WASHINGTON: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, accused as the mastermind of Al-Qaeda’s Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, has agreed to plead guilty, the Defense Department said Wednesday. The development points to a long-delayed resolution in an attack that killed thousands and altered the course of the United States and much of the Middle East.
Mohammed and two accomplices, Walid Bin Attash and Mustafa Al-Hawsawi, are expected to enter the pleas at the military commission at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as soon as next week.
Defense lawyers have requested the men receive life sentences in exchange for the guilty pleas, according to letters from the federal government received by relatives of some of the nearly 3,000 people killed outright on the morning of Sept. 11.
Terry Strada, the head of one group of families of the nearly 3,000 direct victims of the 9/11 attacks, invoked the dozens of relatives who have died while awaiting justice for the killings when she heard news of the plea agreement.
“They were cowards when they planned the attack,” she said of the defendants. “And they’re cowards today.”
Pentagon officials declined to immediately release the full terms of the plea bargains.
The US agreement with the men comes more than 16 years after their prosecution began for Al-Qaeda’s attack. It comes more than 20 years after militants commandeered four commercial airliners to use as fuel-filled missiles, flying them into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon.
Al-Qaeda hijackers headed a fourth plane to Washington, but crew members and passengers tried to storm the cockpit, and the plane crashed into a Pennsylvania field.
The attack triggered what President George W. Bush’s administration called its war on terror, prompting the US military invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and years of US operations against armed extremist groups elsewhere in the Middle East.
The attack and US retaliation brought the overthrow of two governments outright, devastated communities and countries caught in the battle, and played a role in inspiring the 2011 Arab Spring popular uprisings against authoritarian Middle East governments.
At home, the attacks inspired a sharply more militaristic and nationalist turn to American society and culture.
US authorities point to Mohammed as the source of the idea to use planes as weapons. He allegedly received approval from Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, whom US forces killed in 2011, to craft what became the 9/11 hijackings and killings.
Authorities captured Mohammed in 2003. Mohammed was subjected to waterboarding 183 times while in CIA custody before coming to Guantanamo, and targeted by other forms of torture and coercive questioning.
The use of torture has proven one of the most formidable obstacles in US efforts to try the men in the military commission at Guantanamo, owing to the inadmissibility of evidence linked to abuse. Torture has accounted for much of the delay of the proceedings, along with the courtroom’s location a plane ride away from the United States.
Daphne Eviatar, a director at the Amnesty International USA rights group, said Wednesday she welcomed news of some accountability in the attacks.
She urged the Biden administration to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center, which holds people taken into custody in the so-called war on terror. Many have since been cleared, but are awaiting approval to leave for other countries.
Additionally, Eviatar said, “the Biden administration must also take all necessary measures to ensure that a program of state-sanctioned enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment will never be perpetrated by the United States again.”
Strada, national chairperson of a group of families of victims called 9/11 Families United, had been at Manhattan federal court for a hearing on one of many civil lawsuits when she heard news of the plea agreement.
Strada said many families have just wanted to see the men admit guilt.
“For me personally, I wanted to see a trial,” she said. “And they just took away the justice I was expecting, a trial and the punishment.”
Michael Burke, one of the family members receiving the government notice of the plea bargain, condemned the long wait for justice, and the outcome.
“It took months or a year at the Nuremberg trials,” said Burke, whose fire captain brother Billy died in the collapse of the World Trade Center’s North Tower. “To me, it always been disgraceful that these guys, 23 years later, have not been convicted and punished for their attacks, or the crime. I never understood how it took so long.”
“I think people would be shocked if you could go back in time and tell the people who just watched the towers go down, ‘Oh, hey, in 23 years, these guys who are responsible for this crime we just witnessed are going to be getting plea deals so they can avoid death and serve life in prison,” he said.
Burke’s brother, New York City fire captain Billy Burke, ordered his men out but remained on the 27th floor of the North Tower with two men who’d stayed behind: a quadriplegic who, because the elevators had gone out, was essentially stuck there in his wheelchair and that man’s friend.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, accused as the main plotter of 9/11 attacks, agrees to plead guilty
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Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, accused as the main plotter of 9/11 attacks, agrees to plead guilty
- The specific terms and conditions of the pretrial agreements are not available to the public at this stage
- US agreement with Mohammed comes more than 16 years after his prosecution began for Al-Qaeda’s attack
Top Ukrainian defense official sacked amid infighting over procurement
- Ukraine has sought to clean up defense spending as the war grinds toward its fourth year
- As well as requesting Dmytro Klimenkov’s removal, Umerov leveled particular criticism at the Defense Procurement Agency
KYIV: Ukraine’s government on Tuesday sacked a deputy defense minister in charge of weapons purchases amid infighting over procurement that is complicating Kyiv’s attempt to reassure key Western partners at a critical moment in the war with Russia.
The dispute burst into the open last week after Defense Minister Rustem Umerov criticized Ukraine’s arms procurement effort as having failed to deliver results for frontline troops.
Ukraine has sought to clean up defense spending as the war grinds toward its fourth year, an effort that has taken on greater importance as US President Donald Trump considers whether to continue supporting Kyiv’s military.
As well as requesting Dmytro Klimenkov’s removal, Umerov leveled particular criticism at the Defense Procurement Agency, which coordinates weapons purchases for Ukraine’s outgunned military.
The agency was established after a series of allegations earlier in the war of ministry misspending, and has aimed to cut out intermediaries and minimize the risk of corruption.
In a statement on Friday, Umerov said it had “inexplicably transformed into an ‘Amazon’” and its purchases were too publicly visible. Ukraine has long sought to keep details of arms procurement a closely guarded secret.
Umerov also said that he would not renew a contract with agency chief Maryna Bezrukova, a reformer whose appointment last year had been applauded by Kyiv’s Western partners. He pledged to install a new director.
The agency said in response that it had made “significant progress” in boosting supply and lowering prices, and that it would continue working under Bezrukova.
The standoff comes as Ukrainian troops face Russian advances across swathes of the east. Both sides are attempting to gain a battlefield edge ahead of any potential peace talks, but Kyiv’s defenses are buckling amid a shortage of men and weapons.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged Western partners to keep arms flowing to Ukraine. The defense ministry’s own anti-corruption council, comprised of elected civic activists, said the infighting could compromise that effort.
“We believe the current situation is harmful to Ukraine, the Ukrainian military and our international relations,” it said on Saturday. “We must be clear and predictable for partners.”
In a statement on Monday, G7 diplomats in Ukraine urged officials to quickly resolve the dispute.
“Consistency with good governance principles and NATO recommendations is important to maintain the trust of public and international partners,” they wrote.
Lawsuit says Russian officials stole millions meant to fortify border region attacked by Ukraine
- The trio was arrested and sent to pre-trial detention on corruption charges in December and January, Russian media reported
- They face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty
LONDON: Russian prosecutors are seeking to recover nearly $33 million of funds that they say were allocated for the defense of the western Kursk region, invaded by Ukraine last year, but stolen instead by corrupt officials.
Ukrainian troops stormed across the border in a surprise attack on Aug. 6 and seized a chunk of Russian territory, some of which they still hold — a valuable bargaining chip for Kyiv in any peace talks with Moscow.
A lawsuit filed by the office of Russia’s Prosecutor General orders the head of the Kursk Regional Development Corporation, his deputies and a number of businessmen to repay more than 3.2 billion roubles ($32.7 million) allegedly embezzled from the regional defense budget, state news agency RIA reported.
In the two years prior to Ukraine’s attack, the governor in charge of Kursk at the time had repeatedly told the public that Russia had boosted its fortifications along the region’s 150-mile (240 km) border with Ukraine.
“Right now the risk of an armed invasion of the territory of Kursk region from Ukraine is not high,” Roman Starovoit assured residents in November 2022. “However, we are constantly working to strengthen the region’s defense capabilities.”
The next month, he posed in a snowy field beside a row of pyramid-shaped anti-tank defenses known as “dragon’s teeth.”
But in the autumn of 2023, Ukraine’s National Resistance Center, created by the special operations forces, said in an online post that reconnaissance showed “almost all the strongholds are deserted of personnel and equipment” along the border with Kursk. Corruption was a factor, it said.
Vidео published by Ukrainian paratroopers during the early days of the August incursion showed columns of armored vehicles pouring into Kursk through the rows of dragon’s teeth.
’ILLEGAL ENRICHMENT’
Between 2022 and 2023, some 19.4 billion roubles were pumped from Russia’s federal budget to Kursk, according to RIA, to build defenses such as ditches and dragon’s teeth.
The lawsuit alleges that officials instead funnelled that money into contracts with over a half-dozen companies controlled by several business people. The companies created “the appearance of performing work on the construction of protective structures and put in place a false scheme of expenses,” it says.
The head of the regional development fund and two of his deputies “used their official position for personal purposes...(and) for their illegal enrichment through the wrongful seizure of budget funds allocated for the protection and strengthening of the country’s defense capabilities against enemy invasion.”
The trio was arrested and sent to pre-trial detention on corruption charges in December and January, Russian media reported. They face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty. One of the businessmen named in the suit, whose firm carried out construction work in Kursk, was placed in pre-trial detention last week.
Reuters was unable to locate lawyers for the detained individuals for comment.
“Everyone who has broken the law should know that there will be no leniency or indulgence for him,” Kursk’s acting regional governor Alexander Khinshtein posted on Telegram on Tuesday.
“Especially when it concerns such a vital topic for all Kurskites as the construction of fortifications!“
Germany scraps Rwanda meeting over DR Congo fighting
- A spokesman for Germany’s development ministry said it had “canceled the government consultations planned for February with Rwanda“
- “There can be no business as usual amid the current escalation”
BERLIN: Germany said Tuesday it had canceled a planned meeting with Rwandan officials next month over Rwanda’s role in fighting in Democratic Republic of Congo.
A lightning offensive in the eastern DRC by fighters from the M23 armed group and Rwandan forces has led to clashes around the besieged city of Goma and a spiralling humanitarian crisis.
A spokesman for Germany’s development ministry said it had “canceled the government consultations planned for February with Rwanda” and was “co-ordinating with other donors about further measures.”
“There can be no business as usual amid the current escalation,” the spokesman said in a statement.
He said “talks on development cooperation can only resume when Rwanda and M23 end the escalation and withdraw.”
At least 17 people have been killed and 367 wounded during two days of fighting, according to reports from Goma hospitals.
The United Nations said Tuesday that food assistance in and around Goma had been “paused” and voiced concern over food shortages.
The UN Security Council was to meet on Tuesday to discuss the conflict.
The United States and France have also condemned the offensive by M23 and Rwandan forces while Britain expressed “deep concern” at the violence and called for de-escalation.
Afghan Taliban leader dismisses foreign ‘threats’ after ICC warrant
- Akhundzada did not reference specific countries, bodies or “threats“
- Since sweeping back to power in 2021, the Taliban authorities have implemented a strict interpretation of Islamic law
KABUL: Afghanistan’s supreme leader has said the Taliban will not be intimidated by “threats” in a speech given days after the International Criminal Court prosecutor requested a warrant for his arrest over the persecution of women in the country.
“Whether Westerners or Easterners, how could we believe them and not almighty God’s promises! How can we allow ourselves to be affected by their threats!” Hibatullah Akhundzada said in a recording of a speech shared with journalists on Tuesday.
The address was given at a graduation ceremony for religious scholars in southern Kandahar province on Monday, said the governor’s spokesman, Mahmood Azzam.
The reclusive Taliban leader, who rules by decree from Kandahar, has made only a handful of appearances since inheriting the Islamist movement’s leadership, with only audio recordings released of his rare speeches given in closed settings.
Taliban members are “Muslims who stand for what is right and cannot be harmed by anybody. If anyone stands against them, from the West or East, nobody can harm them,” Akhundzada said.
Akhundzada did not reference specific countries, bodies or “threats,” but the speech came days after the ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan said he was seeking arrest warrants for the Taliban supreme leader and chief justice over the persecution of women.
Since sweeping back to power in 2021 — ousting the Western-backed government and ending a 20-year insurgency — the Taliban authorities have implemented a strict interpretation of Islamic law.
They have imposed restrictions on women and girls the United Nations has characterised as “gender apartheid.”
Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls and women are banned from education.
Women have been ordered to cover their hair and faces and wear all-covering Islamic dress, have been barred from parks and stopped from working in government offices.
The Taliban government claims it secures Afghan women’s rights under sharia but many of its edicts are not followed in the rest of the Islamic world and have been condemned by Muslim leaders.
Danish PM says received European support over Trump’s Greenland bid
- “This is a very, very clear message... that of course there must be respect for territory and the sovereignty of states,” Frederiksen said
- Trump has signalled that he wants the Arctic island — which is believed to hold large untapped mineral and oil reserves — to become part of the US
COPENHAGEN: Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Tuesday said she had received support from European leaders as she sought backing to counter US President Donald Trump’s threats to take over Greenland.
After an initial stopover in Berlin in the morning, Frederiksen was in Paris by midday and due to travel to Brussels in the afternoon to meet NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
Following a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, the Danish head of government told reporters she had received “a great deal of support.”
“This is a very, very clear message... that of course there must be respect for territory and the sovereignty of states,” Frederiksen said.
“This is a crucial part of the international community, the international community that we have built together since World War II,” she added.
Trump has signalled that he wants the Arctic island — which is believed to hold large untapped mineral and oil reserves — to become part of the United States.
He has talked for years about a possible deal to take control of the Danish autonomous territory.
On Saturday, he told reporters he believed that the United States would “get Greenland,” which is located between the United States and Europe in a region of increasing strategic value as the melting of Arctic sea ice opens up new shipping routes.
Trump argues his country needs Greenland for “international security.”
But Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen on Tuesday retorted that “Trump will not have Greenland.”
“Greenland is Greenland. And the Greenlandic people are a people, also in the sense of international law,” Lokke told reporters.
Frederiksen met early on Tuesday with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin.
After speaking about Russia’s war in Ukraine, Scholz stressed that “borders must not be moved by force” and added the English-language phrase: “To whom it may concern.”
The chancellor said “the times we live in are challenging” and require a strong Europe and NATO. He stressed that “Denmark and Germany are strong partners and close friends.”
Tuesday’s visits followed a weekend Nordic summit where leaders all “shared the gravity of the situation,” Frederiksen said.
Denmark on Monday announced that it would spend 14.6 billion kroner ($2 billion) to bolster security in the Arctic.
It said it would send three new frigates to the region, as well as long-distance drones equipped with advanced imaging capabilities. It would also reinforce its satellite capabilities.
Officials in Greenland, which depends heavily on Denmark for subsidies, have long been pushing for independence but have said they are open to doing business with the US.
A day after Trump was sworn in as president, Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede insisted that Greenlanders “don’t want to be American.”
In mid-January, Frederiksen reportedly spoke to Trump by telephone, stressing that it was up to Greenland to determine its future.
According to European sources cited by the Financial Times, Danish officials described the conversation as “horrendous,” and that Trump’s interest in Greenland was “serious, and potentially very dangerous.”
The US president, who has not excluded a possible military intervention to annex the island, reportedly threatened Denmark with tariffs over the issue.
The United States is the small Scandinavian country’s main export market.
Greenland’s trade and justice minister Naaja Nathanielsen on Monday told AFP that the Greenlandic people were living through a “worrying time” and were “concerned” about Trump’s statements.
“As a government, our job is not to panic and to figure out what the actual demands are,” Nathanielsen said.
“If it is about military presence, the US has been here for 80 years, we are not opposed to that. If it is about the minerals, it is an open market,” she added.
But, she warned, “if it is about expansionism, we are a democracy, we are allies and we ask our allies to respect our institutions.”
The European Union’s top military official on Saturday said that troops from EU countries could be based in Greenland.
“In my view, it would make perfect sense not only to station US forces in Greenland, as is currently the case, but also to consider stationing EU soldiers there,” Robert Brieger, chairman of the European Union Military Committee told German newspaper Welt am Sonntag.
France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot did not rule out the possibility of European troops in Greenland.
“Why not, since it is a matter of security,” Barrot told Sud Radio on Tuesday.
He stressed, however, that “that is not the wish expressed by Denmark, but it is a possibility.”
