Padded seats for 9-11 mastermind.

This article underscores how weak is the argument that the U.S. through the tribunal system doesn’t provide captured terrorists the proper civil liberties. Khalid Sheik Mohammed is the unapologetic, indeed braggart, mastermind of the 9-11 attacks. It’s bad enough that this fiend still has a pulse, let alone that the debate over his treatment includes such ridiculous notions as whether or not he had a padded seat cushion. I can imagine that the families of 9-11 victims are just sickened by this.

[Washington Post] At the 9/11 hearing Monday, the defendants gave no indication that they were aware of any pending decision by [incoming President Barack] Obama. But the proceeding was again marked by interjections from Khalid Sheik Mohammed, who asserted responsibility for organizing the attacks, as he has in the past, but with an apparent dig at his ostensible boss.

“I am the mastermind of 9/11, not Osama bin Laden,” Mohammed said during argument over whether the case needed to be re-arraigned because of a technical error by Susan Crawford, the Pentagon official charged with deciding who goes to trial at Guantanamo. The judge ruled that the case could go forward despite the error.

Mohammed also waved a copy of The Washington Post containing an article by Bob Woodward in which Crawford said another detainee was tortured at Guantanamo Bay. The matter arose during a discussion about an order signed by the judge to protect classified information, which the defense said was too broad.

One of the defense attorneys argued that the order would prevent them from discussing the article containing Crawford’s statements or any public document that referred to the CIA or other intelligence agencies.

“Everybody knows this order was written by the CIA,” Mohammed said. “Their true reason is to protect themselves against their own wrongdoing.”

During the discussion, a civilian lawyer advising Mohammed noted that his daughter lives in Iran and has tuberculosis. He said the order prevented his passing information to Iran that Mohammed had provided about his family’s medical history because defendants’ statements are presumptively classified. The judge said he might amend the order.

Relatives of the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks attended proceedings for the second time, and some of them were struck by the minutiae that came up in court.

At one point, Mohammed disputed a claim by the prosecution that cushions were provided to the defendants to compensate for the time they spent sitting on hard benches in a van that takes them to court. “It’s not true that they put cushions,” Mohammed said.