(DCNF)—Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin issued an order Friday night that effectively revokes the plea deals that were initially extended to three alleged 9/11 facilitators and plotters following massive backlash from victims’ family members and the broader public.
The plea deals would have allowed the three Guantanamo Bay prisoners — including alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed — to skirt the death penalty in exchange for pleading guilty to all charges, a development that multiple family members of 9/11 victims objected to strongly in interviews with the Daily Caller News Foundation before Austin reversed course. Austin said that “responsibility for such a decision should rest with [him]” rather than subordinate entities given the significance of the government taking the death penalty off the table for terrorists who allegedly facilitated the murders of nearly 3,000 innocent people.
“For me and a lot of the families, this is a very welcomed change in their position. The biggest fear that I had, and a lot of family members had, was what could happen with these three individuals without a death penalty,” Terry Strada, whose husband died on Sept. 11 just days after the birth of their third child, told the DCNF following Austin’s order. “Wherever they would be held for a life sentence, any administration going forward could possibly use them in a prisoner trade deal. The death penalty is the right thing for them to face because of the crime that they committed. So, I’m very happy to hear that the Pentagon has stepped in and is doing the right thing.”
Prior to Austin’s decision to effectively revoke the plea deals, Strada told the DCNF that the pretrial agreements felt to her like a “betrayal.”
Austin 9-11 Plea Deals Order by Nick Pope on Scribd
In addition to effectively walking back the plea deals, Austin also relieved the Guantanamo Bay court overseer in his order, according to The New York Times.
“We remain hopeful that these animals get the death penalty. I can’t understand why we would ever be negotiating with terrorists,” Brinley Maloney, whose husband was killed on 9/11, told the DCNF in response to Austin’s decision to intervene. “Hopefully, politicians aren’t making this decision because it’s election season. All Americans should stand united in calling for accountability and justice.”
Before Austin stepped in, Maloney told the DCNF that the pretrial deals were a “disappointment to my family and all of the 9/11 families.” Maloney’s daughter, who was a toddler when her father died, told the DCNF that the agreements were “disgusting and incredibly disappointing” before Austin walked them back.
The Biden White House distanced itself from the plea deals before Austin stepped in to revoke them, with a National Security Council spokesperson telling the DCNF on Thursday that it learned of the plea deals after they had been reached and that “the president and the White House played no role in this process.” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also told reporters that the White House did not play a role in the plea deal process during a Thursday press briefing.
Republican lawmakers and many in the media lambasted the plea deals as a disgrace prior to Austin’s move to rescind the agreements.
Frank Siller, the founder of the Tunnel to Towers Foundation whose brother — a firefighter — died on 9/11, likened the deals to a “slap in the face” in a statement shared with the DCNF prior to Austin’s decision to effectively put the death penalty back on the table.
“After 9/11, we all said, ‘Never forget.’ Well, we forgot. And not only did we forget, we don’t give a damn anymore,” Don Arias, a retired Air Force lieutenant whose brother was killed on Sept. 11, told The New York Times before Austin stepped in. “A lot of people just want this over with.”
Joe Connor, who lost a cousin on 9/11 decades after his father was killed by Puerto Rican terrorists, also ripped the plea deals before they were revoked.
“You know, after seeing this, like, I’m so afraid we’re not going to get justice for my cousin and all the thousands killed that day and their families. My dad’s terrorists, the FALN, they were released. They were given clemency by the Clintons and Obama,” Connor told Fox News. “It’s all politics, and it concerned me then that we were going to have these guys somehow end up in a U.S. prison. It concerns me that someone’s going to use politics to release these guys.”
The White House did not respond immediately to a request for comment, and the Department of Defense referred the DCNF to Austin’s order when contacted for comment.
(Featured Image Media Credit: Screen Capture/ABC 7 News)
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23 years? Why are these scumbags still alive?
Exactly my thought, Arty. In the places where they came from i.e. Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc., they as terrorists would have been publicly hanged decades ago. Two and a half decades and they are still alive – this is a mockery of justice. Game the system long enough and some democrat will pardon you.
Put a licked finger in the wind and see which way they should go…. POS
That they would attempt such a deal is clear indication of their ineptness and willingness to do whatever it takes to enhance their election position. Thank goodness for the outrage of their despicable behavior.
“Some people did some thing.”
But Biden-Harris wasn’t going to do much of anything about it. Maybe Biden’s handlers thought the American people’s memory is as bad as theirs.
In-Damned-Credible..
Traitors without spines. “leaders” who let public opinion sway them from action, they thought would get their party votes.
People still believe a bunch of cavemen hopped in commercial airliners and pulled maneuvers professional pilots would have trouble doing?
The real masterminds behind 9/11 were Dick Cheney, PNAC and Israel’s Mossad.
PNAC is the Project for a New American Century and it’s members included future Bush administration employees Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeldt, Wolfowitz and many others.
They called for a New Pearl Harbor as an excuse to “transform the Middle East” and the 9/11 inside job served that purpose.
It’s been 23 years, time to wake up!
Another slap in the face for the American people! Afghanistan, Ukraine, China, lukewarm support for Israel, no sanctions on Iran, woke military: these are the hallmarks of the Biden Harris administration. Two years ago this plea deal would’ve gone through, but it’s an election year. For once, Austin did something right. Never underestimate the ability of Biden to F up.
THIS is why the death penalty should be carried out in 24 hours. NEVER give a liberal a chance to turn them loose.
The gambit was done ON PURPOSE. Joetatoe gets the blame. His garden tool utters bromides. It occupies the battle space using up oxygen Trump doesn’t get his message out with that polluting the political waters.
I have questions. Who’s bright idea was it to take the death option off the board and how do we get that person on the death sentence option along side the 9-11 terrorists?
Why the hell after over 2 decades since 9-11 why are those terrorists not executed already?
Have they even had their day in court yet?
twenty 3 years in prison…WTF? Are they running their organization from their prison cell? F*cking heads need to roll for even suggesting no death penalty.
Asking for a friend, Who is running the country?