Faces of Evil: Profiles of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed; 4 WTC henchmen set for NYC trial

The self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees will be sent to New York to face trial in federal court.
Here"s a snapshot of the accused evildoers Mohammed, Waleed Bin Attash, Ramzi Binalshibh and the allegations against them:

KHALID SHAIKH MOHAMMED
The mastermind of the 9/11 "planes operation" graduated from college in North Carolina. He first proposed hijacking U.S. planes to Osama Bin Laden in 1996 and got the green light three years later. He obtained money to fund the attacks from bin Laden, oversaw the operation and trained the hijackers in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The U.S. didn"t know what role "KSM" had in the plot until he stated it on Al Jazeera TV in 2002. He already has an outstanding terror indictment against him in New York in connection with a failed plot -- dubbed "Bojinka" -- to take down multiple airliners over the Pacific Ocean in the 1990s. He was born in Pakistan"s Baluchistan province and raised in Kuwait.

WALID (KHALLAD) BIN ATTASH
He was an operational commander who oversaw the Cole bombing in October 2000 and then helped train 9/11 hijackers in hand-to-hand combat at an Al Qaeda camp in Afghanistan. Authorities believe he was bin Laden"s onetime bodyguard. Bin Laden is believed to have selected him as a hijacker, but he was prevented from participating after being detained in Yemen in early 2001.

RAMZI BINALSHIBH
Originally selected by Bin Laden as one of the hijackers, Binalshibh was refused a U.S. entry visa four times and then was tapped as their facilitator in Hamburg, Germany. Binalshibh, a Yemeni, helped find flight schools for the hijackers, helped them enter the United States and assisted with financing the operation. When he thought he would be one of the hijackers, he made a "martyr video" to explain his actions. He also is believed to be a lead operative for a foiled scheme to crash aircraft into buildings at London"s Heathrow Airport.

MUSTAFA AL-HAWSAWI
From his position in the United Arab Emirates, this Al Qaeda facilitator was able to discreetly oversee wire transfers for the hijack plotters inside the U.S. Al-Hawsawim, a Saudi, testified in the trial of convicted 9/11 plotter Zacarias Moussaoui, saying he had seen Moussaoui at an al-Qaida guesthouse in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in early 2001. Authorities believed he helped the 9/11 hijackers with money, travelers" checks, credit cards and western clothing.

AL ABDUL AZIZ ALI
KSM"s nephew, known as "Ammar al-Baluchi," helped plan the 9/11 strikes and sent the hijack cells at least $120,000 to help them commit mass murder, in addition to plotting more hijackings in London. He is believed to have served as a key lieutenant to Mohammed in Pakistan. He was born in Pakistan"s Baluchistan province and raised in Kuwait. James Gordon Meek and News Wire Services

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/11/13/2009-11-13_faces_of_evil_.html#ixzz0WoW6gKL6

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