[oplapofffe]

I used to think the answer to this was Bin Laden, but after reading an article called "The Brain" (playboy's june issue), I switched my opinion to Khalid Shieikh Mohammed. Does anyone else agree with me? This guy was the mastermind behind so many terrorist attacks (incl. 9/11) that it made my head spin. It was also surprising to read that he received his bachelor's degree here in the States, with classmates describing him as a "class clown". Simply crazy, and scary when you think about it.

Thoughts or opinions?

Steve

[Clielldub]

I agree that Mohammed is very dangerous! Bin Laden is just the guy who funds it and plots it. Then his henchmen makes it all come to fruition.

[Eh085zE7]

Suspected Leader of 9/11 Attacks Is Said to Confess


Associated Press
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed shortly after his capture during a raid in Pakistan in March, 2003.


By ADAM LIPTAK
The New York Times
March 15, 2007

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, long said to be the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, confessed to them at a military hearing held in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, on Saturday, according to a transcript released by the Pentagon yesterday. He also acknowledged full or partial responsibility for more than 30 other terror attacks or plots.

“I was responsible for the 9/11 operation, from A to Z,” he said.

In a rambling statement, Mr. Mohammed, a chief aide to Osama bin Laden, said his actions were part of a military campaign. “I’m not happy that 3,000 been killed in America,” he said in broken English. “I feel sorry even. I don’t like to kill children and the kids.” [Excerpts, Page A23.]

He added, “The language of war is victims.”

Though American officials had linked Mr. Mohammed to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and to several others, his confession was the first time he spelled out in his own words a panoply of global terror activities, ranging from plans to bomb landmarks in New York City and London to assassination plots against former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton and Pope John Paul II. Some of the plots he claimed to plan, including the attempt on Mr. Carter, had not previously been publicly disclosed.

Mr. Mohammed indicated in the transcript that some of his earlier statements to C.I.A. interrogators were the result of torture. But he said that his statements at the tribunal on Saturday were not made under duress or pressure.

His actions, he said, were like those of other revolutionaries. Had the British arrested George Washington during the Revolutionary War, Mr. Mohammed said, “for sure they would consider him enemy combatant.”

The hearing also summarized some of the evidence the Pentagon says supports the designation of Mr. Mohammed as an enemy combatant, including a computer hard drive containing information about the Sept. 11 hijackers, letters from Mr. bin Laden and the details of other plots. It was seized, the government says, when Mr. Mohammed was captured.

Mr. Mohammed spoke before a combatant status review tribunal that has the narrow task of determining whether President Bush had properly designated him an enemy combatant. Mr. Mohammed’s confession will almost certainly be used against him if and when he is tried for war crimes by a military commission.

Parts of the transcript were redacted by the military, and there were suggestions in it that Mr. Mohammed contended he was mistreated while in the custody of the C.I.A. after his arrest in 2003. He was transferred to military custody at Guantánamo Bay last year.

By tribunal rules, Mr. Mohammed was aided by a “personal representative,” not a lawyer. His attempt to call two witnesses was denied. And the tribunal indicated that it would consider classified evidence not made available to Mr. Mohammed.

Combatant status review tribunals are informal hearings created in response to a 2004 decision by the United States Supreme Court to judge whether prisoners at Guantánamo were properly designated as enemy combatants and subject to indefinite detention. Unlike the military commissions that hear war crimes charges, the combatant status review tribunals offer minimal procedural protections and are not recognizably judicial.

In the past, the hearings have been partly open to the press. But a series of recent hearings, involving some of the 14 so-called high-value detainees transferred to Guantánamo from secret C.I.A. prisons last year, were closed. In addition to the Mohammed transcript, the Pentagon yesterday also released transcripts of the hearings of Abu Faraj al-Libbi and Ramzi bin al-Shibh, top Qaeda operatives.

Mr. Libbi did not attend his hearing, and in a statement contained in the transcript he said he would refuse to do so until he could be tried according to accepted judicial principles in the United States. He said he had not been granted a lawyer and could not introduce witnesses in his defense.

“If I am classified as an enemy combatant,” he said in the statement, “it is possible that the United States will deem my witnesses are enemy combatants and judicial or administration action may be taken against them. It is my opinion the detainee is in a lose-lose situation.”

The tribunals in all three cases reserved judgment on the question of whether the men were indeed properly classified as enemy combatants, but there is little doubt that the president’s designation will be affirmed.

The prisoners may appeal the conclusions of the tribunals to a federal appeals court in Washington. While not contesting his own guilt, Mr. Mohammed asked the United States government to “be fair with people.”

He said that many people who had been arrested as terrorists in the wake of 9/11 were innocent.

Mr. Mohammed’s representative, an Air Force lieutenant colonel whose name was not released, read a statement on Mr. Mohammed’s behalf “with the understanding he may interject or add statements if he needs to.”

In the statement, Mr. Mohammed described himself as the “military operational commander for all foreign operations around the world” for Al Qaeda.

He also took responsibility for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and the 2002 bombing of a nightclub in Bali.

Mr. Mohammed also outlined a vast series of plots that were not completed. Among his targets, he said, were office buildings in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York; suspension bridges in New York; the New York Stock Exchange “and other financial targets after 9/11”; the Panama Canal; British landmarks including Big Ben; buildings in Israel; American embassies in Indonesia, Australia and Japan; Israeli embassies in India, Azerbaijan, the Philippines and Australia; airliners around the world; and nuclear power plants in the United States.

He said he managed “the cell for the production of biological weapons, such as anthrax and others, and following up on dirty-bomb operations on American soil.”

Mr. Mohammed also said that he had taken part in “surveying and financing for the assassination of several former American presidents, including President Carter.” He added that he was responsible for an assassination plot against President Clinton in the Philippines in 1994.

But Mr. Mohammed interrupted his representative to clarify that he was not solely responsible for a 1995 attempt on the life of Pope John Paul II during a visit to the Philippines.

“I was not responsible,” Mr. Mohammed said, “but share.”

American officials and President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan have said that Mr. Mohammed took part in killing Daniel Pearl, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, in Pakistan in 2002. Though Mr. Mohammed referred to Mr. Pearl in passing in the transcript, he did not confess to the killing. He did say that he had plotted to assassinate President Musharraf.

At the end of the recitation, Mr. Mohammed was asked, “Were those your words?”

“Yes,” he answered.

Later, he said: “What I wrote here, is not I’m making myself hero, when I said I was responsible for this or that. But you are military man. You know very well there are language for war.”

It is not clear how many of Mr. Mohammed’s expansive claims were legitimate. In 2005, the Sept. 11 commission said that Mr. Mohammed was noted for his extravagant ambitions, and, using his initials, described his vision as “theater, a spectacle of destruction with KSM as the self-cast star, the superterrorist.”

Mr. Mohammed declined to speak under oath, saying his religious beliefs prohibited it. But he said he was telling the truth.

“To be or accept the tribunal as to be, I’ll accept it,” he said. “That I’m accepting American Constitution, American law or whatever you are doing here. That is why religiously I cannot accept anything you do.”

He added: “When I not take oath does not mean I’m lying.”

Mr. Mohammed, 41, is an ethnic Pakistani who grew up in Kuwait and graduated from North Carolina State Agricultural and Technical State University in 1986. He was captured on March 1, 2003, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, and was held in the secret C.I.A. prison system, where he is believed to have been subjected to harsh interrogation.

In a long monologue that fills about four single-spaced pages of the transcript, Mr. Mohammed said his motives were military ones.

“If America they want to invade Iraq they will not send for Saddam roses or kisses, they send for a bombardment,” he said. “I consider myself, for what you are doing, a religious thing as you consider us fundamentalist.

So, we derive from religious leading that we consider we and George Washington doing the same thing.”

He pleaded on behalf of some of his fellow detainees. “I’m asking you again to be fair with many detainees which are not enemy combatant,” Mr. Mohammed said. “Because many of them have been unjustly arrested.”

The unclassified part of the hearing lasted for a little more than an hour, according to the transcript.

Near the end, Mr. Mohammed summed up. “The American have human right,” he said. “So, enemy combatant itself, it flexible word.”

“War start from Adam when Cain killed Abel until now,” he said.

Margot Williams contributed reporting.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/15/us...ewanted=1&_r=1

[Konservir]

The New York Times
March 15, 2007

Taking Responsibility for Attacks

In a statement to a military tribunal, Khalid Sheikh Muhammed took responsibility for 31 terror attacks or attempts, including the following:

1. The 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

2. The 9/11 attacks, from A to Z.

3. The shoe bomber operation to down two American planes.

4. A 2002 shooting in Kuwait that killed an American marine.

5. The Bali nightclub bombing that killed more than 180 in 2002.

6. Planning attacks against several prominent American skyscrapers.

7. Planning to destroy American military vessels and oil tankers.

8. Planning to bomb the Panama Canal.

9. Planning to assassinate several former American presidents, including President Carter.

10. Planning to bomb several New York landmarks, including the stock exchange and suspension bridges.

11. Planning to destroy several London landmarks, including Heathrow Airport and Big Ben.

12. Planning to destroy buildings in the Israeli city of Eilat, using planes leaving Saudi Arabia.

13. Planning to destroy Israeli and American embassies around the world.

14. Sending fighters into Israel to conduct surveillance on strategic targets.

15. Bombing a hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, frequented by Israeli travelers.

16. Launching a Russian surface-to-air missile at an El Al airliner leaving Mombasa.

17. Conducting surveillance on nuclear power plants in the United States.

18. Planning to hit NATO headquarters in Brussels.

19. Planning to bomb 12 American aircraft full of passengers.

20. An assassination attempt on President Clinton in the Philippines in 1994 or 1995.

21. Shared responsibility for an assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II in the Philippines.

22. Planning the assassination of President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan.

23. Attempting to destroy an American oil company in Sumatra owned by the Jewish former secretary of state, Henry Kissinger.


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/15/us/15glist.html

[seawolferr]

9/11 mastermind admits killing reporter

By KATHERINE SHRADER, Associated Press Writer
March 15, 2007

WASHINGTON - Suspected 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confessed to the beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl and was central to 30 other attacks and plots in the U.S. and worldwide that killed thousands of victims, said a revised transcript released Thursday by the U.S. military.

"I decapitated with my blessed right hand the head of the American Jew, Daniel Pearl, in the city of Karachi, Pakistan," Mohammed is quoted as saying in a transcript of a military hearing at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, released by the Pentagon.

"For those who would like to confirm, there are pictures of me on the Internet holding his head," he added.
. . .
(Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor and Matthew Lee contributed to this report.)

For remainder of article, (does not give any more information about Daniel Pearl):
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070315/...ist_confession

[giftplas]

United States Department of Defense
Mar. 14, 2007



Combatant Status Review Tribunals/Administrative Review Boards

Administrative Review Board--Round 2 Update
Administrative Review Procedures Notification - Detainee notification document regarding upcoming Administrative Review Board procedures
GTMO Detainee Processes - Department of Defense fact sheet on the various detainee processes
ARB-1 Decisions - A summary of Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England's review of board recommendations
Combatant Status Review Tribunal Updates - A summary of Convening Authority Rear Adm. James M. McGarrah's review of tribunal records
Archives - Photos of previous room review tribunals and review boards were held at
Reports:
07/14/2006 CSRT Procedures
07/14/2006 ARB Procedures
08/09/2006 Flow Diagram for ARB Procedures
News Releases:
02/09/2006 Guantanamo Bay Detainee Administrative Review Board Decisions Completed 12/14/2004 Defense Department Conducts First Administrative Review Board 09/15/2004 Administrative Review Implementation Directive Issued 07/30/2004 Combatant Status Tribunal Implementation Guidance Issued 07/07/2004 Combatant Status Review Tribunal Order Issued 06/23/2004 Navy Secretary to Oversee Enemy Combatant Admin Review



News Articles:


06/15/2005 DoD Details Detainee Efforts to Senate Panel
Briefing Transcripts 03/06/2007 Annual Administrative Review Boards for Enemy Combatants Held at Guantanamo Attributalbe to Senior Defense Officials 07/08/2005 Defense Department Special Briefing on Administrative Review Boards for Detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba 03/29/2005 Defense Department Special Briefing on Combatant Status Review Tribunals 12/20/2004 Secretary of the Navy England Update on Combatant Status Review Tribunals 10/1/2004 Secretary of the Navy England Update on Combatant Status Review Tribunals 09/08/2004 Secretary of the Navy England Update on Combatant Status Review Tribunals 08/13/2004 Secretary of the Navy England Briefs on Combatant Status Review Tribunals 07/30/2004 Secretary of the Navy England Updates on Review Tribunals 07/16/2004 Secretary of the Navy England Briefs on Review Tribunals 07/09/2004 Secretary of the Navy England Briefing on Combatant Status Review Tribunals 07/07/2004 DoD Background Briefing on the Combatant Status Review Tribunal
Biographies Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England
OARDEC Director

High Value Detainees CSRT Information Khalid Shaykh Muhammad
Unclassified Summary
Transcript of CSRT Hearing
Abu Faraj al-Libi Unclassified Summary Transcript of CSRT Hearing Ramzi Bin al-Shib Unclassified Summary Transcript of CSRT Hearing

_________

Source of this post:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Comb...Tribunals.html

[yespkorg]

B S
.

[paypaltoegold1]

^^
I had the same thought... i mean maybe it is NOT B S but I have become so cynical about misinformation coming out of the administration I cannot help but wonder about ulterior motives.

As for the question on who is the world's most important terrorist, even if all this is true, let's not forget the symbolic importance of capturing bin lade. To the world at large, he is the face of al queda and probably a source of significant funding.

[XiWm9O9S]

Bin Laden can raise recruits & funding dead or alive.

He is now a mythic creature -- and will be with us for eternity.

[MYMcvBgl]

"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority."
- G.W. Bush, 3/13/02

"I am truly not that concerned about him."
- G.W. Bush, repsonding to a question about bin Laden's whereabouts,
3/13/02 (The New American, 4/8/02)

[seosoftseo]

“I’m not happy that 3,000 been killed in America,” he [Khalid] said in broken English. “I feel sorry even. I don’t like to kill children and the kids.” [Excerpts, Page A23.]

He added, “The language of war is victims.” Right, right! Because we all know that deep down inside, terrorists feel bad about knocking off the innocent...

[Sironimoll]

On my computer I keep a digital photo of the WTC victims, who were struggling to catch a breath of fresh air, as they piled on top of one another and hung out of narrow windows of one of the towers, as fire and smoke was all around them. "Why we fight."

[SimSlim]

If you have not done so already, create a sig with this slogan and this pic (size-reduced, of course) and put it in your PMs and email accounts. I have some friends/acquaintances (both Republican and Democrat) who have been doing this for quite awhile.

[bromgeksan]

On my computer I keep a digital photo of the WTC victims, who were struggling to catch a breath of fresh air, as they piled on top of one another and hung out of narrow windows of one of the towers, as fire and smoke was all around them. "Why we fight."

And thus you continue the fallacy.

We are not fighting the guys that had ANYTHING to do with 9-11.

And this guy claiming to be the mastermind of almost every terrorist act against the states in the past 15 years is more than a little un-plausable.

Bob, take it down TWO notches and loosen your belt a little. It would also help if your belt was around your waist! This "Blame and punish" attitude you seem to have about the entire middle east is not healthy and shows a lack of understanding.

I am not saying you should go and hug a terrorist, but between your rants about Iran and things like associating Iraq and the fight there with 9-11 it is really too much.

[Gaiaakgyyyg]

^^
agreed. if that is why we're fighting, than we are fighting in the wrong country... remember 15/19 hijackers were saudi, and none were iraqis. . maybe we should be fighting in saudi arabia... oh yean except for that oil thing and the close family ties between the house of saud and the bushes...

Saddam may have been evil, but he wanted nothing to do with bin laden or al queda, and was in fact fearfull of theocracies beleiving that fundamental islamist posed potential threats to his authority and thus power. Iraq was secular prior to our invasion, and was not a haven for terrorists. Afghanistan yes, but Iraq??? It boggles the mind.

[Jimambol]

On my computer I keep a digital photo of the WTC victims, who were struggling to catch a breath of fresh air, as they piled on top of one another and hung out of narrow windows of one of the towers, as fire and smoke was all around them. "Why we fight."

Bush good friends in Saudi Arabia, the ones he holds hand with durning photo ops are more responsible then anyone for 9/11. That country, and sadly our moneythru Oil fund Islamic schools that teach to kill Jews and Americans when they should be teaching abc's

[Les Allen]

Rant city. "Why we fight"

[fuslkdhfma]

Bob, what do you think of my suggestion?

My friend in the army has this on his sig right now:


================================================== ==========================================
Heinlein Quotes: "Pacifism is a shifty doctrine under which a man accepts the benefits of the social group without being willing to pay - and claims a halo for his dishonesty." -- John Joseph Bonforte, "Double Star." By Robert Heinlein

DESTRUCTION TO THE ENEMIES OF AMERICA!
Cf. The "Soldiers Creed" of the U.S. Army (http://www.gordon.army.mil/m-vic/web...08x10%2002.htm)

[Wmshyrga]

^^ agree on the pacifism quoate all of which makes me wonder why we placed a lower priority on attacking out enemies in Afgansitan than we did on premeptively overthrowing a govt.that was not a threat to us did not attack us.

[hotsaucemidl]

makes me wonder why we placed a lower priority on attacking out enemies in Afgansitan than we did on premeptively overthrowing a govt.that was not a threat to us did not attack us.

just what happens when you have a Bozo as president