9/11

Moussaoui trial propaganda part II: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed ‘death penalty makes me a martyr; anything less and I win’

A 10:25 AM (EDT) update from Mike Nizza on the New York Times’ blog tells of self-admitted 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s arraignment:

In his first public appearance since his 2003 capture, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed told an American military judge that he wanted to fire his legal team. “I will represent myself,” he said. He cited religion, saying the he “cannot accept any attorney who is governed” by law “rather than the Lord of the law,” Bloomberg News reported.

When the judge informed him that he faced the death penalty, the Al Qaeda operative welcomed the possible sentence with open arms. “Yes, this is what I wish, to be a martyr for a long time,” he said.

The anti-death penalty activists will be pouring out into the streets with shouts of “Save KSM: Don’t turn him into a martyr.”

In Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s jihad-driven mind, he wins — life or death — either way. Yet the only way he really wins is if we let his propaganda drive the decision either way. We win if we follow our law and impose the appropriate sentence of death upon this self-admitted war criminal whose actions led to the murder of 2,973 men, women, and children on September 11, 2001.

After pleading guilty and during the two days of his testimony during the death penalty phase of his trial, Zacarias Moussaoui mocked the family members of 9/11 victims who had testified, seeming to goad the jury into sentencing him to death. Yet, when the sentence was handed down, this was the scene:

Moussaoui, who pleaded guilty to six terrorism conspiracy charges related to the attacks, gave a slight smirk as the verdict was read aloud by U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in a packed courtroom here.

“America, you lost!” the husky terrorist called out later as he was led from the courtroom. “I won.”

Zacarias Moussaoui was sent by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to train and become a hijacker pilot, well in advance of September 11. Moussaoui was not told the details of the “planes operation” so that he could not reveal the plot if captured; that is the same reason why none of the other pilots knew, except for Mohamed Atta who needed to know to execute the plan. While it is important to note that Moussaoui may have been sent as the pilot of an additional plane (earlier planning included targeting buildings on the West Coast and Chicago) or to pilot a plane during a second-wave attack, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed briefly considered him as a replacement muscle hijacker after the designated 20th hijacker was denied entry into the United States in June 2001.

The point is the jury knew all that when they deliberated Moussaoui’s sentence.

Yet Moussaoui “won” when he was sentenced to life imprisonment because several members of the jury bought his propaganda (as echoed by a few 9/11 family members and anti-death penalty activists) that a death sentence would make him a martyr; he won because the jury let the propaganda affect their decision.

It remains to be seen whether another jury repeats that mistake with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and company.

Response to New York Daily News by Debra Burlingame

The New York Daily News falsely and dishonestly reported yesterday ([in] 9/11 Kin Barred from Gitmo Trial by James Gordon Meek) that 9/11 family members have been barred from observing the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four of his co-conspirators. In fact, the Daily News and its reporter know that the trial, which has yet to be scheduled and which may not commence for several months, will be broadcast on closed circuit tv and all 9/11 family members will be able to monitor the gavel-to-gavel proceedings from remote locations here in the United States.

Further, it falsely reports that the DOD singled out one family member to “secretly” attend Thursday’s arraignment of these five 9/11 defendants, heavily insinuating that the purpose was to propagandize on behalf of the Bush administration, “alongside conservatives from the American Legion and Judicial Watch.” I am the family member the article names, calling me a “GOP loyalist whose brother Charles died in the attacks.” Essentially, the article accuses me of using my brother’s brutal murder as an opportunity to engage in a “covert” operation whose end is crass partisan politics.

This is an outrageous personal insult and deeply hurtful accusation. In the six and one half years since my brother, Chic, the captain of American Airlines flight 77, was brutally murdered in the cockpit of his airplane, my primary focus has been to contribute to the nation’s effort in stopping these barbaric terrorists from perpetrating another attack.

Recently, while researching an article I am writing about former Guantanamo detainee Abdullah Al-Ajmi, who carried out a deadly suicide attack in Mosul, Iraq six weeks ago, I asked a Pentagon public information officer whether the arraignment of 9/11 defendants would be taking place as scheduled. I was surprised when the press officer affirmed that it would and asked if I would be interested in attending. Of course, I was. I felt the Pentagon should have offered all 9/11 family members the opportunity to attend the arraignment, but understood the decision not to do so. There is an emotional component to these events that can be profoundly debilitating. In my experience, the victims’ liaison personnel are highly attuned to and protective of families needs. The trip to Guantanamo is grueling, the conditions are spartan — water is rationed and members of the press will be sleeping in tents — all for a proceeding that may be over in half a day, and which could well be postponed after observers arrive due to rulings on pending defense motions.

We all want to see justice done, and many of us are hoping that the military commissions provide a fair and objective means of holding these men accountable for their war crimes. Some have already decided that any legal proceedings short of criminal trials with full Constitutional rights are defective. I have taken the view that these men are war criminals who are not entitled to Constitutional protections that even uniformed prisoners of war in World War II did not receive. Giving Miranda rights to terrorists would seriously undermine the country’s ability to gather the kind of critical intelligence we need to prevent future attacks on innocent civilians. The detainees’ habeas attorney Michael Ratner — who has made it clear that his mission is to shut down Guantanamo — bragged, “You can’t run an interrogation…with lawyers.”

The military commissions, as currently constituted in accordance with the Military Commissions Act of 2006 enacted by Congress, must be above reproach. Many 9/11 family members are taking a wait and see attitude. We refuse to call them “rigged” or a “kangaroo court” without evidence of impropriety simply because they are administered by the military. While the rights of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his fellow defendants will remain the obvious focus of attention and the subject of intense debate, the bitter reality is that my brother and the 2,972 other victims who died on 9/11 were offered no rights of any kind. At the very least, we should never forget them. For me, this was not about politics.

I have come to know dozens of 9/11 family members over the years. They have my deep respect and many have become dear friends. I would never countenance or participate in an effort to bar them from what I know is so important to us all. To suggest that the government concocted a “secret” or “covert” trip to Guantanamo Bay, in full view of members of the press, the ACLU, Human Rights Watch and other NGO’s, is patently absurd. My deepest regret is that by mischaracterizing the nature and circumstances of this episode, reporter Meek has caused unnecessary hurt by inaccurately implicating the Pentagon’s victim-liaison officer, Capt. Karen Loftus, who knew absolutely nothing about my last-minute inclusion on the observer list and who is working night and day to fairly and reasonably accommodate all 9/11 families members for the forthcoming trial itself.

Editor — Also see these:

No 9/11 kin will witness Gitmo arraignments, thanks to DoD and a NY Daily News ‘reporter’

ABC News: 9/11 Families: Gitmo Tribunals ‘Tainted’