US Pentagon rescinds plea deal for accused plotters of 9/11 attacks

(Link / Archive)

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin revoked a plea deal Friday that would have taken the death penalty off the table for three prisoners accused of helping to plot the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Austin said in a news release that he believes that given the significance of the case, responsibility on what happens to the prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay “should rest with me as the superior authority under the Military Commissions Act of 2009.”

Earlier this week, the Pentagon said an agreement had been reached with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak bin Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al-Hawsawi. Under the plea deal, the three prisoners would have received life sentences.

Retired Brig. Gen. Susan K. Escallier signed a pretrial agreement Wednesday.

In the Friday memo, the Pentagon secretary wrote “effective immediately, in the exercise of my authority, I hereby withdraw from the three pretrial agreements that you signed on July 31, 2024.” The New York Times first reported the memo.

Escallier’s approval of the plea deal drew blowback from some families of the victims, New York City firefights and high-profile Republicans.

Some critics also said the agreement would prevent the public from ever knowing what really happened nearly 23 years ago. Republicans are directing their criticism at President Biden and Vice President Harris, even though the White House said it did not play a role in the negotiations.

On Friday, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), chair of the House Armed Services Committee, sent a letter to Austin demanding answers about the plea deal. He said he was “deeply shocked” by the agreement and said it was a “gut punch” to the families of victims.

 

[Random Internet Person]

Surely they have more evidence than torture extracted confessions?

That’s the thing about it. It ain’t like these Al Qaeda fucks are the type to claim their innocence and plead not guilty like OJ Simpson. Is the idea to just drag this out for the rest of their lives in some attempt to put a strain on the US? Hell, I’d assume it’d be like Timothy McVeigh where they’d go straight to the death penalty because the defendant wanted that.

 

[draggs]

They should be dead already, shit or get off the pot.

They should have been summarily executed as francs-tireurs about 2 minutes after the glowies decided they had been pumped dry of info

 

[CaptainAutism69]

That’s the thing about it. It ain’t like these Al Qaeda fucks are the type to claim their innocence and plead not guilty like OJ Simpson. Is the idea to just drag this out for the rest of their lives in some attempt to put a strain on the US? Hell, I’d assume it’d be like Timothy McVeigh where they’d go straight to the death penalty because the defendant wanted that.

I think that maybe they done fucked up and just want to keep these guys in prison without conviction forever. The story of Abu Zubaydah's torture and the false info he fed the spooks just to make the torture stop (along with his mental disorder) is just fucking shocking. By all means, if these fucks are guilty, show the evidence that's been collected over 20+ years and have them put down...if that evidence doesn't exist...well...their lives are fucked regardless now

 

[TheHarbinger]

Also, it’s denying a jihadist what they really want: a martyrdom in which they take out as many infidels as they can where they inspire the next generation of jihadists. Instead, they die like any other nobody.

It has nothing to do with that. The reason they are not executed is because they can be exchanged for an American hostage. The military would regularly send people on the top of the FBI or CIA terror lists to their home country in exchange for an American. The American government traded one of the most notorious illegal arms dealers for some nigger basketball player in the WNBA. This is the typical reason they are kept alive or not sent to a foreign prison.

 

[Wendell Stamps DoL]

Republicans are directing their criticism at President Biden and Vice President Harris, even though the White House said it did not play a role in the negotiations.

Fucking journalists. Yeah you scumbag pieces of shit, they're still the fucking leaders of the country. And you know full fucking well that those two cunts are the reason for this reversal.

 

[Vect]

By all means, if these fucks are guilty, show the evidence that's been collected over 20+ years and have them put down...if that evidence doesn't exist...well...their lives are fucked regardless now

Don't you get it? That's the problem. They can't be found guilty, because the evidence and confessions that were extracted from them were done so unlawfully, namely by torture. Confession by duress is inadmissible precisely because it is compromised information. The fact that bringing their cases to trial would unequivocally embarrass the United States is one of the Bush Administration's worst legacies and a reminder that a majority of the actions in the name of the so called 'War on Terror' were outright illegal. They can't be extrajudicially executed, because that would make them martyrs, nor can they just be released, because no government wants to have a headline that says they let the 9/11 plotters go free. They're in this legal limbo for a reason - everyone wants them forgotten.

 

[Prokhor Zakharov]

Errr, how come it's been 20+ years and they still haven't been tried? 20 years in prison for these innocent men who have not been convicted of anything. Innocent until proven guilty right? Why the delay of a trial?

The "innocent until proven guilty" doesn't apply to foreign, goat fucking, sand nigger terrorists, and I can sleep easily at night knowing and embracing that fact.

Remember, Obama had drone strikes done against actual American citizens without any kind of trial or legal representation. At this point these sand niggers have had way more legal representation and access to the American legal system than any of those people taken out with drone strikes. At this point "innocent until proven guilty" under the federal government is more of a window dressing, like a number of other important, but now irrelevant parts of actual democracy in the US.

 

[Random Internet Person]

It has nothing to do with that. The reason they are not executed is because they can be exchanged for an American hostage. The military would regularly send people on the top of the FBI or CIA terror lists to their home country in exchange for an American. The American government traded one of the most notorious illegal arms dealers for some nigger basketball player in the WNBA. This is the typical reason they are kept alive or not sent to a foreign prison.

Here’s the issue: who can be exchanged for these guys? Also, they’re the 9/11 hijackers, some of the most hated people in the history of the US. These guys being in Gitmo is easily the only thing stopping the biggest PR nightmare ever.

 

[Abraham Lincoln]

I truly believe life in prison is 10x worse than the death penalty. Would you rather a quick death or having to live in solitary confinement for literal decades until you die of natural causes? Just waking up every day to do the same exact things, in the exact same order and with little to no human interaction; just waiting until you die of old age…. Yeah I’d rather be executed.

Also, it’s denying a jihadist what they really want: a martyrdom in which they take out as many infidels as they can where they inspire the next generation of jihadists. Instead, they die like any other nobody

Nope, just send them to the grave since they are all a drain on taxpayers.

Though the important question is how come these lot have not faced a judge while J6ers get buck broken fast by the courts.

 

[Random Internet Person]

Nope, just send them to the grave since they are all a drain on taxpayers.

Though the important question is how come these lot have not faced a judge while J6ers get buck broken fast by the courts.

Because they haven’t gone through multiple sets of CIA torture that’d render their confessions inadmissible.

 

[Wodanaz]

I truly believe life in prison is 10x worse than the death penalty.

yeah. for the tax payer.

 

[TheDarknessGrows]

Surely they have more evidence than torture extracted confessions?

Surely.

Right? I mean, probably? Hopefully?

Maybe not.

 

[Tacgnol]

Have the patsies that guarded Epstein found new work?

I'd recommend them for a Cuban kebab inspector position, but maybe working one of the doors at the Pentagon would be more helpful.

 

[Absurdist Laughter]

Seems like covering tracks to me. I doubt this would have happened if Joe Biden's presidency wasn't in question.

 

[Diana Moon Glampers]

they’re the 9/11 hijackers

Pretty sure the actual 9/11 hijackers became aerosolized mist in NYC and DC 13 years ago.

 

[Random Internet Person]

Pretty sure the actual 9/11 hijackers became aerosolized mist in NYC and DC 13 years ago.

Let me rephrase: they’re the guys responsible for the 9/11 hijackers.

 

[Damocles_Sword]

Why havent these fucks been shot in the head and tossed into a pile out back?

 

[S1apSh0es]

yeah. for the tax payer.

Of all the bullshit we spend taxes on, your issue is that we are spending tax money to make the lives of the 9/11 planners miserable?

Who’s team are you on? Fuck off

 

[Bland Crumbs]

My guess is that they didn’t want to give Trump more ammo for November (as if he doesn’t have enough already). It’d explain why the White House seemed to immediately want to distance itself from the decision.

I agree but it is too late. It is already ammo and now it is even more potent:
The Harris Administration tried to free the terrorists that killed thousands of Americans but people noticed and they stopped it because they think you are stupid.

 

[S1apSh0es]

I agree but it is too late. It is already ammo and now it is even more potent:
The Harris Administration tried to free the terrorists that killed thousands of Americans but people noticed and they stopped it because they think you are stupid.

I’m not defending the administration but the deal was life in prison without the death penalty, not to “set them free”.