US News

Guantanamo detainees admit to 9/11 plot

Mar 10, 2009, 16:29 GMT

Washington - Five detainees at Guantanamo Bay accused of planning the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks have filed a document taking pride in the assault that killed nearly 3,000 people.

In the document released Tuesday by the Pentagon, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the attacks, and four co- defendants took responsibility for the attacks and claimed they were carrying out God's will.

'With regards to these nine accusations that you are putting us on trial for; to us, they are not accusations. To us they are badges of honour, which we carry with pride,' the document said.

The five men have been charged with the death of 2,973 people in addition to other terrorism charges, and faced the death penalty in the military commission proceedings suspended by President Barack Obama days after he took office.

The Obama administration is reviewing all of the cases at Guantanamo Bay and has not announced how it will proceed in the prosecutions of terrorist suspects held at the notorious prison camp on Cuba.

Mohammed and the other defendants in previous court appearances said they were responsible for planning the September 11 attacks and wanted to die as martyrs.

The document, filed with the commissions on Thursday, is titled The Islamic Response to the Government's Nine Accusations. The men identify themselves as 'The 9/11 Shura' Council.' They are permitted to occasionally meet privately without their attorneys.

A Pentagon spokesman, Commander Jeffrey Gordon, said the document was 'merely another attempt by these detainees to garner publicity.'