The man accused of being the chief architect of al-Qaeda’s September 11, 2001, attacks has agreed to plead guilty, the Defense Department announced Wednesday.
Three Guantanamo detainees implicated in planning the 9/11 attacks have reached plea agreements with the military, the Pentagon stated.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, along with two accomplices, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi, are anticipated to enter their pleas at the military commission in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as early as next week, according to the Office of Military Commissions.
Pentagon officials did not immediately disclose the terms of the plea agreements.
This plea agreement comes over 16 years after their prosecution began for al-Qaeda’s attack, and more than 20 years after militants hijacked commercial airliners and crashed them into buildings, killing nearly 3,000 people.
Al-Qaeda hijackers had directed a fourth plane toward Washington, but crew members and passengers attempted to retake the cockpit, causing the plane to crash in a Pennsylvania field.
The attack prompted what President George W. Bush’s administration called its war on terror, leading to U.S. military invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as years of U.S. operations against extremist groups throughout the Middle East.
The attack and U.S. response resulted in the overthrow of two governments, widespread devastation in civilian communities and countries involved in the conflict, and contributed to the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings against authoritarian regimes in the Middle East.
