The Steady Drip: Pressed to Make Public a Plea Deal for 9/11 Accused (Connecting the Dots: Lloyd Austin, The U.S. Department of Defense, The Guantanamo Bay prison, Sept. 11, 2001, attacks & Soros Funding, All Networking)

Pressed to Make Public a Plea Deal for 9/11 Accused (Connecting the Dots: Lloyd Austin, The U.S. Department of Defense, The Guantanamo Bay prison, Sept. 11, 2001, attacks & Soros Funding, All Networking)

Newsmax.com

Friday, 11 October 2024 08:25 PM EDT

(AP)

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/guantanamo-bay-911-khalid-sheikh-mohammed/2024/10/11/id/1183797/

A lawyer for news organizations urged the U.S. military commission at Guantanamo Bay to unseal the plea deal struck with accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two others, saying the public has a constitutional right and compelling need to follow one of the "most-disputed, debated, argued-about prosecutions that have happened in this country."

The plea agreement was reached in August by the three accused, their U.S. government prosecutors and the Guantanamo commission's top official, but it was abruptly revoked by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin days after it became public. It has become one of the most fiercely debated chapters in more than a decade of military hearings related to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people and triggered long-running U.S. military invasions abroad.

The plea agreement would have spared Mohammed and two co-defendants the risk of the death penalty, in exchange for their guilty pleas in the al-Qaida attacks.

After news of the deal broke, however, top Republican lawmakers denounced it and the White House expressed concerns. Families of the victims variously expressed shock and approval of the plea deal, which was aimed at resolving more than a decade of pre-trial hearings in a legally troubled case for the government.

Austin said in revoking the military commission's approval of the plea bargain that he had decided responsibility for any such grave decision should rest with him as secretary of defense. Mohammed and the two co-defendants have filed challenges, saying Austin's action was illegal and that the actions by the Biden administration, lawmakers and others amounted to undue outside influence in the case.

Seven news organizations — Fox News, NBC, NPR, The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Washington Post and Univision — challenged the sealing of the plea deal.

Friday's hearing highlighted the ad hoc nature of the military commission, which U.S. leaders created to try accused violent extremists in the wake of the 2001 attacks. The lawyers and judge pivoted Friday between civilian and military legal precedents in arguing for and against making terms of the plea agreement public.

The hearing also highlighted the obstacles facing the public, including news organizations, in obtaining information about proceedings against the 9/11 defendants and the few dozen other remaining detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In civilian courts, a plea agreement is traditionally a matter of public record.

Both defense and prosecution lawyers in the case asked the commission judge, Air Force Col. Matthew McCall, to deny the news organizations' request to make the plea deal public.

They argued that allowing the public to know all the terms of the deal that the government struck with defendants Mohammed, Walid bin Attash, and Mustafa al-Hawsawi could wait. Prosecutors and defense lawyers offered different proposals for how long to wait — until after any rulings on challenges to Austin's overturning of the plea deal, or until after any military sentencing panel is ever seated in the case, or forever.

Prosecutors were concerned about an "oversaturation of information" about the men's willingness to plead guilty tainting any future sentencing panel, lead prosecutor Clay Trivett told McCall.

Defense lawyer Walter Ruiz, representing Hawsawi, said "press gluttony and greed" for profits was driving the news media request to make the terms public. Ruiz criticized news organizations for making the existence of the plea bargain public, and said they were seeking to add to "the very debate they helped to create that impacted this process."

Lawyer David Schulz, representing the seven news outlets, argued that the Guantanamo court had failed to show any level of threat to the conduct of the 9/11 hearings that warranted hamstringing the public's legal rights to know what courts and the government at large are doing.

"It's just inappropriate to have a knee-jerk reaction and say, 'Well, we have to keep all this from the press,' Schulz told McCall. "Particularly in this context ... of one of the most disputed, debated, argued-about prosecutions that have happened in this country involving ... the most horrendous crime that ever happened on American soil."

"People have a right to know what's happening here, and they have a right to know now, not two or three years from now, or whatever," Schulz said.

McCall indicated a decision on the motion to unseal could come as soon as November.

Connecting the Dots:

Lloyd J. Austin III is the commander for the U.S. Central Command.

U.S. Central Command is a unified combatant command for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Pentagon is the headquarters for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Guantanamo Bay prison is a Cuba-based detention camp for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Chuck Hagel is the secretary at the U.S. Department of Defense for the Barack Obama administration and was the chairman for the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).

James R. Schlesinger was a secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense and an honorary director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).

Richard L. Armitage was an assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense and is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).
Harold Brown was a secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense and is an honorary director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).

Open Society Foundations was a funder for the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).

George Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations and was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Brookings Institution (think tank).

Charles W. Duncan Jr. was an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank) and the deputy secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense.

William A. Owens was an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank) and a senior military assistant to the secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Robert S. McNamara was an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank) and the secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Judith Rodin was an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank) and is a director at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center.

Harold H. Koh was a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), the State Department legal adviser for the Barack Obama administration and a director at Human Rights First.

Kenneth R. Feinberg is a director at Human Rights First and was a special master September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001.

Mark A. Angelson is a director at Human Rights First and was a partner at Sidley Austin LLP.

Michelle Obama was a lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP.

Barack Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin LLP.

James D. Zirin was a partner at Sidley Austin LLP and a director at the Human Rights First.

William D. Zabel is the chair for the Human Rights First, was George Soros’s divorce lawyer and a trustee at the Foundation to Promote Open Society.

George Soros’s divorce lawyer was William D. Zabel, was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society and is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations.

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Human Rights First and the International Rescue Committee.

Open Society Foundations was a funder for the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).

John C. Whitehead was an overseer at the International Rescue Committee, a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and a director at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center.

Richard L. Armitage is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and was an assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Guantanamo Bay prison is a Cuba-based detention camp for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Harold Brown is an honorary director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and was a secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Frank C. Carlucci is an honorary director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and was a secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Eric S. Edelman is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and was an undersecretary for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Evelyn N. Farkas is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and was a deputy assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Sherri W. Goodman is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and was a deputy undersecretary for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Stephen J. Hadley is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and was an undersecretary for the U.S. Department of Defense.

James L. Jones Jr. is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and was a commander, U.S. European Command for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Zalmay Khalilzad is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and was an assistant deputy undersecretary for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Franklin D. Kramer is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and was an assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Jan M. Lodal is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and was a principal deputy undersecretary for the U.S. Department of Defense.

William J. Lynn is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and was a deputy secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense.

James N. Miller is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and was an undersecretary for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Judith A. Miller is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and was a general counsel for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Joseph S. Nye Jr. is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and was an assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Philip A. Odeen is a lifetime director for the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and was a deputy assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Sean O'Keefe is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and was a comptroller & CFO for the U.S. Department of Defense.

William J. Perry is an honorary director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and was a secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Walter B. Slocombe is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and was an undersecretary for the U.S. Department of Defense.

William H. Taft IV is a lifetime director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and was a general counsel for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Togo D. West Jr. is a lifetime director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and was a general counsel for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Dov S. Zakheim is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and was an undersecretary for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Henry E. Catto was a chair emeritus for the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and an assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Edwin Dorn was a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and an undersecretary at the U.S. Department of Defense.

Chas. W. Freeman Jr. was a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and an assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Jacques S. Gansler was a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and an undersecretary at the U.S. Department of Defense.

Chuck Hagel was a chairman for the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Paul G. Kaminski was a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and an undersecretary at the U.S. Department of Defense.

Arnold Kanter was a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and an undersecretary at the U.S. Department of Defense.

Robert S. McNamara was an honorary director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and a secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense.

James R. Schlesinger was an honorary director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and a secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Guantanamo Bay prison is a Cuba-based detention camp for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Guantanamo Review Task Force recommended which detainees should be released or prosecuted at the Guantanamo Bay prison.

Matthew G. Olsen was a director at the Guantanamo Review Task Force and is a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council.

Lee H. Hamilton is a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council and an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Brookings Institution (think tank).

George Soros the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.

Charles W. Duncan Jr. was an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank) and the deputy secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense.

William A. Owens was an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank) and a senior military assistant to the secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Robert S. McNamara was an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank) and the secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Judith Rodin was an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank) and is a director at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center.

Cameron F. Kerry is a fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank), John F. Kerry’s brother and a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP.

Barack Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin LLP.

Michelle Obama was a lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP and an advocate for the ONE Campaign.

ONE Campaign is a partner with the International Rescue Committee.

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the International Rescue Committee.

George Soros the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.

Madeleine K. Albright was an overseer at the International Rescue Committee, an advisory board member for the Truman National Security Project and a director at the Center for a New American Security.

R. Hunter Biden is a director at the Truman National Security Project, a director at the Center for National Policy and Joseph R. Biden Jr’s son.

Kamala D. Harris is an advisory board member for the Truman National Security Project an advisory board member for the Center for National Policy and vice president of the Joseph R. Biden Jr administration.

Madeleine K. Albright was an advisory board member for the Truman National Security Project, was a director at the Center for a New American Security and an honorary director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).

Open Society Foundations was a funder for the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).

George Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations.