9/11 Plea Deals Back on Table

Military court says defense secy Austin had no right to reject a decision already okayed by the Guantanamo court's top authority

A military appeals court has ruled against Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's effort to throw out the plea deals reached for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two other defendants in the 9/11 attacks, a US official said.

The decision puts back on track the agreements that would have the three men plead guilty to one of the deadliest attacks ever on the United States in exchange for being spared the possibility of the death penalty. The attacks by al-Qaida killed nearly 3,000 people on September 11, 2001, and helped spur US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq in what the George W. Bush administration called its war on terror.