MUST READ: WHAT'S BEHIND KHALID'S 'CONFESSIONS'

What's behind Khalid's 'confessions'
By Michael Scheuer

...

Claimed responsibility for attacks

Without remorse or excuses, KSM admitted to having been involved in 31 operations and said he was ready for "what is coming to me". In broken English, he continued, saying, "For this [the oath to tell the tribunal the truth] is not necessary, as I responsible, responsible."

Many of the Western media failed to read the statement closely, and as a result have defaulted to two incorrect conclusions, claiming either that no single person could have done what KSM claimed - and so he is egotistical - or that he was such an important and potent figure that now al-Qaeda is much less threatening without him.

KSM, however, simply said that as al-Qaeda's operations chief he was involved in one way or another in the group's operations; surely there is no surprise there, and 31 events over an 11-year period can hardly be called excessive. KSM also made clear that some of the planned operations he described occurred "before I join al-Qaeda". He was proud of what he and al-Qaeda have attempted and achieved in their "war" against the United States and its allies; for the millions of Muslims who support al-Qaeda, he will be seen as an able, active and effective military leader.

KSM's testimony was a timely, if obviously uncoordinated, complement to Zawahiri's March 11 criticism of Hamas for adopting a "defeatist" attitude in agreeing to join a unity government in Palestine. [2] KSM's description of al-Qaeda's dozens of operations over five continents depicts the group's unique geographical reach and its determination and ability to hurt Islam's perceived enemies.

Indeed, KSM kept his well-known egotism in check and tried to keep the focus on al-Qaeda as a powerful group, saying al-Qaeda conducted the attacks and "what I wrote here, is not I'm making myself a hero, when I said I was responsible for this or that". Convincing Muslims that they have a chance to defeat the vastly more powerful West has always been one of the most difficult tasks undertaken by bin Laden and Zawahiri. KSM's words will serve as an example of that ability that will stand alongside what the mujahideen believe are Islam's coming victories in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Eroding the CIA's anti-al-Qaeda capabilities

Al-Qaeda leaders have claimed that their organization has been hurt most since September 11, 2001, by the Pakistan Army's operations in the Pashtun tribal region and by the US Central Intelligence Agency's rendition program. KSM smartly framed his presentation to undercut the latter by claiming that he had been tortured by the CIA, adding that some of the information he previously provided was false and given under duress (Al-Jazeera, March 15).

Almost before he was done talking, the president of the military tribunal assured him that his allegations would "be reported for any investigation that might be appropriate" and prominent US senators from both parties publicly called for KSM's charges to be investigated and, if true, for the perpetrators to be punished (Washington Post, March 17). As an added bonus for al-Qaeda, KSM's claims of providing false information will raise questions in the US intelligence community and those allied with it about how much of KSM's pre-March 10 information can be trusted as the basis for either operations or analysis.

By claiming that he was tortured at the CIA's hands, KSM has thrown more fuel on the raging debate between the United States on the one side and, on the other, European governments, European Union institutions and an assortment of human-rights groups over the issue of what to do with al-Qaeda and other Islamist prisoners.

Furthermore, because the CIA is an easy and already much-used target by Europeans and the US Congress, KSM was careful to broaden the target deck for US critics by devoting much of his testimony to describing the "many, many people" who are innocent and being held at Guantanamo Bay. "So, I think God knows that many who been arrested, they been unjustly arrested." KSM pleaded with the military tribunal's president "to be fair with [the] other [innocent] people" who are being held, adding, "I hope you will take care of other detainees with what I said. It's up to you."

KSM uttered not a word about his, al-Qaeda's or Muslim hatred for the way Americans live, vote or think. There was nothing about elections, liberty or gender equality. Apparently sharing the belief of bin Laden and Zawahiri that few Muslims are or can be motivated by hatred for US liberty and society, KSM concentrated with the laser-like focus of his superiors on US foreign policy.

"For sure, I'm Americans' enemies," KSM said. Quoting bin Laden, KSM cited as reasons for this status as "American military presence in Arabian Peninsula and aiding Israel and many things". Because of US policy in the Muslim world, he explained that he asked himself, "What will I do?" His answer was, "This is the language [of war, creating victims].

"Sometime I want to make great awakening between American to stop foreign policy in our [Muslim] land. I know American people torturing us from the '70s." In his testimony, KSM hewed to the letter of al-Qaeda's decade-old justification for the jihad it is waging: US foreign policy is an attack on Islam and its followers and al-Qaeda's response is a "religious thing" to protect the faith.

If any part of KSM's testimony might be called refreshing, it was his constant lecturing of the military tribunal about the nature of war: "This is why the language of any war in the world is killing. I mean the language of war is victims." KSM engaged in none of the charlatanism of Western discussions of war; he did not speak of surgical strikes, limited collateral damage, precision weapons or casualty-free wars.

Knowing history better than his interlocutors, KSM told the tribunal: "But your [sic] are military men. I did it [the list of attacks] but this is the language of any war ... Military [men] throughout history know very well. They don't war will never stop. War start from Adam when Cain he killed Abel until now. It's never gonna stop killing people. This [killing and victims] is the way of the language [of war] ... You know never stopping war. This is life."

Since General Nathan Bedford Forrest of the Confederate States Army said that "war means fighting and fighting means killing", the unchanging reality of war has seldom been better described than it was by KSM in his broken English.


Pertinent Links:

1) What's behind Khalid's 'confessions'