True Confessions? The Amazing
Tale of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
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...
By Anthony D'Amato
03/17/07 "Jurist"
-- -- Students of the Stalinist purges of the 1930s will
recall the astounding confessions made in open court by the
accused persons. They had been severely tortured over weeks and
months. But they showed up in court without external marks of
torture. With all apparent voluntariness, they admitted
subverting the Five-Year Plans that would have provided the
Soviet people with necessary food items. They sabotaged
factories, making sure the production lines were inefficient.
They managed to import inferior metals so that Soviet tanks and
automobiles would fall apart after a few months’ use. They
infiltrated the Soviet Army and through dint of their
persuasiveness, convinced the foot soldier that it was absurd to
risk his life defending a dictatorial government. In short these
accused persons, briefly in court on their way to the firing
squad, took responsibility for everything that had gone wrong
for the past two decades in the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics.
So why is it today that no one draws the connection between the
Soviet purge trials and the confession of Khalid Shaikh
Mohammed? Mohammed said that he had been tortured by his
American captors. No one contradicted his assertion. Then he
went on, with a straight and sincere face, to take
responsibility for a long list of crimes recently perpetrated.
Mr. Mohammed personally decapitated “the head of the American
Jew, Daniel Pearl, in the city of Karachi, Pakistan,” he
testified. He must have been on an overnight flight from South
Korea, where he personally identified targets “such as American
military bases and a few night clubs frequented by American
soldiers.” Perhaps it was on that flight that he planned the
“Shoe Bomber Operation to down two American airplanes.”
The busy Mr. Mohammed planned, financed, surveyed, trained, and
followed up the operations to destroy American military vessels
and oil tankers in the Straits of Hormuz, the Straits of
Gibralter, the Port of Singapore, and the Panama Canal. On a
side trip to the Philippines, he masterminded the assassination
attempt against Pope John Paul II.
What about the Big One, namely, the crash into the World Trade
Center Towers on 9/11? Mr. Mohammed was responsible “from A to
Z,” he said. He also was responsible for the earlier attack on
the World Trade Center in 1993.
This person really got around; you’ve got to give him credit for
that. Maybe he had a job as a chef aboard Air Force One; he
didn’t say. But he did manage to get all the way to Bali,
Indonesia, where he supervised the infamous nightclub bombing
that killed many British and Australian nationals.
At least he was arrested before he managed to carry out a few of
his plans, such as assassinating President Carter (Mohammed
surveyed and financed this assassination plan), and blowing up
Library Tower in California, the Sears Tower in Chicago, several
suspension bridges in New York, Heathrow Airport in London, the
Canary Wharf Building, New York Stock Exchange, the Plaza Bank
in Washington State, and last but not least, the Empire State
Building in New York City. It’s a good thing the latter was
averted as it would have drained all the drama out of the remake
of King Kong.
Anything else you want to say for yourself, Mr. Mohammed? Why
yes, he replies. Don’t forget my responsibility for the Filka
Island Operation in Kuwait that killed two American soldiers,
the destruction of numerous nightclubs in Thailand, planning the
destruction of buildings in the Israeli city of Elat by using
Saudi airplanes, planning and financing for the destruction of
American embassies in Indonesia, Australia, and Japan, the
bombing of the hotel in Mombasa that is frequented by Jewish
travelers, and planning, surveying and financing to hit several
nuclear power plants in the United States. And . . .
O.K., Mr. Mohammed, just ask your lawyer to hand over the
complete list. Do you have any explanations for the Court?
Yes, “not I’m making myself hero when I said I was responsible
for this or that. If America they want to invade Iraq they will
not send for Saddam roses or kisses, they send a bombardment.
This is the best way if I want. I’m American enemies.”
It gives me a warm feeling that these proceedings took place on
board U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, with the Review
Tribunal made up of a Captain from the United States Navy,
Lieutenant Colonels from the United States Air Force and Marine
Corps, and a Gunnery Sergeant as Reporter (all names redacted).
A confession before a tribunal is the best evidence of guilt,
isn’t it? Whether it’s Guantanamo Bay or the Gulag Archipelago.
Anthony D.Amato is Leighton Professor of Law at Northwestern
University, where he teaches international law and human rights.
© Bernard J. Hibbitts 2007.Click here
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