After 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (“KSM”) was captured where he was hiding in Pakistan in 2003, he was interrogated by psychologist James Mitchell, an American psychologist and former member of the United States Air Force.

After the September 11 attacks, Mitchell was asked by the CIA to develop an interrogation program based on al-Qaeda documents on resisting interrogation. In his 2016 book Enhanced Interrogation, Mitchell provided details and background information on the interrogation program.

Watch 3 clips from a December 2016 interview with Dr. Mitchell as he discusses terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM):

VIDEO #1: Why do Islamic terrorists believe Islam is a religion of peace?

VIDEO #2: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) initially confessed his guilt and pled guilty:

VIDEO #3: How Flight 93, Falling Man and the 9/11 victims affected James Mitchell’s willingness to interrogate the 9/11 plotters:

VIDEO #4:  Watch a September 11, 2018 interview on Fox with Dr. Mitchell as he talks about Khalid Sheikh Mohammed:

Questions

From VIDEO #1

1. What wrong assumption does Dr. Mitchell say the West has made since 9/11?

2. What did KSM tell him about our Western system of Democracy?

3. Mr. Steyn notes that Islamists don’t think of Western liberty as something they aspire to but as a fatal weakness that will help them win. What does Dr. Mitchell say about this?

4. How did KSM answer when Mitchell asked him “Why do you [Muslims] call it the religion of peace when all I see you [Islamists] do is kill people and blow them up?”

5. What did 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed say about Western Democracy and Islam?

From VIDEO #2:

6. How did Khalid Sheikh Mohammed initially plead?
Mohammed initially told Dr. Mitchell that he was ready to martyr himself – he was ready to plead guilty – and he did plead guilty.

7. What caused him to then plead not guilty? How did Dr. Mitchell explain the government’s motive for ignoring KSM’s confession – and what KSM thought of this.

From VIDEO #3:

8. What do you think of Dr. Mitchell’s explanation for why he changed his mind about using enhanced interrogation methods on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other terrorists (Flight 93 passengers and the “Falling Man” – as well as the media reporting )?

Background

In March 2007, CNN reported:

  • Captured by the CIA and Pakistani Intelligence in Pakistan on March 1, 2003, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the “mastermind” of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, admitted to those attacks and numerous others during a U.S. military hearing on Saturday (March 10, 2007), according to an edited transcript of the hearing released by the Pentagon.
  • In a statement from him, read by a U.S. military representative, he said, “I was responsible for the 9/11 operation, from A to Z.”
  • The transcript continues with the list of operations he was responsible for, including the Richard Reid shoe bomber attempt to blow up an airliner over the Atlantic Ocean, the Bali nightclub bombing in Indonesia, the 1993 World Trade Center attack and other attacks that were foiled.
  • The latter included surveying the Panama Canal for an attack to destroy it and surveying suspension bridges and high-rises in New York and Chicago, Illinois, to bring them down as well.
  • The list of some 29 operations he was responsible for is followed by a shorter list of operations he was partially responsible for, including an assassination attempt against then-Pope John Paul II while he was visiting the Philippines.
  • KSM still has not been brought to trial. A military judge in August 2026 set a trial date for June 2028 at Guantánamo Bay.  This is after years of prior legal battles that have left the case subject to ongoing delays including:
  • Many delays and appeals made by the terrorist defendants
  • In 2009 the Obama administration announced the terrorist would be tried in civilian court in NYC. Immediate public outrage caused the administration to reverse their decision, which effectively “reset the clock”
  • In 2024 during the Biden administration, the top military official overseeing the Guantánamo war courts signed a plea deal with the terrorists, who agreed to plead guilty to nearly 3,000 murders and serve life sentences without parole in exchange for removing the death penalty. Public opposition caused Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to reverse this decision, once again resetting the clock.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed when captured and then years later in GITMO, where he is still held today.