The accused mastermind behind the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks reportedly penned a 36-page manifesto from behind Guantanamo Bay walls called “Invitation to Happiness” that details how he keeps sane and spiritually buoyant in captivity.
The Huffington Post, which obtained the document in conjunction with Britain’s Channel 4, reported that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed finished it in October on a laptop computer he was given at Guantanamo Bay to work on his defense.
The message, Mohammed wrote, is dedicated to the “crusaders of the military commission in Guantanamo” who have kept him behind bars for the last seven years, awaiting trial.
Among his writings: “I am very happy in my cell because my spirit is free even while my body is being held captive. I have been neither sad nor distressed in my solitary confinement since 2003 because I have been here with the Only One True God.”
Mohammed seems to have had a change in heart about violence, the document indicates. At the same time, Mohammed is a propaganda expert, so it’s unclear under what circumstances he penned that Islam should not be spread on the wings of violence.
“[The Koran] forbids us to use force as a means of converting [believers],” he wrote. “Truth and reality never comes by muscles and force but by using the mind and wisdom.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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