9/11 suspects: We are terrorists to the bone

Videos
Photos

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-03-11 10:56

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – The self-professed mastermind and four other men charged in the September 11 attacks declared they are "terrorists to the bone" in a statement that mocked the US failure to prevent the killings and predicted America will fall like "the towers on the blessed 9/11 day."

In this file photo of a sketch by courtroom artist Janet Hamlin, reviewed by the US Military, the five Sept. 11, 2001 attack co-defendants sit during a hearing at the US Military Commissions court for war crimes, at the US Naval Base, in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Monday, January 19, 2009. From top to bottom, they are Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Waleed Bin Attash, Ramzi Binalshibh, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, and Mustafa Ahmad al Hawsawi. [Agencies]

In a rambling response to the government's case, the men also sought to justify the attacks, citing a violent interpretation of Islam and a series of grievances against the US, including support for Israel, the Iraq war and abuses at Abu Ghraib prison and in Guantanamo.

"To us, they are not accusations. To us they are badges of honor, which we carry with pride," the men wrote in the six-page document, which was released Tuesday by a military judge over the objections of the Pentagon-appointed lawyers for two of the men.

"So, you are the first class war criminals," they added, "and the whole world witnesses this."

The five, who are among 245 prisoners held at the US military lockup in Cuba, include Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the professed architect of the Sept. 11 attacks, and Ramzi Binalshibh, allegedly one of his key lieutenants in al-Qaida.

Both men previously said they were proud of their role in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon — and all five had said they wanted to plead guilty. But this is their most detailed statement to date.

The men do not go into details of their roles in the plot, but they call the charge of conspiracy "laughable" and mock US authorities for being unable to prevent the attacks. "Blame yourselves and your failed intelligence apparatus."

They also predict defeat for the US in Iraq and Afghanistan and the overall collapse of America. "Your end is very near and your fall will be just as the fall of the towers on the blessed 9/11 day."

The five, who could face the death penalty if convicted on charges that include murder and terrorism, were at a pretrial hearing in Guantanamo when President Barack Obama abruptly suspended all war-crimes proceedings pending a review of the much-criticized system for prosecuting terrorists created by Congress and the Bush administration.

They will still be tried, but under what type of system has not yet been determined. The proceedings, however, will probably not be at Guantanamo since Obama has ordered the detention center closed within a year.

Three of the defendants have been acting as their own lawyers but two of the men, Binalshibh and Mustafa al-Hawsawi, still have Pentagon-appointed military attorneys pending a court ruling on whether they are mentally competent to represent themselves.

Previous page 1 2 Next Page