The Moment

12|08|08: Guantánamo Bay

In a certain kind of courtroom drama, there comes a point at which the guilty party confesses in open court. Few people would have expected a moment like that to emerge from any trial of the 9/11 suspects at Guantánamo--terrorists aren't prone to making their captors' tasks easier. But on Dec. 8, in a hushed and heavily guarded courtroom, alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four of his co-defendants abruptly offered to confess to coordinating the attacks--in effect, pleading guilty to the murder of 3,000 people. With family members of some of the 9/11 victims looking on, Mohammed told the...

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