Bush 'forced false confession' from al-Qaida chief

TEL AVIV – While the confession of the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks was widely received in the United States as a monumental development in the war against terror, it wasn't taken as well by Palestinian militant leaders here who told WND they believe the real culprits of the attacks – Jews and Zionist agents – are still at large.

"The Americans are facing a dangerous security situation in Iraq," said Abu Jihad, a West Bank leader of the Islamic Jihad terror organization. "Bush is under a lot of pressure for victories, so I am sure as part of changing the American public opinion [Bush] needed to orchestrate this confession so he can say he is succeeding even though he is a failure."

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Abu Jihad was responding to al-Qaida suspect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's admission in a hearing this past Saturday of plotting the 9/11 attacks and involvement in more than 30 attacks and plots. Mohammad also said he personally beheaded U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002.

"I am sure the Americans tortured Mohammad and forced him to say these untrue things. Isn't it strange it took three years since his arrest for the supposed confession? Intelligence agencies are known to make people say they are guilty even though they know it's not the case," Abu Jihad said.

Continued the Islamic Jihad terror leader: "With all the respect we have for al-Qaida, the story of 9-11 remains open. There are many questions about the role of Israel and the Zionists in the affair. America just wants to lie to everybody so they can put people at ease by claiming they caught the culprit."

Together with the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the declared military wing of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization, Abu Jihad's Islamic Jihad terror group has taken responsibility for every suicide bombing in Israel the last two years, including an attack two weeks ago in Eilat and one in Tel Aviv last April that killed eight Israelis and American teenager Daniel Wultz.

Ala Senakreh, the chief of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, told WND he is certain "the Jews" were behind 9/11.

"Five-thousand Israelis that were in the World Trade Center were evacuated, why?" asked Senakreh. "We heard that the Israelis told the U.S. that something will take place in a few hours on the day of the attacks. How could they know unless they were behind it?"

Five thousand Israelis were not evacuated from the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

Abu Nasser, deputy commander of the Brigades in the northern West Bank town of Nablus, charged, "The Jews sent the planes to the World Trade Center to start a war against Muslims. Also Bush wanted an excuse to invade our lands."

Mohammad confessed in a U.S. military tribunal Saturday to planning and supporting multiple terrorist attacks, including 9/11, killing thousands since the early 1990s.

Some of the plots, including a previously undisclosed plan to kill several former U.S. presidents, were never carried out or were foiled by international counter-terror authorities.

"I was responsible for the 9/11 operation from A to Z," Mohammed said in a statement read during a Combatant Status Review Tribunal at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Mohammed's confession was read by a member of the U.S. military who is serving as his personal representative.

Regarding the murder of Pearl, Mohammed is quoted as saying, "I decapitated with my blessed right hand the head of the American Jew, Daniel Pearl, in the city of Karachi, Pakistan."

"For those who would like to confirm, there are pictures of me on the Internet holding his head," he added.

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