Khalid Sheik Mohammad - Term Paper Example

Khalid Sheikh Mohammad Roll No: Teacher: 3rd December 2008 Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Khalid SheikhMohammad 3 Introduction 3 Life History 3 His Linkage to Terrorism 5 Imprisonment 7 Abuse during Imprisonment 9 Declaration of Guilt 10 Conclusion 11 References 12 Khalid Sheikh Mohammad Introduction Khalid Sheikh Mohammad is a criminal and terrorist as reported by various sources. He started his life not as a terrorist but with the passage of time, he moved towards terrorists and terrorist activities. It is informed that Khalid Sheikh Mohammad used to be involved in terrorist activities and also continued to lead his professional life. He worked in Qatar and Afghanistan but also remained involved in terrorist activities. He initially participated in providing financial aids for conductance of terrorist activities and for establishments of terrorists. Later on, he started being a part of the actual terrorist activities. It is claimed that Khalid Sheikh Mohammad was involved in many criminal activities and also he helped in the organization of plans and schemes for terrorist attacks. His largest and well organized plan is said to the 9/11 event, which took place with the destruction of World Trade Center, in which thousands of people died in the incident. This paper contains detailed geographic and biographic details of Khalid Sheikh Mohammad. A detailed life history of Khalid Sheikh Mohammad is given, after which, his linkage to the terrorism activities is described. Later on his imprisonment and the abuse during imprisonment are described briefly. Khalid Sheikh Mohammad also confessed a number of his criminalities that are given under the second last heading that is “Declaration of Guilt”. The paper ends with a conclusion that summarizes the paper briefly. Life History Khalid Sheikh Mohammad is accused of doing many criminal activities that are not of small extent but those which are discredited by the whole world. Khalid Sheikh Mohammad is an alleged terrorist and his hand is seen behind many terrorist activities. He worked as a terrorist or supported many terrorist activities in the world (History Commons 2008). He is seen as being involved in massive killings of people. He is by birth a Kuwaiti national but it is reported that his parents belonged to Pakistan. His greatest introduction is that he is related to the Al-Qaeda group whose head or leader is Osama Bin Laden (Bergen 2006). He led the early years of his life in Kuwait as a child, then he moved to Pakistan and led a little part of his life in Pakistan. From Pakistan, he moved to United States of America for further qualification (History Commons 2008). He completed his degree of mechanical engineering from Agricultural and Technical State University, North Carolina in 1986 (Hakim 2006). After attainment of his degree in the field of mechanical engineering, he moved to Afghanistan where he participated in the war against Soviet Union. After fighting against Soviet power from the Afghan’s side, he started his job at an electronics company, where he used to work on communication instrument. Later on, he started working for the sponsoring and aid of the Afghan fighters with a private organization. Abu Sayyaf used to aid the organization and Khalid Sheikh Mohammad was the head of the organization. In addition to his work for financial aid, he also fought with Muslims at Bosnia. In 1992, he moved to Qatar and started his service at a governmental organization, Qatar’s Ministry of Electricity and Water as a project engineer (History Commons 2008). He continued to do the job of project engineer till 1996. It is informed that Khalid Sheikh Mohammad was continuously involved in the activities of terrorism in his professional career. His involvement in terrorist activities was not apparent as he used to aid such activities covertly. It is also reported that Khalid Sheikh Mohammad used to make use of assumed name for concealing his true identity in order to stay away from the attention of law enforcement officials worldly. He made use of Salem Ali and Abdul Majid as alias for concealing his identity (Burger and Zagorin 2006). It is reported that he got some acknowledgment of his revealed terrorist activities by US authorities in 1996, after which, he fled away to Pakistan in order to escape from the scene. Later on, there were reports of involvement of Khalid Sheikh Mohammad in various terrorist activities due to which, there was massive killing and massive loss of lives of people (Huband 2003). US authorities got hold of the alleged criminal in 2003 with the help of Pakistani Intelligence Services (ISI). It is reported that Khalid Sheikh Mohammad was arrested in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. After which, he was interrogated and he confessed his involvement in terrorist activities (Hakim 2006). It is also informed that he and his family were ill-treated by the US authorities during his imprisonment. His Linkage to Terrorism In the year 1993, the attack on World Trade Center in forms of Bombing was done by a group that was financed by Khalid Sheikh Mohammad. Due to financial aid provided by Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, the attack was made possible to be organized. With the World Trade Center Bombings in 1993, Ramzi Yousef got fame, which also persuaded Khalid Sheikh Mohammad to take part in anti-US activities (Bergen 2006). Operation Bojinka was an operation that was planned to destruct the commercial air passages between United States of America, South-East Asia and East Asia. In this operation, Khalid Sheikh Mohammad was involved directly and he schemed with Razmi Yousef for the widely destructive activity. There was involvement of lives of many people in this destructive planning. This planning was done in 1994 (History Commons 2008). After getting knowledge of so much destructive planning done by Razmi Yousef and Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, the US authorities felt that these criminals should be captured to safe guard the lives of people. In 1995, Razmi Yousef was arrested but Khalid Sheikh Mohammad escaped. In 2001, the US authorities included the name of Khalid Sheikh Mohammad in the list of most wanted terrorists (Wright 2006). After the disclosure of the Bojinka Operation planning, Khalid Sheikh Mohammad fled away to Qatar and continued his job as a project engineer with Qatar’s ministry of Electricity and Water (Hakim 2006). Later on, Khalid Sheikh Mohammad moved to Afghanistan in order to contribute in various other terrorist planning and activities. In Afghanistan, he met Osama Bin Laden, who was also involved in doing criminal terrorist activities and in making plans for attacks. Earlier on, both the people met on 1989 but their relationship development took place after the returning of Khalid Sheikh Mohammad from Qatar (Burger and Zagorin 2006). He tried to move towards Chechnya for joining Mujahedeen group but he was unable to reach there, due to which, he continued to be in Afghanistan (History Commons 2008). While residing in Afghanistan, Khalid Sheikh Mohammad got a chance to be in close company with Osama Bin Laden, where both of them combined together to make plans related to terrorist actions that they were going to take in future (Bergen 2006). It is reported that Khalid Sheikh Mohammad was the chief conspirator of the attack on World Trade Center on 9/11, Pentagon and U.S Capitol. The plan of attack was made by Khalid Sheikh Mohammad but he was facilitated by other team members specially Osama Bin Laden. He organized to send appropriate people towards hijacking and also financed the whole attack (History Commons 2008). United States of America was seen as a supporter of the Israeli establishment due to which, the members of Al Qaeda were against the State and wanted to do a retaliating activity, which appeared to be a source for suffering and lesson for US. Osama Bin Laden was interested to commence the attack a lot more earlier but Khalid Sheikh Mohammad delayed the plan so that the members of Al Qaeda that should be involved in the whole activity should get well trained and skilled for the commencing of the attack (Bergen 2006). The attacks on 9/11 took away the lives of thousands of Americans that was seen as the greatest and the harshest terrorist activity ever. The US authorities were highly affected because of the attacks by the Al Qaeda group and started their search for the terrorists in order to safe guard further destruction of people and places (Hakim 2006). In the investigation, it was clear that the main instigator for the whole plan that took shape on 9/11 was Khalid Sheikh Mohammad (Wright 2006). Khalid Sheikh Mohammad is also found guilty in Daniel Pearl murder because it is informed that Daniel Pearl was involved in investigating about the operations and destructions caused by the Al Qaeda group and he was near to expose the whole group (Burger and Zagorin 2006). After getting knowledge about the whole discovery of Daniel Pearl, he was murdered on the instruction of Khalid Sheikh Mohammad. Bali Nightclub Bombing and Reid Shoe Bombings are more incidents in which, the involvement of Khalid Sheikh Mohammad is informed (Huband 2003). Khalid Sheikh Mohammad was involved not only in one incident of terrorism but countless ones according to the reports by US authorities. So much criminality and terrorist thinking was not forgiven by US authorities as Khalid Sheikh Mohammad was arrested in 2003 and maltreatment was done to him and his family in order to make him know about his so much destructiveness that he caused due to his instigation of attacks on 9/11 (History Commons 2008). Imprisonment Khalid Sheikh Mohammad was arrested first in 2002 in Karachi, Pakistan, afterwards which, he eloped from the prison. Later on he was rearrested in 2003 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, after which, he continued to be in prison. US authorities got hold of the criminal and interrogated him about all his criminal and terrorist activities. For imprisoning Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, the family of the culprit was kept under investigation and also to get access to the criminal (Burger and Zagorin 2006). Pakistani and U.S authorities together performed the task of arresting Khalid Sheikh Mohammad. The chief arresters were the law enforcement officials from Pakistan but the arrest took place in the presence of CIA officials of United States of America. It is reported that Khalid Sheikh Mohammad got arrested from the house of Abdul Qudoos. Khalid Sheikh Mohammad was arrested as an agent of Al Qaeda. While the arrest of the terrorist, many other evidences were found for the authenticity of the claim that Khalid Sheikh Mohammad was a terrorist and criminal (Bergen 2006). The authorities found a hard disc drive that contained clues of the criminality of the person and also various correspondences related to the terrorist activities. There was detailed data about the aircrafts that were hijacked on 11th September 2001 and the names and others details of the hijackers that were allocated for the task of destruction and hijacking (Wright 2006). The hard disc drive also contained the photographs of the hijackers that were eleven in number. There were also found correspondence details with Osama Bin Laden and the hijackers of the aircrafts (Burger and Zagorin 2006). There were also details of the martyred members of Al Qaeda group. There were also documents that contained the details of the operational proceedings of the whole Al Qaeda group and future planning for further terrorist activities (History Commons 2008). In short, it can be said that the hard disc drive was a full proof of Khalid Sheikh Mohammad being a terrorist. It is being said that during his imprisonment, Khalid Sheikh Mohammad was abused to a great extent. Khalid Sheikh Mohammad along with other alleged terrorists was never kept in prisons that were known to everyone. The alleged criminals were kept in secret and concealed jails not in United States of America but in various other countries such as Jordan, Poland and Guantanamo (Bergen 2006). They were kept in secret or disclosed prisons as to treat them according to the laws of the related areas and also to make sure that no one gets the chance to support them in escaping from the prison by any means (Shane 2008). His exact prison place along with his supporters and other terrorists that were involved in not only the incidents if 9/11 but many others was never disclosed clearly (Wright 2006). It was somehow informed that all the alleged criminals were kept in Guantanamo because the laws of the prisons of that area are very strict and the accused criminals can be made to confess their crimes with abuse and harassment (History Commons 2008). Abuse during Imprisonment It is reported that not only Khalid Sheikh Mohammad but also his family was abused during imprisonment. His children aged between six and eight years were kept in abusive interrogation. The boys were not only mistreated physically but also mentally in the investigation process. The investigators were interested to get awareness to the concealing place of Khalid Sheikh Mohammad (History Commons 2008). The children were not aware of the concealing place of their father and were unable to report anything. Initially the alleged terrorists were kept with CIA authorities but later on, they were shifted to Guantanamo Bay detection camp, which is famous for its harsh laws and regulations related to criminal investigation (Burger and Zagorin 2006). In Guantanamo Bay detection camp, the alleged criminal Khalid Sheikh Mohammad was maltreated along with other alleged terrorists and criminals. He was tortured for his alleged crimes and he complained about it. During his trial, he put an allegation of torture while being kept in US custody (Shane 2008). He was dipped for more than two and half minutes in water while investigating about his crimes. In this water boarding exercise, he was made to go through the torture (Huband 2003). There were reports that he should not be dealt with so much torturing and he could be made to speak of his criminalities and to confess with just warnings and concerns about his family. It was reported by CIA officials that during investigation, Khalid Sheikh Mohammad referred to wrong locations and falsified information due to which, the US authorities were able to get nothing in result (Bergen 2006). The US authorities also report that Khalid Sheikh Mohammad was not supportive during investigation and interrogation due to which, he was mistreated (History Commons 2008). His attitude towards the US officials was a very unsupportive one due to which, the officials have to face certain problems in terms of wastage of time and further killings. While he was kept in prison, he was kept in all chains as the extremist criminals are kept according to the laws (Hakim 2006). While interrogating, he was abused to a great extent due to which, he suffered from hardships. Human rights commission spoke for the betterment of treatment with Khalid Sheikh Mohammad. The commission emphasized that the alleged criminals should not be treated against the laws of human rights due to which, the Khalid Sheikh Mohammad along with other alleged criminals were shifted to the Guantanamo Bay detection camp, where the laws of human rights are minimally exercised (Shane 2008). Declaration of Guilt While investigation, many other planned activities of the alleged criminals and terrorists came to a forefront. Not only Khalid Sheikh Mohammad declared of his being guilty but also claimed about further plans and terrorist activities that were to be performed in future (Bergen 2006). He confessed his involvement in many terrorist activities in the past in various parts of the world. If he was not directly involved in the activity, he was responsible for financing the activity. However, he remained in touch with the criminalities done by other criminals as well (History Commons 2008). Khalid Sheikh Mohammad confessed that he was involved in the organization of 1993 bombings in the World Trade Center, United States of America. He also confessed his involvement in the organization of Bali nightclub bombings Indonesia, Reid Shoe Bombing and many others (Hakim 2006). He participated in an attack in Kuwait in 2002. He confessed to be involved in many attacks on US Navy and other vessels. He confessed his future plans related to further destructions in United States of America and in other areas on the US monitored institutes (Burger and Zagorin 2006). There were a lot many plans and performed criminalities related to hijacking and bombings in various areas. Hijackings were not only done in the 9/11 incident but at many other junctures in history (Wright 2006). Khalid Sheikh Mohammad confessed that he was involved in instigating a plan for 9/11 attack. With Osama Bin Laden, Khalid Sheikh Mohammad was also involved in organization of the grand attack on United States of America (History Commons 2008). He has been charged for murdering massive population with his terrorist activities and with his aid to other terrorists. Conclusion Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, a criminal, a terrorist as he is described by the resources can be claimed as a person who is responsible for massive killing of many people. A terrorist has no religion and no ethnicity. He is a culprit, who wants to destruct and injure humanity as a whole. The detailed proofs found about the terrorist, Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, indicate towards his being a terrorist. He went from one place to another in search of terrorist activities. He travelled to different countries with different assumed names. He confessed for his crimes such as involvement in the organization of 1993 World Trade Center Bombings, organization of Bali nightclub bombings Indonesia, Reid Shoe Bombing, hijacking of aircrafts and passenger planes and murders of influential personalities. He is found involved towards many criminal activities in the world and his biggest and most destructive terrorism came in the forefront as the 9/11 incident that took away the lives of thousands of people. In 2003, Khalid Sheikh Mohammad was arrested after which, he was kept in prisons and jails that were not apparently informed publically. He was kept in secret jails and imprisonments, where he was also abused in order to make him confess. Not only Khalid Sheikh Mohammad but also his family and children were interrogated and abused. In the end, it is quite clear that Khalid Sheikh Mohammad confessed about his involvement in various terrorist activities. References Bergen, Peter. 2006. The Osama bin Laden I Know. New York: Free Press.   Burger, Timothy J. and Zagorin, Adam. 2006. "Fingering Danny Pearls Killer", Time (magazine), Time Warner.   Hakim, Zakki. 2006. "Official Ties al-Qaida to Indonesia Terror." Associated Press. History Commons. 2008. Profile: Khalid Shaikh Mohammad. Retrieved on 30th November 2008. Available at http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=khalid_shaikh_mohammed Huband, Mark. 2003. "The CEO of al-Qaeda: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed." Financial Times 2. Shane, Scott. 2008. "Inside a 9/11 Mastermind’s Interrogation". New York Times. Wright, Lawrence. 2006. The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. London: Knopf. Read More