Obama Admin May Permit 9/11 Suspects To Plead Guilty In Capital Cases

WASHINGTON — Guantanamo detainees facing the death penalty could plead guilty without a full trial under a plan the Obama administration is considering, a senior administration official said Saturday.

The option, one of a number being debated by a Justice Department-led task force, would be aimed at the five detainees accused of planning the Sept. 11 attacks, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the task force's deliberations have not been made public.

It was unclear whether the option, first reported by The New York Times, was being considered for detainees other than those accused directly in the 2001 terrorist strikes.

The task force has not presented any recommendation to the White House on how to handle the remaining detainees at Guantanamo, the official said.

The five detainees wrote a letter on Nov. 4 _ the day Barack Obama was elected president _ saying they wanted to confess, presumably to plead guilty and face the death penalty. At least two, including the self-described mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, have said they want to be executed to achieve martyrdom.

But the formal confessions were delayed when a judge ruled that two defendants couldn't enter pleas until the court determined their mental competency. The other three said they would also wait.

The judge, Army Col. Stephen Henley, asked lawyers to advise him whether the Pentagon could apply the death penalty without a jury trial.

As one of his first acts after taking office, Obama ordered Guantanamo closed by January 2010. He said it had caused the United States more harm than good and served as a recruitment tool for the al-Qaida terrorist network. The Justice Department-led task force is one of several trying to determine the best way to handle the remaining 200 or so detainees at Guantanamo.

U.S. military commissions set up by the Bush administration to handle suspected terrorists have come under heavy criticism from legal and human rights groups. U.S. military prosecutions employing this structure and legal rules have for the most part been put on hold since January while the Obama administration considered other options.

Obama recently approved the continued use of these commissions.

The option under review by the task force specifies that Congress would have to clarify the uncertainty that was built into the 2006 law authorizing the creation of the military commissions. That law left unclear the question of whether guilty pleas could be accepted in capital cases conducted via the military commission format.

These pleas under U.S. law are allowed in federal civilian courts and in the courts of most states with capital punishment statutes.

Traveling in France with Obama, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the president "has been clear that he hopes to work with Republicans and Democrats in Congress to improve the military commissions act to ensure that we can ensure more due process and deliver what has been long in coming: swift and certain justice. To suggest that any of the decisions have been made is not accurate."

Comments

[tbone99]

is it a trial if you can only plead guilty?

why don't they just execute them by shooting them in the back while running away,with a 50 yft headstart since that is what they are determined to do to cover up the torture?

why spend all the money , tpo put on a travesty of a mockery of justice?

You're not fooling anyone here Obama!.

[priorato]

If this was happening in another country we would be appalled! This is America, we are freedom loving people who respect the Rule of Law and we have certain legal traditions enshrined in the Constitution.

These detainees were tortured for years and would have said anything for the pain & humiliation to stop! Many are innocent as they were "rounded up" by people looking to cash in on bounties offered by Uncle Sam.

These "confessions" would be thrown out by any judge (military or civilian) and could not stand up to scrutiny, and Obama wants to executive all of them???

What if our Government was complicit in the 9/11 attacks and this is just another way of covering up these treason committed by the Bush Regime?

If you are skeptical, look at the way Obama is covering Georgie's tracks: blocking release of torture photographs; militant adherence to the "look forward" doctrine; invoking the state secrets privilege to dismiss lawsuits; resurrecting military tribunals; sending troops to Afghanistan with no game plan; etc.

[samlu1]

"What if our Government was complicit in the 9/11 attacks"?!

Priorato..­.....there were no commercial planes on 9/11. Just like the WMD's in Iraq....it was a staged, conspired, murderous lie for the excuse to kill millions of people, spend trillions of dollars, torturing thousands, effecting billions of people for generations to come. Stop the what if's. We now know..........

It is time for the world to understand the true scope of what the US military, media, and government did to the world on 9/11. It exposes everything­..........

[Ramirez]

Okay Truthers:

So who did 911 and why?

[vippy]

I always wondered if the 9/11 was an in-house job why do we need to accuse someone else of doing it. Right, they have to make a case.

[Space Walker]

My friend you are among the few with common sense, im glad American Idol and all the other distractions isnt blocking your common sense. The rest of Americans are a lost cause and if told pigs could fly would believe that also if it was said long enough by repeated loops by the media.

[Hirnlego]

Oh, the planes were certainly there.

I'd like to know how they knew how to time the event that exact state, when the air defense was crippled...

[Yermammy]

"It's like this...

... we realize that it's awful the way we've kept you so long without habeas corpus and trial, and the paperwork involved to go to court, jeez! So, if you'd like avoid the red tape and boy who doesn't(!), here's a revolver and bucket to put your head in. And try to stay on the plastic, we just painted in here. Mmmkay."

[MountainPenelope]

Did anyone read the article. The guilty pleas apply to only five (5) of the detainees, the five most directly related to 9/11.

Let them plead guilty, but do NOT apply the death penalty. Let them sit in prison until their very last day of natural life. Do not allow them the martyrdom they so desire.

[Yermammy]

"It was unclear whether the option, first reported by The New York Times, was being considered for detainees other than those accused directly in the 2001 terrorist strikes."
Apparently you missed that pertinent part of the story. What you are failing to realize is once this horrible policy is put in place, ANYONE can be summarily executed with admission of guilt with no trial to ascertain whether the confession was coerced or not. I am stunned at the ignorance of people not to see how this can translate to domestic law in the future. This trial balloon needs to be shot down immediately because it flies in the face of democratic principle and the right of fair trial. Habeas Corpus will die if this abomination takes flight. This horrendous idea must NOT stand.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/

[CigarGod]

Not a Christian, but for some reason I am reminded this morning of words Christ supposedly spoke.
Something along the lines of:

"Forgive them, for they know not what they do".

But not knowing...and fearing....is why they are going to keep doing it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_PATRIOT_Act

[AFVet1A251]

I am with you... If they want to plead guilty, ok... but you don't get to choose your punishment- we do. They should live the rest of their natural lives in prison, unless they choose to hang themselves :)

[CigarGod]

You and I are both vets. Part of our duty was to uphold the constitution.
That means a fair trial.

How does that factor in to your thinking?

[S1m0n]

How would we know what they are or aren't 'directly related' to in the absence of a trial in which the evidence can be examined?

[S1m0n]

That's an indictment of the entire process. After 7 years, we still can't say when or how (if ever) detainees will get the opportunity to mount a defense, and we can't even say that acquittal would result in their release. In fact, we've bluntly said the opposite: even if acquitted of the charges, for some nothing will change and we plan to go on holding them no matter how the trial proceeds.

Under those circumstances, a scrupulous court would refuse to accept a guilty plea, because it has obviously been obtained under duress.

[Yermammy]

Let me get this straight. First, we pay warlords a bounty for picking up Arabs in Afghanistan which they do- anyone that fits the description- many of them innocent. Then we torture them and hold them for years without habeas corpus rights. After years of imprisonment, we offer to kill them if they confess to any crimes they would admit to under the conditions they've been put under.
This is nothing short of horrendous. This is a maneuver to never have to reveal what was actually done to these people. This is as bad as anything I've ever heard of Hi tl er's Germany doing. Suicide by tortured confession.
This had BETTER be a very bad joke, Mr. President. Quit protecting Bush's crimes or you will own them.

[Freesia2]

I don't care so much how they handle the trial. By that I mean if they want to waive the right to jury, that's a part of many trials. But with that arrangement usually comes the requirement that they confess, before their life sentence, to the judge, on the record, the details of their criminal acts. They own it for posterity. So if that's what happens, and all that happens, fine.

What's not negotiable, not okay at all, is the death penalty. Not because I wouldn't love to see them strung up in the town square. But because that would be a gift to them. We're not going to wrap up martyrdom with a big bow and present it to them. Let them cool their heels in a cell with no fan fare like the mastermind of the 1993 WTC bombing. They can sit there in obscurity and be largely forgotten and know every day that they were filed away into nothingness.

[Yermammy]

Wow, the ignorance is appalling. Many of these people are innocent and have been illegally tortured for years. The reason for these "convenience" is to not have to reveal what was done to them in Bush's name and actions. This is the most hideous attempt to cover for war crimes, yet. You still don't get it, do you? The lame excuse for military commissions is to hide the real facts- that innocent people were tortured into insanity and if the public realized that, the outrage would be tremendous. The cover up continues, but thankfully the world is watching this and it ain't going to fly. Not by a long shot.

[Freesia2]

Hey I'm on your side. If you look through my posting history you'll find I'm one big jump up and down for Bush's people to be on trial for war crimes. Particularly Cheney. (And I think it's a shame his twisted daughter couldn't be up there in the dock with him.)

My only point was that however the trials are conducted, the death penalty isn't going to fly. Not by a long shot. I don't want the perpetrators of 9/11 to be rewarded with martyrdom. Nothing would make them happier. Nix to the death penalty.

Meanwhile I'm reading CigarGod below and it's an excellent point. How capable are they of choosing to waive right to trial? Could you trust their judgment? And so I don't know how it works with this type of trial, but unless it is required that they undergo (independent) psychiatric analysis to judge their mental capacity then it shouldn't be allowed.

Know what I really want? I want to turn the clock back and have Bush lose an election. That would solve everything.

[CigarGod]

Do you honestly think peopled tortured and abused for years and denied counsel, etc. are in any condition to make their own decisions?

[starrianna]

Do they have the option of just killing themselves right there?

THIS IS LAME!

Obama, honey, let's move FORWARD not backward.
We are not fu(*ing barbarians, are we?

[CigarGod]

Anytime someone tells you: "just trust me, I'll take care of things for you...in the dark"...you better either rise up and fight or get out of town, because the bad guys have taken over.

[StillAmused]

"The judge, Army Col. Stephen Henley, asked lawyers to advise him whether the Pentagon could apply the death penalty without a jury trial."

... but Monica Goodling no longer answers her extension at Justice.

This is shaping up to be possibly the ugliest stain on Obama's tenure. To even consider guilty pleas, based exclusively on the detainees' desire to achieve "martyrdom" and without any adjudicated PROOF of actual GUILT of a capital offense is a doorway into Hades.

Time for whoever carries the due process dogwhistle to blow it, hard, in the White House and get everyone's attention, QUICK... especially that of the President.

[Yermammy]

Ugliest stain is right. This is beyond terrible. To skip past trial and straight to execution on admission of guilt. Tortured confession guilt! I can't believe this is America anymore. I am stunned and enraged.

[CigarGod]

So, now we know how ordinary Germans felt when they saw others selected for special treatment.

[rabiddog6708]

The US Constitution 1787 - 2009 RIP

[rabiddog6708]

Obama Admin May Allow 9/11 Suspects To Plead Guilty Without Trial


How wonderful of them to do this. Sames them the time and effort of putting them on trial (which they aren't going to do anyway).

[Tubalcain]

Why don't they start first with actually determining who's who. It seems that the majority of people there were swept up, wrong place wrong time. I'm sorry, but there have been too many instances of innocent people being taken to secret prisons tortured then let go with no charges.

[sviolette]

It doesn't matter who they are. Just torture them until they say something you can kill them for. Cheney says they're guilty so they must be. Otherwise they wouldn't be at Gitmo.

[Yermammy]

They don't want to show the product of six or seven years of what torture has done to these wretched souls. This is bordering on war crimes to even propose this. This is medieval and NOT the work of a democratic society AT ALL.
I pray that Barack hasn't heard of this, because if he doesn't deny it, this will be BAD.

[fusionfan]

I have a real problem with this.
I've been listening to a discussion of how the buildings collapses by an organization of architects and engineers who claim that explosives had to be used. http://www.ae911truth.org

If this is true, or even possible, then it is likely that NONE of the people at Gitmo had ANYTHING to do with 911. All we know is what we've been told by the government, and all of these may be bogus confessions. If they are, this seems why the gov't is so anxious not to release these people to the outside. It's only once they get outside that they would be able to speak freely.

I would very much like to punish the criminals responsible for 911. These Gitmo detainees are not them.

[fusionfan]

"At least two, including the self-described mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, have said they want to be executed to achieve martyrdom."

Are you people so stupid as to really believe this?

[tekjensen]

I honestly don't think there's a big conspiracy. Look at the torture debate for instance. How many people have come out of the Bush Administration telling of wrongs committed by Cheney, Rumsfield, ect? Something like 9-11 would not be easy to cover up to the point that absolutely nobody is coming forward with details of such a conspiracy. I think this conspiracy is along the same lines as Obama's a Muslim and wasn't born a citizen. All it does is take away from more important issues that need to be discussed.

With that being said I wouldn't put it past the government to behave in it's own best interest rather than that of the American people but the orchestration of 9-11 with such perfect execution and no one with first hand knowledge of a conspiracy coming forward is highly unlikely. We should always keep an eye on government but lets not resort to the rights use of conspiracy theories as it only diminishes the credibility of the people repeating it.

[sviolette]

How many have come out of the Bush administration telling of wrongs committed? Can you name a few? The only one I know of is Cheney himself.

[muckraker3]

This administration gives "Justice" A bad name. Suspects who were waterboarded hundreds of times plead guilty and then we are going to execute them without any trial? The U.S better be prepared to lose all moral suasion in the world and admit to being the police state that it has become. I can't think of a worse precedent then executing individuals who signed a confession after being tortured and isolated without trial. Who's next?

[Newsmonger]

Why not read the article and at least understand it, before openning your mouth?

The article clearly said, their guity plead have not been accepted, The article also stated that the Judge order that their confessions be delayed until their mental competency is accessed.

No one is currently waterboarding them and they can coose not to enter the guilty plead, if they so choose.

[tekjensen]

*sarcasm*

Read the article? Yeah right. Those are a lot of words. I think the title tells me all I need to know.

*end sarcasm*

[sviolette]

How do you know no one is currently waterboarding them? Did Cheney tell you that?

[kissMYfish]

Let just go to court and prosecute the guilty. Sooner or later no matter what they try to do, world peace would only be accomplished if the truth be told. Our country did wrong. We need to face it. Yes, the world needs to see it, I don't want to hear anymore speeches about what other countries need to do if you refuse to do the same on your soil. That's hypocrisy and it's wrong.