 Media Credit: Associated Press In this file photo of a sketch by courtroom artist Janet Hamlin, reviewed by the U.S. Military, the five Sept. 11, 2001 attack co-defendants sit during a hearing at the U.S. Military Commissions court for war crimes, at the U.S. Naval Base, in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Monday, Jan. 19. From top to bottom, they are Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Waleed Bin Attash, Ramzi Binalshibh, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, and Mustafa Ahmad al Hawsawi. The five men charged with the Sept. 11 attacks say they "are terrorists to the bone" in their most detailed response to U.S. war crimes charges. The Associated Press on Tuesday, obtained the six-page court filing in which the defendants refer to Sept. 11 as "the great attack on America." (AP Photo/Janet Hamlin, Pool, File)
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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - The self-professed mastermind and four other men charged in the Sept. 11 attacks declared they are "terrorists to the bone" in a statement that mocked the U.S. failure to prevent the killings and predicted America will fall like "the towers on the blessed 9/11 day."
In a rambling response to the government's case, the men also sought to justify the attacks, citing a violent interpretation of Islam and a series of grievances against the U.S., including support for Israel, the Iraq war and abuses at Abu Ghraib prison and in Guantanamo.
"To us, they are not accusations. To us they are badges of honor, which we carry with pride," the men wrote in the six-page document, which was released Tuesday by a military judge over the objections of the Pentagon-appointed lawyers for two of the men.
"So, you are the first class war criminals," they added, "and the whole world witnesses this."
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