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9/11 'Mastermind,' 4 More To Confess

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The Associated Press

Published: December 9, 2008

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE - The alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks and four co-defendants told a military judge Monday they want to immediately confess at their war-crimes tribunal, setting up likely guilty pleas and their possible executions.

The five said they decided on Nov. 4, the day President-elect Barack Obama won the White House, that they were abandoning all efforts to defend themselves against the capital charges. It was as if they wanted to rush toward convictions before Obama - who has vowed to end the war-crimes trials and close Guantanamo - takes office.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and another defendant said at their arraignment in June they would welcome execution as a path to martyrdom.

The judge, Army Col. Stephen Henley, asked Mohammed and his co-defendants if they were prepared to enter a plea.

All five said yes, but there was no indication when they would be allowed to do so.

Mohammed, who has already told interrogators he was the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, also told the judge Monday that he had no faith in him, his Pentagon-appointed attorneys or President George W. Bush.

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