Seth Udinski, FISM News
Almost 20 years to the day after the horrific terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the trial of five of the attack’s alleged conspirators is resuming after numerous delays. The trial is taking place at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Station in Cuba.
Among the five men standing trial is Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, called by many “the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks.” He was captured in Pakistan in 2003 and confessed to orchestrating the attack in 2007. However, numerous setbacks have delayed the trial for years, including a disagreement within the American judicial system as to whether a civilian court or a military court should preside over the hearing. According to ABC News, Mohammad did not appear contrite when reporters saw him; he apparently smiled and even waved at some. The other four accused conspirators are Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin ‘Attash, Ramzi Bin al-Shibh, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi.
Many will consider this trial the 21st century’s version of the “trial of the century,” as thousands of Americans who lost loved ones in the attack and in the wars that came from it are still waiting for justice. Roughly 3,000 American civilians were murdered on September 11, which would be the most destructive attack on American soil in history. Many more military personnel died in the wars against Islamic terrorists in the following years. 9/11 left a permanent mark on the generation that witnessed it, and as the recent events in Afghanistan proved, there appears to be no end in sight to the “war on terror.”
The trial will commence in the coming days, and FISM News will continue to cover this historic case. If found guilty, all five men would likely be sentenced to death.