Update: 9/11 Mastermind Confesses

9/11 Mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, confessed to that attack and a string of others during a military hearing at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to a transcript released Wednesday by the Pentagon.

"I was responsible for the 9/11 Operation, from A to Z," said Mohammed, speaking through a personal representative, according to the transcript of the hearing at the U.S. military prison camp released by the Pentagon.

"I was the operational director for Sheikh Usama (Osama) Bin Laden for the organizing, planning, follow-up, and execution of the 9/11 operation," he said through his representative, a member of the U.S. military.

In all, Mohammed said he was responsible for planning 29 individual attacks, including many that were never executed. The comments were included in a 26-page transcript released by the Pentagon, which also blacked out some of his remarks, according to the Associated Press.

Update: The Washington Post reports:

Mohammed described himself as Osama bin Laden's operational director for the Sept. 11 attacks and as al-Qaeda's military operational commander for "all foreign operations around the world."

He claimed to have been "responsible" for the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center, Richard Reid's attempt to ignite a shoe bomb on an airliner over the Atlantic Ocean in December 2001, and the October 2002 bombing of a nightclub in Bali, Indonesia.

Mohammed also said he plotted to assassinate several former presidents, including Jimmy Carter, a scheme not previously revealed.

Mohammed described several other plots that never came about, such as attacks on buildings in California, Chicago and Washington state, and on the New York Stock Exchange.

Update: Fox News reports Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confirmed:

-Masterminding 1993 truck bombing of World Trade Center.

-Arranging failed attack by shoe bomber Richard Reid.

-Planning assassination attempts on Clinton, Carter, Pope.

-Organizing deadly 2002 nightclub bombing in Bali, Indonesia.

In laying out his role in 31 attacks, his words drew Al Qaeda closer to plots of the early 1990s than the group has previously been linked, including the 1993 World Trade Center truck bombing in which six people died.

Six people with links to global terror networks were convicted in federal court and sentenced to life in prison for that attack.

Mohammed made clear that Al Qaeda wanted to down a second trans-Atlantic aircraft during would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid's operation.

And he confessed to the beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in a section of the statement that was excised from the public document, The Associated Press has learned. Pearl was abducted in January 2002 in Pakistan while researching a story on Islamic militancy. Mohammed has long been a suspect in the slaying, which was captured on vid

The transcript said Mohammed was present at the hearing, which is to determine whether he meets the definition of an "enemy combatant."

Read the entire story (with links to tribunal docs) from the Pentagon:
Al Qaeda Operative Admits to Masterminding 9/11 Attacks

Full transcript from The Smoking Gun

Update: Here is a list of Quick facts from Fox News. In addition to masterminding the Sept. 11 terror attacks, Mohammed admitted to being the executor of or participant in the following plots (some of which were never executed):

- Shoe bomber operation to bring down two American airplanes.

- Planning an assassination attempt against President Bill Clinton during his visit to the Philippines in 1994.

- Planning an assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II while he was visiting the Philippines.

- Planning an assassination attempt against former President Jimmy Carter.

- Filki Island operation in Kuwait that killed two American soldiers.

- Bombing of nightclub in Bali, Indonesia in 2002.

- Planning new wave of attacks on the following skyscrapers following 9/11: Library Tower in Calif., Sears Tower in Chicago, Plaza Bank in Washington state and the Empire State Building in New York City.

- Destruction of many nightclubs frequented by American and British citizens in Thailand.

- Planning and financing the destruction of U.S. embassies in Indonesia, Australia and Japan.

- Surveying and financing the destruction of Israeli embassies in India, Azerbaijan, the Philippines and Australia.

- Sending several mujahedeen into Israel to conduct surveillance to hit strategic targets in the country.

- Bombing of hotel in Mombassa, Kenya that is frequented by Jewish travelers.

- Financing attacks on several American, Jewish and British targets in Turkey.

- Planning, surveying and financing attacks on NATO headquarters in Europe.

More from: Reuters; Reuters transcript; The Washington Post; Associated Press; ABC News; The New York Times.

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