SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Now to an eventful week in Guantanamo Bay. Just three days ago, the Pentagon announced a plea deal with three 9/11 defendants held there, including the alleged mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Last night, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin pulled that deal off the table. NPR's Sacha Pfeiffer, of course, has covered Guantanamo for years. Sacha, thanks for being with us.
SACHA PFEIFFER, BYLINE: You're welcome. Good morning, Scott.
SIMON: A little more detail, please, on events of the week.
PFEIFFER: Yes. And first, I want to note many people are always shocked to hear that Guantanamo is still open. It was set up after the so-called war on terror after the September 11 attacks. There are still prisoners there, still active cases. One of them is the September 11, 9/11 case. 20 years later, still ongoing. This week was an earthquake at Guantanamo for those who cover it because, on Wednesday, it was announced that three of the 9/11 defendants, including the big guy, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, were going to plead guilty in exchange for, in KSM's case, a life sentence. It's presumed the other two would also get a life sentence. In return, the death penalty would come off the table, and they would no longer go to trial, which, by the way, it's looked increasingly unlikely that there will ever be a trial. And this was - you know, this was great news to people who felt that it had been really bogged down for years and was finally ending.
SIMON: There were some strong feelings about it, though, weren't there?
PFEIFFER: Very much. Now, again, some people who realized how intractable the case has become felt like finally it's resolved. But people were very upset. Some 9/11 family members felt like they wanted to see these men put to death. They feel like a trial might bring out some secrets about 9/11 we don't already know. Some congressional members pushed back. And then all of a sudden, last night, shocking thing happened - Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin puts out a short memo saying, I am withdrawing from the plea agreements; I'm also removing the person in charge of the military court who oversees 9/11 in the case - just in the 9/11 case and basically undid the deal.
SIMON: Isn't the military court part of the defense department that Lloyd Austin heads?
PFEIFFER: Yes. And this is what's so puzzling. The court is this complicated thing that's overseen by someone called the convening authority who, in theory, statutorily has independence, does not need the secretary of defense's approval to make plea deals. Yet Austin reversed it. He basically said, it's so significant a decision that I alone should make it. So I'm going to step in and reverse it. We also were told that the Biden White House had not known about this till Wednesday, so this huge, huge pushback coming from all quarters seems to have pressured Austin into reversing the deal.
SIMON: And what kind of reaction has there been?
PFEIFFER: Huge. I want to play for you Brett Eagleson, who was 15 years old when his father died in the World Trade Center collapse. Brett opposes the deals. And here's what he said about the plea agreements.
BRETT EAGLESON: We all deserve our day in court, and to do a plea deal feels like we've been betrayed. We want a trial. We want to put these individuals on a stand. We want the public to see it, and we want the media to see everything that these individuals have to say.
PFEIFFER: And, Scott, at the other end of the spectrum, is Elizabeth Miller. She was 6 when her Staten Island firefighter dad died in the 9/11 attack. She's been a supporter of the agreements, and here's what she said to me last night.
ELIZABETH MILLER: I'm really just feeling numb. I'm disappointed in the U.S. government. We're no closer to a death penalty conviction now than we were 13 years ago. Most families just want this to end, and this was the best way and, in my opinion, the only way that it was going to end.
PFEIFFER: But, Scott, this reversal of the plea deal makes the end look even farther away. Basically, what happens now is the 9/11 case goes back to this legal slog of endless so-called pretrial hearings. And it's unclear how they might get to trial, if ever.
SIMON: NPR's Sacha Pfeiffer. Thank you so much.
PFEIFFER: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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