Posted on 12/08/2008 5:21:42 PM PST by Pontiac
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four co-defendants said they wanted to confess to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror conspiracy and asked a military judge to take their guilty pleas at once.
"We don't want to waste time," Mr. Mohammed told the judge, Col. Stephen Henley. "We want to enter a plea" to capital charges stemming from the hijack attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.
But defense lawyers claimed that two defendants, Ramzi Binalshibh and Mustafa al Hawsawi, were mentally incompetent to take such a serious step, and the judge deferred a decision until psychological evaluations were considered by the military commission, as the court here is called.
The move, which the defendants apparently believe would hasten an execution they consider martyrdom, raised other issues. Col. Henley said he would have to schedule a hearing sometime after this week to ensure that their pleas are knowing and voluntary. Moreover, he asked prosecutors to file briefs on an apparent ambiguity in the 2006 Military Commissions Act, which suggests that a death sentence can only be imposed if a unanimous military jury agrees. At this stage, no jury has been seated.
Said Hamilton Peterson of Bethesda, Md., whose parents were passengers on United Flight 93. "It was stunning to see today how not only do the defendants comprehend their extensive rights and how they take them for granted, they are explicitly asking the court to hurry up because they are bored with the due process they are receiving."
Jennifer Daksal, an attorney with Human Rights Watch, said the defendants may well have pleaded guilty had they been prosecuted in civilian court.
"What should be a major victory for holding the 9/11 conspirators accountable has instead been tainted by torture and unfair trial
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
And then they should be hung.
Huh? How is a trial a victory? These are evil thugs, enemies of the country and of freedom. They didn't shoplift, they launched an attack on our country.
Most likely has been I would think
I think that may be one reason that they want to be executed as soon as possible. To prevent themselves from giving up any more useful info.
Pleading guilty in order to hasten their implied martyrdom is one thing, confessing is something totally different and I don’t believe any of these animals have the capacity for true confession, because they don’t believe they committed any crimes; rather they acted for Allah in a jihad...or something along those lines...
In any case, whatever leads to an expedited reunion between these animals and their “god” is fine with me.
What if we caught Hitler alive and he was determined to be insane... then what?
These people don’t know freedom from their derriere.
They think that the Soviet Union was a workers paradise.
I think that their confessions would more than likely be somewhat of a manifesto against the western imperialist. If they can get away with it.
Actually I believe that Hitler was insane at the end of his life.
Considering all of the amphetamines and other drugs that he was taking on a daily basis just to keep himself going.
It is also almost a certainty that he was in the late stages of Parkinson’s disease which can cause paranoia.
But it is doubtful that these men could demonstrate such underlying causes for mental infirmity.
But perhaps they could plead not guilty by reason of misapplication of Religious Doctrine.
They have been in custody HOW long????
This must really go against the narration that the New York Times had on these murders. How can they freely confess when they are supposed to be tortured victims of Gitmo in need of liberation by our court system.
I’m sure your right but our guys should just keep on with some “practice extracting”. helpful OJT for the new recruits and good a great time to explore new methods.
Hey these lawyers are getting a regular government pay check to defend these murders. Billable hours are at stake here.
They are afraid of being liberated by the courts. They would not last a day in their home countries.
Maybe some of our more clever authorities,
have been telling the terrs Guantanamo will be closed and the prisoners awaiting trial to be transferred,
To Jordan.
Easy. The torture is not to obtain a confession. These murders are proud of their work and readily admit their guilt to killing thousands of unbelievers.
The novel interrogation techniques (torture) are used to extract useful intelligence against the al Qaeda organization.
Of course what the New Yuck Times and the rest neglect to mention is that these men are unlawful combatants and not entitled to any rights of a US citizen or the rights of a soldier under the Geneva Convention.
quickest execution in U.S. history — WWII. Germans land in Texas hell-bent on performing nefarious acts. They were caught, one ratted the other two out, and they were all executed within minutes of each other. Same thing should happen to these scum. Shouldn’t take longer than 15 minutes, tops.
Yes they got what they deserved but it is not strategically wise to execute captured spies/saboteurs so quickly.
Much better to extract every bit of useful intelligence information that you can.
After you are sure that you have milked every bit of info that is possible; hang them.
As long as they are buried with pig carcasses, no problem. Martyr away!
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