility for the assassination attempt against Pope John Paul the Second while he was visiting the Philippines"
Then it goes on to list the rest.
Fox has put up some fast facts listing a few of these plots:
According to partially redacted transcripts released by the Pentagon, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed admitted to masterminding the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
In addition, Mohammed admitted to being the executor of or participant in the following plots (some of which were never executed):
— Shoe bomber operation to bring down two American airplanes.
— Planning an assassination attempt against President Bill Clinton during his visit to the Philippines in 1994.
— Planning an assassination attempt againt Pope John Paul II while he was visiting the Philippines.
— Planning an assassination attempt against former President Jimmy Carter.
— Filki Island operation in Kuwait that killed two American soldiers.
— Bombing of nightclub in Bali, Indonesia in 2002.
— Planning new wave of attacks on the following skyscrapers following 9/11: Library Tower in Calif., Sears Tower in Chicago, Plaza Bank in Washington state and the Empire State Building in New York City.
— Destruction of many nightclubs frequented by American and British citizens in Thailand.
— Planning and financing the destruction of U.S. embassies in Indonesia, Australia and Japan.
— Surveying and financing the destruction of Israeli embassies in India, Azerbaijan, the Philippines and Australia.
— Sending several mujahedeen into Israel to conduct surveillance to hit strategic targets in the country.
— Bombing of hotel in Mombassa, Kenya that is frequented by Jewish travelers.
— Financing attacks on several American, Jewish and British targets in Turkey.
— Planning, surveying and financing attacks on NATO headquarters in Europe.
In total, Mohammed confessed to planning 29 individual attacks, many of which never came to fruition.
He also admits to beheading Daniel Pearl.
"I decapitated with my blessed right hand the head of the American Jew Daniel Pearl," Mohammed said through a personal representative, according to the transcript released by the Pentagon.
Pearl was kidnapped and killed in Pakistan in 2002. Mohammed has long been considered a prime suspect in the case.
From Wapo:
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.
From NYT:
Though American officials had linked Mr. Mohammed to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and to several others, his confession was the first time he spelled out in his own words a panoply of global terror activities, ranging from plans to bomb landmarks in New York City and London to assassination plots against former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton and Pope John Paul II. Some of the plots he claimed to plan, including the attempt on Mr. Carter, had not previously been publicly disclosed.
Hot Air has constant updates.
Debbie at Right Truth posted about this yesterday.
Good to know this information, but the information that was redacted is what would REALLY be informative. I hope there is some actionable intelligence that our guys are acting on. But Mohammed has been in custody for so long now, he may be out of the loop. On the other hand, we know that al-Qaeda takes YEARS to complete plans for an attack, so who knows.
Then we have Rosie O’Donnell ( Hat Tip to Hot Air, who has the video at that link) with the typical left wing insanity that I am sure as this story progresses today, we will see much more of from others that just "don't get it".
In the segment prior to what we originally posted, Rosie defended Khalid Shaikh Mohammed’s “humanity”, remarking terrorists aren’t treated like “humans” but instead “treated like animals.” O’Donnell also raised a picture of KSM and commented he “doesn’t look very healthy after three years in captivity.” Note to Rosie: that picture was taken when he was captured 4 years ago in March 2003. Moreover, Rosie does not mention KSM’s terrorist ties and blood relation to Ramzi Yousef.
The woman rarely even gets her facts straight before spewing forth her insanity.
There is a long list already of blogs talking about this.
I will update as more news comes out.
Others discussing this and well worth reading:
Jihad Watch, Counterterrorism Blog, The Jawa Report, Pajamas Media, Jules Crittenden, The Blotter, Secular Blasphemy, protein wisdom, Captain's Quarters, Stop The ACLU and Little Green Footballs
More to come...
[UPDATE Already] Jules Crittenden's words are worth repeating here, in case you didn't click the link.
All stirring and wonderful, reasonable. It’s all a matter of language and perspective. We’re really just the same. Until you remember that virtually all his intended targets in the Twin Towers were civilians. Every one of his intended targets in Bali and Mombasa was an innocent vacationer. All his targets on all those airplanes. It is inequivocably murder carried out not to achieve any military objective, rather for whatever political or symply psychological advantage and economic damage might be achieved by terror and chaos. He did it to impress people. He wraps himself in history and distortion and calls it war. It is revolting, and it is bullshit, but it is his right. He is allowed to speak and say whatever he wants in advance of the judgments that await him. And we can look at this vile filth, and consider it for what it is worth.
Well said. Vile filth is a perfect desciption isn't it?
More from Don Surber:
The ACLU wants Gitmo shut down. The ACLU wants to give terrorists like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed a lawyer and a chance at their freedom. The ACLU wants our hard-won battlefield secrets made public so that the enemy knows what we know.
Read the rest of his words. He makes very good points.
[Update #2] This post would not be complete unless I showed you some complete insanity from the left.
From Firedoglake:
In other news, torture survivor Khalid Shaikh Mohammed confessed to plotting 9/11 and other crimes, including halitosis, the Star Wars prequels and the plot to murder Vince Foster (he says he dumped the body). I'm just amazed they left him with enough brain cells intact to complete a coherent sentence. Thank you, Scooter Libby, Abu Gonzales and all the rest for your oh so productive deployment of torture to get people to say any fucking thing. By the way, where's Osama, again?
From the talking dog: (Accurate name from what i have read so far)
In a real court, once you start poisoning the tree, you may as well pour the whole bottle in, because the tree and all its fruit are poisoned. Period. KSM's confession would not hold up in a real court-- which is why the Bush Administration, helped along by its friends Senators Graham and McCain (who will themselves also eventually have to answer to God, if not eventual war crimes tribunals for their role in turning our country back to the early Middle Ages), changed the rules for thekangaroo courtsmilitary tribunals at Gitmo to permit such evidence obtained by coercion... or less euphemistically, torture.
Shakespeare's Sister:
Mohammed made his confession at a military tribunal in Guantánamo Bay on Saturday, "according to a transcript released by the Pentagon yesterday"—a transcript we have to trust entirely, since no reporters were allowed inside the courtroom. Mohammed "acknowledged full or partial responsibility for more than 30 other terror attacks or plots," detailing his participation in "a panoply of global terror activities, ranging from plans to bomb landmarks in New York City and London to assassination plots against former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton and Pope John Paul II," some of which "had not previously been publicly disclosed," but many of which have been reported before, at other times when—someone more cynical than I might suggest—the administration needed to steal the headlines. And although he "indicated in the transcript that some of his earlier statements to CIA interrogators were the result of torture," this time, this confession, this statement "were not made under duress or pressure."
No, of course not. Especially because five years of torture doesn't have any cumulative effect or anything. As long as no one had shoved anything under his fingernails or up his ass that day, he was making a confession of his own free will.
Brilliant at Breakfast or as I like to call it, Brain-dead at Breakfast:
That this so-called confession is as wide-reaching as it is makes me wonder what the hell they did to this guy to make him confess to all these plots -- and why they didn't throw in, oh, say, the death of Lori Klausutis too, just to wrap up a few more cold cases. It also makes me wonder if all these plots occurred BEFORE Mohammed's detainment at Guantanamo Bay, and if not, what the hell kind of operaton they're running down there that he can continue to plot, and whether he has a direct line to Washington to hammer out the details of the NEXT attack on this country, which the Bush Administration is going to sorely need once the subpoenas start flying. And it also makes me wonder, if this guy is the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, does that get Osama bin Laden off the book? And how convenient is that for the bin Ladens' good friends the Bush family, that their prodigal son is exonerated?
Democracy Arsenal:
The way the Administration chose to subject Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to rendition, torture and enemy combatant status means that he could never be convicted in any civil court in any democracy; which means that we'll never have an impartial, open accounting of what acts of terror he really did mastermind and/or participate in.
The MahaBlog:
I don’t have much to say about the confessions of Khalid Sheik Mohammed that others haven’t already said; see, for example, Kevin Hayden and Taylor Marsh. Given the nature of the, um, inducements to the confessions, we have no way to know how much is true and how much is I’ll tell you anything you want to hear. All we know for certain is that the Bush Administration is, once again, waving the bloody shirt of 9/11 to distract us from its political problems.
If you bother to go read the whole insane posts by the far left, please notice the theme.... IT IS ALL A CONSPIRACY.
In their twisted logic Elvis was one of the lawyers and the little grey men from area 51 sat as judge.
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