For many families of the victims of 9/11, there remains a wound that festers even a quarter century after the terror attacks.
Though Osama bin Laden is dead, many of his co-conspirators remain in limbo at Guantanamo Bay, neither free nor tried. As the years pass, the chance for closure, much less justice, appears ever remote.
“We have been robbed of justice for the murder of our loved ones,” said Kristen Breitweiser, whose husband, Ron, died while working on the 94th floor of the collapsed South Tower. “It’s 25 years later and the high-level detainees will never see any kind of trial.”
Although a military judge recently announced a trial finally will be held for top 9/11 conspirators, it won’t take place for another two years. “It’s just more of the same,” Breitweiser said. “Delays, delays, delays.”
Gitmo was meant to be a temporary solution, a prison for al Qaeda and Taliban members captured after the invasion of Afghanistan. But it’s since become a conundrum.
How do you try the world’s worst terrorists without it turning into a show trial that leads to more terror?
At its height, Guantanamo held 780 suspected terrorists. Over the decades, most have been let go, either to face a trial or prison in their country of origin, or paroled to a nation willing to take them with the promise of “rehabilitation.”
The Bush administration released some 540 detainees; President Obama, 200; Biden, 25; while President Trump, over his two terms, has released just one, transferring him to a prison in Saudi Arabia.
Today, the 15 most dangerous remain — including several 9/11 plotters.
A few are still considered for parole, expressing innocence or remorse, but critics point out the dangers. According to the latest Office of National Intelligence report on “reengagement” of former Gitmo detainees, 234 of those who were freed resisted rehabilitation and went right back to jihad.
Particularly since the Taliban again controls Afghanistan, releasing others seems foolish.
Obama wanted to transfer the remaining prisoners into the United States, putting them on trial in federal court while they remained in federal prison. After a fierce backlash, the plan was dropped.
So that leaves a military tribunal at Gitmo, which has dragged on for years.
Several 9/11 co-conspirators face capital charges before the tribunal, including:
• Walid bin Attash, a bin Laden bodyguard who attended a key pre-9/11 training camp in Afghanistan and allegedly cased US airline security in preparation for the hijackings.
• Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, an accused moneyman who acquired travel documents for the hijackers.
• Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, also known as Ammar al-Baluchi, who helped fund and organize 9/11.
• And Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, a k a KSM, the 9/11 mastermind who was a top lieutenant to Osama bin Laden in al Qaeda.
Issues related to evidence obtained from CIA black sites through torture has kept the tribunal from reaching final verdicts and sentences for this supercell of 9/11 monsters.
An Air Force colonel is now acting as presiding judge. He was in college on 9/11, which points up the absurdity of this delay of justice.
Other detainees are being held in “indefinite law-of-war detention.” They include Abu Zubaydah, one of bin Laden’s most trusted facilitators who supervised the training of some of the hijackers in Afghanistan.
Just before this year’s anniversary, the judge finally set a trial date of June 2028 for KSM and others. But considering that’s two years away, and previous deadlines have been derailed by defense objections, many fear the whole sorry lot will probably never be brought to justice.
9/11 family members, still yearning for accountability a generation after the mass murder, fear all of them will likely avoid execution and die in prison of natural causes without ever having to publicly answer for the crimes.
“Three thousand innocent civilians were murdered in broad daylight in lower Manhattan, and not one single full prosecution or indictment to speak of? That’s a disgrace that nobody seems very keen to admit or discuss 25 years later,” Breitweiser said.
“That’s an abject failure of the US so-called justice system that has failed the 9/11 widows and children.”
Breitweiser says the 9/11 conspirators seem content to just keep getting three square meals a day and religious accommodations.
“From what I understand, the remaining detainees prefer to remain at Gitmo to live out their days,” she said. “Apparently they are happy there.”
What could bring closure? “Since the high-value detainees will never be put to death,” she said, “they should be made available to answer questions from the 9/11 widows and children.”
She said they have pointed questions for the 9/11 plotters such as KSM in particular. The 9/11 relatives are suing the Saudi government for its role in sponsoring the attacks, and they want more answers about the 9/11 plotters’ connections to the Kingdom, among other things.
“Gaining clarity and information would provide a sense of closure and enable the 9/11 widows and children, like myself, to have a better understanding of what really did and did not happen when it comes to that horrific morning and the cold-blooded senseless murder of our loved ones,” Breitweiser said.
Paul Sperry is a journalist and author of the bestseller “Infiltration” and other books on terrorism. Follow him on X: @paulsperry_
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