9/11 terror suspect may mount a defense

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba -- The man who once bragged about planning 9/11 "from A to Z" may mount a defense after all to charges that he orchestrated the worst terror attack in U.S. history.

As families of the dead watch from the United States on closed-circuit TV, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be arraigned Saturday at the U.S. military base in Cuba.

Mohammed, charged with four others with planning and helping to carry out the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, had previously mocked the military tribunal and said he would welcome the death penalty. His co-defendant, Ramzi Binalshibh, also told the court he was proud of the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Shanksville, Pa.

But "I don't think anyone is going to plead guilty," said Jim Harrington, Binalshibh's civilian lawyer, who added the defendants are expected to fight the charges against them, which include murder and terrorism and carry a potential death penalty.

Harrington declined to say what would be the basis of his defense, and lawyers for Mohammed did not respond to messages seeking comment.

The men, held in a secret prison in Guantánamo that is under such tight security even its exact location on the base is classified, have not been seen in public since a pretrial hearing the day after President Barack Obama's Jan. 21, 2009, inauguration.

Their arraignment comes more than three years after the Obama administration's failed effort to try the suspects in a federal civilian court and close the prison at the U.S. base in Cuba. The plan was shelved after New York officials cited huge costs to secure the neighborhood and family opposition to trying the suspects in the United States.

Six family members who won a lottery to attend the proceedings will face Mohammed and the other men in court; others can watch on closed-circuit video at military bases in New York City and the eastern United States.

Cliff and Christina Russell traveled from their Rockaway Beach neighborhood to honor the memory of his younger brother, Stephen, a firefighter killed responding to the attacks. Cliff Russell said he hopes Mohammed and his co-defendants get the death penalty.

"I'm not looking forward to ending someone else's life and taking satisfaction in it, but it's the most disgusting, hateful, awful thing I ever could think of if you think about what was perpetrated," he said.

The men never entered formal pleas in previous hearings, but Mohammed had told the court that he would confess to planning the attacks and hoped to be a "martyr." He dismissed the military justice system, saying, "After torturing, they transferred us to inquisition land in Guantánamo."

The arraignment is expected to be followed by a hearing on defense motions that challenge the charges and extreme secrecy rules imposed to prevent the release of information about U.S. counterterrorism methods and strategy.