Khalid Sheikh Mohammed asks to confess and plead guilty
Why would they plead guilty in Guantanamo with the realistic chance of being transferred to the Federal court system?
Maybe because a Guantanamo "conviction" and capital punishment holds greater propaganda value?
That's an interesting statement on the "hearts and minds" value of Guantanamo over the "criminal method" of pursuing terrorists. (And to the broader mistake of calling it a "war," elevating their ideology rather than marginalizing them as criminals.)
Later: The NYTimes and WaPo have a little more.
The self-styled mastermind of the September 11 attacks and four co-defendants told a military judge at Guantanamo on Monday that they wanted to confess and plead guilty.
The defendants said in a note to the judge that they made the decision on November 4, the day Barack Obama was elected to become the next U.S. president.....
Several of the defendants had said at previous hearings that they welcomed martyrdom, and they may have felt that opportunity slipping away with Obama's election.
Maybe because a Guantanamo "conviction" and capital punishment holds greater propaganda value?
That's an interesting statement on the "hearts and minds" value of Guantanamo over the "criminal method" of pursuing terrorists. (And to the broader mistake of calling it a "war," elevating their ideology rather than marginalizing them as criminals.)
Later: The NYTimes and WaPo have a little more.
posted by mikevotes at
1:44 PM
7 Comments:
Martyrdom indeed. That is the motivation, pure and simple.
By
Praguetwin, at 2:59 PM
Yeah.
But, again, I think it says so much about the political failure of the Guantanamo system.
By
mikevotes, at 4:31 PM
It's a ploy according to this.
Actually it's amazing any of these guys can still think straight.
By
Anonymous, at 5:07 PM
Interesting.
Even if it is a ploy, it still has the same underlying theme, that prosecution and detainment at Guantanamo helps their cause.
By
mikevotes, at 5:42 PM
I haven't read the link, but fundamentally the dumbest thing you can do with someone who wants to be seen as a martyr at the hands of a kangaroo court is to set up a kangaroo court and treat him like a martyr.
By
-epm, at 6:49 PM
EPM, that's pretty much the link.
By
mikevotes, at 9:30 PM
I suppose it can be read as a wish for martyrdom.
Could it also be read as "You American military guys, by order of your President, put us here in Guantanamo, tortured us, and left us without any legal recourse. We have nothing to lose, and therefore can gamble it all. We're saying 'put up or shut up.' Either try us as criminals in open court where all can see the real evidence against us, or let us go. If you dare to simply execute us, everyone will see that you have no moral spine."?
By
Anonymous, at 8:36 PM
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