Accused 911 Conspirators Defiant
This dispatch was written by CBS News' Bob Orr and producer Andres Triay
2541531 Kahlid Sheikh Mohammed and his four accused co-conspirators want to be perfectly clear. They planned 9/11. They are proud of the results. And America had it coming.
In an extraordinary six page filing with the Military Commissions in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Mohammed and the others take full responsibility for the September 11th attacks and refute the nine accusations against them, point-by-point.
KSM and his al Qaeda colleagues are charged with conspiracy. To that they respond, "This is a very laughable accusation. Were you expecting us to inform you about our secret attack plans?"
Islamic Response to U.S. Government Accusations
As for charges al Qaeda targeted civilians, they accuse the United States of "....attacking us in Palestine and Lebanon..." And they ask, "...was it not you that attacked an entire population in Iraq..."
They label themselves tortured prisoners, and chide the US saying, "You have no values and ethics and no principals."
The document comes as the Obama Administration moves to close the military prison at Guantanamo. It is not clear what will happen with the so-called high-value detainees including the five 9/11 conspirators, and legal critics question whether it will be possible to try them in civilian courts. They argue the prisoners confessions have been coerced through harsh interrogations and much of the evidence is tainted.
In any case, the the chilling new court-filing will not make the challenge any easier. It is a brazen confession which concludes, "With God's willing, we are terrorists to the bone."