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The United States is rescinding plea agreements for three men accused of planning the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, effective immediately.
photo: SITA/AP, Brennan Linsley
In a June 2006 file photo, the Guantanamo Bay military prison
This is the result of an internal report signed by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday, Reuters reported.
On Wednesday, the Pentagon announced a deal with the three accused, including alleged plotter Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, also known as KSM, who have long been held without trial in the U.S. prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
The three agreed to plead guilty in exchange for life in prison rather than face a death penalty trial, according to media reports. The deal angered some relatives of the attack victims, who condemned it, saying it ruled out any trial and possible death penalty sentences.
Austin said in a statement that he was removing Susan Escallier, who oversaw the military tribunal and had the authority to reach a preliminary agreement, from the case and would assume that responsibility “given the importance of this decision.”
On September 11, 2001, the United States suffered the deadliest terrorist attack in history, killing nearly 3,000 people from 93 countries and injuring approximately 6,000.
Islamists from the al-Qaeda terrorist network used four passenger planes to attack targets in the United States. Two planes crashed into the World Trade Center (WTC) buildings in New York, a third into the Pentagon in Washington, and a fourth into Pennsylvania.
After the attack, US President George W. Bush declared a war on terrorism. Less than a month after the attack, the international Operation Enduring Freedom was launched as a response by the United States and its allies to the assassination. On May 2, 2011, al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed in his villa in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
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