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we learned the shocking news that a plea deal had been reached with the attorneys for 9/11 architect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two other Al Qaeda accomplices that would spare them the death penalty, instead receiving sentences of life without parole. Relatives of many of the victims of that tragic day immediately protested, declaring that justice must be served. The uproar must have been too much for someone in the administration, because last night, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stepped into the breach and relieved the person responsible for cutting the deal and canceled it. Austin has now assumed direct control of the Convening Authority for Military Commissions. It’s unclear whether Austin took this action on his own authority or if the decision was handed down from the White House, but it appears as if the Biden administration has dodged a politically toxic bullet in the middle of an election season. (NY Post)
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin revoked plea deals on Friday that would have spared the death penalty for the accused mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and two alleged accomplices.
In a memo, Austin, 70, announced that he relieved the official responsible for signing off on the plea agreements from authority and that he assumed control of the Convening Authority for Military Commissions.
“I have determined that, in light of the significance of the decision to enter into pre-trial
agreements with the accused in the above-referenced case, responsibility for such a decision should rest with me as the superior convening authority under the Military Commissions Act of 2009,” Austin wrote.
