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KSM Admits to Planning 9/11 and Every Terrorist Act Ever: Should We Be Suspicious?

So it looks like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the al Qaeda No. 3 long-reputed to be the mastermind behind 9/11, was a worse dude than anyone thought. Last night, the Pentagon released a 26-page transcript of a closed hearing in which KSM (as he's called) admitted to planning or executing 31 terrorist acts, some successful and some unsuccessful. I think it's safe to assume he's sealed his death sentence.

From the AP, snippets of things KSM reportedly admitted to:

- The 9/11 attacks.

- The 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

- The failed Richard Reid shoe bombing.

- The beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

- Attempted assassinations of Pope John Paul II, President Clinton and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

- The 2002 bombing of a Kenya beach resort.

- The 2002 nightclub bombings in Bali, Indonesia.

- Planned but unexecuted attacks on the Sears Tower, the Empire State Building, the New York Stock Exchange, the Panama Canal, the Big Ben clock tower in London, and Heathrow Airport.

The two questions I have are:

(1) Were these admissions the product of torture? I mean torture in the immediate sense and in the "KSM has been through the black site prison system for three years and has probably been tortured dozens of times, creating a lasting psychological effect that might impair his ability to think, judge, and communicate." If KSM were to be tried in a court of law, would his confessions hold up?

(2) Should we be suspicious of the timing? Who knows when these admissions were actually made. All we do know -- as Josh Marshall points out -- is that their release is timed to knock Alberto Gonzales and the Attorney General flap off the front pages. Remember when Jose Padilla's arrest was announced? John Ashcroft interrupted a trip to Russia to declare that the U.S. had arrested a domestic terrorist and heroically stopped his "dirty bomb" attack. As it turned out, Padilla had been arrested a month before and Ashcroft's announcement was timed to knock a bunch of bad news out of the headlines. And the government could never prove the "dirty bomb" charge.

It's a true shame that even when a really nasty guy is caught and proven guilty, alert citizens have to be suspicious and skeptical of the Administration's behavior. But it poisoned the well from which we all drink.

Comments

Exactly!

In Brian Ross' report on ABC, he said that KSM had held up under waterboarding longer than any other detainee, (almost 2-1/2 seconds). The he gave it all up. How long has he been in custody? Do you think his handlers waited until the day before yesterday to extract this information?

This is just more of the Rove/Cheney shell game. Bet on it.

Posted by: drhammer on 03/15/07 at 9:13 AM

(In retrospect, I think he said 2-1/2 minutes.)

Posted by: drhammer on 03/15/07 at 9:15 AM

It disgusts me that people here think this is for political manuevering and this confession was under duress. Sure, KSM was definitely tortured but if you had a bad guy like him wouldn't you? I can't believe MJ readers are actually simpathetic to this guy.

Posted by: PATCHOULI TOFU LIBERAL on 03/15/07 at 9:38 AM

Bush is in trouble...what to do...what to do...

Hey everyone! Look over there! Terra! Terra! Terrists! Run for your lives! Terra!

Is there anyone on the planet who hasn't seen this tactic from this crew before?

Best,

Posted by: Dano on 03/15/07 at 11:37 AM

If KSM is the brains behind every terrorist attack, then why are we still concerned about Bin Laden, al Qaeda in Iraq and everywhere else? And if he is that brilliant, shouldn't he be turned over to some research facility to be studied? What a mind!
Tortured? Probably. Offered a deal? Maybe. His confessions, forced or not, tidy up all the events that led to 9/11 and the War on Terror. How convenient for Bush.
The terrorist attacks over the last 20 years have not been the work of this one man. Do a little research online and you will find a network of individuals whose names come up repeatedly, interconnected like a spiderweb.
For starters, go to peterlance.com.

Posted by: Pam on 03/15/07 at 11:39 AM

He is just bragging. It makes him very important in his group when he takes credit for such big things. In America, in famous cases, you have people that come forward all the time to admit to the crimes. People like to be famous. There is no doubt that KSM did some crime, so he made the rational decision, since I am going to prison for this crime, I might as well admit to all these others and than my stock in my community will soar. I don't think that he was tortured, because I don't think that he did all the crimes. The joke is on the Americans. This whole war on terror is such a con. The Bin Laden gang attacked the towers, and they were lucky. The Bush gang took advantage of this opportunity. The rest is history. Clinton would have handled it like a law enforcement problem, which was the correct strategy and the $600billion could have been spent on health insurance for every American.

Posted by: Karoosh on 03/15/07 at 12:24 PM