WASHINGTON, (AFP) – Five men held in Guantanamo on charges of planning the September 11, 2001 attacks have filed a document accepting responsibility and expressing pride for their action, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
The document, filed with the military commission at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, described the men as belonging to a consultative assembly that focused on planning the September 11 attacks.
The document may be released publicly on Tuesday, the Times said.
The men describe the attack planning and the killing of Americans as a model of Islamic action, according to excerpts a government official read to the Times.
“To us,” the unnamed US official said, reading from the document, “they are not accusations. To us they are a badge of honor, which we carry with honor.”
Military judges on January 21 suspended the trials of the five alleged September 11 co-conspirators, including alleged mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
President Barack Obama plans to shut down by early 2010 the detention camp in Cuba, which became a symbol of perceived excess in the “war on terror” under his predecessor George W. Bush.
Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat is the world’s premier pan-Arab daily newspaper, printed simultaneously each day on four continents in 14 cities. Launched in London in 1978, Asharq Al-Awsat has established itself as the decisive publication on pan-Arab and international affairs, offering its readers in-depth analysis and exclusive editorials, as well as the most comprehensive coverage of the entire Arab world.
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