Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the Kuwaiti national who is believed to be the highest-ranking al-Qaeda operative in US custody, told a military tribunal last weekend that he was Osama bin Laden’s “operational leader” for the “9/11 Operation,” responsible for the “organising, planning, follow-up, and execution” of the plot. “I was responsible for the 9/11 Operation, from A to Z,” Mohammed said. He also confessed to the beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl and held himself central to 30 other plots in the US and worldwide that killed thousands of victims. “I decapitated with my blessed right hand the head of the American Jew, Daniel Pearl, in the city of Karachi, Pakistan,” Mohammed is quoted as saying in a transcript of the military hearing, released by the Pentagon. “For those who would like to confirm, there are pictures of me on the Internet holding his head,” he added. Mohammed’s claimed involvement in the 2002 slaying of the Wall Street Journal reporter was among 31 attacks and plots — some of which never occurred — he took responsibility for in a hearing on Saturday at the US naval prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Pentagon said. It released the bulk of the transcript late on Wednesday, but held back the section about Pearl’s killing to allow time for his family to be notified, said Defence Department spokesman Bryan Whitman. Mohammed was present at the hour-long, closed-door hearing held on Saturday, and he interjected frequently in slightly broken English. His admission was read to the tribunal by an Air Force lieutenant colonel who was serving as his personal representative. But Mohammed gave a lengthy, apparently spontaneous speech in which he likened al-Qaeda operatives to American revolutionaries, described a war against a dominating US and even expressed a measure of remorse. “I’m not happy that 3,000 been killed in America,” he said, according to the transcript. “I feel sorry, even. I don’t like to kill children and the kids. Never Islam give me green light to kill people. Killing, as in the Christianity, Jews, and Islam, are prohibited.” In his 31-point statement, Mohammed claimed responsibility for a wide range of terrorist plots — including the 1993 attack on the World Trade Centre; the 2002 bombings of nightclubs in Bali, Indonesia; and the so-called “shoe bomber” plot to down US airliners travelling across the Atlantic. He said he took part in plans to kill former US Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, as well as the late Pope John Paul II. In the past, Mohammed has made similar claims about his involvement in attacks. The 9/11 commission report, published three years ago, cited several interrogation reports in which Mohammed described his role in the attacks in great detail. In addition, the trial of alleged al-Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui last year included statements by Mohammed in which he described his role in several other terrorist plots. But Saturday’s hearing was the first time Mohammed has faced any US legal proceeding since he was captured in Pakistan in March 2003. He used the opportunity to present charges that he had been tortured by his US captors, and attempted to portray himself as a mere soldier fighting a war of independence. “What I wrote here, is not I’m making myself hero, when I said I was responsible for this or that,” Mohammad said. “You are military man. You know very well there are language for any war.” Mohammed was held by the CIA in a secret US detention facility for more than three years. He was moved into military custody at Guantanamo Bay in September after the US Supreme Court ruled that all al-Qaeda detainees were covered by the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit inhumane treatment. In some of the plots, Mohammed appears to have exaggerated his role. The 1993 World Trade Centre bombing, for instance, was masterminded by Pakistani Ramzi Yousef, who was convicted of coordinating the plot by a US federal court in 1996. But Bruce Hoffman, a leading terrorism expert at Georgetown University, said that most of the nearly three dozen attacks listed— many of which were foiled— appear to have been masterminded or guided by Mohammed. “It’s almost every single al-Qaeda plot up until he was apprehended,” Hoffman said. “This just shows that bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri can make threats, but Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was the go-to guy.” Mohammed spent most of his speech attempting to explain his view of al-Qaeda as a series of battles in a war for liberation. He said US labels like “terrorists” and “enemy combatants” are deceptive and that al-Qaeda operatives are merely soldiers. At one point, he compared bin Laden to George Washington. “If now we were living in the Revolutionary War and George Washington, he being arrested through Britain, for sure they would consider him enemy combatant,” he said. “But American, they consider him as hero.” As he expressed regret for children killed in the 9/11 attacks, he also said they were the victims of a war and likened them to Iraqi civilians killed during the US invasion. Excerpts from his testimony “I was Emir (i.e. commander) of Beit Al Shuhada (Martyrs’ House) in the state of Kandahar, Afghanistan, which housed the 9/11 hijackers. There I was responsible for their training and readiness for the execution of the 9/11 Operation.” “You know very well there are language for any war. So, there are, we are when I admitting these things I’m not saying I’m not did it. I did it by this the language of any war. If America they want to invade Iraq, they will not send for Saddam roses or kisses, they send for a bombardment.” “Because war, for sure, there will be victims. When I said I’m not happy that 3,000 been killed in America. I feel sorry even. I don’t like to kill children and the kids.” “Killing, as in the Christianity, Jews, and Islam are prohibited. But there are exception of rule when you are killing people in Iraq. You said we have to do it. We don’t like Saddam. But this is the way to deal with Saddam. Same thing you are saying. Same language you use, I use.” “As consider George Washington as hero. Muslims many of them are considering Osama bin Laden. He is doing same thing. He is just fighting. He needs his independence.” “Many Muslims, that Al Qaeda or Taliban they are doing. They have been oppressed by America. This is the feeling of the prophet. So when we say we are enemy combatant, that right. We are. But I am asking you again to be fair with many detainees which are not enemy combatant.” The other two suspects Ramzi Binalshibh, a Yemeni, is suspected of helping Khalid Sheikh Mohammed with the 9/11 attack plan and is also linked to a foiled plot to crash aircraft into London’s Heathrow Airport. Abu Faraj al-Libi, a Libyan, who reportedly succeeded Mohammed as the al-Qaeda No. 3. Most wanted man in Pakistan for allegedly masterminding two bombings 11 days apart in Pakistan in December 2003 that targeted President Pervez Musharraf.
