WASHINGTON — Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the Kuwaiti national who is thought to be the highest-ranking Al Qaeda operative in U.S. custody, told a military tribunal in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, last weekend that he was responsible for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to a transcript of the hearing.
In a written statement read to a three-officer panel, Mohammed claimed he was Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's "operational leader" for the "9/11 operation," responsible for the "organizing, planning, follow-up and execution" of the plot.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday March 17, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 43 words Type of Material: Correction
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed: An article in Thursday's Section A described accused terrorist Khalid Shaikh Mohammed as a Kuwaiti national. Mohammed was born in Kuwait to Pakistani parents, and was raised and educated there. Kuwaiti officials have said he does not have Kuwaiti citizenship.
"I was responsible for the 9/11 operation, from A to Z," Mohammed said, according to the transcript, which was released by the Pentagon on Wednesday night.
Mohammed was present at the hourlong, closed-door hearing Saturday, and he interjected frequently in slightly broken English. His admission was read to the tribunal by an Air Force lieutenant colonel who was serving as Mohammed's representative.
Mohammed also gave a lengthy, apparently spontaneous speech in which he likened Al Qaeda operatives to American revolutionaries, described a war against a dominating U.S. presence and even expressed a measure of remorse.
"I'm not happy that 3,000 been killed in America," he said, according to the transcript. "I feel sorry, even. I don't like to kill children and the kids. Never Islam are give me green light to kill people. Killing, as in the Christianity, Jews and Islam, are prohibited."
In his 31-point statement, Mohammed claimed responsibility for a wide range of terrorist plots, including the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center; the 2002 bombings of nightclubs in Bali, Indonesia; and the so-called shoe-bomber plot to down U.S. airliners traveling across the Atlantic. He said he took part in plans to kill former Presidents Carter and Clinton, as well as the late Pope John Paul II.
Mohammed has made similar claims in the past about his involvement in terrorist attacks. The Sept. 11 commission report, published three years ago, cited several interrogation reports compiled by U.S. intelligence agencies in which Mohammed described his role in the attacks in detail.
In addition, the trial of alleged Al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui last year included statements by Mohammed that were read to jurors, in which he described his role in several terrorist plots.
