"The Administration’s cowardice in the face of terror is a national disgrace."
Republican Kentucky Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell condemned the Biden-Harris Administration for what he described as weakness in the face of America’s enemies.
“The plea deal with terrorists – including Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks that killed thousands of Americans – is a revolting abdication of the government’s responsibility to defend America and provide justice,” McConnell said, New York Post reported.
McConnell was not alone in his bitterness that three defendants allegedly involved in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have entered into a plea deal with the United States Department of Defense (DOD) after years of incarceration at Guantanamo Bay.
Nearly 3,000 people were killed, and many thousands more injured in the coordinated Islamist suicide attacks carried out by al-Qaeda on U.S. soil in 2001.
As Stephen Katte reports via The Epoch Times, according to a July 31 statement from the DOD, Susan Escallier, who is the Convening Authority for Military Commissions, has entered into pretrial agreements with Khalid Shaikh (Sheikh) Mohammad, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin' Attash, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi.
Mohammad, a Kuwaiti-Pakistani mechanical engineer, was the former head of al-Qaeda’s propaganda department and is accused of being the 911 mastermind. He allegedly presented the idea of hijacking planes and flying them into U.S. buildings to Osama bin Laden around 1996, and later helped train some of the hijackers.
Hawsawi has been accused of helping with financial and travel arrangements for the hijackers. Attash is accused of assisting with combat training for the terrorists.
Specific terms and conditions of the pretrial agreements have not been made publicly available by the DOD.
The three defendants, along with two others, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Ramzi Bin al Shibh, were first jointly charged and arraigned in June 2008. They were charged and prosecuted again in May 2012.
Aziz Ali and al Shibh did not enter into the plea deal. Last September, a military judge ruled that al Shibh was too mentally incompetent to stand trial.
An image of a courtroom shows Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (C) and co-defendant Walid Bin Attash (L) attending a pre-trial session in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on Dec. 8, 2008. (Sketch by Janet Hamlin-Pool/Getty Images)
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a non-profit civil rights advocacy group, says Mohammed is their client, and the deal involved the defendants agreeing to plead guilty in exchange for life imprisonment instead of the death penalty.
Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the ACLU, said in a July 31 statement that this deal was the “right call” for everybody involved, especially after “nearly two decades of litigation.”
“This plea agreement further underscores the fact that the death penalty is out of step with the fundamental values of our democratic system. It is inhumane, inequitable, and unjust,” he said.
“We urge the U.S. government to also quickly relocate the men cleared for transfer, and finally end all indefinite detentions and unfair trials at Guantánamo.”
According to Romero, “closing the chapter on these cases with a plea agreement will also provide a measure of transparency and justice for 9/11 family members.”
That's not how the families of the victims see this plea deal...
In a media statement about the plea agreement, Brett Eagleson, president of 9/11 Justice, a grassroots movement made up of survivors of the terrorist attacks and family members of those lost, said the group was “deeply troubled by these plea deals.”
“These plea deals should not perpetuate a system of closed-door agreements, where crucial information is hidden without giving the families of the victims the chance to learn the full truth,” he said.
Eagleson said the 9/11 Justice group wants more access “to these individuals for information” to provide closure for all those affected by the terrorist attacks.
Republican New York Rep. Mike Lawler described the plea deals as a slap in the face to the families and survivors of 9/11.
“Disgusting that these terrorist scumbags are being let off without a trial. 9/11 victims, their families, and our heroic first responders deserve true justice!” he posted on Twitter.
The White House clarified President Joe Biden was informed of the plea agreement only on Wednesday and had no role in the process, which is being handled through the military justice system, according to the New York Post.
Former President Donald Trump’s administration previously rejected any plea bargains with the suspected terrorists held at Guantanamo.