Accused 9/11 Plotters Want To Confess

(CBS/ AP)  Five men charged with plotting the Sept. 11 attacks told a military judge Monday that they want to immediately confess at their war-crimes tribunal at Guantanamo Bay, setting up likely guilty pleas and their possible executions.

The five said they decided to abandon all efforts to defend themselves against the capital charges on Nov. 4, the day Barack Obama was elected to the White House. It was as if they wanted to rush toward convictions before Obama - who has vowed to end the war-crimes trials and close Guantanamo - takes office.

Abruptly reversing course on previous attempts to defend themselves in the death-penalty case, the five announced they wanted to drop all motions presented on their behalf. The judge said competency hearings were pending for two of the detainees, precluding them from immediately filing pleas.

The alleged mastermind of the attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, said he is ready to confess but will wait until all five can respond in unison. "We want everyone to plea together," he said. Two other defendants also decided to postpone their pleas.

Earlier Monday in a letter the judge, Army Col. Stephen Henley, read aloud in court, the five defendants said they "request an immediate hearing session to announce our confessions."

The letter implies they want to plead guilty, but does not specify whether they will admit to any specific charges.

CBS News chief legal analyst Andrew Cohen said the desire to confess is part of a pattern started by Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called 21st hijacker - arrested before the 9/11 attacks - who essentially confessed in federal court in Virginia a few years ago to being part of the terror organization.

"We shouldn't be surprised that these top leaders would decide to make the case political and religious more than legal," Cohen said.

Mohammed, who has already told interrogators he was the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, also told the judge Monday that he had no faith in him, his Pentagon-appointed lawyers or President George W. Bush.

Sporting a chest-length gray beard, Mohammed said in English: "I don't trust you."

The pretrial hearings this week could be the last court appearance for the high-profile detainees at Guantanamo Bay. The first U.S. war-crimes trials since World War II are teetering on the edge of extinction. Obama opposes the military commissions - as the Guantanamo trials are called - and has pledged to close the detention center holding some 250 men soon after taking office next month.

"The idea is to confess and then dare military officials to execute them to create some sort of martyrdom - to turn the case into even more political theater than it has already been. The good news for the U.S. is that it certainly speeds up the trial process for these men," Cohen said.

Nine relatives of victims of the 2001 al Qaeda attacks were on hand to observe the hearings at this Navy base in southeastern Cuba, but were not visible in video images relayed to a press room nearby. Five were chosen by military lottery and they brought four other relatives with them.

Henley was assigned to the case after the previous judge resigned for undisclosed reasons in November. The defendants, who are representing themselves, were also expected to question Henley about whether any conflicts would prevent him from impartially overseeing the death-penalty case.

No trial date has been set, and it is all but certain none will begin before Obama takes office on Jan. 20. Still, the U.S. military is pressing forward with the case until it receives orders to the contrary.

"We serve the sitting president and will continue to do so until President-elect Obama takes office," said Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman.

Jennifer Daskal of Human Rights Watch, who is also an observer at this week's hearings, urged Obama to try terror suspects in federal court "where attention will focus on the defendants' alleged crimes rather than the unfairness of the commissions."

The military commissions have netted three convictions, but have been widely criticized for allowing statements obtained through harsh interrogations and hearsay to be admitted as evidence.

The victims' family members were expected to watch from a gallery at the rear of the cavernous, high-security courtroom and will not be allowed to address the defendants.

Maureen Santora, whose firefighter son Christopher was killed at the World Trade Center, says she wants to lock eyes with those accused of killing her son and 2,972 others in the bloodiest terrorist attacks ever on U.S. soil.

Relatives of about 30 more victims, mainly firefighters, have given Santora memorial cards that she planned to bring into court "to know their spirit is with us."

[downsteamjim]

MikeTotten: So you have internet access at Gitmo. No wonder you love the ACLU.

[rushlimbaug4]

juwboy, well his name says it all.

Posted by FloydZeppd at 07:05 AM : Dec 09, 2008

He is a wannabe Nazi who if confronted in Nazi Germany would not have been able to provide the papers to prove is Aryan Blood Line. He would have been waiting in line with everyone else for a Zyclon bath.

Why is it that those who would claim superiority seem to be the most inferior?

[earache4]

With liberals running the show..WHY NOT? this is the best time..they might walk away with a noble prize
Posted by LordSunTzu at 10:09 PM

What? No medal of freedom?

[lila356]

RE to itdfactsu: Yes, it''s truly amazing the level of collective denial about 9/11, but one day it WILL completely come out, when God wills it, and God WILL take care of the "real" perpetrators. We must all have faith. It isn''t really the sheeple''s fault. Most just cannot face and/or imagine (at this time) the very grim, heart-wrenching reality of 9/11 and also admit that we are currently engaged in illegal and totally unnecessary war''s. It is the fault of all of the cowards who did it. We were all duped and it''s very hard to admit when you''re duped. It also takes much time to do all of the research online to learn the truth about it. When one finally wakes up to the basic truth it is THE most horrible, scary and life altering feeling, yet it makes all the events preceding, during and since 9/11 make sense, (unfortunately even more horrific). We must all, (or at least a majority), know the truth before we can truly heal as a nation and globally, yet like a huge dysfunctional family, we cannot move on until everyone admits there is a problem. Sometimes we hit rock bottom before the healing begins. It seems we as a nation are beginning to hit it now. Life will never be the same, but there is hope, finally... hope. I wish it were sooner, but all in God''s time.

[lila356]

RE: "It makes one wonder who is really behind these attacks in Mumbai."

Posted by fila32

The CIA and/or Israeli Mossad, along with some Indian officials, seem to be the most likely culprits.

Posted by MikeTotten1

Do you think Blackwater was there? They were all wearing black and had their faces covered. It was reported in India that some of them had blond hair also.

[itdfactsu]

9/11 Crime of the Millenium been one cover-up after another

The recent OJ trial for some stolen football memorabilia recieved more airtime than the biggest terrorist attack in US History

Five men charged with plotting the Sept. 11 attacks and the US GOVT still cannot produce any updated photos of these five men

The US public was led to believe Bin Laden was responsible for the attacks but over the last year an a half the guy wearing the oversized white t-shirt named Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is now being labeled the mastermind

I said it a thousand times and i''ll say it again 9/11 was an inside job!

[lila356]

That the Bush/Cheney crime syndicate executed the events of 911 to promote their illegal Iraq war for extreme profit facilitating the largest transfer of wealth the world has ever known, is not in question.

The question is how many sheeple will ever take their heads outa the sand long enough to figure it out!
posted by Nofoold

People don''t want to know the truth unfortunately. It makes one wonder who is really behind these attacks in Mumbai.

[rhs648]

MikeTotten1 - Maybe you should read a little more carefully. Obama is gonna close GITMO. Pay attention.

Posted by guyfrompa50

As long as the government puts the prisioners in your neighborhood and not in my neighborhood.

[nor-one]

Hey "notblue" your right, Saddam used chemical weapons on his own people and on the Iranians. Where did he get them? Why were the US and Britan so sure he had WMD''s? That''s right pal, we supplied them to him! As long as he was using them on the evil Iranian people or his own he was still our guy in Bagdad! Let''s remember who the guys were that pulled off 9-11. They were Saudi Arabians!! What the ell are we doing in Iraq? Treason had better be "back on the table" when the new people take over the funny farm. They should try these new guys with the "Blackwater" skin heads and save money. It would be worth it to keep Gitmo open for Blackwater and bush cheney et al.

[notfooled]

That the Bush/Cheney crime syndicate executed the events of 911, using these religious zealot fools, to promote their illegal Iraq war for extreme profit facilitating the largest transfer of wealth the world has ever known, is not in question.

The question is how many sheeple will ever take their heads outa the sand long enough to figure it out!