Guantanamo Bay, Cuba - Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged
mastermind of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, made a
ringing debut in court by declaring he wants to become a martyr and
hopes he receives the death penalty from the US military tribunal
that got underway Thursday.
Mohammed made his first public appearance before military
commissions on this remote part of Cuba since he was captured five
years ago, waterboarded by the CIA and, according to the Pentagon,
admitted to planning from 'A to Z' the attacks that claimed nearly
3,000 lives.
Wearing a white turban and tunic and sporting a thick, long beard,
Mohammed was calm while he defiantly challenged the legal proceedings
against him and four alleged al-Qaeda cohorts in the biggest trial
yet of suspects believed to have played a key role in the attacks.
He told the judge, Marine Colonel Ralph Kohlmann, that his Muslim
faith prevented him from acknowledging the legitimacy of his trial
and declined to accept US military-appointed attorneys.
Mohammed, 43, faces 169 counts of murder, conspiracy, hijacking
and other war crimes charges, and all five men could receive the
death penalty if convicted.
'This is what I wish,' Mohammed said in English. 'I have been
looking to be martyr for long time.'
Kohlmann granted similar requests for two other detainees, and
rejected the same demands of the two remaining defendants. The
refusal of the suspects could complicate the legal proceedings
against them and prompt more criticism from civil rights groups
monitoring the process.
Kohlmann patiently, repeatedly and at length explained to Mohammed
and Attash that the consequences of turning down legal representation
could cost them their lives, but both men refused to heed the
warnings and affirmed their desire to speak for themselves.
The high-profile case of Mohammed, known as KSM, and the four co-
defendants brings the spotlight back to the controversial military
commissions ordered by President George W Bush for prosecuting
suspects in the war on terrorism, but also highlights a major
challenge his administration faces in waging the broader global war
on terrorism.
The commissions have been under fire from the beginning by civil
rights groups who allege they have been designed to produce
convictions without affording the detainees the legal rights common
in civilian courts. The first process set up by Bush got tied down by
challenges in federal courts and was struck down in 2006 by the
Supreme Court, which ruled they violated the Constitution and Geneva
Conventions.
Months later the White House announced a revised process and
complied with the Supreme Court ruling by successfully securing
congressional approval. Still, there has been only one conviction so
far, and that was the case of Australian David Hicks, who pleaded
guilty and served out the remainder of his sentence in his home
country.
Later this month, the Supreme Court is due to decide on another
challenge to the commissions. A ruling against the White House could
give detainees the right to challenge their detention in federal
courts, a ruling that would almost certainly ensure the trial of the
most notorious suspects in the September 11 attacks won't be
completed - if at all - until after Bush leaves office in January.
At the same time, civil rights advocates charge any convictions
obtained by the administration under the military commissions will
not be warmly received because of the lack of credibility in the
process and allegations defendants were tortured - charges the White
House rejects.
'Had (the Bush administration) from the beginning held these
trials in a credible system, it's very likely they would be long
over, and the United States could have moved on, and there wouldn't
be so much attention on all of the problems with Guantanamo,' said
Jennifer Daskal, a senior counselor at Human Rights Watch in
Washington.
The military defends the tribunals, saying it has gone to great
lengths to ensure the proceedings are sound while protecting US
national security. The defendants and their attorneys will be allowed
to view all evidence - including classified material - and to
question witnesses against them, Brigadier General Thomas Hartmann,
the Pentagon's top advisor for the commissions, told reporters before
the trial got underway.
The process is 'fair, just and transparent,' Hartmann said.
Even if KSM and his alleged co-conspirators are acquitted, it's
likely they will remain in US custody as enemy combatants,
representing another challenge the United States and its global
partners face inn the war on terrorism. Unlike conventional wars,
where there is a clear beginning and a clear end - when prisoners of
war are returned to their home countries - the war on terrorism is an
endless battle.
'If you let the wrong guy go in a criminal justice system, the
number of people at risk is relatively small,' said John Pike, a
security analyst at GlobalSecurity.org outside Washington. Pike said
that with high-level terrorists responsible for large-scale attacks
there is a greater risk of allowing their release under the higher
conviction standards in a federal justice system.
'They have the capacity to do considerable harm,' Pike said.
'There are no easy solutions here.'
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