rssTorture Might Doom Khalid Shaikh Mohammed’s, Four Others 9-11 Guilty Plea
Monday, December 08, 2008 at 10:26 am
- 7 Comments
Unexpected developments at work. Today at Guantanamo Bay, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, long known to be the mastermind of Sept. 11, pleaded guilty to the attacks in their military tribunals! But it might all be undone by the fact of Mohammed’s torture.
Human Rights Watch, which is on hand at Guantanamo to assess the tribunals, sent out this statement:
“What should have been a major victory in holding the 9/11 defendants accountable for terrible crimes has been tainted by torture and an unfair military commissions process,” said Jennifer Daskal, senior counterterrorism counsel at Human Rights Watch. “These five men are known to have been mistreated and tortured during their years in CIA custody, including the acknowledged waterboarding of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.”
Daskal continues:
Under the rules of the military commissions, a judge cannot accept a guilty plea unless he determines that the plea is voluntary and free of coercion.
“In light of the men’s severe mistreatment and torture, the judge should require a full and thorough factual inquiry to determine whether or not these pleas are voluntary,” Daskal said.
We know that KSM, as he’s known in the counterterrorism world, was waterboarded. Waterboarding is torture. Torture may have just cost the U.S. a guilty plea in a 9/11 tribunal. All thanks are due to George Bush, Dick Cheney, David Addington, Alberto Gonzales, Donald Rumsfeld, William Haynes, John Yoo, and George Tenet. Was torturing this evil man worth it?
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7 Comments
Comment posted December 8, 2008 @ 9:17 am
If they are being regularly tortured, wouldn't it be better to ask for death? Shouldn't they have that right?
Comment posted December 8, 2008 @ 9:21 am
What an evil nation that knowingly tortures a man until he's willing to admit guilt and be executed. I used to read about this behaviour in history books.
Thanks God I live in a civilized country.
Comment posted December 8, 2008 @ 11:52 am
You're not getting it. If KSM & Co are able to get themselves the death penalty- they achieve martyrdom- with all the perks. 72 Virginians, 80,000 servants, and all the chicken and fruits of choice they can eat in their palace of jewels. If they die of old age, they just get the consolation prizes. Probably something crappy like JIHAD! the Home Game on DVD and an afterlifes supply of pork rice-a-roni, Consolation prizes are seldom very consoling :(
Comment posted December 8, 2008 @ 6:18 pm
If you were held for 5 or more years and tortured – with no end in prospect, you might very well wish to confess in order to be done with it all.
Certainly I have no confidence that the US authorities have got the right people. Like many others, arbitrarily detained, they may very well be completely innocent. A process that involves torture and military trials in a foreign jurisdiction discredits America.
Comment posted December 8, 2008 @ 7:52 pm
You're not getting it. If KSM & Co are able to get themselves the death penalty- they achieve martyrdom- with all the perks. 72 Virginians, 80,000 servants, and all the chicken and fruits of choice they can eat in their palace of jewels. If they die of old age, they just get the consolation prizes. Probably something crappy like JIHAD! the Home Game on DVD and an afterlifes supply of pork rice-a-roni, Consolation prizes are seldom very consoling :(
Comment posted December 9, 2008 @ 2:18 am
If you were held for 5 or more years and tortured – with no end in prospect, you might very well wish to confess in order to be done with it all.
Certainly I have no confidence that the US authorities have got the right people. Like many others, arbitrarily detained, they may very well be completely innocent. A process that involves torture and military trials in a foreign jurisdiction discredits America.
Pingback posted December 30, 2008 @ 1:00 am
[...] is detained in Guantanamo Bay. He is the nephew of The Originator of All Terrorist Things, Khaled Sheikh Mohammed. While imprisoned and tortured in Guantanamo Bay, Mohammed named Siddiqui along with Khan and [...]
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