U.S. charges 6 for 9/11, seeks death

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon on Monday charged six Guantanamo Bay detainees with murder and war crimes for the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Officials sought the death penalty in the unprecedented military tribunal case that has been clouded by revelations the key suspect suffered interrogation tactics that critics call torture.

The son of a Sept. 11 victim said he was relieved by the development. Critics said the trial would be a sham.

Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann, the legal adviser to the tribunal system, announced that 169 charges had been sworn against six men "alleged to be responsible for the planning and execution of the attacks." .

"These charges allege a long-term, highly sophisticated, organized plan by al-Qaida to attack the United States of America," Hartmann said.

Officials said they'll seek the death penalty and hope to try all six together. It would be the first capital trial under the terrorism-era military tribunal system.

Hartmann said the six include Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the attacks in which hijackers flew planes into buildings in New York and Washington in 2001. Another plane crashed in western Pennsylvania.

The other five charged are: Mohammed al-Qahtani, who officials have labeled the 20th hijacker; Ramzi Binalshibh, said to have been the main intermediary between the hijackers and al-Qaida leaders; Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, known as Ammar al-Baluchi, a nephew and lieutenant of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed; al-Baluchi's assistant, Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi; and Waleed bin Attash, who allegedly selected and trained some of the 19 hijackers.

Al-Qahtani also has alleged torture and last fall recanted a confession he said he made after he was beaten, abused and humiliated at Guantanamo. Officials have acknowledged that he was subjected to harsh treatment at the prison authorized by former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

The Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents al-Qahtani, called the tribunals "a perversion of justice" and "morally reprehensible system."

Prosecutors have been working for years to assemble the case against suspects in the attacks that prompted the Bush administration to launch the global war on terror.

The men would be tried in the military tribunal system that was set up by the administration shortly after the start of the counterterror war. That system has been widely criticized for its rules on legal representation for suspects, hearings behind closed doors and past allegations of inmate abuse at Guantanamo.