Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
Between the dates of March 1, and April 14, in 1964 a child was born, a child that would grow into a man that would be responsible for the deaths of thousands and the devastation of millions. This childs name is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and he was born in the Baluchistan region of Pakistan and was raised in Kuwait. He joined the Muslim Brotherhood at the age of 16, because he believed that muslim was not just a religion but a way of life. He later came over to the U.S. and went to college and earned a degree in mechanical engineering from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in 1986. He returned home to fight with his brothers in the late 1980’s to resist the Soviet invasion. It is believed that soon after he began anti- American terrorist operations.
His first terrorist plan was allegedly Operation Bojinka, it was a plot to bomb 12 commercial airlines in the air between the U.S. and Asia in 1995. Though he is linked to almost every al Qaeda attack between 1993 and 2003. This plot was discovered and he fled to Qatar and then moved to Afghanistan and became the leader of al Qaeda’s media committee. In a Commission's Report it was stated that Muhammad was “the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks.”
In 1995 Muhammed was linked to a plot to assassinate Pope John Paul during his visit to Manila. It is soon after this in 1996, that he meets Osama bin Laden for the first time. After this meeting things seem to die down for a while, but not because he was taking a break, but because he was planning. In 1998 the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania are bombed, Mohammed admitted that is was connects to this attack also. In the following years going back to 1995 up to 2000 he is linked to 4 different terrorist attacks and or plots. In 2001 Muhammad not only became the mastermind behind 9/11 he is also linked to Richard Reid. The man who planted a bomb in his shoe and set it to go off on a plane in an attempt to blow it up. It was this act coupled with 9/11 that has changed airports forever. It used to be you had no security and could walk in 15 minutes before your plane left because you didn’t have to go through security. But now it can take up to an hour just to get through security, they do this so nothing like that ever happens again, but that doesn’t keep people from trying.
After 9/11 Mohammed was indicted on terrorism charges, and placed on the FBI’s Most Wanted list. After 9/11 Mohammed didn’t stop he kept going and a little over a year later he help claim the lives of 202 people and injure 240 more. This happened on October 12, 2002, in the tourist District of Kuta on the Indonesian island of Bali. Where bombs were set off by suicide bombers one went off inside the Paddy’s Pub that sent people fleeing to the streets. Where a car bomb waited that was more powerful than one before and caused more damage to the densely populated area. After this Mohammed is linked to more bombings in El Ghriba, but his reign of terror will soon come to an end.
On March 1, 2003, Mohammed is captured at a house in Rawalpindi, Pakistan by the Pakistani ISI, Inter- Services Intelligence. He was given over to the U.S. and has been in our custody ever since. In 2006 the U.S. acknowledges that Mohammed has been held at a secret prison overseas by the CIA and is being moved to Guantanamo Bay, in Cuba where he is to face trial before a military commission. Following six months of detention at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in March 2007 Mohammed confessed to masterminding 9/11. In that same session he confessed to behind the Richard Reid shoe bombing attempt, the Bali night club bombing, the Daniel Pearl murder, and other various terror plots along with the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. Many people believed he may have confessed due to Guantanamo Bay’s alleged use of torture during interrogations. On January 19, 2009, Mohammed admits that he is guilty and proud of the attacks that took place on September 11. Then on April 16, 2009, the Justice Department releases the information that Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times back in March 2003. The second session pretrial motion hearing against Mohammed took place in Guantanamo Bay back in 2013.
To me the terrorist acts committed by Mohammed are horrific and no amount of jail time will do the lives of the people he took justice. If it was my choice I would not even let this monster of a man stand trial. He didn’t give his victims a choice so why should he get one? Since he confessed he is going to jail anyway, and if the trial is by American rule he will be sentenced to multiple lives in prison. For every action there is a consequence, and this man needs to face a consequence for everyone of his actions. From what I have found he has been involved for over half of his life in war like operations, it shouldn’t have take America until 9/11, until all of those innocent Americans lost their lives to act and take a stand against this man and all that he represents.
Sources- Biography.com, CNN
Comments
Excellent job Abby! There are some punctuation errors so just be sure to proofread to eliminate them.