Plea Deals For 9/11 Mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed And Fellow Co-Conspirators Being Considered By The U.S. Government

United Flight 175, moments before striking the World Trade Center's South Tower (Robert Clark, AP)  

Daily Mail: Architect of 9/11 Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and fellow co-conspirators may be spared death penalty under new plea deal being considered by federal gov 

* The Pentagon and FBI have advised families of some of the thousands killed that agreements without the death penalty are under consideration 

* It comes eleven and a half years after military prosecutors and defense lawyers began exploring a negotiated resolution to the case 

* The suspects behind the 2001 attacks were captured at various times and places in 2002 and 2003 and sent to Guantanamo for trial in 2006 

The suspected architects behind the 9/11 terror attacks may never face the death penalty under new plea agreements being considered. 

The Pentagon and FBI have advised families of some of the thousands killed that the agreements are under consideration to try and bring an end to their more than decade-long prosecution. 

The move has angered some family members of the nearly 3,000 people killed outright in the terror attacks. 

 Read more .... 

Plea Deals For 9/11 Mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed And Fellow Co-Conspirators Being Considered By The U.S. Government

Plea negotiations could mean no 9/11 defendants face the death penalty, the US tells families -- AP  

Pentagon considering plea deals for defendants in 9/11 attacks -- CBS News 

9/11 defendants may never face death penalty, families told -- The Hill 

9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and co-conspirators may avoid death penalty in new plea deal -- SKY News 

Biden administration tells 9/11 families that attack mastermind, 4 others could be spared death penalty -- NYPost  

9/11 Families Told That Plotters May Not Face Death Penalty -- Zero Hedge

American Taxpayers Have Spent $161 Million On Keeping 9/11 Mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed In Prison And Alive

This February 2017 photo provided by his lawyers shows Khalid Shaikh Mohammad in Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. (Courtesy Derek Poteet via AP) 

FOX News: American taxpayers have spent jaw-dropping amount on keeping 9/11 mastermind alive 

Guantanamo Bay has grown into what seems to be the most expensive prison on earth 

Built nearly 18 years ago to detain suspected terrorists on a remote island off Cuba, Guantanamo Bay has grown into what seems to be the most expensive prison on earth. 

The U.S. government has spent an estimated $161.5 million housing the suspected mastermind of the 9/11 terror attacks – Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. And up until Saturday, Mohammed was to receive a coronavirus vaccine so that he could be tried and put to death, if convicted. 

Captured in 2003, Sheikh Mohammed confessed to being a mastermind behind some of the most prolific terror attacks in the past few decades, most notably the 9/11 attacks. 

Read more .... 

WNU Editor: the cost of keeping a prisoner at Guantanamo is somewhere between $9.5 and $13 million per prisoner, per year. The prison currently has 40 inmates. That's compared to $78,000 spent per inmate at a "supermax" prison in Florence, Colo., home to some of the highest-risk prisoners in the U.S.

9/11 Mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Appears In Guantanamo Courtroom

Colonel W. Shane Cohen of the Air Force announced on Friday that the trial for Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four other men is set for January 11, 2021

Washington Examiner: Justice delayed: 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed appears in Guantanamo courtroom as trial approaches

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba — Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will appear in a Guantanamo Bay courtroom this week, more than 18 years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks he is alleged to have masterminded and a year before he will finally face a jury.

In the nearly two decades since 19 al Qaeda terrorists crashed hijacked planes into the World Trade Center buildings, the side of the Pentagon, and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing nearly 3,000 people, the five men believed to be responsible have yet to face a trial.

The U.S. government alleges that the plotters carried out a criminal conspiracy in planning and executing the 9/11 plot, listing the names of all 2,977 victims killed on Sept. 11, 2001, in the 90-page 2011 charging sheet. The five, who were arraigned in 2012, were also charged with attacking civilians, hijacking, terrorism, violations of the rules of war, and more.

Mohammed, dubbed “KSM" and described as “the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks” in the 9/11 Commission Report, was a close ally of al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden and will be on trial alongside Walid bin Attash, Ramzi bin al Shibh, Ammar al Baluchi, and Mustafa al Hawsawi.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: It is hard to believe that he is still alive and has not been tried for his hideous crimes. His trial is set for next year .... The Trial For Khalid Shaikh Mohammed And Four Other Men Responsible For 9/11 Is Set For January 11, 2021 (August 31, 2019). As for the media, they are more focused on this .... Architect of Interrogation Program Testifies at Guantánamo Bay (The New York Times). More here .... Architect of CIA’s Torture Program Testifies Just Yards From Accused 9/11 Plotter He Waterboarded (The Intercept).

New Questions Arise On The Relationship Between Qatar And 9/11 Mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammad

The mastermind. A picture purportedly showing al-Qaeda’s Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, supposed mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. Red Cross

Salman Al-Ansari, The Hill: How the 9/11 mastermind found safe harbor in Qatar?

In my opinion, Khalid Shaikh Mohammad (KSM), the mastermind of the 9/11 terror attacks, used Qatar as a hub that launched a thousand terrors. It is from Doha that KSM worked and lived, planning and plotting future terrorist acts.

Qatar served as an important nexus for KSM. KSM travelled to the Philippines in 1994 to work on the Bojinka plot, a Manila-based plot to destroy twelve commercial airliners flying routes between the United States, East Asia, and Southeast Asia.

In 1995, KSM worked as a humanitarian aid worker for Egyptian Relief, a front for the Muslim Brotherhood, and obtained Bosnian citizenship in November 1995. KSM was in Doha at least twice during 1995-1996. During his time in Doha, Qatari Minister of Religious Affairs Sheikh Abdullah al-Thani sheltered KSM. To be sure, KSM spent less than a year in Doha, but the effects are certainly evil and deadly.

Read more ....

Update: Qatar and the curious case of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (The Arab Weekly)

WNU Editor: Qatar's ties to people like 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammad and other Al Qaeda leaders have been circulating for a very long time .... Terror financiers are living freely in Qatar, US discloses (The Telegraph). And while this renewed interest on what is Qatar's history with Khalid Shaikh Mohammad is probably due to Qatar's current dispute with its neighbours .... at least a discussion on Qatar's role is now being raised, and I can only hope that this will continue.

9/11 Mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Sent A Letter To President Obama Days Before He Left Office

Terror mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed sent a letter to Obama days before the ex-President left office calling him 'the head of the snake'

Daily Mail: Terror mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed sent a letter to Obama days before the ex-President left office calling him 'the head of the snake' and warning of another 9/11

* Terror mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed sent a letter to Barack Obama
* Claimed 9/11 attacks was a direct result of American 'oppression and tyranny'
* Has been held at Guantanamo Bay since 2006 after being captured in Pakistan

The self-proclaimed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks sent a letter to Barack Obama during his last days in office to tell him September 11 was a direct result of American 'oppression and tyranny'.

The 18-page letter to 'the head of the snake, Barack Obama,' was written by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused 9/11 mastermind.

He has been held at the prison at Guantanamo Bay since 2006 after being captured in Pakistan in 2003.

During an interrogation in 2007, he confessed to being behind the 9/11 attacks.

Read more ....

More News On 9/11 Mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Sending A Letter To President Obama Days Before He Left Office

Alleged 9/11 plotter blasts Obama in letter from Guantanamo. -- AP
The Alleged Mastermind Behind the 9/11 Attacks Wrote President Obama a Letter -- Time
Letter sent by alleged 9/11 mastermind to Obama surfaces -- CBS
Khalid Shaikh Mohammad seeks to justify 9/11 in letter sent to Obama -- The National

September 11 Mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed: Al-Qaida In 'War Of Attrition' With US

Khalid Shaikh Mohamed. Wikipedia

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed: al-Qaida In 'War Of Attrition' With US -- The Guardian

• Guantánamo inmate speaks to Abu Ghaith attorneys
• Statement is most extensive since 2008

The accused mastermind of the 9/11 attacks has said al-Qaida is in “a war of attrition” with the United States, in one of the only statements he has issued since his capture in 2003 and subsequent torture.

In the course of an interview with US defense attorneys for Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law filed to the New York federal court where the son-in-law faces conspiracy charges, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed mused expansively on the ideology that powered the 2001 terrorist attacks and changed the course of US foreign policy.

Read more ....

Update #1: September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed claims bin Laden spokesperson Abu Ghaith had no hand in attack -- Daily Mail
Update #2: 9/11 mastermind defends bin Laden's son-in-law in court statement -- CNN

My Comment:  A war of attrition that we are clearly losing.

9/11 Mastermind Says That He Has 'Renounced Violence'

Alleged Mastermind Behind 9/11 Attacks Says He Has Renounced Violence -- National Post

Instead of blowing people up, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attack wants to bring converts to Islam by subtler means of persuasion.

Khalid Sheik Mohammed is seeking to convince members of the military tribunal trying him at Guantanamo Bay he has renounced violence.

In a 36-page manifesto published in the Huffington Post, he even argues, “The Holy Koran forbids us to use force as a means of converting” and reaching “truth and reality never comes by muscles and force but by using the mind and wisdom.”

“Don’t believe the media that the mujahedeen believe that Islam spread in the past and will prevail in the future with the sword,” he adds.

This will put him at odds with co-religionists who are busily waging jihad around the world — from Afghanistan and Syria to Libya and Mali, to name only the most bitter conflicts.

Read more ....

More News On Khalid Sheik Mohammed's Manifesto

Mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks renounces violence and wants to convert his captors to Islam -- Daily Mail
9/11 mastermind's manifesto revealed -- CNN
Mastermind of 9/11 says Koran 'forbids' violence to spread Islam -- The Telegraph
Accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed writes non-violence manifesto -- News.com.au
9/11 fiend KSM says in new manifesto: ‘violence is wrong’ -- New York Post

WNU Editor: His "manifesto" is here.

The CIA Permitted Al Qaeda Leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed To 'Redesign The Vacuum Cleaner'

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is shown in this file photograph during his arrest on March 1, 2003. REUTERS/Courtesy U.S.News & World Report/Files

CIA Let KSM Design Vacuum Cleaner In Detention To 'Keep Him Sane' -- The Guardian

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's blueprint is but one peculiar byproduct of US detention and interrogation program

Confined to the basement of a CIA secret prison in Romania about a decade ago, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the admitted mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, asked his jailers whether he could embark on an unusual project: would the spy agency allow Mohammed, who had earned his bachelor's in mechanical engineering, to design a vacuum cleaner?

The agency officer in charge of the prison called CIA headquarters and a manager approved the request, a former senior CIA official told The Associated Press.

Mohammed had endured the most brutal of the CIA's harsh interrogation methods and had confessed to a career of atrocities. But the agency had no long-term plan for him. Someday, he might prove useful. Perhaps, he'd even stand trial one day.

And for that, he'd need to be sane.

Read more ....

More News On The CIA Letting KSM Design A Vacuum Cleaner While In Detention In Order To 'Keep Him Sane'

The CIA and a secret vacuum cleaner -- AP
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed 'asked to design' vacuum cleaner -- BBC
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed 'redesigned vacuum' -- The Telegraph
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Designed a Vacuum Cleaner from His CIA Prison -- Atlantic Wire
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's Vacuum Challenge -- SKY News
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed: Terrorist Mastermind, Inventor of Vacuums -- National Journal
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Wanted to Give the World a Better Vacuum Cleaner -- New York Magazine

New Photos Of 9/11 Mastermind Imprisoned In Guantanamo Have Appeared On A Jihadist Website

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is seen in one of the photos apparently taken at the Guantanamo detention center and published this week by an Islamist website. Al-Ebdaa via Flashpoint Partners

New Photos Of Alleged 9-11 Mastermind May Have Been Spirited Out Of 'Gitmo' -- MSNBC

U.S. military officials are investigating whether new images of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, alleged mastermind of al-Qaida’s 9-11 terror attacks, posted on a jihadist website were smuggled out of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

The photos, which show a relaxed and often smiling Mohammed, were published Wednesday by "Al-Ebdaa," an jihadist media group, and documented by Flashpoint Partners, a global security company run by NBC News terrorism analyst Evan Kohlmann.

Kohlmann said the images appear to have been taken at GTMO, the U.S. Navy base and detention facility in Cuba, where Mohammed is currently facing a military tribunal with four other alleged al-Qaida members on murder and terrorism charges in connection with the 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Read more ....

My Comment: If these images were photo-shopped .... I would say that the person who did it is very good. Unfortunately .... I suspect that these images are real, and it's publication on a jihadist website reveals to me that a major security breach exists at Guantanamo .... a fact that should concern all of us.

The Mission To Catch Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

Photo: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

Inside The Mission To Catch Khalid Sheikh Mohammed -- Terry McDermott & Josh Meyer, The Atlantic

How the FBI, CIA, and Pakistani intelligence worked together -- or didn't -- in the global hunt for the mastermind behind September 11, 2001.

KARACHI, Pakistan, Autumn 2002 -- Everything the Americans could rustle up pointed to Karachi. Every source and bit of information said Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was operating out of the capital of Pakistan's Wild West. Back at Langley, the CIA's newly formed "KSM targeting team" had assembled a massive file on him that included all the disparate dots that the U.S. government had previously failed to connect. By then, a congressional joint inquiry was already cataloguing those failures. Once the Pakistani security services started looking in earnest, they found the same thing. Almost every Al Qaeda suspect they picked up in the last year had some connection to Mohammed. Many of those arrested had no links to one another, but they all knew Mohammed.

Read more ....

My Comment: A riveting story on a manhunt that took years and .... I suspect .... covers only a small portion of what it took to capture this terror leader.

The Hunt For KSM (A Book Review)

Photo: Revelations: The new book tells a different story to what was reported at the time that KSM was captured

'I Am With KSM': Revealed, The Dramatic Text That Brought Down The 9/11 Mastermind (And How CIA Staged His Capture Photo To Humiliate Him Across The World) -- Daily Mail

After locking the toilet door the informant took out his cell phone and quietly sent the text that would bring down the mastermind of 9/11: ‘I am with KSM’.

The KSM in question was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and soon afterwards CIA agents stormed the house in Pakistan where he was staying and arrested him.

So ended the five year hunt for the Al Qaeda mastermind and one of the most wanted men on the planet, a new book claims.

Read more ....

My Comment: There is a mistake in this report .... KSM was water-boarded before going to Guantanamo .... not when he was there. Otherwise .... this book appears to be an interesting read.

Can The Sept. 11 Mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Escape The Death Penalty?

Holder Raises Question On Sept. 11 Death Penalty -- USA Today/AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Eric Holder says there's a real question about whether a terrorist suspect such as self-professed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed can face the death penalty if he were to plead guilty before a military commission.

Holder proposed last year trying Mohammed and four alleged accomplices in civilian courts in New York City. But that idea generated so much controversy that it's all but been abandoned.

Read more ....

My Comment: The US military has the death penalty on its books for U.S. service men .... why not for terrorists? It seems that the Attorney General is not up to date on the law.

Mastermind Of 9/11 Gives Texans A Chill

From Houston Chronicle:

WASHINGTON — Rep. Michael McCaul called the moment chilling and eerie. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee said she froze in place. And Rep. Pete Olson stared through the one-way glass, thinking, “My God, that’s the man who planned the attacks.”

There he was in a stark cell at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba, kneeling on a prayer rug, head bowed, wearing the white cap of faithful Muslim men worldwide.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, 44, the mastermind of the Sept. 11 al-Qaida attacks on the United States, appeared thinner than in the photos taken the 2003 night of his capture in Pakistan.

Read more ....

My Comment: It is not too often that one has the chance to see pure evil. These politicians should consider themselves lucky .... they have seen the face of the enemy up close.

Accused 9/11 Mastermind Wants Death Sentence

From Yahoo News:

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - Khalid Sheikh Mohammed said he would welcome becoming a "marytr" after a judge warned Thursday that he faces the death penalty for his confessed role as mastermind of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Wearing thick glasses and occasionally fussing with his turban or stroking his bushy gray beard, Mohammed seemed noticeably thinner in his first appearance since his capture in Pakistan in 2003. It was a stark contrast to the image the U.S. showed to the world back then, of a slovenly man with disheveled hair, an unshaven face and a T-shirt.

Read more ....

More News On Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
9/11 mastermind calls for death penalty -- AFP
9/11 'Mastermind': 'Kill Me As A Martyr' -- Sky News
Accused 9/11 mastermind wants death sentence -- Associated Press

My Comment: The trial process will not only go about showing his involvement and guilt in the 9/11 attacks, but it will also show the explicit involvement of others. This trial will probably take a long time because of the "war crimes" and "crimes against humanity" context of it, but his death sentence is more than certain .... I think that he is aware of that also.