Pentagon Chief Revokes Plea Deals with Alleged 9/11 Terrorists
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin has revoked a pre-trial deal reached with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed — the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks — and two of his accomplices — Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi....
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Facts
- US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin has revoked a pre-trial deal reached with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed — the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks — and two of his accomplices — Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi.[1]
- In a memo on Friday, Austin also relieved retired Brigadier General Susan Escallier, the head of the US military commissions, of her authority to enter into the agreements in the case, stating 'responsibility for such a decision should rest with me as the superior authority.'[2][3]
- The US Defense Department announced Wednesday that the trio, held at the federal military prison at Guantánamo Bay, had agreed to plead guilty to all charges — including 'the murder of the 2,976 people listed in the charge sheet' — in exchange for a life sentence rather than the death penalty.[4][5]
- Mohammed is accused of being the architect of the conspiracy to fly hijacked passenger planes into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon. Attash allegedly trained the hijackers, while al Hawsawi is charged with financing the terrorists and helping them with travel arrangements.[6][7]
- As part of the plea deal, the defendants had agreed to respond to questions from victims or family members 'regarding their roles and reasons for conducting the Sept. 11 attacks' under a process most known as restorative justice.[8][9]
- According to a letter sent from prosecutors to the victims' families, their sentencing hearing wasn't supposed to occur before next summer. The Pentagon hadn't disclosed the 'terms and conditions of the pretrial agreements.'[10][11]
Sources: [1]Al Jazeera, [2]BBC News (a), [3]NPR Online News, [4]Washington Post, [5]Breitbart, [6]Reuters, [7]New York Post, [8]New York Times, [9]The Telegraph, [10]CNN and [11]BBC News (b).
Narratives
- Narrative B, as provided by Military.com. This is shocking news. The US government never bothered to intervene in the 13-year-long pre-trial hearings, and now, after the settlement has been reached, it wants to continue the cruel, endless saga. Moreover, the head of military commissions — a statutorily independent convening authority — doesn't require approval from the top. The decision to remove Escallier breaches her jurisdiction and is a clear case of political influence and meddling.
- Narrative C, as provided by NPR Online News. Although the accused would have been spared the death penalty, this plea deal was a critical step toward judicial finality and justice after two decades of legal gridlock. This resolution avoided what could have been an endless trial against the terrorists and ensured the perpetrators of the heinous attacks admit to their conduct and are punished for killing thousands of Americans and scarring the nation forever.
- Narrative D, as provided by American Civil Liberties Union. The death penalty inherently violates the constitutional ban against cruel and unusual punishment. It's inhumane, inequitable, and unjust, especially for the defendants who have been held at the US Navy base at Guantánamo Bay without trial for years. This plea deal was the right call because it would have ended nearly two decades of litigation as well as opened a path to close the Guantánamo Bay detention center and end the CIA's unethical use of 'enhanced' interrogation techniques.
