Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confesses 9/11

[Larry O'Hara]

Sadly, his long imprisonment without trial, and the fact he was tortured makes this confession as valuable as, say, an 'assurance' from Tony Blair. If the affair serves to remind us just what nasty hypocrites run the US Empire, then it will have been worthwhile.

 

[Larry O'Hara]

Yes, my first thoughts were "bigging himself up" and "also confessed to the Black Death and the Manchester United plane crash".

indeed. The fact that he managed to both mug Boniface VIII and 5 centuries later do the Ripper murders in Whitechapel shows he is very dangerous.

 

[Yossarian]

I don't think those two mesh together very well. What happened: was he tortured, and when he finally broke, he used the opportunity to brag? Did the torture break not only his desire to keep silent, but also his sense of decorum, propriety and proportionality?

The only thing anybody’s got to go on is a partial transcript of what the guy supposedly said in a closed military tribunal with no lawyers, coming after he’s spent most of the last four years in a prison so dodgy it was a step up for him to be sent to Guantanamo, so I don’t know if it can be taken for granted that he even really confessed to any of that stuff – or maybe it took a few years of serious fucking with his head to make him believe that it’s the truth. It all looks deeply shabby compared to something like Nuremberg, anyway.

 

[mauvais]

indeed. The fact that he managed to both mug Boniface VIII and 5 centuries later do the Ripper murders in Whitechapel shows he is very dangerous.

His dreadful crimes have been made all the more appalling by the fact that he deliberately transcended space and time in order to commit them!

 

[editor]

How do you know what went on behind the scenes? You can't just speculate like that an make assumptions.

We all know that his treatment broke all agreements on international human rights, Mr Trollboy Rolleyes.

But feel free to provide evidence to the contrary.

 

[Yossarian]

His dreadful crimes have been made all the more appalling by the fact that he deliberately transcended space and time in order to commit them!

These are totally ruthless al-Qaeda killers we’re talking about – the laws of space and time mean nothing to these people.

 

[mauvais]

Legal bounds are nothing now! How can we be sure torture is illegal when the very terrorists we're doing it to might well have gone back and made up their own stupid laws without us even knowing?

 

[TomUS]

Despite the torture stuff, I think most of the "confession" is bragging. There's a list of crimes almost impossible to believe. I think most of it is...he want's to be a hero.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's claims that he was responsible for dozens of successful, foiled and imagined attacks in the past 15 years relies on a loose definition of the word "responsible." Officials say the 9/11 mastermind was key to some plots but a bit player in others.

While there apparently is truth in much of the statement, several officials said, there's also an element of self-promotion. They view the claims as at least in part a rallying cry to bolster his image and that of al-Qaida in the only venue Mohammed has left: a military courtroom from which the public is barred.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070315...orist_plots;_ylt=AuSjIWhvOC1WDCahCu0tbpes0NUE

 

[fela fan]

After years of human rights-bustin' illegal imprisonment, I wouldn't be surprised if they got him to confess to the shooting of Kennedy too.

He may well have been the main man behind 9/11, but the disgraceful way America has pursued his case makes it a totally meaningless and hollow 'confession.'

Hey, it's nice to agree with you editor!

 

[newharper]

How do you know what went on behind the scenes? You can't just speculate like that an make assumptions.

You genuinely don't understand the concept of human rights , do you.

The point is, is that they exist or they don't. If they exist for you, then they exist for every other human on the planet.

Do you think you have any rights or can i get the electrodes out?

 

[gentlegreen]

Very convenient to prop up the war motives by revealing Al Qaeda's intent to do something big outside the USA.
A bit late in the day .. and something of a no-brainer really that they would choose prominent targets.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

These are totally ruthless al-Qaeda killers we’re talking about – the laws of space and time mean nothing to these people.

True.

Maybe nobody planned 911.

 

[Dhimmi]

It'd be much healthier if the British system had been applied, then he could just claim it was half joke and half protest.

Hurrah!

 

[nino_savatte]

Despite the torture stuff, I think most of the "confession" is bragging. There's a list of crimes almost impossible to believe. I think most of it is...he want's to be a hero.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070315...orist_plots;_ylt=AuSjIWhvOC1WDCahCu0tbpes0NUE

Quelle surprise, confessions made under torture are never reliable. This doesn't mean the 'War on Terror' is over and the troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan anytime soon.

 

[oake]

Despite the torture stuff, I think most of the "confession" is bragging. There's a list of crimes almost impossible to believe. I think most of it is...he want's to be a hero.

Maybe he's sharp enough to realise he's going to hang anyway, so he might as well go out with a bang by 'confessing' to anything and everything, the more unlikely the better.

With nothing left to lose, perhaps he's chosen notoriety over an obscure demise?

 

[Jazzz]

I can't believe this 'confession' is taken seriously by anyone. It's comical!

 

[Jazzz]

Humm . . . I wouldn't be so quick to suggest that his confessions are throwout due to torture.

No doubt the CIA will have created an interrogation plan that checks for false positives. For example, drilling Khalid Sheikh Mohammed on actions where the CIA knows he has no involvement. Or inventing imaginary people, places, acts and money transfers and interrogating him, maybe for months, on events that they know did not take place. All this just to secure an correct answer to a question that is buried right in the middle of the interrogative procedure.

Believe me, after what I know of NKVD/KGB interrogators, I am willing to bet that the CIA did not give Khalid Sheik Mohammed a chance to tell any lies at all - even when under water.

Sure - but what if they wanted false confessions for their own purposes? Reading the list I'm reminded of the scandal we had here where petty criminals were encouraged to confess to all kinds of extra crimes, so the police forces would have a nice shiny clear-up rate.

 

[laptop]

With nothing left to lose, perhaps he's chosen notoriety over an obscure demise?

See my suspicion above that his claims - if in fact he made them - are a form of suicide.

 

[goldenecitrone]

Well, now we really know what happened on 9/11 isn't it time to move on to something else.

 

[Fruitloop]

It's complicated isn't it to decide when something is a crime and when it's the majesty of American Justice in action? How is one to tell the difference? source

It's been pointed out before that waterboarding and stress positions combined with beatings were two of the main forms of torture in Tuol Sleng, Pol Pot's notorious death camp for political prisoners. This was not because they were thought to be somehow more humane, but simply because they're very efficient methods of torture, and you can keep going for years with those kind of techniques in a way you can't if you start chopping bits off people medieval-style.

 

[rennie]

If he is really the mastermind of all these attacks then why not put him on trial? In court for all to see and snigger at?

 

[zoltan]

I can't believe this 'confession' is taken seriously by anyone. It's comical!

Its balls.

its is also fantastic PR for his crew - one one long confessional he makes the headlines all over the world and potntially takes the heat away form anyone else who is currently planning a horror/terror/carnage escapde

he has nothing to lose, but a much bigger audience means he has much to gain.

its cobblers and im surprised even the 'meriKans are falling for this - its too convienently neat and tidy to be straight

 

[Signal 11]

He also said he was involved in planning assassination attempts against Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/081B3141-A5FE-48DA-B56D-81FA26B51316.htm

 

[Fruitloop]

Really scary article about US outsourcing of torture (sorry, 'locally acceptable interrogation methods') in Pakistan here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/pakistan/Story/0,,2035478,00.html

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

But people on the boards can't have it two ways. One group says he's not believable because he was tortured to the point where he'd confess to pressing Donald Duck. The other group says he's not believable because he's just a boastful shit trying to big himself up [and maybe get more virgins in paradise?]

I don't think those two mesh together very well. What happened: was he tortured, and when he finally broke, he used the opportunity to brag? Did the torture break not only his desire to keep silent, but also his sense of decorum, propriety and proportionality?

That's some torture. Tortured beyond merely confessing, tortured to the point of braggadocio.

I don't see those two as completely incompatible. I thought he was a braggert a long while ago. I would be willing be bet that terrorism attracts more dynamic personalities. A boring person would be home making tea instead of bombs. Also, I wouldn't think torture would alter a fundamental personality trait. I doubt if confessions among actual terrorists are that hard to come by.

I suspect that the torture used on most actual terrorists (and waterboarding is torture) is used to get more operational information. They're looking for things that have more to do with day-to-day planning and implementation than "confessions".

I'm sure they know as well as we do that such "confessions" are worthless. No legitimate court or judge would touch a trial that presents it as evidence.

 

[Fruitloop]

They're sending people nuts on an industrial scale! Padilla for example was described after his treatment as being 'like a piece of furniture'. I think they can and do completely take people apart.

 

[kyser_soze]

I can't believe this 'confession' is taken seriously by anyone. It's comical!

Hmm, I wonder if you'd be so dismissive if he'd blabbed something along the lines of having been directly invovled with US administration officials in planning 9/11...

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Here's a countdown clock till the end of our capivity.

http://www.backwardsbush.com/

 

[rhys gethin]

If he is really the mastermind of all these attacks then why not put him on trial? In court for all to see and snigger at?

Because, having been treated as he has been, he would obviously be totally unfit to plead, and that would expose Bush - if anyone still needed that evidence - as morally equivalent to Hitler.

 

[rhys gethin]

How do you know what went on behind the scenes? You can't just speculate like that an make assumptions.

I make it a rule never to call anyone on here stupid, so I am forced to believe you are a late member of the SS. I will myself ALWAYS make the assumption that ANY evidence not brought to open court and challenged is lying filth, and that anyone who pretends not to know that is a stinking scoundrel. Wouldn't you agree?