Sept. 11 Mastermind Quizzes Gitmo Judge About Religion, Torture Views
Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed questioned a Guantanamo judge about his religion, his reading habits and his views on torture in a hearing yesterday on his impartiality.
Mohammed asked Marine Col. Ralph Kohlmann whether he was associated with Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell, asserting that “if you are in one of those denominations, you are not going to be fair,” the Washington Post reports. Kohlmann responded that at one time he had attended Lutheran and Episcopal churches but had not been a member of a congregation for some time. He declined to say whether he had read books by Billy Graham or Pat Buchanan or to list the movies he had watched.
Mohammed also asked if Kohlmann supported torture for the sake of national security and whether he could be unbiased given his training as a U.S. Marine Corps officer. Mohammed also noted that his four co-defendants, all accused in the Sept. 11 attacks, are Muslims and asked Kohlmann to require women in the courtroom to dress modestly. The judge denied the request, the Associated Press reports.
The questioning by Mohammed “underscored his taste for the limelight and sense of authority,” the AP story says.
