'Something Is Deeply Wrong With Our Justice System': Biden Admin Strikes Plea Deal With 9/11 Mastermind

The alleged mastermind of the September 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, which led to the death of nearly 3,000 Americans, has been given a plea deal by the Biden administration after reaching a deal with prosecutors in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The 9/11 planner, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, alongside two other co-conspirators, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi, pleaded guilty in exchange for the death penalty to be removed from the possible punishments.

The men, who have been held in Guantanamo Bay since 2003, reached an agreement with the Office of Military Commissions (OMC) after 27 months of negotiations. In a letter to victims' families of the 9/11 attacks, the Department of Defense argued that the plea deal was the best path forward to achieve justice in the case.

"We recognize that the status of the case in general, and this news in particular, will understandably and appropriately elicit intense emotion, and we also realize that the decision to enter into a pre-trial agreement will be met with mixed reactions amongst the thousands of family members who lost loved ones," prosecutors wrote. "The decision to enter into a pre-trial agreement after 12 years of pre-trial 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."

"In exchange for 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," the letter, signed by Rear Adm. Aaron C. Rugh, continued. According to CNN, after his capture in 2003, Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, was allegedly held in multiple CIA prisons before being charged in 2008 for conspiracy, murder in violation of the law of war, attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, destruction of property in violation of the law of war, and terrorism and material support of terrorism.

According to The New York Post, family members of 9/11 victims were not happy with the outcome of the case. Daniel D'Allara, whose NYPD brother died while trying to save fellow New Yorkers as the towers fell on that harrowing Tuesday morning, told the outlet, "I am very disappointed. We waited patiently for a long time. I wanted the death penalty — the government has failed us," 

"The prosecution and families have waited 23 years to have our day in court to put on the record what these animals did to our loved ones. They took that opportunity away from us," retired police officer Jim Smith, the widower to NYPD officer Moira Smith, said. "They committed the worst crime in the history of our country, they should receive the highest penalty."

The Department of Defense's announcement was also criticized by commentators on social media, with X CEO Elon Musk writing, "Something is deeply wrong with our justice system."

"This is what we need to be talking about," Fox News host Laura Ingraham wrote. "Typical Biden-Harris move.  Throw the book at people who "trespassed" at the Capitol and give a break to the 9/11 mastermind!"

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