Al-Qaeda's primary plotter of 9/11 attacks, agrees to plead guilty

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, accused as the main plotter in al-Qaeda's September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, has agreed to plead guilty, the Defense Department said, pointing to a long-delayed resolution in an attack that altered the course of the United States and much of the Middle East.

He 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.

Pentagon officials declined to immediately release the terms of the plea bargain. The New York Times, citing unidentified Pentagon officials, said the terms included the men's longstanding condition that they be spared risk of the death penalty.

The US agreement with the men to enter into a plea agreement comes more than 16 years after their prosecution began for al-Qaeda's attack. It comes more than 20 years after militants flew commandeered commercial airliners into buildings. The attack killed nearly 3,000 people and ..