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Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Confessions of an Al Qaeda Operative

  
 
feathered_up
15:04 / 16.03.07
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a captured Al Qaeda leader, is currently being tried at Guantanamo Bay under military tribunal. Here's the New York Times article:



Suspected Leader of 9/11 Attacks is Said to Confess

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, long said to be the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, confessed to them at a military hearing held in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, on Saturday, according to a transcript released by the Pentagon yesterday. He also acknowledged full or partial responsibility for more than 30 other terror attacks or plots.

“I was responsible for the 9/11 operation, from A to Z,” he said.

In addition to the 9/11 attacks, the transcript provided by the Pentagon has Mohammed confessing to a role in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and the actual beheading of Jewish American journalist Daniel Pearl, as well as many other terror plots that were never performed. Sounds convincing, right?

I can't help but find myself somewhat skeptical of this confession. Perhaps it is the sheer breadth of the crimes he is supposedly confessing to, perhaps it is the audacity and extra-newsquip-friendliness of his statements, but something seems amiss here. Especially as the Bush Administration faces sharper and sharper criticism for its War on Terror, including the failure even produce results. In that light, Mohammed's confession seems awful convenient.

I am not the only one to have doubts. Another perspective is that Mohammed is something of a self-glorifying egotist who is claiming a bigger part in these attacks than he actually played. I could also imagine there being a strategy in admitting to a plethora of crimes to take heat off of other operatives still in the field. Anyway, here is an NPR piece about it:

Mohammed Confession Leaves Room for Skepticism

"The 9-11 Commission said Mohammed had an inflated view of himself, cultivating an image as a super-terrorist. Some observers believe that a sizable ego has led him to claim credit where credit isn't due."

I'm trying not to let the conspiracy fiend in me take over, and of course it is not totally unimaginable that Mohammed actually did play the role he says he has. But I think there are enough other motivations and factors at play here to leave room to wonder. This is particularly true in the demonstrated willingness of the Bush Administration to distribute misinformation to suit their causes.

What do you think?
 
 
grant
16:51 / 16.03.07
I think the fact that this is in headlines now when the fellow's been in custody since, what, 2001? is a good indicator that he's being trotted out to grab some headlines away from things like the VA Hospital hoo-ha and the firing of the US Attorneys.
 
 
MattShepherd: I WEDDED KALI!
17:14 / 16.03.07
I don't want to sound flip -- terrorism is a horrible thing, obviously -- but how difficult is it to plan a terrorist act, really? Given a few people willing to sacrifice their lives for the cause and some weapons/explosives, it doesn't seem inconceivable that the same person could have at least a part in planning dozens of terrorist activities.
 
 
grant
17:34 / 16.03.07
Well, I personally don't know that many people willing to blow themselves up for something they believe in, so I don't think I'd be able to do any networking on that end. It's all who you know, after all.

New thing on AP: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is full of it.

OK, that's not the actual headline, but still.

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.
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The 31 on his list range from the stunningly vicious suicide hijackings of Sept. 11, 2001, to others that current and former government officials say were more talk than concrete plans, such as a plot to kill Jimmy Carter and other former U.S. presidents.


and
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.

"I have never known a criminal — either terrorist or otherwise — that didn't exaggerate," said Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers, a former
FBI agent and the top Republican on the terrorism panel of the House Intelligence Committee.

and

One official cautioned that many of Mohammed's claims during interrogation were "white noise" — designed to send the U.S. on wild goose chases or to get him through the day's interrogation session.

In the Defense Department transcript, Mohammed said his statement was not made under duress. But Mohammed and human rights advocates have alleged that he was tortured, and legal experts say that could taint all his statements.

"In light of the rambling nature of his statements, and the views of some that he is prone to exaggerate his importance, we cannot feel confident we know exactly the level of his involvement in various prior attacks," said Joshua Dressler, a criminal law expert at Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University.


Oh, and he was captured in 2003.
 
  
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