Armed Conflict Courts & Litigation Criminal Justice & the Rule of Law Terrorism & Extremism

Victims Added in 9/11 Charges

Raffaela Wakeman, Lawfare Staff
Wednesday, March 28, 2012, 4:09 PM
An interesting development in the military commission case against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his four alleged September 11 co-conspirators: The government has added charges of intentionally causing serious bodily injury (10 U.S.C.

Published by The Lawfare Institute
in Cooperation With
Brookings

An interesting development in the military commission case against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his four alleged September 11 co-conspirators: The government has added charges of intentionally causing serious bodily injury (10 U.S.C. §950t). The charges in the case were initially filed against the five defendants last May. The amended charge sheet was filed back at the end of January, but the redacted version was only just made available today. In the original charge sheet, this charge (which is spelled out in "Appendix B" on the very last page of the charging documents) indicated that some, but not all of those injured, were listed. The list, however, is redacted, though it appears have three lines for each of the two attacked locations: the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. In the amended charge sheet, by contrast, names are still redacted, but the injuries are not. We can see clearly that there are eight individuals listed as being injured in the attacks at the World Trade Center and five at the Pentagon:
The following people suffered serious bodily injury on September 11, 2001, in or around the World Trade Center in New York City, as a result oftwo commercial airliners crashing into the two main towers or as the result of the buildings collapsing:
  1. [REDACTED], fractured bones and other serious bodily injuries
  2. [REDACTED], fractured bones and other serious bodily injuries
  3. [REDACTED], fractured bones and other serious bodily injuries
  4. [REDACTED], fractured bones and other serious bodily injuries
  5. [REDACTED], nearly severed arm with protracted impairment
  6. [REDACTED], fractured bones and other serious bodily injuries
  7. [REDACTED], fractured bones, severe burns and other serious bodily injuries
  8. [REDACTED], fractured bones and other serious bodily injuries
The following people suffered serious bodily injury on September 11, 2001, in or around the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, as a result of American Airlines Flight #77 crashing into the southwest side of the Pentagon:
  1. [REDACTED], USA, severe burns and other serious bodily injuries
  2. [REDACTED], severe burns and other serious bodily injuries
  3. [REDACTED], USN, severe burns and other serious bodily injuries
  4. [REDACTED], loss of five fingers, severe burns, and other serious bodily injuries
  5. [REDACTED], loss of lung function and other serious bodily injuries
This appears to open the possibility of the prosecution's offering live testimony by grievously-injured victims of the September 11 attacks.

Raffaela Wakeman is a Senior Director at In-Q-Tel. She started her career at the Brookings Institution, where she spent five years conducting research on national security, election reform, and Congress. During this time she was also the Associate Editor of Lawfare. From there, Raffaela practiced law at the U.S. Department of Defense for four years, advising her clients on privacy and surveillance law, cybersecurity, and foreign liaison relationships. She departed DoD in 2019 to join the Majority Staff of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, where she oversaw the Intelligence Community’s science and technology portfolios, cybersecurity, and surveillance activities. She left HPSCI in May 2021 to join IQT. Raffaela received her BS and MS in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2009 and her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 2015, where she was recognized for her commitment to public service with the Joyce Chiang Memorial Award. While at the Department of Defense, she was the inaugural recipient of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s General Counsel Award for exhibiting the highest standards of leadership, professional conduct, and integrity.

Subscribe to Lawfare