Rear Adm. Aaron C. Rugh, the chief prosecutor for military commissions overseeing the trials of the 9/11 attack plotters, informed the victims' families that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Walid bin Attash, and Mustafa al-Hawsawi pled guilty to conspiracy and murder charges in exchange for life sentences.
“In exchange for the removal of the death penalty as a possible punishment, these three accused have agreed to plead guilty to all of the charged offenses, including the murder of the 2,976 people listed in the charge sheet,” said the letter.
”I feel like I was kicked in the balls,” said retired NYPD officer Jim Smith. His wife, Moira Smith, was killed in the terror attacks.
“The prosecution and families have waited for 23 years to have our day in court to put on the record what these animals did to our loved ones,” Smith told The New York Post.
It seems incredible that the murderers of nearly 3,000 Americans could game the justice system for 21 years and, in the end, avoid the death penalty. The torture of the defendants while being interrogated contributed to the trial delays. But there was other evidence that the military was planning to introduce that would have convicted the planners. Unfortunately, almost all of it is highly classified, and defense lawyers have been agitating for years to make that evidence public, which is something the CIA won't do.
The prosecution was in a bind. The potential existed for the trial judge to toss the confessions while other evidence that would also have convicted the terrorists couldn't be revealed. So the prosecution was left with offering a plea deal that took the death penalty off the table.
“I really did want the death penalty,” said Kathleen Vigiano. Her New York Police detective husband, Joseph, and firefighter brother-in-law, John, were both killed at the World Trade Center. “They did kill 3,000 Americans and people are still dying from post-9/11 cancer.”
"I am very disappointed. We waited patiently for a long time. I wanted the death penalty; the government has failed us," Daniel D’Allara, whose twin brother, John, was an NYPD officer killed in the attacks, told the New York Post.
Part of the plea deal will be an aspect of "restorative justice," where the three terrorists will have to answer questions from some of the victims' families.
Under the process, sometimes known as restorative justice, the family members would submit questions by Sept. 14, and should receive answers by the end of 2024. Mr. Mohammed’s lawyer, Gary D. Sowards, noted that having Mr. Mohammed answer “all questions of how and why 9/11 occurred” was an important portion of the agreement.“The many people whose lives were tragically touched by these events will have the finality that so many have sought for so long,” Mr. Sowards said. “Equally important, the government has agreed to our commitment to allow victims and survivors to tell the stories of how 9/11 so greatly affected their lives.”
Republicans are livid about the plea deal. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said, "Anything short of their execution is a complete and total miscarriage of justice. Time and time again, this administration shows weakness to our adversaries."
Vice presidential candidate JD Vance went further. "We need a president who kills terrorists, not negotiates with them," he told supporters at a campaign rally in Arizona.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said the Biden administration was a "dream team" for terrorists.
"Yet they were apparently allowed to plead guilty and avoid the death penalty, and potentially received a host of other conditions," Graham wrote on social media. "From the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan to broken borders and empowering Iran, the Biden-Harris Administration has been a dream team for terrorists and rogue states like Iran."
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) called the plea deal "unthinkable."
The Biden-Harris Administration has done the unthinkable: they’ve agreed to a plea deal with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the September 11th attacks, and two of his accomplices.
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) August 1, 2024
23 years ago, America watched in horror as thousands of innocent Americans died. America… https://t.co/r8f1afkRKm
The terrorists who planned and executed 9/11 have not been "brought to justice." Not only are these three terrorists being allowed to live out their lives, but the nation behind the attacks has also gone unpunished and unnamed. The faction of the Saudi Arabian government that supported Osama bin Laden — even some members of the royal family — has yet to be called to account for their crimes.
That day is not likely to come, nor will the families receive any recompense for their suffering at the hands of Saudi nationals. The plea deals for the terrorists are just one more cut among many that the families of 9/11 victims must bear.
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