US: 9/11 suspects ask to make 'confessions' at Guantanamo
09 Dec 2008 3:49 AM
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba, Dec 8 AP - Five men charged with plotting the September 11 attacks told a military judge on Monday they want to immediately confess at their war-crimes tribunal at Guantanamo Bay.
In a letter the judge read aloud in court, the five defendants - who could be executed if convicted - said they "request an immediate hearing session to announce our confessions".
The letter implies they want to plead guilty, but does not specify whether they will admit to any specific charges. It also says they wish to drop all previous defence motions.
The judge, Army Colonel Stephen Henley, asked Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-defendants if they were prepared to enter a plea. So far, Mohammed and three others said they agreed with the letter; the fifth remained to be questioned by the judge.
Mohammed, who has already told interrogators he was the mastermind of the September 11 attacks, also told the judge he had no faith in him, his Pentagon-appointed lawyers or President George W Bush.
Sporting a chest-length grey beard, Mohammed said in English: "I don't trust you."
The pretrial hearings this week could be the last court appearance for the high-profile detainees at Guantanamo Bay. The first US war-crimes trials since World War II are teetering on the edge of extinction. President-elect Barack Obama opposes the military commissions - as the Guantanamo trials are called - and has pledged to close the detention centre holding about 250 men soon after taking office next month.
Nine relatives of victims of the 2001 al-Qaeda attacks were on hand to observe the hearings at the US Navy base in south-eastern Cuba. Five were chosen by military lottery and they brought four other relatives.
Henley was assigned to the case after the previous judge resigned for undisclosed reasons in November. The defendants, representing themselves, were also expected to question Henley about whether any conflicts would prevent him from impartially overseeing the death-penalty case.
No trial date has been set, and it is all but certain none will begin before president-elect Barack Obama takes office on January 20. Still, the US military is pressing forward with the case until it receives orders to the contrary.
"We serve the sitting president and will continue to do so until president-elect Obama takes office," said Navy Commander Jeffrey Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman.
Jennifer Daskal of Human Rights Watch urged Obama to try terror suspects in federal court "where attention will focus on the defendants' alleged crimes rather than the unfairness of the commissions".
The military commissions have netted three convictions, but have been widely criticised for admitting as evidence statements obtained through harsh interrogations and hearsay.
The victims' family members were expected to watch from a gallery at the rear of the cavernous, high-security courtroom and will not be allowed to address the defendants.
Maureen Santora, whose firefighter son Christopher was killed at the World Trade Centre, says she wants to lock eyes with those accused of killing her son and 2,972 others in the bloodiest terrorist attacks ever on US soil.
Relatives of about 30 more victims, mainly firefighters, have given Santora memorial cards that she planned to bring into court "to know their spirit is with us".
