December 08, 2008

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to Plead Guilty, Get Death Penalty [UPDATED: Judge Puts Plea on Hold]

Bumped**Scroll down for updates.

This is breaking, so I don't have all the details yet, but the gist of it is that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other Gitmo inmates have decided to plead guilty to all charges. This is not a plea bargain: the prosecutors are still asking for the death penalty. I'd be happy to grant it.

[UPDATE II: The latest word is that a) The five say they will only plea guilty if they get the death penalty; b) The judge has refused the plea pending a closer look at the law to see whether he can in a capital case. Keep fingers crossed that he can. The sooner the KSM and co. are dead, the better the world will be.]

UPDATE: False alarms? Eh, kinda -- but not really. Just jumping the gun a little. Further stories clarify that KSM and posse aren't actually entering a plea, rather they sent a letter to the judge claiming they wanted to claim credit for 9/11 and complaining about the entire system, including their lawyers. So what this is is an indication that they're through with fighting the charges which could lead to a guilty conviction -- knock on wood -- fairly soon.]

This is an admission of guilt and what appears to me to be Mohammed and company looking for martyrdom. So, do we give it to them? Al Qaeda's #2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, recently released a propaganda video extolling the virtues of the Bali bombers ("martyrs", he calls them) put to death by Indonesia.

But before the anti-death penalty crowd gets too overconfident in their argument that killing the 9/11 planners would "just be giving them what they want: martyrdom" -- which appears to be actually right on in this instance -- let me point out that al Qaeda propaganda video after propaganda video have also extolled the virtues of Khalid Shiekh Mohammed while he was busy rotting in Guantanamo. Ie, he's already a "martyr" for the cause alive or dead.

Also I'll note that among al Qaeda's many "reasons" given by Osama bin Laden for the 9/11 attack was that we were holding Omar Abdul Rahman ("The Blind Sheikh") in the federal pokey. The moral of the story is that whether we kill them or simply hold them prisoner those with the jihadi mindset will still hate us and find reason to blame us for an act of "injustice".

So, why not give them their wish and kill them? Call it an act of national catharsis. Palette cleansing if you will.

UPDATE III: Having dispensed with updates in their proper order, AllahP's comments on this seem appropriate right about here. Read it. Like I said, if it's six of one half dozen of the other vis-a-vis the propaganda front, I'm all for executing Chewbacca forthwith. It just feels so right.

Bloomberg:

Self-described Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four co-defendants today offered in a Guantanamo Bay courtroom to plead guilty to charges that could lead to the death penalty.

The five reached agreement to “announce our confessions and plea in full,” according to a document read in court by Judge Stephen Henley, an Army colonel....

“Are you prepared to enter pleas to the charges against you today?” the judge asked Mohammed.

“Yes,” Mohammed responded.

The document read today in court was filed by all five defendants on Nov. 4 following a series of meetings among them.

“Our success is the greatest praise of the Lord,” the judge read from the document.

I wonder how the 9/11 Truthers are going to spin this one? Don't worry, they will spin it, it's just a matter of how.

Thanks to Jeffrey Imm.

UPDATE: Hmmmm, so what does this mean? It's not an actual guilty plea, they just want to take credit for 9/11 mixed in with firing their "Zionist" lawyers? Good luck with that:

The letter implies they want to plead guilty but does not make clear whether they will admit to any specific charges. It says the men, who are representing themselves, wish to drop all previous defence motions.

Mohammed told Henley today that he had no faith in him, his Pentagon-appointed lawyers or the US president, George Bush.

"I don't trust you," he told the judge in English. Henley was assigned to the case after the previous judge resigned for undisclosed reasons last month.

both bin al-shibi and walid bin attash are major players in the USS cole bombing and the question also becomes, if the 9/'11 guilty plea is accepted, will these two then face trial for the USS Cole?