yet another blog

JURIST - Forum: True Confessions? The Amazing Tale of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed

JURIST Guest Columnist Anthony DAmato of Northwestern University School of Law says the sweeping Guantanamo “confessions” of al Qaeda leader Khalid Shaikh Mohammed rival the scope of those made in the Stalinist purge trials of the 1930s, and should equally prompt us to question the legal process in which they were made…

read the full article…

9/11 suspect confesses UK targets - Yahoo News UK

The September 11 attacks, the Bali bombing and plots against British targets were among the confessions of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed during a military hearing at Guantanamo Bay.According to a transcript released by the Pentagon, Mohammed said in a statement read during the session: “I was responsible for the 9/11 operation from A to Z,”

This report by the Press Association, read on Yahoo News UK, goes on to say…

Mohammed also claimed he was tortured by the CIA after his capture in 2003 in Pakistan, according to an exchange he had with the military colonel who heads the three-member panel that heard his case.

“Is any statement that you made, was it because of this treatment, to use your word, you claim torture,” the colonel asked. “Do you make any statements because of that?”

Portions of Mohammed’s response were deleted from the transcript, and his immediate answer was unclear. He later said his confession read at the hearing to the long list of attacks was given without any pressure, threats or duress.

Oh come on… how naive can you be! And the media certainly aren’t naive. Cynical, yes. Profit-driven, yes. But naive - no! And, against the background of Mr Mohammed’s earlier remarks concerning torture, the censored parts of his statement, and in the context of the documented abuses at Guantanamo Bay (and indeed the present American regime’s stance on torture) no reasonable person can be left in any doubt that this case is built on very shaky ground.

How then justify the attention-grabbing headline adopted by Yahoo?