Americans spend hundreds of millions to maintain mastermind of 9/11 attacks

American taxpayers spent huge sums of money to keep the mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks alive, writes Fox News.

Guantanamo. Photo: Shutterstock

Built almost 18 years ago at a US naval base in Cuba to contain terror suspects, Guantanamo Bay prison has gradually grown into the most expensive prison on earth.

The US government spent an estimated $161,5 million on 11/XNUMX mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Mohammed must also receive a coronavirus vaccine before he could be tried and put to death if found guilty.

Captured in 2003, Sheikh Mohammed confessed to being the mastermind behind some of the most massive terrorist attacks in decades, most notably 11/XNUMX.

Mohammed's trial was originally set for January 11, 2021, but has been postponed due to the pandemic.

The lack of vaccinations reportedly made it difficult for federal prosecutors to continue war crimes hearings at the base, so Terry Adirim, the chief deputy assistant head of the Defense Department for health under President Biden, signed an order on January 27 to vaccinate terror suspects. This was announced by a Pentagon spokesman. Two Defense Department officials confirmed the plan to Fox News.

On Saturday, January 30, the Department of Defense changed course.

“No one at Guantanamo Bay has been vaccinated,” spokesman John Kirby tweeted. “We are pausing this plan to move forward as we review protection protocols.” We continue to have a responsibility to ensure the safety of our troops."

On the subject: Media: Clinton did not allow the CIA to eliminate Osama bin Laden long before the 9/11 attacks

It's not entirely clear how much the federal government spends on maintaining Guantanamo detainees, but it is somewhere between $ 9,5 million and $ 13 million per prisoner per year. There are now 40 people in the prison. In comparison, one inmate at Supermax Prison in Florence, Colorado, which holds some of the most dangerous criminals in the United States, costs $ 78.

Using the $ 9,5 million figure that NPR cited in its 2020 report, the US spending in the 17 years that Mohammed spent in jail exceeded $ 161 million.

Since its inception, Guantanamo Bay has reportedly cost US taxpayers more than $ 6 billion. This figure includes charter aircraft with few passengers to and from the island; devices worth hundreds of thousands, which are destroyed every year due to leakage of classified information; Pentagon-funded defense lawyers for half a million dollars a year and $ 60 million in legal costs, although Guantanamo detainees have received only one final sentence so far.

According to the New York Times, this figure is about $ 13 million per prisoner per year.

“I think it’s crazy,” the 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump, said of the amount.

About 770 male foreigners were held as prisoners of war at Guantanamo Bay, and the maximum prison population reached 677 in 2003. The last prisoner arrived on the island in 2008.

The Bush administration, which opened the prison after 11/540, has released about 200 prisoners, mostly repatriating them back to Pakistan, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. The Obama administration issued XNUMX more.

Trump noted that his predecessor tried unsuccessfully to close the facility.

“Look, President Obama said Guantanamo Bay would be closed, but he never did,” Trump said.

Congress banned Obama from transferring 40 inmates to US prisons, as MPs did not approve of this idea.

You may be interested in: top New York news, stories of our immigrants and helpful tips about life in the Big Apple - read it all on ForumDaily New York

President Biden, who has supported the closure of Guantanamo Bay throughout his campaign, was asked last year as a Democratic nominee why the Obama administration failed to do so.

“To do this, you need to have the authority of Congress. They left it open,” Biden said at the December 2019 debate. “We basically think... this is an advertisement for terrorism.”

Captain Brian Meiser, a Navy attorney who has represented Guantanamo inmates over the years, called the prison "America's smallest boutique prison exclusively for alleged elderly jihadists."

Read also on ForumDaily:

US residents warned of the high threat of terrorist attacks inside the country: what you need to know

Declassified files: how trained CIA pigeons and dolphins spied on the USSR

'Balkan Nostradamus': what the seer Vanga predicted for 2021

I wanted to repeat September 11: a man planned to stage a terrorist attack in the USA

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.