Justice Department cuts deal with three 9/11 terrorists including mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohamad.

 

File photo of Khalid Sheikh Mohamad when he was captured. New York Port. 

The Justice Department has cut a deal with three 9/11 terrorists which will allow them to avoid the death penalty. New York Post. The terrorists include Yemeni Walid Bin Attash, who helped train the 9/11 hijackers, Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi, who helped the hijackers with travel plans and funding, and, most notably, Khalid Sheikh Mohamad, one of the primary planners of the attack. News that the three terrorists would not face the death penalty devastated the families of 9/11 victims who feel that the men have now escaped justice. The men had been held for decades at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and it is  unclear why a deal was cut now. Any trial for KSM would have been complicated by the fact that he was waterboarded as many as 183 times. 

My Comment:

There has been a considerable amount of outrage about this story. For those of us that lived through 9/11 these men are notorious and the idea that they are not going to face the death penalty is disgusting. If anyone deserved to get capital punishment it was the people that planned and made 9/11 happen. And now that will never happen.

I understand why the Justice Department did this, even though I don't agree with it. It would be very difficult to prove KSM's guilt after he got waterboarded. Any confessions he made during that would be inadmissible for obvious reasons. And you can argue that waterboarding is an 8th amendment violation against cruel and unusual punishment. Given how much evidence was collected via waterboarding it would be very hard to get much in the way of evidence for a trial. If they had put him on trial there was a real chance he would have been able to get off based on that. Same with the other two defendants. 

They still should have tried. Even if a judge ruled most of their evidence was inadmissible, it would have been worth the risk. If they had gotten off they could always drone strike them later, but to not get their day in court is a slap in the face for every 9/11 victim's family. And I am guessing even with limited evidence these men would have been convicted and executed. It's not like there is much in the way of question about their guilt. 

How much of an impact this will have is unclear to me. I think people that lived through 9/11 will be furious. But we also have to remember that 9/11 was 23 years ago. That means there are lot of people that weren't even born when it happened an a few more that were alive but were too young to remember anything about it. I am guessing most of those people don't care about this at all. 

Either way, every bit of this situation is an example of how the American justice system just doesn't seem to work correctly anymore. In any other time period these men would have been tried, convicted and executed a long time ago. But not only are they going to live, it took 20 years to figure that out! Sure, there would be major problems with the waterboarding issue at trial, but that could have been dealt with. 

Regardless, it's not like these guys are going to be let out anytime soon. I am guessing they are pleading guilty just so they can get better amenities than they are currently getting at Guantanamo Bay. Their sentence will probably ensure that they are never getting out again, but it is still frustrating that they are not getting the death penalty.