Pentagon wants to kill 9/11 'planners': weren't those the ones tortured?

[babylonsister]

Saddam can tell no tales now; is that the gist of this?


Pentagon seeks death penalty for alleged 9/11 planner
Mon Feb 11, 2008 9:12pm EST


By Kristin Roberts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Monday charged the alleged planner of the September 11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and five others with murder and conspiracy and asked that they be executed if convicted.

The charges are the first from the Guantanamo war court alleging direct involvement in the 2001 attacks on the United States and the first involving the death penalty.

Mohammed, a Pakistani national better known as KSM, has said he planned every aspect of the September 11 attacks.

But his confession could be problematic if used as evidence because the CIA has admitted it subjected him to "waterboarding" -- an interrogation technique of simulated drowning that has been widely criticized as torture.

The rules of the court on the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prohibit the use of evidence gained through torture, as does an international treaty the United States has signed.

But Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann, a legal adviser at the Guantanamo prison camp, would not rule out the use of evidence gathered during the CIA interrogation of Mohammed.

"The question of what evidence will be admitted, whether (involving) waterboarding or otherwise, will be decided in the court," he said.

more...

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN1162388220080212

[Lerkfish]

1. he also admitted to kidnapping the lindbergh baby

and to being a pink centaur.

just to stop the torture.

[aquart]

3. I'm not believing a word of it, either.

Bush decided he wanted a dramatic climax to his administration. Truth is irrelevant to another Bush PR stunt.

[Adsos Letter]

2. I would think confessions elicited through torture would be thrown out...

in the America I grew up in, anyway...

[babylonsister]

6. There's the rub. And do they want to

get rid of these guys before they can talk? Not out of the realm of possibility.

[TexasObserver]

4. Bushies think this strategem will propel 9-11 and terror back into dialogue

It's a transparent attempt to push discussion back to the area they THINK John McCain will do better on. But he's got a big problem on use of torture, so the scheme will backfire.

Besides, Americans are sick of the whole 9-11 revenge theme.

[tuckessee]

5. Shades of Stalin's show trials? n/t