Pat Dollard

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Fox & AP:

Video report here.

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba — The accused mastermind of the worst terror attack in U.S. history told a Guantanamo Bay court Thursday that he wants to be put to death.

After almost seven years, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four alleged co-conspirators are facing a military judge in his first public appearance before a war-crimes tribunal.

Their arraignment Thursday is the highest-profile test yet of the controversial tribunal system, which is being challenged in court. It comes seven years after the attacks. All five face the death penalty if convicted.

U.S. Military officials told Reuters that the suspects walked into the courtroom willingly.

All five wore cream-colored clothing and turbans, in contrast to the disheveled hair and T-shirt Mohammed wore when he was captured in Pakistan in 2003. Mohammed was later held in CIA custody at secret sites and transferred to the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 2006.

Journalists were allowed to see the proceedings on closed-circuit TV in a nearby press room. Other observers including Fang A. Wong, a senior member of the American Legion, filed into the tightly guarded courthouse to watch the arraignment.

“I’m from the New York area, and I have been waiting for this for a long time,” Wong said as he waited to be searched by soldiers before entering the court complex.

The arraignment of the five detainees begins the highest-profile test yet of the controversial tribunal system, which is being challenged before the U.S. Supreme Court. All five face the death penalty if convicted of war crimes including murder, conspiracy, attacking civilians and terrorism.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey also said Wednesday that the tribunals will be “in the best traditions of the American legal system” even though the military judges can consider hearsay evidence and confessions obtained through coercion, which aren’t admissible in civilian courts. “Different situations call for different solutions,” he said.

The four defendants due to appear with Mohammed are: Ramzi Binalshibh, said to have been the main intermediary between the hijackers and Al Qaeda leaders; Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, known as Ammar al-Baluchi, a nephew and lieutenant of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed; al-Baluchi’s assistant, Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi; and Waleed bin Attash, a detainee known as Khallad, who allegedly selected and trained some of the 19 hijackers.