WASHINGTON, March 15, 2007
Pentagon: Terror Boss Confesses
Statement Read At Military Trial Quotes Him Claiming Responsibility "From A To Z"
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Play CBS Video Video Detainee Admits 9/11 Plot According to the Pentagon, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed admitted responsibility for the Sept. 11 attacks as well as other plots. David Martin reports.
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The cases of suspected al Qaeda operatives Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (right) and Ramzi Binalshibh (left) are being considered in military trials at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. (AP)
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A room at Guantanamo Bay which is used for military hearings on the status of detainees. Reporters are not being allowed to watch or listen to the proceedings for 14 alleged terrorist leaders, which began March 9, 2007. (AP/Photo reviewed by U.S. military)
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Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who claims to be a mastermind of the September 11 terrorist attacks, after his capture during a March 2003 raid in Karachi, Pakistan. (AP)
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The watchtower at Camp X-Ray on the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where detainees the U.S. suspects of terrorism or links to terrorism are being held. (AP)
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Timeline In Terror's Wake A look at the major developments following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
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Interactive Bin Laden & Al Qaeda Where al Qaeda operates, who's been caught, how they're financed and a timeline of attacks on Americans.
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Interactive Gitmo Tribunals Detainees on trial, photos and a history of the naval base.
"I was responsible for the 9/11 operation from A to Z," Mohammed is quoted as saying in a statement that was read Saturday at a session of his military trial.
According to the transcript, Mohammed claimed responsibility for planning, financing, and training others for bombings ranging from the 1993 attack at the World Trade Center to the attempt by would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight with explosives hidden in his shoes.
In all, Mohammed is quoted as saying that he was responsible for planning 28 individual attacks, including many that were never executed. The comments are in a 26-page transcript released by the Pentagon, which blacked out some of his remarks.
"This so-called confession probably dooms him to a future death sentence," says CBS News legal consultant Andrew Cohen. "There are some close cases down there, some false charges, but this isn't one of them. It's only if he somehow makes it into federal court that his statements could be successfully challenged."
The Pentagon also released transcripts of the hearings of Abu Faraj al-Libi and Ramzi Binalshibh, although Binalshibh refused to attend his hearing.
Binalshibh, a Yemeni, is suspected of helping Mohammed with the Sept. 11, 2001, attack plan and has also been linked by authorities to a foiled plot to crash aircraft into London's Heathrow Airport.
Al-Libi is a Libyan who is suspected of masterminding two bombings, 11 days apart in Pakistan in December 2003, each targeting President Pervez Musharraf for his support of the U.S.-led war on terror.
The hearings, which began last Friday, are being conducted in secret by the military as it tries to determine whether 14 alleged terrorist leaders should be declared “enemy combatants” who can be held indefinitely and prosecuted by military tribunals.
Hearings for six of the 14 have already been held. The military is not allowing reporters to attend the sessions and is limiting the information it provides about them, arguing that it wants to prevent sensitive information from being disclosed.
The 14 were moved in September from a secret CIA prison network to the prison at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, where about 385 men are being held on suspicion of links to al Qaeda or the Taliban.
Mohammed's confession was read by a member of the U.S. military who is serving as his personal representative. It also claims he shared responsibility for three other attacks, including assassination attempts against Pope John Paul II and Musharraf.
The transcripts also lay out evidence against Mohammed, saying that a computer seized during his capture included detailed information about the Sept. 11 plot — ranging from names and photos of the hijackers to photos of hijacker Mohammad Atta's pilot's license and even letters from al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Al-Libi also made a statement through his personal representative largely claiming that the hearing process is unfair and that he will not attend unless it is corrected.
"The detainee is in a lose-lose situation," his statement said.
Binalshibh declined to participate in the process and the hearing was conducted in his absence. Military officials expected some of the 14 suspects not to participate.
Legal experts have criticized the U.S. decision to bar independent observers from the hearings of the detainees who the government describes as "high-value targets." The Associated Press filed a letter of protest, arguing that it would be "an unconstitutional mistake to close the proceedings in their entirety."
Mark Denbeaux, a Seton Hall University law professor who represents two Tunisians held at Guantanamo, said that based on the transcripts, Mohammed might be the only detainee who would qualify as an enemy combatant.
"The government has finally brought someone into Gitmo who apparently admits to being someone who could be called an enemy combatant," Denbeaux, a critic of most of the detentions, said in a telephone interview from London. "None of the others rise to this level. The government has now got one."
The military held 558 combatant status review tribunals between July 2004 and March 2005 and the panels concluded that all but 38 detainees were enemy combatants who should be held. Those 38 were eventually released from Guantanamo.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 103 CommentsDoes this mean OBL is finally forgotton by the Bush - as bush has already told us?
"it seems that CBS is more interested in getting Bush than in getting Bin Laden."
Maybe that's because GW Bush just isn't interested in getting Bin Laden.
To quote GW Bush (Washington, D.C., March 13, 2002):
"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority."
He is a traitor to the very people he pretends to defend.
Americans.
What is the point of designating him an "enemy combatant" if he admitted to conspiracy to commit murder?
This is just more of the same lies and bullsh*t from the most corrupt administration in US history.
Webster's dictionary defines conspiracy/conspire as:
To join in a secret agreement to do an unlawful/wrongful act or an act which becomes unlawful as a result of the secret agreement.
FDR knew Pearl Harbor was going to be attacked but did nothing to prevent it in order to incite American outrage & get the US involved in WWII.
I believe very strongly that the 9/11 investigation should be reopened. There are too many unanswered questions. The more I learn about 9/11 (& observing the dismal & disgraceful tract record of Bush & Cheney over the past (7)yrs.) the more I believe the "Bush organization" either knew of the attacks in advance & did not stop them in order to advance their own agenda, or Bush & Cheney organized the attacks. Ask yourself who benefitted (esp. financially) from 9/11?
Apparently, though, CBS decided to use a picture that would make him seem a crazed or cazy person, and thus less believable. After all, CBS seems more focused on getting President Bush than in getting Osama Bin Laden.
It kind of fits in with how CBS never, ever, shows video where the camera dips below Hillary's waist. Until Fox came along I was wondering if she was just half a person.
Seriously.
Posted by bsrasmus at 11:46 PM : Mar 14, 2007
My comments about you twisting my words into a bumper-sticker were spot on as anyone could see, yet you use them to hide under and as poor poor poor excuse. Obviously you either don't want a serious discussion or feel you are over-matched. Either way I withdraw and leave you the field. You "win".
ey were called copperheads because they were like poisonous snakes.
Posted by Jebby_One at 11:39 PM : Mar 14, 2007
Come on, come up with something new. Or at last something from the last 100 years. You copperhead line is wearing thin.
Here is my summary of what you wrote:
Some people want to depend on the government for their well-being and some don't. That's what I wrote earlier.
Posted by bsrasmus at 11:36 PM : Mar 14, 2007
No. Like many on the right are wont to do, you twisted my words into a completely different meaning, but one that will fit well on a bumper sticker. These issues are much larger, more complex and yes even more nuanced then that. The neoconservative economic policy is a flag-waving, jingoistic, stand on your own feet pile of garbage. It's Social Darwinism (which is a phrase that in itself is a dis-service to Darwin, but which the right loves and was coined by them) of the lowest kind. It's survival of the fittest and fu*ck everyone else. If we do that then our government (which by the way does belong to even the poorest and most helpless as much as the most rich and powerful) will have failed in it's mission to serve ALL of the people, regardless of race or social status.
. Then you have to question the timing,, Iraq is about lost if not already, Afaganistan on the down slie,,, & Bush's poll number's sinking like Ecoli polls.
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too late :) I think history is already being written ... obvously by someone other than CBS or the NYT
copperheads...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copperheads
http://www.cocohistory.com/essays-copperheads.html
http://www.dartemis.net/users/r_g_graves/archive/E004_OnCopperheads.htm
they were called copperheads because they were like poisonous snakes.
, Nope, those books are just as slanted, from both sides.
. I try to watch as many main news sources as I can, even DRUDGE REPORT... Watching the people directly involved helps too.
I think you misunderstand the motives of the neoconservatives. Neoconservatives do not want to enslave the population of the United States. They want to get government out of the pocketbooks of Americans and allow individual Americans to not only be responsible for themselves, but to prosper as much as their God-given abilities allow them to.
Posted by bsrasmus at 11:22 PM : Mar 14, 2007
That's nothing more then a fancy way of saying "Every man for himself" and it doesn't take into account the people how can't help themselves. For them neoconservatives want us to depend on private charities and churches (both of which should have no government support anyway), yet history has shown that this simply does not work. Our nations government must help it's most deserving. Before Social Security for example (a program the neocons want destroyed) many elderly starved to death. The image of the younger members having their elderly family members living in the same house ala The Walton's makes for a wonderful Norman Rockwell print, but it doesn't apply for the vast majority of Americans. The same goes for other programs they want to eliminate like OSHA, The EPA, Worker's Compensation, Unemployment Insurance and so on and so on. It all sounds very "Stand on your own two feet", until it's put into practice and millions suffer and die through no fault of their own.
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