9/11 defendants shock court, say they’ll confess

December 9, 2008 at 12:00a.m.

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) — Khalid Sheikh Mohammed said Monday he will confess masterminding the Sept. 11 attacks, throwing his death-penalty trial into disarray and shocking victims’ relatives who watched from behind a glass partition.

Four other men also abandoned their defenses, in effect daring the Pentagon to grant their wish for martyrdom. The judge ordered lawyers to advise him by Jan. 4 whether the Pentagon can apply the death penalty — which military prosecutors are seeking — without a jury trial.

“When they admitted their guilt, my reaction was, ‘Yes!’ My inclination was to jump up and say ‘Yay!’ But I managed to maintain my decorum,” said Maureen Santora, of Long Island City, N.Y., whose firefighter son Christopher died responding to the World Trade Center attacks.

Santora was one of nine victims’ relatives watching the proceedings, the first time relatives of any of the 2,975 people killed in the attacks have been allowed to observe the war-crimes trials. She watched from the back of the courtroom, wearing black and clutching a photo of her son in uniform.

In an about-face that appeared to take the court by complete surprise, the five men announced they were abandoning their attempts to mount a vigorous defense and instead requested “an immediate hearing session to announce our confessions.”

The confessions were delayed, however, when the judge said two of the defendants couldn’t enter pleas until the court determines their mental competency. The other three said they would wait as well.

“Our plea request was based on joint strategy,” said defendant Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali.

In a letter read aloud by the judge, the defendants implied they want to plead guilty, but did not specify whether they will admit to specific charges.

Their letter was so unexpected that the judge, Army Col. Stephen Henley, was unsure how to proceed. He noted that the law specifies that only defendants unanimously convicted by a jury can be sentenced to death in the tribunals. No jury has been seated.

“It seemed like a real bombshell to me,” said Alice Hoagland of Redwood Estates, Calif., whose son Mark Bingham is believed to be among the passengers who fought hijackers on United Flight 93 before it crashed in rural Pennsylvania.

She told reporters that she hoped President-elect Barack Obama, “an even-minded and just man,” would ensure the five men are punished, though she stressed that wouldn’t heal the loss of her son.

“I do not seek closure in my life,” she said, blinking back tears.

Mohammed, who has already told a military panel he was the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, said he has no faith in the judge, his Pentagon-appointed lawyers or President George W. Bush.

Sporting a chest-length gray beard, Mohammed told the judge in English: “I don’t trust you.”

The five defendants said they decided Nov. 4 — the day Obama was elected — to abandon their defenses against the capital charges. Obama opposes the trials and has pledged to close the detention center, which holds some 250 men.

Even if trials are held, it is unlikely any would be completed before Obama takes office Jan. 20.