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How True Are the Confessions of a Terror Mastermind?

By Danny Schechter, MediaChannel.org. Posted March 20, 2007.


Just as a scandal in the Justice Department has the Bush Administration reeling, al Qaeda's #3 operative has admitted to killing U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl. So, what can we believe?

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Last Wednesday night, I was at the Village Synagogue in Manhattan showing HBO's film The Journalist and Jihadi about the murder of journalist Daniel Pearl. The film, which I worked on as a contributing producer/consultant, concludes by linking al Qaeda's #3 operative, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to his shocking videotaped slaughter by beheading of Pearl.

The next day, the U.S. government released portions of the transcript of an interview with "enemy combatant" Mohammed in which he admitted for the first time killing Pearl.

In a grisly disclosure, a man who is now being described as "one of history's most infamous terrorists" claimed, according to Agence France Press, "to have beheaded U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl ... with my blessed right hand," according to a transcript released by the Pentagon." This act alone enables him to supersede the infamy of Carlos "the Jackal."

Interestingly, he said, Pearl's murder was not an Al Qaeda operation, a distinction that may be lost on American readers who were mesmerized by his frightening admissions.

In overseas media, his Pearl connection is being associated with the Islamacist campaign in Kashmir, not Pakistan or Afghanistan. A British-born citizen, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who is profiled in the film, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani court for Pearl's murder in June 2002, but has appealed the verdict.

What do we make of this public disclosure of Mohammed's "confession?" It comes at a time when a growing scandal in the Justice Department and setbacks in Iraq and Afghanistan has the Bush Administration reeling. The claims that this larger-than-life, almost comic book "superterrorist" has made certainly adds weight to the War on Terror and Bush's campaign to hunt down and kill those responsible for 9/11.

Getting the "mastermind" was a big "get" when it happened, and his revelations certainly have positioned him to joining world's worst list. (It was the Pakistanis who got him, not the super sleuths of the CIA.) The Guardian reported that his long list of terror operations -- most of which failed -- were greeted "with shock and skepticism in almost equal measure." The NY Times downplayed their concerns near the end of their story on page A23 saying matter-of-factly, "It is not clear how many of Mr. Mohammed's expansive claims were legitimate." Note the word "expansive."

An American editor wrote to me, "I am deeply troubled by the reports of Mohammed's confession. It strikes me that it is a tidy resolution to a much larger problem. How convenient that we have all the questions answered in one somewhat disheveled package. Considering that the confession was obtained through torture, and the number of studies that have shown that information obtained in that matter is unreliable (although politically expedient), what have we really learned? Is it overly cynical to think that this administration so desperately needs a win that this is being trotted out?

And what of the nefarious Osama Bin Laden? Does this mean that he wasn't involved, if Mohammed was the "mastermind" and orchestrated everything from "A to Z." (By the way, interesting use of the American vernacular -- I wonder who the translator is?)."

Mark Denbeaux, a Seton Hall University law professor who represented two Tunisians held at Guantánamo Bay, said "The government has finally brought someone into Gitmo who apparently admits to being someone who could be called an enemy combatant. "None of the others rise to this level. The government has now got one." He says he may be the only one!

But what have they got? Reports the Guardian, "critics of both the interrogation methods used at the camp and the exclusion of independent observers from the hearings today dismissed the confessions." (Note: the Press was also excluded which is suspicious as well).

"Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch, questioned the legality of both the hearing and the confession, and said the suspect's claims could be tainted by torture.

"We won't know that unless there is an independent hearing," Mr. Roth said. "We need to know if this purported confession would be enough to convict him at a fair trial or would it have to be suppressed as the fruit of torture?"


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See more stories tagged with: al qaeda, war on terror, daniel pearl, khalid sheikh mohammed, ahmed omar saeed sheikh

Danny Schechter is “blogger in chief” at Mediachannel.org. His film WMD (Weapons of Mass Deception) deals in part with the Pentagon’s information warfare practices. Comments to Dissector@mediachannel.org.

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Hollywood Could Not Do Better
Posted by: djnoll on Mar 20, 2007 4:57 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
As I read this article, as well as the ones recently in the news about this guy, I found myself wondering if he is another Jose Padilla or just a real good example of how under torture you say what they want just to get them to stop. Let's see, he has claimed his grandfather blew up the USS Maine; he blew up the USS Cole; he mastermind 9/11 alone; and he beheaded Daniel Pearl. I am truly surprised that a man who partied, lived in plush hotels, and seemed to like bars better than mosques could be so accomplished, but then anything is possible I suppose. NOT!

Video of the Daniel Pearl murder clearly shows this guy was there, but did not do the deed. He is not a devote Muslim, which would make him an outcast among jihadis. Bush needs to show why there is not pressing urgency to get Bin Laden, because after all they have the mastermind. This clown may want to be the genius behind some of these events, but the chances of his being just a front man for the show is much greater. If he lived the life the report indicates, he would have broken long before now. He would not have the ability to withstand torture and would have given it up immediately. And, even if he is some sort of super terrorist, his convictions would have had more to do with money than with ideology, which means he would not hold out for nearly 5 years under torture.

This is nothing more than staged smoke-and-mirrors by the Bush Administration, and should not be taken seriously. He may be one of the most intelligent super terrorists, but after all, he was stupid enough to be seen on Pakistani TV and get caught. Hardly the wisdom of a super terrorist or mastermind.

http://www.standanddeliveramerica.com

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» RE: Hollywood Could Not Do Better Posted by: ALANHESTER
Where is the WH Statement Vid?
Posted by: LeaderofMen on Mar 20, 2007 6:05 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Indeed. If this were true - if the true mastermind had been found, info squeezed out, and found to be true you KNOW that Bush and Cheney would both be on video commenting on how we've just turned the corner.

But....not a peep out of them.

Hmmm.

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» Yes WE HAVE TURNED A CORNER!!! Posted by: JoshuaLudd
» RE: Yes WE HAVE TURNED A CORNER!!! Posted by: Benjaminsjw
No, I'm Spartacus!
Posted by: CriminallySane on Mar 20, 2007 6:24 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I wonder if this is part of an emerging strategy - everyone confesses to everything, so there will be no such things as meaningful confessions. Maybe this is why Mad King George wants his "tribunals" - because a drumhead suits his strategy better than a proper courtroom and the rules of evidence.

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I kept waiting...
Posted by: JoshuaLudd on Mar 20, 2007 6:26 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I kept waiting for it to come out that he shot JFK.

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» RE: I kept waiting... Posted by: CriminallySane
Hamburg
Posted by: liliane on Mar 20, 2007 6:49 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I think Chaled Sheik Mohammed told a bit of truth. His office in Pakistan with location and offer to donate money was described in a newletter by the Hamburg-London based group of the azzam.com website, it had essays, martyrs descriptions from Bosnia and a passport protected file section, of course I never read this. It was taken down after 9/11, the readers list had 200 adresses mostly hotmail and yahoo pseudonyms, nobody can track today. I think Daniel Pearl exactly found the Kaeda office and the mastermind and was killed for that. Even now some might tell the truth of today to escape capital punishment, things did go awfully wrong, remember the video of 17 of the suicide attackers of New York in the Al Quds mosque in Hamburg-Harburg. Details matter even if muslims live near the redlight district and airbus industries and they attack the bank that hold their accounts.

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Room 101
Posted by: ErHoff on Mar 20, 2007 9:22 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confessed under years of torture. By the time the U.S. goon squads were through with KSM he admitted to 2 + 2 = 5.

Got truth?

The attacks of September 11, 2001 were planned by neocons in the US.

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» RE: oom 101 Posted by: liliane
» RE: oom 101 Posted by: ErHoff
Mastermind my ass
Posted by: willymack on Mar 20, 2007 9:32 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The poor schmuck showcased as a "mastermind" is a pathetic patsy, and is a credible enemy only to those who use tabloids as a rule and guide to conduct their lives. We'll NEVER find out who's really behind 9/11 if we keep diverting our attention toward red herrings like him.

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Who wouldn't confess??
Posted by: tashi on Mar 20, 2007 10:31 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Years ago, a Pakistani politician wrote about serving jail-time under another US backed dictator General Zia.
He wrote that the standard interrogation practice on suspects was to offer them a choice. They either had the choice to confess or to be sodomized with a stick laced with chili powder. Other techniques involved making the suspect impotent, threat to harm loved ones, specially female members of the suspect, crippling the suspect by beating the soles of the feet with steel rods, etc.
Given these techniques are still in practice, who wouldn't confess?

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Torture or truth?
Posted by: Staggo on Mar 20, 2007 10:45 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
In a system that endorses, facilitates, and uses torture, no one should believe any confession from any alleged terrorist in custody. Maybe we really have a man who has done what he confesses, but I am unconvinced. Why confess at all? He's 12-stepping and making amends? And what excellent timing. Also, so much was confessed that I seriously hoped I would finally find out who hid my keys.

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» And notice... Posted by: JoshuaLudd
You can't believe........
Posted by: tap17x on Mar 20, 2007 1:07 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
..........a fucking thing that our corrupt greedy sleazebag of a government tells us. We will never know what this guy, a dupe for sure, really did.

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» RE: You can't believe........ Posted by: opeluboy
More BUSHSHIT
Posted by: Sparks56 on Mar 20, 2007 5:50 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Let's see. The Bushies are on the ropes, again, over the possible politicization of the Justice Dept., deplorable treatment of wounded soldiers by the US Army, the conviction of Scooter Libby, ("Where's Rove?"), and the eternal daily drumbeat of bad news from Iraq.
Then, one day, Al Qaeda's #3 man, held incommunicado for years, confesses to, among other things, being the real Boston Strangler and the killer of Cock Robin. This confession takes place in the course of a secret trial, in the absence of legal representation, or outside observers. There is no video of this amazing confession, only a heavily redacted written transcript.
More BUSHSHIT!!
Kalhil Shiekh Mohammed, if he really is still alive, is being used for political cover. Once again the Bush Administration chants 9/11, 9/11, to try to divert attention from its crimes and incompetence. It's not working.
This just in: Kahlil Shiekh Mohammed admits he planned and executed Hurricane Katrina! More on Fox News at 10!!

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Electric Cattleprod Confessions
Posted by: Jersey Devil on Mar 20, 2007 6:14 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
It was once said that you could get a Lipizzan Stallion to deal cards by sticking an electric cattleprod up its ass. I wonder how that would work on supposed terrorists and if the confessions are any better then the ones the Army gets with water boarding. Of course there is the factor of 24/7/365 torture complements of Gereralisimo George W. Bush which encourages its victims to "confess" just to get their torturers to stop.

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He "confessed" to a couple of things he couldn't have done
Posted by: eridani on Mar 20, 2007 6:14 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
1. Someone else already confessed and been convicted.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1804710.stm
"British-born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh has been sentenced to death for abducting and murdering US journalist Daniel Pearl."

2. It's worse than that--he's DEAD, Jim!
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/DJ30Df01.html
"Now it has emerged that Kuwaiti national Khalid Shaikh Mohammed did indeed perish in the raid, but his wife and child were taken from the apartment and handed over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in whose hands they remain."

I wouldn't be suprised if whoever they are torturing subsequently admits to the JFK assassination, the Lindbergh kidnapping, and being the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby. Undoubtedly our professional Inquisitors are also probably hoping to learn of his involvement in the killings of Albus Dumbledore and Jon Benet Ramsey, faking crop circles and putting the Ram in the Ramalamadingdong, providing he doesn't run out of fingernails and they have enough batteries for the cattle prods.

Also, it looks like whoever it was "confessed" to plotting to blow up a bank that didn't exist until long after he was captured.

http://www.atlargely.com/2007/03/important_huge_.html
In his confession, KSM claims:

"I was responsible for planning, training, surveying, and financing for the New (or Second) Wave of attacks against the following skyscrapers after 9/11: ...Plaza Bank, Washington state"

The Plaza Bank was not founded until 2006 according to their official Web site:

"Founded in early 2006, with a vision of creating the leading commercial bank in the Pacific Northwest, Plaza Bank's story quickly captured the hearts and passion of some of the region's leading business minds. From Jack Creighton, former CEO of Weyerhaeuser and United Airlines, to former Seattle Mariner Edgar Martinez, and nationally acclaimed salon operator Gene Juárez, the story of a bank founded to bring "class to the mass" simply could not be contained."

I think we can say for quite certain that whomever is being held as KSM was either caught recently or that his entire confession is a fraud.

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What would they say?
Posted by: bohdan on Mar 20, 2007 8:56 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
It's also time to finally peel the "ignorance" label off George Bush. It seems unlikely that he was completely ignorant of all the underhanded dealings of his staff.

He shouldn't only be "held accountable' for what happened under his watch, he should also be exposed for full knowledge and culpability of these "impeachable/traitorous" acts.

Let's stop treating George Bush as a complete idiot and realize that he may only be half idiot and the other half ..... perhaps a devious, immoral, nasty, bully who is easily led to seek revenge against anyone who searches for the truth.

It's not just Cheney and Rove. The true villains are the troika of Bush, Cheney, and Rove.

Perhaps also........The only way to get to the bottom of all this is to send the Bush Administration to one of those "secret" overseas prisons and use torture on them all until they finally confess to all their crimes --- from A to Z......isn't that this administration's favorite way to obtain information?

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frank67
Posted by: frank67 on Mar 21, 2007 6:39 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Gosh, the Bushies have caught yet another "Al Qedda Kingpin." Let's see, is that the 12th or 13th? 15th? More than likely the 0th! The Bushies remind me of FBI agents as described by Tony Hillerman, as not being able to find their asses with both hands.

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