The US military is charging six Guantanamo Bay detainees with
murder and war crimes for the Sept 11, 2001, terror attacks on the
US.
Brigadier-General Thomas W. Hartmann, legal advisor to the
tribunal system ordered by President George W. Bush, announced that
169 charges had been sworn against the six men "alleged to be
responsible for the planning and execution of the (9/11) attacks"
that killed about 3,000 people.
Among the accused is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected
mastermind of the attacks in which hijackers flew planes into the
World Trade Center twin towers in New York and into the Pentagon in
Washington, Hartmann said. Another hijacked plane crashed in a
field in western Pennsylvania after passengers fought the air
pirates.
"The charges allege a long-term, highly sophisticated, organized
plan by Al-Qaida to attack the United States of America," Hartmann
told a Pentagon press conference on Monday.
Officials said they would seek the death penalty and hope to try
all six together. That would make it the first capital trial under
the military's terrorism-era tribunal system.
The other five men charged are Mohammed al-Qahtani, who
officials suspect was to have participated in the 9/11 operation;
Ramzi Binalshibh, said to have been the main intermediary between
the hijackers and Al-Qaida leaders; Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, known as
Ammar al-Baluchi, a nephew and lieutenant of Sheikh Mohammed;
al-Baluchi's assistant, Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi; and Waleed bin
Attash, a detainee known as Khallad, who investigators say selected
and trained some of the 19 hijackers who died in the hijacked
planes.
Dominic J. Puopolo Jr, whose mother, Sonia Morales Puopolo, was
a passenger on board one of the downed airliners, said he was
relieved but had mixed feelings.
"There's a feeling that we have to rehash this again, and it
will be in the media and bring back some very painful memories," he
said. "On the other hand, the worst of the worst are going to be
held accountable for their actions."
What impact will it have on the case that Sheikh Mohammed was
subjected to waterboarding by CIA interrogators? Hartmann said it
would be up to the tribunal judge to determine what evidence is
allowed.
Al-Qahtani, too, has alleged torture, and last fall recanted a
confession he said he made after he was beaten, abused and
humiliated at Guantanamo.
(China Daily via agencies February 13, 2008)
