9/11 Again
By BARBARA SIMPSON
With all the things that we have to contend with today, the issue of the people responsible for the 9/11 attack on the United States is likely not on our minds. In fact, I suspect most Americans think that the matter has already been settled legally.
The surprise is, that it has not!
While the issue was not in the major headlines, a news report in the New York Post on August 16, by Victor Nava, brings us up to date. According to the news report, the Biden administration is telling Americans, especially the 9/11 families, that the attack mastermind, and four others, could be spared the death penalty.
Wow! To me, that should be a major headline!
The report says that the Biden administration and the FBI have notified some of the families that the terrorist mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (remember him?), and four other defendants could be spared the death penalty. This would be as a result of plea agreements being considered by the Biden administration.
Apparently, this became known from a letter which was obtained by the Associated Press. The letter was sent to 9/11 families informing them that the government is exploring how to resolve the prosecution of the accused terrorists.
WHAT???????
I don’t know about you, but I honestly thought all that had been settled legally years ago. And as far as I’m concerned, as an American citizen, those men have no more right to avoid the death penalty than did the nearly three thousand killed on 9/11 in that unprovoked attack on the United States.
The case involving Mohammed and the four others has been involved in legal disputes and delays after the attack. They have been held in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba since 2006. One of the key issues of dispute deals with problems concerning the “enhanced interrogation techniques” used by the CIA after the men were apprehended.
Awwwww. But at least they are alive. Not like the thousands killed on 9/11!
The letter said that the Chief Prosecutor is considering pretrial agreements and it is possible that such an agreement would remove the possibility of the death penalty. It said that the views of the 9/11 families would be considered before any final agreement is reached. Families are requested to contact the FBI with their views or questions they may have.
The suspected mastermind of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people could escape the death penalty — along with four of his accused plotters — under a plea agreement being considered, CBS News has learned, according to a report by Scott MacFarlane.
The Pentagon sent a letter this past week to families of 9/11 victims revealing that plea deals are being considered in which the five men, including suspected mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, would “accept criminal responsibility for their actions and plead guilty….in exchange for not receiving the death penalty.”
The letter generated fresh outrage in Kristen Breitweiser, whose husband died in the South Tower of the World Trade Center. She has waited years to see the five men face trial.
“It’s more heartbroken,” Breitweiser told CBS News. “. . . I thought I lived in the United States of America. I thought we were a nation based upon the rule of law. And obviously, that’s turned out not to be the case.”
Similarly, the deal didn’t impress Brad Blakeman, who lost his nephew Tommy Jurgen in the World Trade Center.
“We were told, and we were promised, that we would bring these people responsible to justice and we expect that to happen,” Blakeman said.
Defense lawyer James Connell for Amman al-Blauchi said in 2022 that his client “is willing to plead guilty, serve a long sentence at Guantanamo, in exchange for medical care for his torture, and taking the death penalty off the table,” Noir Online reported.
Apparently, the administration wishes all this would go away, which possibly explains why these delays have continued for so long and why they maintain an effort to keep it out of daily news reports. No date has been set for a trial of the conspirators, so the whole issue remains in limbo at this point in time and President Biden has remained mum about the whole issue.
Interestingly enough, Donald Trump and his administration had no compunction about dealing with this issue. They had ruled out any plea bargains with the suspected terrorists. It would appear they had concern about the propriety of such agreements when dealing with men accused of being behind the 9/11 attacks which destroyed the World Trade Center and killed so many.
Given the upcoming election campaigning, it seems to me that this issue needs to get major publicity in news media to illustrate another of the major differences between Biden and Trump.
For me, it reinforces support for Donald Trump to be our president, as a man who honors U.S. citizenship and our country.