The Age, March 15, 2007
Downer 'delighted' at Bali confession
Andra Jackson, March 15, 2007
Australia's Foreign Minister has expressed his delight that chief September 11
suspect and self-confessed Bali bombing ringleader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was in
Guantanamo Bay and facing terrorist charges.
[PHOTO: The Kuta nightclub bombings, which killed almost 90 Australians, were
masterminded, according to a Guantanamo confession, by al-Qaeda operative,
Pakistani Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (inset).]
Mohammed has admitted responsibility for the first Bali bombing and other major
al-Qaeda operations, according to the transcript of a hearing at Guantanamo Bay
released today.
"I was responsible for the 9/11 Operation, from A to Z," Mohammed, speaking through
a personal representative, said, according to the transcript of the hearing on Saturday
at the US military prison camp in Cuba.
Mohammed, a Pakistani national, also said he was responsible for a 1993 attack on
New York's World Trade Centre, the bombing of a nightclub in Bali, Indonesia, and an
attempt to down two American airplanes using shoe bombs.
Alexander Downer told reporters in Melbourne this afternoon that what Mohammed
had done was "truly deplorable" and such people should face charges.
"All Australians should be reminded by these confessions of Khalid Sheikh
Mohammed of the importance of us being determined to fight the scourge of terrorism
so we don't see a repeat of what we saw in Bali or in 9/11 a few years ago."
Mr Downer defended the authenticity of the confession against claims that
independent journalists and lawyers were not allowed in to the hearings and there was
no independent assessment of its veracity.
"We got a good deal more than a transcript," he said. "We got a good deal of
corroborating information provided to us by other governments, including the
Indonesians."
Mohammed is among 14 prisoners identified by US authorities as "high-value"
terrorism suspects and transferred to Guantanamo last year from secret CIA prisons
abroad.
He was arrested in Pakistan in March 2003 and handed over to the United States.
theage.com.au, with Reuters
Copyright © 2007. The Age Company Ltd.
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