.bmp)
.bmp)
The north tower burns seconds before hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 (left) slams into the south tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Nearly 3,000 people died in the 9/11 attacks.(Reuters)The men accused of the September 11 terror attacks have written of their pride in the atrocity that killed 3,000 people.'To us, they are not accusations,' the five detainees being held at the U.S. military prison at Guantánamo Bay wrote of the charges against them.'To us they are a badge of honour, which we carry with honour.'The five called themselves the '9/11 Shura Council' in the document, which the New York Times reported could be released today. They accepted responsibility for the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon, and said their actions were an offering to God.The attack on Americans was described as a 'model of Islamic action'.Excerpts of the document - titled 'The Islamic Response to the Government's Nine Accusations' - were read to a reporter by an unidentified military official.The document was filed on behalf of the five men, including Khalid Sheik Mohammed, who has called himself the mastermind of the attacks.It appears that the men wrote the document at meetings they are permitted to conduct periodically at the detention camp without lawyers.Some of the men had said earlier that they planned the 2001 attacks and that they wanted to be martyrs. The reason for the new filing, which the report said reached the military court on March 5, was not clear. The brief court order describing the filing said the men sought no legal action.New U.S. president Barack Obama suspended all military proceedings at Guantánamo just days after his inauguration.Mr Obama plans to shut down the camp by early 2010. It became a symbol of perceived excess in the 'war on terror' under his predecessor George Bush.His plan means the five men’s case is on hiatus until the government decides how it will proceed.Top officials of the Obama administration met privately yesterday to discuss the closure.Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. hosted the first Cabinet-level meeting tackling Guantanamo. Participating, among others, were Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, CIA Director Leon Panetta, and FBI Director Robert Mueller. Officials must decide whom of the terror suspects there it should ship to foreign countries and whom to bring to trial in U.S. courts - or to hold and try in some other fashion.Yesterday, the task force discussed standards for reviewing cases and which detainee decisions will get priority.
By Sarah Titterton
As in the days of Noah...
