Where is Al Qaeda mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed?

When will he be tried?

Do you remember him? His alleged capture on March 1, 2003, made the headlines. Porter Goss (R), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, even proclaimed, "This is equal to the liberation of Paris in the second World War." (AP, 3/2/03) (Paul Thompson).

"This is major. This is a dramatic capture of someone who is directly responsible for the Sept. 11 disaster," said Vince Cannistraro, a former CIA counterterrorism chief. (Fox News)

One would expect that, in a democracy, such an important person will be tried and sentenced, that he will get his deserved punishment for his evil deeds, and that this will be done in a fair process.

Surprisingly, I did not hear of such a trial. To be precise, I heard nearly nothing on him since more than one year. Have the media forgotten him? Did he vanish in another memory hole? Or did I just miss something?

(Naturally, as with all 9/11 stories, there are some minor inconsistencies surrounding this story, see Paul Thompson s Essay).

by Human Rights Watch, at least.

http://hrw.org/reports/2004/usa0604/

The Road to Abu Ghraib

"Among the most disturbing cases, perhaps unprecedented in U.S. history, are the detainees who have simply been “disappeared.” Perhaps out of concern that Guantánamo will eventually be monitored by the U.S. courts, certainly to ensure even greater secrecy, the Bush administration does not appear to hold its most sensitive and high-profile detainees there. Terrorism suspects like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, accused architect of the September 11 attacks, and Abu Zubaydah, a close aide of Osama bin Laden, are detained by the United States instead in “undisclosed locations,” presumably outside the United States, with no access to the ICRC, no notification to families, no oversight of any sort of their treatment, and in most cases no acknowledgement that they are even being held. Human Rights Watch has pieced together information on 13 such detainees, apprehended in places such as Pakistan, Indonesia, Thailand, Morocco, and the United Arab Emirates, who have “disappeared” in U.S. custody."

At least some people watch these scandalous cases.

I personally think that he is dead, too, but perhaps he is only near-dead in some hole, a victim of "tough interrogation techniques".

The following screed fits on an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet in 12 point type, suitable for enclosure in your phone bills, posting at laundromats, etc.

BUSH FLIES SAUDI RACEHORSE OWNER WITH PRIOR KNOWLEDGE OF THE 9-11 ATTACK OUT OF THE COUNTRY

Prince Ahmed bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz, owner of War Emblem (who won the first two of three Triple Crown races in 2002) was at the top of the list of a group of well-connected Saudis who left the country from Lexington, KY in a luxurious customized 727 shortly after 9-11. According to one of bin Laden’s top operatives, Aziz knew well beforehand that a major attack was to take place in the US on 9-11. And the Bush administration let the bastard fly the coop. The very fact that a couple of hundred Saudis were flying around within the US to central pickup points like Lexington, while US citizens were prohibited from flying from Minneapolis to Chicago is totally outrageous.

On March 30, 2002, Al Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah was captured in Pakistan and questioned by two teams of intelligence agents. One of the teams consisted of Arab Americans posing as Saudi agents, who hoped to scare Zubaydah into thinking he would be turned over to the Saudis for the usual torture and beheading. Far from being intimidated, Zubaydah was relieved, and told them that a call to Prince Ahmed would explain all—and he knew all the phone numbers from memory. He also told them to call Prince Sultan bin Faisal bin Turki al-Saud and Prince Fahd bin Turki bin Saud al-Kabir, members of the House of Saud related to Kind Fahd.

He said that several years earlier the royal family had made a deal with Al Qaeda in which the House of Saud would aid them as long as they kept terrorism out of Saudi Arabia. The interrogators insisted that 9-11 changed everything—the House of Saud would not stand behind them after that.

Zubaydah said that 9-11 changed nothing, because Ahmed and the others knew beforehand that an attack was scheduled for America that day. They didn’t know exactly what it would be, and they didn’t want to know. Bin Laden knew the Saudis couldn’t stop it without the specifics, and also that they couldn’t turn on him without disclosing their foreknowledge.

Bush helped Ahmed leave the country right after 9-11, unmolested until June 22, 2002, when he supposedly died of a heart attack in his sleep. On June 23, Prince Sultan died in a car wreck. On July 30, Prince Fahd died in the desert of thirst. None was older than 43, and all are beyond questioning now. That these three were named by Zubaydah and then died young a couple of months later is extremely suspicious.

DELIBERATELY FACILITATING THE MOVEMENT OF PEOPLE WHO KNEW ANYTHING ABOUT 9-11 OUT OF THE COUNTRY BEFORE THEY COULD BE QUESTIONED MAKES THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION ACCESSORIES AFTER THE FACT. REMEMBER IN NOVEMBER!

Sources: Craig Unger, House of Bush, House of Saud, Scribner, 2004
Gerald Posner, Why America Slept: The Failure to Prevent 9/11, Random House, 2003

some of the suspects arrested in connection with the March, 11 bombings have close ties to law enforcement agencies (http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2004/06/10/espana/1086876911.html, spanish newspaper)

Seems as though every terrorist operations has its dubious sides.

He's dead in my opinion.

Vince Cannistraro, now there's a man you trust, almost as much as FBI director Mueller.

and some other important people. I trust all of them, and I thus I sleep well.

but once upon a time it was a media hype...

I seriously doubt he'll ever be seen again; dead men tell no tales.

Nobody of the attacks has been tried successfully, and that will stay this way, probably.

The public and the media can be convinced by the existing "evidence", but perhaps not the courts.

Two-month project, everytime they finish his backside the front has already grown back.