KSM: I'm The Mastermind Behind AQ
The military tribunal of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed turned into a brag-fest, as the captured terrorist took credit for almost every attack al-Qaeda has attempted. His admitted work goes back to 1993 and the first attack on the World Trade Center, and extends to planning assassination attempts against world leaders from Pope John Paul II to Jimmy Carter (via Hot Air):
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, confessed to that attack and a string of others during a military hearing at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to a transcript released Wednesday by the Pentagon."I was responsible for the 9/11 operation from A to Z," Mohammed said in a statement that was read during the session, which was held last Saturday.
Mohammed claimed responsibility for planning, financing and training others for attacks ranging from the 1993 truck bombing of the World Trade Center to the attempt by would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight with explosives hidden in his shoes. And he also claimed that he was tortured by the CIA after his capture in 2003.
In all, Mohammed said he was responsible for planning 28 attacks, including many that were never executed. The comments were included in a 26-page transcript released by the Pentagon, which blacked out some of his remarks.
I'm not sure if Mohammed's on the level or if he just wants to pad the legend for later jihadis. One would think that killing 3,000 people in a single day would be enough, but Khalid wants to make sure we get the point. However, if he's taking credit for attacks that never came off, it seems to me that he's adding to the reputation of American counterterrorism rather than his own track record of success at mass murder.
His hearing proved how bad the attacks would have gotten, had the US not taken the war to the terrorists. Mohammed spoke about AQ's efforts to develop biological and nuclear weapons to attack America:
He offered a chilling confession to “managing and following up on the Cell for the Production of Biological Weapons, such as anthrax and others, and following up on Dirty Bomb Operations on American soil.”
Ramzi Binalshibh and Abu Faraj al-Libi showed a little more intelligence and opted not to participate in the tribunals. Maybe they're rethinking the whole Legends Of Jihadis thing.
Posted by Ed Morrissey on March 14, 2007 8:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (7)
