Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Captured

"Elusive Sept. 11 Suspect Finally Caught Sleeping"

Newspaper article

By: Erik Eckholm and David Johnston

Date: March 5, 2003

Source: International Herald Tribune.

About the Author: Erik Eckholm has held a variety of reporting and editing positions at the New York Times, including five years as Beijing bureau chief. David Johnston is a New York Times investigative reporter and winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2001.

INTRODUCTION

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (widely known by the acronym KSM) was described by the Commission investigating the 9/11 attacks as the "model of the terrorist entrepreneur" and the "principal architect" of the atrocities. A career terrorist, KSM was born in Kuwait in 1964 and educated in the United States, graduating from the North Carolina and Technical State University with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1986. A year later, he went to Afghanistan to join the Mujahadeen's guerrilla war against the Soviet Union.

In 1993, KSM played a small role in the World Trade Center Bombing, an act carried out by his nephew Ramzi Yousef. Impressed by the respect and attention Yousef gained as a result of the attack, KSM also decided to engage in anti-U.S. activities. He travelled to the Philippines in 1994 to work with Yousef on Operation Bojinka, a plot to blow up a dozen passenger jets flying between the U.S. and Asia. This marked the onset of his professional terrorist career, which would encompass a plot to kill President Clinton in Manila in 1994 and a long list of other conspiracies. According to the 9/11 Commission Report, "These ideas included conventional car bombing, political assassination, aircraft bombing, hijacking, reservoir poisoning, and, ultimately, the use of aircraft as missiles guided by suicide operatives."

In January 1996, KSM went into hiding, and from around 1998 onwards was with Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan and Pakistan. There he supervised the planning and preparations for the 9/11 operation and also worked with and eventually led al-Qaeda's media committee.

Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the U.S. immediately identified KSM as one of their principle targets. On the first anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, reports surfaced that he had either been killed or escaped during a raid in Karachi, Pakistan by the Pakistani Secret Service. Six months later, in March 2003, muddled reports again surfaced that he had been captured in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi.

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SIGNIFICANCE

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's capture represented a coup in the United States' War on Terror. Since waging its campaign against global terror, the United States faced difficulty capturing senior al-Qaeda operatives. KSM's arrest was seen as a breakthrough. Not only was he part of the senior command of al-Qaeda, but he was the suspected mastermind behind the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Of particular interest to investigators were KSM's attempts to procure radiological material and ingredients for chemical weapons.

It appears that no efforts have been made to bring Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to the United States for trial. Moreover, prosecutors in Germany were frustrated when they saw the fifteen-year sentence handed out to suspected 9/11 plotter Mounir el Motassadeq overturned because they had no access to testimony from KSM.

Indeed, KSM's whereabouts remain a mystery. A report by Human Rights Watch in October 2004, more than eighteen months after his capture, suggested that he had been transferred to a Jordanian prison. However, no confirmation or denial of these allegations has been forthcoming from U.S. authorities.

FURTHER RESOURCES

Web sites

Shannon, Elaine, and Weisskopf, Michael. "Kalid Shiekh Mohammed Names Names." Time (online) March 24, 2003. <http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,436061,00.html> (accessed July 1, 2005).

BBC News. "Profile: Al-Qaeda 'kingpin'." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2811855.stm> (accessed July 1, 2005).