Sept. 11 families group leader cheers restoration of death penalty option in 9/11 cases

The head of a group of family members of victims of the Sept. 11 terror attacks said Saturday that she's heard nearly unanimous praise of the U.S. defense secretary's nullification of plea deals for the alleged 9/11 mastermind and two others that would have removed the death penalty as a possibility.

The American Civil Liberties Union, meanwhile, said it plans to challenge the reversal in court, citing it in a statement Saturday as a "rash act" that "violates the law."

Terry Strada, national chair of the group 9/11 Families United, said she was shocked by the announcement late Friday that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin rejected a plea deal reached just days earlier and restored the death penalty as an option in the cases.

He wrote that authority in the matter ultimately rested with him.

"Nobody saw this coming," Strada said, quickly adding that it was the right thing to do.

"These men deserve no mercy," Strada said. "They certainly didn't show any mercy to my husband or the other 2,976 who died in the attacks."

She said dozens of individuals from her group who she communicated with since Friday night were unanimous.

"Everybody I've talked to wants them put to death because that's the punishment that fits the crime and the message the United States needs to send to terrorists around the world: We will hold you accountable and exercise the death penalty," Strada said.

She said a large international prisoner swap that occurred Thursday was a reminder of the need to ensure that nobody behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks are ever set free.

Al-Qaida terrorists turned hijacked planes into missiles that tore through the 110-story twin World Trade Center towers and smashed into the Pentagon that day. A fourth hijacked plane crashed in a Pennsylvania field after crew members and passengers tried to storm the cockpit.

The attacks triggered what President George W. Bush’s administration called its war on terror, prompting the U.S. military invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and years of U.S. operations against armed extremist groups elsewhere in the Middle East.

The attack and U.S. retaliation brought the overthrow of two governments outright, devastated communities and countries caught in the battle, and played a role in inspiring the 2011 Arab Spring popular uprisings against authoritarian Middle East governments.

At home, the attacks inspired a sharply more militaristic and nationalist turn to American society and culture.

Strada said as recently as several days ago that some of the 10,000 family members of those killed in the attacks are divided over whether the death penalty is appropriate.

Austin's action came two days after the military commission at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, announced that the official appointed to oversee the war court approved plea deals with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two accused accomplices, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi.

U.S. authorities point to Mohammed as the source of the idea to use planes as weapons. He allegedly received approval from al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden to craft what became the 9/11 hijackings and killings. U.S. forces killed bin Laden in 2011.

Authorities captured Mohammed in 2003. He was subjected to waterboarding 183 times while in CIA custody before coming to Guantanamo, along with other torture and coercive questioning.

In a release Saturday, ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said the civil rights group plans to sue to win a reversal of Austin's move.

"It's stunning that Secretary Austin betrayed 9/11 family members seeking judicial finality while recklessly setting aside the judgment of his own prosecutors and the Convening Authority, who are actually steeped in the 9/11 case. Politics and command influence should play no role in this legal proceeding," Romero said.

He said a death penalty finding would not be upheld on appeal because of the torture experienced by those who were captured after the 9/11 attacks and because military commissions are "inherently unjust."

"After over 20 years, it's time for our government to accept the defendants' guilty pleas as the best solution in a terrible circumstance,"  Romero said. "The 9/11 families and the American people deserve closure and adherence to due process principles that are the bedrock of our democracy."

Families of those killed in the al-Qaida attacks were told in letters that the plea agreement stipulated the men would serve up to life sentences but would not face death.

Strada said family members feared that if the defendants were placed in U.S. prisons, "any future administration could commute their sentence or use them in a possible prison swap."

"I'm not a ghoul that I want them put to death," Strada added. "I want them put them to death because I don't want them to have a voice, ever."