Elected lawmakers are blasting a deal the Defense Department made this week that took the possibility of the death penalty off the table for three 9/11 terrorists.
Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and two accomplices—Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin 'Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi—agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy and murder charges in exchange for a life sentence, eliminating the possibility of a death penalty trial at Guantanamo Bay.
What are they thinking?
Be informed, not misled.
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The New York Times reported this yesterday:
Word of the deal emerged in a letter from war court prosecutors to Sept. 11 family members.
“In exchange for the removal of the death penalty as a possible punishment, these three accused have agreed to plead guilty to all of the charged offenses, including the murder of the 2,976 people listed in the charge sheet,” said the letter, which was signed by Rear Adm. Aaron C. Rugh, the chief prosecutor for military commissions and three lawyers on his team.
The letter said the men could submit their pleas in open court as early as next week.
Admiral Rugh and his colleagues wrote in their letter to the families that their decision to agree to guilty pleas after “12 years of pretrial litigation was not reached lightly. However, it is our collective, reasoned, and good-faith judgment that this resolution is the best path to finality and justice in this case.”
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are not happy.
The brief statement from the Department of Defense, which noted that the three had been jointly charged and arraigned in 2008 and again in 2012, said the terms and conditions of the pretrial agreements are not publicly available at this time.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Mike Johnson ripped the plea deal.
“The Biden-Harris Administration’s weakness in the face of sworn enemies of the American people apparently knows no bounds,” they said in a statement.
McConnell said, “The plea deal with terrorists ... is a revolting abdication of the government’s responsibility to defend America and provide justice. The only thing worse than negotiating with terrorists is negotiating with them after they are in custody.”
McConnell argued that "real justice" needs to be served for the victims' families and the American people.
He said, “In the same week that Israel eliminated some of Iran’s most trusted terrorist proxies, the Administration’s decision to spare these mass-murderers from the death penalty is an especially bitter pill. Meanwhile, the Biden-Harris Administration still seeks to release other Guantanamo terrorists back into the world. The Administration’s cowardice in the face of terror is a national disgrace."
Speaker Johnson said the Biden-Harris administration "has done the unthinkable."
"23 years ago, America watched in horror as thousands of innocent Americans died. America mourned for weeks afterwards as first responders sifted through the ashes at Ground Zero, at the Pentagon, and at the crash site in Shanksville," the Louisiana Republican added. "For more than two decades, the families of those murdered by these terrorists have waited for justice. This plea deal is a slap in the face of those families. They deserved better from the Biden-Harris Administration."
Any plea deal with the terrorists responsible for killing thousands of Americans, including so many of my constituents, is unacceptable. We owe it to the victims, their families and those 9/11 heroes who continue to suffer and die from related illnesses to pursue the death… pic.twitter.com/w6oNLmgfQX
— Office of Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (@RepMalliotakis) July 31, 2024
New York lawmakers and the New York Post editorial board also blasted the plea deal.
The New York Post editorial board wrote:
Families of the victims have been desperate for closure, desperate for justice, for far too long.
Now, after having already dishonored the sacrifice of our troops with the disastrous pullout from Afghanistan, President Biden dishonors the memories of those slain on 9/11 by agreeing to a plea deal with terrorist mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
He will face life in prison, and not the death penalty he deserves.
That this disappointing closure took this long is itself a travesty. After failed attempts by President Barack Obama to try KSM in the mainland United States, a military trial was planned. But that process dragged on for years, piling pain upon pain.
At least Osama bin Laden faced the wrath of the United States. The KSM deal is just one more failure of an administration rife with them.
If we can offer any comfort to the 9/11 families, it is this: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed may live another day, but the fires of hell await him.
Takeaway
We are becoming a nation "with laws" but "without" consequences. We no longer enforce the law except when justice has been turned on its head and used as a political tool.
What happens when someone shows disrespect, lies, bullies a peer, uses foul language, gets into a fight, cheats to win, steals merchandise — and there are no consequences?
The line between right and wrong becomes blurred. If good behavior isn’t rewarded and poor behavior isn’t punished, it’s easy to forget the proper way to behave.
Learning fails if unacceptable behavior isn’t questioned or challenged. Before you know it, bad behavior turns into a bad habit.
Wrongdoings get repeated. If there are no consequences, you increase the likelihood that the offense will be repeated.
The next offense often gets bigger. If there’s no fallout for unacceptable behavior, the offense will likely be repeated, and the wrongdoer may try to get away with more the next time.
Improper behavior becomes the norm. People mimic the behavior of others. Before you know it, unacceptable behavior becomes acceptable to everyone. Wrongs committed by enough people become the norm.
Our Justice system is miserably failing. Letting terrorists, guilty of killing nearly 3000 Americans, off the hook is an extension of the same insanity that believes a conversation with a drug dealer will cause him to stop selling drugs.
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Engaged. Be Prayerful.