Late Friday night, the Secretary of Defense released a memo that rescinded the plea deals with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) and his two co-conspirators who planned the 9/11 attacks. He also fired the prosecutor who negotiated them.

Cowards all.

The memo was addressed to Susan Escallier, the convening authority for military commissions. Escallier runs the military courts at Guantanamo Bay and signed off on the plea deals for the 9/11 terrorists that took the death sentence off the table. 

Austin said the responsibility for such a decision “should rest with me," implying that he had no part in the agreement made by prosecutors. Incredible.

Austin told Escallier that he was withdrawing her authority and “reserve such authority to (himself).” Making Escallier the fall guy for Austin and Biden's stupidity is typical of the two men most responsible for the Afghanistan withdrawal fiasco. They never take responsibility for any of their failings. Any of them. "I have determined that, in light of the significance of the decision to enter into pre-trial agreements with the accused in the above-referenced case, responsibility for such a decision should rest with me as the superior convening authority under the Military Commissions Act of 2009."

He didn't realize the "significance of the decision"? God help this country.

Austin and Biden (who almost certainly was kept in the loop as well) are brain-dead if they couldn't see the massive backlash that would have resulted from any decision to allow the 9/11 conspirators to live. 

Two congressional committees had scheduled hearings to get to the bottom of the plea deals. Those hearings should absolutely proceed. Among the most pressing questions: Who the hell is in charge?

New York Times:

With the plea deal upended, the military judge, Col. Matthew N. McCall, is likely to resume hearing testimony next week. He had been working toward deciding a series of challenges brought by defense lawyers, including whether to exclude confessions that were key to the government’s case.

Ms. Escallier’s approval of the plea agreement, which was reached between prosecutors and the defendants over two years of negotiations, had appeared to resolve the long-running case of the men, who have been in U.S. custody since 2003. The military judge was preparing to question Mr. Mohammed, possibly as soon as Wednesday, about whether he understood and voluntarily agreed with the plea.

“I think there are interests here that may not have been represented as fairly and aggressively as they should have been,” said Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. He added, “When we fight terrorists, and we have them in custody, we need to hold them accountable with the kinds of penalties that really do justice to the victims.”

We also shouldn't take 20 years to try, convict, and execute them. 

“The world is on fire, terrorism is rampant, and we give a plea deal to the mastermind of 9/11? That just encourages more attacks,” said South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham.

The families were relieved.

“This is a really welcome development,” said Terry Strada, whose husband, Tom Strada, was killed at the World Trade Center. “I’m happy to see the Pentagon getting involved. And glad the death penalty is back on the table. Otherwise, how could we be assured some administration would not commute their sentence or swap them in the future?”

Meanwhile, the radical left lawyers who are representing the terrorists were "disappointed."

“I am respectfully and profoundly disappointed that after all of these years the government still has not learned the lessons of this case, and the mischief that results from disregarding due process and fair play,” said Gary D. Sowards, Mr. Mohammed’s lead lawyer.

Sowards defended the Unabomber and other low-lives in the past. While the concept that "everyone is entitled to a defense" is a well-established tenet of American jurisprudence, it would have been better if KSM had a military defense lawyer and he and his co-defendants were tried by a military tribunal.

The hearings that will begin next week on the plea deal and its aftermath will be devastating to the administration if everyone testifies and tells the truth. Biden is likely to claim executive privilege to prevent Austin and a few others from testifying, but the major questions about what Austin and Biden knew about the plea deal and when they were made aware of it.