FDNY union, victims' families slam plea deal for alleged 9/11 mastermind
NEW YORK (WABC) -- Family members of 9/11 victims, survivors and the FDNY union are among those outraged over the news that three of the five 9/11 defendants at Guantanamo Bay have reached a plea agreement with prosecutors.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, accused as the mastermind of al-Qaida's Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States and two accomplices, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi, are expected to enter the pleas at the military commission at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as soon as next week.
Defense lawyers have requested the men receive life sentences in exchange for the guilty pleas, according to letters from the federal government received by relatives of some of the nearly 3,000 people killed outright on the morning of Sept. 11.
As part of the deal, the defendants have agreed to answer questions from victims' family members "regarding their roles and reasons for conducting the Sept. 11 attacks," a process known as restorative justice.
The government said the deal was meant to bring some "finality and justice" to the case. However Michael O'Connell was a 9/11 first responder and isn't mincing his words.
O'Connell was a probationary firefighter who worked on the pile. He was later diagnosed with sarcoidosis.
John Feal has had 46 surgeries for injuries he suffered at Ground Zero. For them, the plea deal feels like a new wound.
"Where's the closure when we continue to go to funerals, wakes, continue to go to hospital bedsides or visit somebody at their home who's sick and dying from a 911-related cancer?" Feal said.
They both lobby to ensure benefits for those getting sick. Their attorney, Michael Barasch, says no trial means questions will go unanswered.
"We didn't understand why justice had been delayed for so many years, and you've heard that justice delayed is justice denied, and now it really feels like it's official, justice is being denied, no trial," Barasch said.
Prosecutors faced legal challenges, including whether evidence obtained through torture could be admissible. Some believed the plea deal was the best outcome, but the president of the FDNY Uniformed Firefighters Association released a statement saying they are "disgusted and disappointed."
"On behalf of New York City firefighters, especially the survivors of the September 11th terrorist attack who are living with the illnesses and injuries that were inflicted upon us that day, we are disgusted and disappointed that these three terrorists were given a plea deal and allowed to escape the ultimate justice while each month three more heroes from the FDNY are dying from world trade center illnesses," Andrew Ansbro said.
Feal and O'Connell are disappointed too.
"When those towers came down, we were all breathing that toxic, toxic dust in," O'Connell said. "These people that planned that are fully responsible for people getting sick and dying, so there will never be closure."
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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