Ex Al Qaeda member: “I was responsible for the 9/11 Attack”
Washington (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, former member of Al Qaeda, has claimed he organized the September 11 2001 attacks, which left over 3 thousand dead between New York and Washington.
According to a Pentagon transcript, Mohammed – who is currently in Guantanamo prison (Cuba) – also admits to being the mastermind behind a string of other attacks worldwide, including an assassination attempt on John Paul II during the Pontiffs visit to the Philippines.
According to the declaration, Mohammad said: “I was responsible for the 9/11 Operation, from A to Z”.
Mohammed, a 41 year old Pakistani and ex number 3 of Al Qaeda, also claimed responsibility for the 1993 World Trade Centre attack, the Bali Nightclub bombings (Indonesia) and assassination attempts on public figures such as Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and John Paul II. One of his claimed targets was edited out of the transcript by US security officials, deemed to be too sensitive.
Mohammed appeared before the court to determine whether he meets the U.S. definition of “an enemy combatant”. The Pentagon declared that Mohammad was present at the closed hearing but that neither journalists nor dense lawyers were permitted to attend.
According to the transcript, Mohammed indicates that he has been subjected to torture during his internment; however, he also said his statement was not made under any duress or pressure.
The transcript of the closed hearing had been edited by U.S. officials, a practice the Pentagon said was necessary to remove sensitive security information.
The Pakistani indicated that he had been preparing a second wave of attacks targeting Library Tower in Los Angeles, Sears Tower in Chicago, Plaza Bank in Washington and the Empire State Building in New York.
He also admitted to being behind an attack that claimed the lives of two American soldiers in Kuwait as well as the planned attack of Briton Richard Reid, in 2001, which planned to blow up an aeroplane over the Atlantic with explosives hidden in his shoes.
Mohammed, in a long statement in broken English, appeared to express some regret at the deaths caused by the September 11 attacks but suggested they were justified as part of a war against the United States. “I'm not happy that three thousand (have) been killed in America. I feel sorry even,” he said "The language of any war in the world is killing. I mean the language of the war is victims”.
Mohammed is a prime suspect in U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl's murder. He clearly referred to Pearl, claiming his was “a Mossad agent”.
Mohammed is part of a group of 14 prisoners identified by US authorities as “heavy weight” terror suspects. Among these Ramzi ben Al-Shaiba, one of the presumed organizers of the 9/11 attacks; Abu Zubeida, close to Osama bin Laden; Hambali, suspected of having masterminded the 2002 Bali Bombings, which left over 200 dead.
In the transcripts, Mohammed compares al Qaeda leader bin Laden to George Washington, the first president of the United States: “He is doing (the) same thing," he said. "He is just fighting. He needs his independence”.
The Pentagon published the transcript on line at this address:
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