Staring Down the Face of Evil
For the first time today, I saw a man I have covered for nearly seven years.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is nothing like the mug shot we have all seen. No dark hair. No white T-shirt. He is now in full warrior mode. A long white and grey beard. Traditional head covering. Thick military issue glasses. As we waited for the hearing to begin, I was struck by how quickly Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) took control of the group. He had not seen them in years, his four fellow accused, but they smiled and laughed like old friends.
The five defendants sat in single file, each at this own desk with military and civilian attorneys and they delighted in mocking the military commissions, as imperfect as they are. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed leaned over and whispered to his fellow defendant Wallid Bin Attash, accused of running a training camp for the hijackers. Quickly, Bin Attash leaned over to Ramzi Binalsheib and whispered the message. It was passed down the line. All of them knew to follow KSM’s lead and today each one said they did not want any government are choosing to represent themselves. In other words, they will use these commissions, for their own purpose, to showcase Al Qaeda and their wish to die.
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KSM showed today, that after five years of captivity, after spending time in a CIA secret prison where he was waterboarded, he still has the drive to control the men around him. He still has the desire to make a mockery of this country.
This is just the beginning. Even military lawyers assigned to the case are questioning its legitimacy, their lack of access to their clients, their inability to establish a working relationship. But what we saw in court today, a small slice of history, questioned whether KSM and the others just want to be martyrs.
Nicknamed the “Terror Pixie,” by some of her colleagues, Catherine
Herridge is FNC’s national correspondent covering homeland security.
She also played a key role in the coverage of the Virginia Tech Massacre
by obtaining the first photos of the killer.
It seems imperative that these terrorists not be given the world stage to portray their hatred of the United States. I would hope that we (US Citizens) realize that these terrorists are still living in a fanatical, barbaric reality that has not changed in hundreds, perhaps thousands of years. These people need to be imprisoned in isolation for the rest of their natural lives. Perhaps if we remove the spot light, there will be no encore performances.
I whole-heartedly wish that we Americans could watch this animal and his sucklings on trial and then watch them die …. slowly. I do not understand why we can’t watch this on TV. This is an historic event.
How come you got your pictures confiscated by the Gitmo people?
Why is the trial not on TV? We have a right to see it. We saw the murders take place - now we want to see the trial and execution.
Thanks Mrs. Herridge for doing such a great job of covering this trial. To many of us this is a very important story and we have been waiting for justice to be done for a long time. The face of evil never changes. You can feel it if you are in the same room with it. May we all do what we can personally to see that these barbarians don’t catch us asleep ever again. And may those who are sleeping on the watch wake up. Thank you.