The US government has declared that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, mastermind behind the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, will be tried by a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay rather than in the United States. This is a huge turn around for the Obama administration who had previously insisted upon giving Khalid a civilian trial in New York. Khalid is the self-proclaimed architect of the plan to bring down the twin towers in 2001, along with several other acts of terrorism.
According to the AFP, “In addition to felling the twin towers, KSM claims to have personally beheaded US journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002 with his 'blessed right hand' and to have helped in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing that killed six people.”
Khalid is responsible for the death of thousands of individuals through his acts of terrorism. He and his co-conspirators will now be tried as they ought to be – as military offenders and not in the civilian court. According to ABC news, “Mohammed confessed to his role in the attacks in 2008. He will be tried alongside Walid Muhammed Salih Mubarak Bin Attash, Ramzi Bin Al Shibh, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed Al Hawsawi, the four Sept. 11 co-conspirators Mohammed was undergoing proceedings with the first time around.”
Though an official date has not yet been set for the trial of Khalid and his co-conspirators, it is said to be in the near future. Khalid was reported as saying, “I'm not making myself a hero, when I said I was responsible for this or that…I'm looking to be a martyr for long time.” It is time that this “hero” be brought to justice through the trial at Guantanamo Bay.
By: Anne Lehan
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