And then there’s the plea deal with Khalid Shaikh Mohammad
Here’s what the Defense Department has to say about it: not much.
The Convening Authority for Military Commissions, Susan Escallier, has entered into pretrial agreements with Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin ‘Attash, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi, three of the co-accused in the 9/11 case. The specific terms and conditions of the pretrial agreements are not available to the public at this time.
Here’s more about the details, from less official sources:
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al-Hawsawi have been held at the US Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for years without going to trial.
In exchange for the prosecution agreeing not to seek the death penalty, the trio have agreed to plead guilty to all of the charged offenses, including the murder of the 2,976 people listed in the charge sheet.
Let’s assume that’s the case – it’s certainly what’s being widely reported. Among other things, it’s interesting to me that these guys who talk such a line about how wonderful martyrdom for the Cause is seem to nevertheless to value their own lives rather highly. The again, confessing to the murder of almost three thousand people is probably nothing to them, because they consider the murders highly justified.
More:
Brett Eagleson, the president of 9/11 Justice, an organisation that represents 9/11 survivors and relatives of victims, said in a statement provided to the BBC that the families are “deeply troubled by these plea deals”.
He said the process lacked transparency and urged the authorities to pursue more information on the role of Saudi Arabia in the attacks.
Terry Strada, who lost her husband Tom, told the BBC’s Today Programme: “It was a gut-punch to hear that there was a plea deal today that was giving the detainees in Guantanamo Bay what they want.”
Ms Strada, the national chair of the campaign group 9/11 Families United, added: “This is a victory for Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and the other two, it’s a victory for them,” she said.
Agreed.
This should be hammered home by Republicans during the 2024 campaign.
NOTE: Keeping them alive probably also encourages the taking of hostages by other jihadis, in order to make a deal during a Democrat administration to free them.
Victor Bout now this. Our government sucks the big one.
Daniel Pearl’s disembodied head would like a word with these deliverers of justice.
They should have been shot years ago.
They should have been hanged, not shot.
I agree they should have been hanged long ago, asphyxiating and soiling themselves, and left to hang while dead. Maybe in Dearborn, MI.
As it is, they have been incarcerated for decades, and will be until their “natural” deaths.I trust the jailers will not be nice to them.
911 happened almost 23 years ago. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was captured over 21 years ago so he’s been locked up a long time. Anyone here ever spent a month in solitary confinement? Most break, but I loved it…one can learned a lot about life in solitary confinement—or break. Most people need other people around them.
So, not a lot about the deal. I never spent close to 15-21 years in solitary confinement, so this Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is a ‘Lifer’ at this point (there’s another term for it, but I forget it now), which is probably why he doesn’t want the death penalty now.
I’ve never understood why someone convicted of murder would want a Life sentence over the Death Penalty. Maybe if I had gone thru 15++ years in prison, then maybe I would think doing another 20-30 years would be better than the Death Penalty…just dunno. Jeez…still hard to imagine wanting to do 20-30 more years in prison rather than dying.
OK – most of us know Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has given up a *LOT* of valuable info over the past 21 years. How many lives has that info saved? How many other sources has some of that info led to?
Maybe he’s worth more alive to our Government than dead…we can only speculate at this point.
Update: word I was looking for earlier was: Institutionalized instead of “Lifer.”
Done during Joe Biden’s watch and in the summer when lots of things are going on.
The American legal system has, again, failed the American people. KSM should have been tried, convicted and executed years ago.
Becoming Institutionalized: Incarceration and “Slow Death”
There was an entire apparat the levick group founded by gulf state magnates to conduct lawfare against the us military and intelligence
The mukhtar has been able to game the system since he was apprehended in 2003 he had a host of counsel including a future holder hire
Karmi,
Do you totally lack any sense of justice for 9/11???
Unbelievable.
How those three are still breathing is an indictment of our government.
Trying to make me feel sorry for ksm i dont feel it why doesnt he want to die a glorious death like qutb or hassan al banna makes you wonder
Now the regime might dismantle gitmo and transfter the remaining prisoners to adx florence where they will catch up with nephew ramzi yousef
Dunno. As much as I like snuffing the Bad Guys, giving them decades to think about it rather than months is an appealing thought. Cheers –
The levick group and adjuncts like dan jones put us intelligence on the defensive
Mitchell and jessen were made the villains
The Venitians smuggled St Mark’s remains out of Muslim lands by covering the corpse with pig fat.Sounds something that would good for KSM.
Sort of a follow on and a capstone to Brandon’s exit from Afghanistan.
I am not amused nor entertained.
They certainly should have been executed long ago. But the only important factor in the manner of their execution is that it be done in way that renders them ‘unclean’. That way, by their own beliefs as declared by Allah in their ‘sacred’ Qur’an, they are permanently barred from ever entering paradise.
You deter terrorism by attaching to terrorism what for the terrorist are literally unthinkable consequences. ‘Paradise’ is the incentive for devout Islamists willing to die for Islam.
Remove the possibility of attaining the incentive and you remove the motivation.
physicsguy:
He’s an ex-con. That should tell you something.
The ghastly trio should have been promptly tried by military commissions and promptly executed.
Physicsguy, Miguel cervantes, and IrishOtter49
Subject was – “the plea deal with Khalid Shaikh Mohammad”. Time at this blog has been a great learning experience – one learned lesson was why the Democrats hate the Republicans so much that most would vote for child groomers & such over Republicans.
Anyway, where in my Karmi on August 1, 2024 at 5:47 pm comment did I say or suggest or show a “lack any sense of justice for 9/11???”
Where in that comment was I “Trying to make me feel sorry for ksm” – or make anyone feel sorry for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed?
Oh, I see – IrishOtter49:
Y’all missed the point/s because you’re so blinded by your own hate – another previous learned lesson.
One commenter got the point/s of my comment:
So KSM and the other two stay alive as part of this “plea deal”. And what do we get in exchange? Typical Dem/Biden negotiation.
Karmi:
Maybe the fact that you’ve been in prison gives you a different perspective on the question. I don’t know what “IrishOtter” meant by his remark, but it’s not automatically negative.
neo – fair point.
Anyway, I had summed up that earlier comment—to the post’s titled question:
At least one of them will walk free within the next ten years. Whether it is a prisoner swap where we give up one (or all three) for some feckless moron that gets scooped up “hiking” in Iran or something, or some judge somewhere feels that “justice has been served”, I say again that one or all three of these men will be free men one day.
The very fact that our government is negotiating plea deals with the men who’s actions forever changed our nation shows just how far we have fallen.
When Karmi is caught trolling he accuses others of being haters.
Being an ex-con is supposed to be edgy …… ?
Karmi mentioned:
It would surprise me somewhat if, assuming a more or less even distribution of those divulgences over his time in prison, very much of the intelligence thus gained would be particularly useful after, say, 2008 or so, since I would assume that whatever information Mohammed did have to share would become outdated at some point, since it would be a sort of snapshot of Al-Qaeda or what have you as it existed as of 2002-2003.
@ Karmi:
Human intelligence grows stale quickly. Whatever value these terrorists had as sources dried up two decades ago.
I’m cynical enough to believe that their value to the government now is securing the Michigan vote.
If these three didn’t have any value when Trump was in office, then why didn’t he have them tried and sentenced to death?
They should’ve been killed after capture, IMHO, but they weren’t mine to kill.
—————————————-
om the ‘Gay Commenter‘ flirting with humble hermit me again, or is your HATRED issue acting up .. again?
Karmi has gone beyond trolling. Sad, indeed.
Don’t rattle his cage.
Me: “Why wasn’t Khalid Mohammad tried by a military tribunal”
AI: The answer is: Mohammed tried to plead guilty and proceed straight to execution more than a decade ago. But instead of accepting his plea, the Obama-Biden administration ended his military trial and tried to move his case to a federal criminal court, as part of its catastrophic attempt to shut down Guantánamo Bay.
The Obama-Biden administration, now the Harris-Biden administration really, really wants to win Michigan. I wonder what states it might lose them?
I am as positive as can be the Leftists at DOJ who dreamed this up have no idea how a religion can make a person become a mass murder through terrorism. Their show trial is just to get a conviction, get the person to admit they did the crime.
Yesterday I linked to the “Becoming Institutionalized: Incarceration and “Slow Death”” but didn’t bother reading the article. This morning I went to read it, but it was too long and windy—possibly written by a socialist/progressive at a “Social Science Research Council.”
So I still don’t know what the article said – it was part of the title that caught my eye as a simple fact: “Incarceration and “Slow Death””
Doing Time – that’s a common phrase amongst inmates of what life in prison is about. One is not living life there, one is Doing Time there.
A sentence of Life in Prison is a legal way to kill someone very very slowly.
Brian E had a great quote from AI to a question he asked:
I asked Copilot:
I don’t know that either AI response was correct; however, I do know that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is experiencing a very very Slow Death—legally.
Neo had an Open thread post recently: “August already. Can you believe it?” Time can fly in the Free World. In Prison, you are Doing Time, and the pace is much slower than that of a Three-toed sloth…
“one learned lesson was why the Democrats hate the Republicans so much that most would vote for child groomers & such over Republicans.”
…
“Y’all missed the point/s because you’re so blinded by your own hate – another previous learned lesson.”
Thanks Karmi, I couldn’t have summed up the differences between left and right any better had I tried.
The left, in Karmi’s own words, ‘hates’ Republicans…to the point that they’ll vote for child groomers, dementia sufferers, and even dead people for high office.
And they do so because any criticism of them they interpret as ‘hate’ even though no hatred was expressed, only disagreement.
They hate their ‘enemies’ so they imagine that we must hate them right back…and any expression of disagreement with them is pounced upon as proof of that hate.
It’s a case study in psychological projection and transference.
I can’t speak for everyone, obviously, but I feel my opinions are relatively representative of those who think in a similar manner as I:
I don’t ‘hate’ convicts (“ex-convict”, in my opinion, only applies if the conviction has been overturned; serving your time after conviction does not erase the fact that you were convicted of a crime), but it’s not a badge of honor to me either. I believe in forgiveness and convicts who have seen the error of their ways and are now productive members of society are worthy of respect…not because they are a convict, but because of their course correction. Bragging about (or even bringing up) their status as a convict in conversation is not going to win them any points with me.
Doesn’t mean I hate them. Or you.
I seriously doubt that anyone on this blog ‘hates’ you. That would imply way more emotional investment in you than is warranted. I disagree with many of your positions and statements and find humor in some of your contradictions and the mental gymnastics you sometimes employ to rationalize your positions; but contrary to what you’ve apparently been instructed to believe – disagreement is not hate.
Someone like ksm sees this as a duty in his value system we have seen with lower level detainees that return to the battlefield too many to consider but bin qumu benghazi planner many of the top taliban officials like one of the mehsuds the one who recruited the barcelona bomber in 17 etc etc
They can fool defense atty convening authorities judges willing to hand them million dollar settlements its all part of their work
They might call it taquiya or just run of the mill hypocrisy
So what was the rush why they had to do this deal remember biden when he was lucid ?opposed the raid on abbotabad
This policy would comport with going easy on KSM, I reckon.
Where “. . . stop his Escalation of Tensions” readily translates to “quit killing your avowed enemies”, and “. . . move towards an Immediate Ceasefire and Hostage Deal with Hamas” translates to “Let Hamas survive to win, already”!:
https://x.com/sentdefender/status/1819411185524933029?t=HbmAuaQ0JagVMcD0k2knDA&s=19
I’ve never understood why someone convicted of murder would want a Life sentence over the Death Penalty.
When you are dead, there is no boredom, no worry, no concerns, no regrets, no disappointments, no bad food, no disease, no discomfort, etc.
Recently watched true crime where man killed wife, her body never found,dead wifes parents get custody of children, killer gets visitation, beats 2 year old and six year old with hammer, sets them on fire.
Personally, some killers should get life, after being blinded, crippled, and having their tongues cut off.
Or, do the surgery and let them out of prison after a year or two to fend for themselves.
Sentence a few for practice, see if it acts as a deterrent to some crimes.
Couple this with the prisoner exchange with Russia post. KSM, et al., might not have much value to the Islamic terrorist crowd, except to humiliate America by forcing us to trade them for some highly sympathetic hostages. Dead terrorists have no value.
I guess, the death penalty would summon a certain dread that life does not, but we’re not talking about this type of person, would ksm welcome death, well he never went on martyr missions, he surrendered when he was captured in rawalpindi, if memory serves,
we have seen with lower levels operatives like that MIT trained microbiologist that prompted that hostage incident in texas, as possible exchange,
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/aafia-siddiqui-federal-prisoner-center-texas-hostage-situation-rcna12381
this is the one that was considered more authentic by a western author that ayan hirsi ali, (that tells you how messed up the value system of these writers like deborah scoggins) then there was that associate of the amman hotel bombing, that they wanted to trade for islamic state operatives,
Oh, hello: REVOKED:
https://x.com/sentdefender/status/1819537614967333187?t=e1-aFyqGIEhkhWxyc6RrjQ&s=19
And:
https://x.com/sentdefender/status/1819538280011968605?t=viQ-OdsN03GqQ1rLuxhIyA&s=19
Only a fool would believe that he will die in a US prison.
Is there some quid pro quo I’m missing here?
Or is it just bleeding heart liberal stuff?
I guess it could be a really disgusting play for the American Muslim vote.
Well, at least one other person believes that life in prison is worse than execution.
https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2024/08/02/dem-rep-meeks-austin-yanked-9-11-plea-deal-because-of-some-of-the-reactions/
“Collins then asked Meeks if he supports revoking the deal, Meeks answered that he is against the death penalty because it’s “too easy” for people who have committed heinous acts and that’s why people who commit atrocious crimes often commit suicide and that they should suffer through a life sentence.”
More on the reasons for the revocation, which just raises more questions.
https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2024/08/02/cnns-liebermann-austin-white-house-could-have-squashed-9-11-plea-deal-years-ago-if-they-wanted-to/
If Austin didn’t know what his subordinate was doing in such a high-profile case, that’s one more on the long list of reasons he should be fired.
Of course he knew, and approved at least tacitly; but the negotiator is going to take the hit for him.
Another on the long list of moves the Democrats thought they could sneak past the public.
Then again, maybe they really did think the public has “moved on” far enough for them to pull this stunt; Obama got away with things almost as bad, or arguable worse.
I’m sure The Bee will have an appropriate headline.