‘Superterrorist’ Sheik Mohammed confesses to planning 9/11
At a military hearing in Guantánamo Bay Khalid Sheik Mohammed confessed to being the mastermind of the September 11 attacks;
he also claimed to have been “responsible” for: the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; Richard Reid’s attempted shoe bombing of an airplane; the bombing of a nightclub in Bali, Indonesia; and plots to assassinate several former presidents, including Jimmy Carter.
“For sure,”
he said,
“I’m American enemies.”
According to the released transcript, when asked whether his statement was the result of mistreatment by his interrogators, he said,
“CIA peoples. Yes. At the beginning when they transferred me [REDACTED].”
Despite his statements, it is unclear how much involvement he could have had in the 31 separate attacks he listed.
Mohammed’s capture was followed by years of detention in secret CIA facilities, where he was held without any contact with the outside world.
Mohammed presented evidence, in the form of a written statement, in which he appears to allege abuse. The tribunal president told Mohammed he had received the statement “regarding certain treatment that you claim to have received” before arriving at Guantanamo Bay.
The tribunal president also asked whether any statements he made under interrogation were “as the result of any of the treatment.” Mohammed answered: “CIA peoples. Yes. At the beginning when they transferred me . . .” The rest of the sentence is redacted from the transcript.
The other hearings were for Abu Faraj al-Libi, who did not appear at his hearing, and Ramzi Binalshibh, who allegedly played a direct role in the Sept. 11 attacks. He also did not participate in the hearing.
Mohammed described himself as Osama bin Laden’s operational director for the Sept. 11 attacks and as al-Qaeda’s military operational commander for “all foreign operations around the world.”
He claimed to have been “responsible” for the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center, Richard Reid’s attempt to ignite a shoe bomb on an airliner over the Atlantic Ocean in December 2001, and the October 2002 bombing of a nightclub in Bali, Indonesia.
Mohammed also said he plotted to assassinate several former presidents, including Jimmy Carter, a scheme not previously revealed.
Mohammed described several other plots that never came about, such as attacks on buildings in California, Chicago and Washington state, and on the New York Stock Exchange.
The Sept. 11 commission described Mohammed as a flamboyant operative who developed grandiose plans for attacks even as other al-Qaeda leaders urged him to focus on the Sept. 11 plot.
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