MIAMI // The man who says he was the mastermind of the September 11 attack on the United States seeks to justify the plot as a “natural reaction” to American foreign policy in a blistering letter sent to then president Barack Obama from Guantanamo.
“The two blessed attacks in Washington and New York adhered to all universal laws and were a natural reaction to your destructive policies towards the Islamic world,” writes Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, one of five Guantanamo prisoners facing trial by military commission for their alleged roles in the hijacking plot.
Also in the letter released on Wednesday, he says it does not matter to him if he receives a life sentence or the death penalty from the tribunal: “If your court sentences me to life in prison, I will be very happy to be alone in my cell to worship Allah the rest of my life and repent to him all my sins and misdeeds.”
“And if your court sentences me to death, I will be even happier to meet Allah and the prophets and see my best friends whom you killed unjustly all around the world and to see Sheikh Osama bin Laden,” he adds.
Mohammad tried to send the letter in 2015 but was prevented by prison authorities and later by the military judge presiding over his case at the request of prosecutors, who labelled it “propaganda”. After litigating the issue, the tribunal allowed the letter to go through last month just as Mr Obama was leaving the presidency.
The letter also condemns Mr Obama, saying the former president’s hands are “still wet with the blood of our brothers and sisters” – a reference to the deaths of Palestinian civilians in Gaza at the hands of Israeli forces as well as those killed by US drone strikes in Yemen and elsewhere.
Lawyers for Mohammad expressed doubt Mr Obama saw the letter since it reached the White House only days before the end of his administration.
* Associated Press
