"I'm Sorry, So Sorry, but You Had it Coming": Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's Carefully Crafted "Confession" Fools Only the Foolish

During each installment of Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor, Bill O’Reilly shares what he considered to be the “Most Ridiculous Item of the Day.” In that spirit, Spy the News! today offers the “Most Blatantly Dishonest Statement of the Day.” The newly confessed mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), who also admitted to beheading Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearle and planning nearly every major terrorist attack in the world between 1993 and his capture, uttered the following “apology” for some 9/11 casualties during a military tribunal (transcript available here):

When I said I'm not happy that 3,000 been killed in America, I feel sorry even. I don't like to kill children and the kids.

Unfortunately for Daniel Pearle, KSM’s “sorrow” for killing so many Americans on 9/11 did not dissuade him from savagely beheading Pearle on camera for the world to witness the following year. There is likewise no evidence of sorrow in any of the 31 terrorist actions or plots for which KSM claimed responsibility, including the Bali bombing pictured at right. Pages 17-19 of the tribunal transcript list each of the plots he allegedly planned according to his own confession. If KSM’s confession is accepted at face value, he would be considered history’s greatest terrorist mastermind, a jet-setting jihadist of unparalleled achievement. Yet that begs the question, did he actually plan and orchestrate this long list of planned attacks, or is he merely taking credit either for personal aggrandizement or to protect his al Qaeda co-conspirators? I find it highly improbable that KSM was involved with each of these plots to the level that he now alleges. His Oscar-worthy expression of "sorrow" fits neither his known personality nor his jihadist commitment, and thus should only be considered a tryout for Best Actor rather than as an expression of any semblance of humanity. Read the list of actions he claims responsibility for again, and you will find no remorse, no sorrow, no tears. You will only find hate and a heretical religious fervor.

It is not uncommon for a prisoner facing no hope of release to confess to multiple crimes or terrorist acts for a variety of reasons, ranging from hopes for assignment to a more exclusive prison facility than a common criminal would receive to diverting investigative attention away from his or her accomplices. A careful reading of KSM’s testimony suggests that he viewed his appearance before the tribunal as a method for judicial martyrdom and a public relations windfall. KSM revealed his understanding of world media and displayed remarkable skill in his ability to cast himself as a sympathetic figure to other peoples and nations “oppressed” by America.

He compared Bin Laden to George Washington and claimed that using current American criteria for declaring a warrior for "independence" to be an "enemy combatant," George Washington could have been classified one as well. Of course, KSM omits the fact that the American colonies formally declared their independence, formed an organized military service, and established an autonomous war time government. To my knowledge, radical Islamic terrorists have not done any of these and thus represent no declared or recognized nation, but I digress.

KSM artfully seized on rising anti-American sentiment in Latin America by condemning America for “invading” Mexico and stealing two-thirds of its territory in the name of Manifest Destiny in the nineteenth century. His testimony covered a broad range of historical and religious comparisons. He appeared to know instinctively how best to manipulate the media coverage of his confession to satisfy the anti-Bush appetite of the liberal media. He believed it would likely be his last opportunity to be heard.

There are some in the media who believe KSM’s statement that he was tortured by the CIA rather than interrogated, and others see similarities between his expressions of sorrow and the torture-induced “confessions” of war crimes the North Vietnamese extracted from American POWs, including Senator John McCain. McCain wrote about such confessions in great detail in his memoir Faith of My Fathers, and even a cursory comparison of those cruelty-induced confessions with the boastful admissions of KSM should convince anyone that KSM made no statements under duress at the tribunal and was not tortured into a confession, as our POWs were, in grotesque and unspeakable ways. To compare the two situations is an insult to the courageous suffering America POWs endured in Vietnam.

It is fascinating that many in the media accept KSM’s word as unassailable truth when he stated he was tortured by the CIA prior to his transfer to Guantanamo, but they omit his testimony that he was not tortured in any way at Guantanamo and that his confession was in no way induced by any tactics or made under duress. Selective trust in a terrorist is a dangerous mentality, and it clearly illustrates that some in the media trust a confessed terrorist mastermind responsible for thousands of deaths worldwide more than they trust President Bush. Media Bias? You decide. Spy The News! is confident of which one Daniel Pearle and the 9/11 victims would trust.

Are You Worth Kidnapping? Do You Know How to Avoid it? Foiled UK Terror Plot Demonstrates Average Westerners at Risk, at Home or Abroad

If you were to evaluate your value to terrorists as a kidnapping hostage, would you conclude that you are a “not high profile” person? Most people, except for the egocentric among us, would likely view themselves as low profile and of little worth to Islamic terrorists seeking to kidnap westerners. According to police sources in Birmingham, England, that should be of little comfort to you as you reside or travel abroad, as the foiling of an “Iraq Style” kidnapping plot in Birmingham this morning demonstrated. It appears to be another instance of home grown terrorism in the United Kingdom, with the terrorists trying “a different approach.”

Kidnappings are not a new tactic for terrorists, as the kidnapping and subsequent murders of British and American contractors and reporters in Iraq in recent years clearly illustrate. However, the British government, which recently focused on improving security on mass transit systems, must now stretch its investigative resources to include potential plots to kidnap its own citizens who would ordinarily be of no value to terrorists. The unnamed potential victim of the Birmingham plot disrupted by police today has been taken into protective police custody, but at this point it appears the man was selected for kidnapping merely because he was a young, average soldier of the British Military home on leave. The soldier had no reason to consider himself worth kidnapping. He was not a ranking officer capable of influencing war decisions or policies. Since that describes a large number of American and allied military personnel stationed abroad in nations with large or predominantly Muslim populations, this particular plot should be of concern to all.

What do we know about the potential victim of this kidnapping plot? He was in his 20s, and was considered a low profile, low ranking soldier. In all respects a low value target. The terrorists selected him based on unrevealed as yet criteria, observed his daily routine and transportation routes while home on leave, and organized a tactical plan to kidnap the young man. The exposed plot did not include plans for ransom, or demands for the release of terrorist detainees or political exiles. The stated intention of the foiled terrorists was to kidnap the young soldier, film his torture and eventual beheading, and broadcast that film via the Internet as a terrorist recruiting propaganda tool.

With that as the goal, realistically any westerner could be utilized as the sacrificial lamb, so to speak, in such films. One need not be a diplomatic, military, or political persona to be effectively used for this purpose. One need only be a westerner. Islamic terrorists will cheer the beheading of a lieutenant, embassy secretary, or accountant as lustily as that of a lieutenant colonel, embassy DCM, or CEO.

Securing mass transit facilities and implementing explosive/chem/bio detection technologies are within the scope of reasonably expected government protection of its citizens. However, this Birmingham plot, apparently involving British Islamic terrorists seeking to kidnap average “infidels” in the UK, is a frustrating nightmare for intelligence and law enforcement agencies. While the potential victim of this plot is in protective custody, how does a government reassure the general population, from which this target was selected, that the government can protect them? The answer is chillingly simple: Governments can make no such assurances of protection from random targeting of average citizens or visiting westerners.

In this case, a trained British soldier of low rank, home on leave, was selected. Such a target would be unsuspecting and unlikely to take precautions to protect himself from fellow British citizens plotting to kidnap him. What should concern the average American or allied business or leisure traveler is the predictable evolution of the Birmingham plot into plots to kidnap westerners with even less training and situational awareness than this unsuspecting soldier possessed.

With this in mind, Spy the News! urges readers who are serving abroad in military or civilian capacities to review the situational awareness and abduction avoidance skills included in government or military provided training. If your employer did not provide training in abduction avoidance/survival, consult the following basic open-source sites for travel and personal security tips that, while seemingly common sense, are often overlooked by harried travelers on tight schedules:

U.S. Department of State “A Safe Trip Abroad”

Wikipedia “How to Thwart an Abduction Attempt”: This basic resource also includes common street crime situations including rape, child abduction, etc.

The government/DOD provided training in these areas is more detailed and tactically oriented, but the USDOS and Wikipedia tips should prove valuable to anyone lacking formal training. The US Government is constitutionally charged with providing for the “common defense,” meaning national security. Individual security is a matter of personal responsibility coupled with government help in educating citizens how to provide for their own personal defense in situations where government protection is unavailable. Hopefully the thwarting of the Birmingham kidnap plot today will slow terrorist plans to implement this strategy on a large scale throughout the world or perhaps convince them this new direction of attack is of little value compared to more visible hard targets. Hard targets are more easily secured and thus, while more desirable, are actually safer than the average citizen or soldier would be if kidnapping replaced IEDs or sniping as preferred terrorist tactics.

Spy the News! reminds readers to be aware, be safe, and be wise. You have more value as a hostage and potential beheading victim than you likely realize.

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