U.S. charges 6 Islamist Muslims for 9/11

Death penalty sought as U.S. charges six Islamist Muslims for 9/11 jihad terror attacks in New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia

Pauline Jelinek with the Associated Press reported Monday, Feb. 11, on the Pentagon’s charges against six Guantanamo Bay detainees on murder and war crimes felonies connected to the Sept. 11, Islamist Muslim jihad terrorist attacks.

The Pentagon, itself one of the stricken targets of the attack, clarified Monday their intention to seek death penalties against the six; it would be the first capital trials under the terrorism-era military tribunal system.

"These charges allege a long term, highly sophisticated, organized plan by al-Qaeda to attack the United States of America," Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann, the legal adviser to the tribunal system, told reporters.

He said a total of 169 charges were sworn against suspects "alleged to be responsible for the planning and execution of the attacks" in 2001 that killed nearly 3,000 people.

Hartmann said the six include Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the attacks in which hijackers flew planes into buildings in New York and Washington.

Another hijacked plane crashed in the fields of western Pennsylvania.

The military wants the six tried together before a military tribunal, but the cases may be clouded because of recent revelations that Mohammed was subject to a harsh interrogation technique known as waterboarding — which critics call torture.

Asked what impact that will have on the case, Hartmann said it will be up to the military judge to determine what evidence is allowed.

Prosecutors have been working for years to assemble the case against suspects in the attacks that prompted the Bush administration to launch its global war on terror.

The other five men charged include: Mohammed al-Qahtani, labeled the 20th hijacker; Ramzi Binalshibh, a main intermediary between the hijackers and al-Qaeda leaders and Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, known as Ammar al-Baluchi, a nephew of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Al-Baluchi is identified as Mohammed's lieutenant for the operation.

Also charged are: al-Baluchi assistant Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi and Waleed bin Attash, known as Khallad, who investigators say selected and trained some of the 19 hijackers…

Hartmann said Monday that the defendants will get the same rights as U.S. soldiers tried under the military justice system including the right to remain silent, call witnesses, and know the evidence against them.

Appeals can go all the way to the Supreme Court.

He called the charges sworn Monday "only allegations" and said the accused will remain innocent until proven guilty.

The decision to seek the death penalty drew criticism from within the international community. A number of countries have said they object to the use of capital punishment on their nationals held at Guantanamo.

The military tribunal system requires that a panel of 12 unanimously find a defendant guilty for capital punishment cases, Hartmann said.

Officials plan to hold the trial in a specially constructed court at Guantanamo that will allow lawyers, journalists and some others to be present, but leave relatives of Sept. 11 victims and others to watch the trial through closed-circuit broadcasts…

In Guantanamo Bay hearings that have been criticized as unfair, Mohammed confessed to the 9/11 attack and a chilling string of other terror plots last March.

"I was responsible for the 9/11 operation from A to Z," Mohammed said in a statement read during the session, according to hearing transcripts later released by the Pentagon.

Under the system, the charges are forwarded to the convening authority for military commissions, Susan Crawford. She can refer some or all of them for trial.

And it could be months or longer before trials begin for the six Sept. 11 defendants. With the appeals process, it would likely be some time after any convictions before executions would be possible.

White House press secretary Dana Perino said Monday that President Bush and the White House had no role in the decision to seek the death penalty for the six charged.
"Obviously 9-11 was a defining moment in our history and…in the global war on terror," Perino said.

"This judicial process is the next step in that story. The president is sure that the military is going to follow through in a way that the Congress said they should."

Here’s a rundown of charge details:

*Each: conspiracy and a separate offenses including murder in violation of the law of war, attacking civilians and destruction of property, in violation of the law of war and terrorism.

*Khalid Sheik Mohammed: conspiracy in proposing the attacks to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden as early as 1996, getting approval and funding from bin Laden to oversee the operation.

*Mohammed, bin Attash, Binalshibh, Aziz Ali: aircraft hijacking. To-wit:

*Bin Attash: administer al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan where two hijackers were trained.
*Binalshibh: find flight schools for the hijackers;

Aziz Ali: get money and flight training for the hijackers;

*Al-Hawsawi and al-Qahtani: help with money.

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