Charges include conspiracy in the Sept. 11 attacks, specifically with Osama bin Laden, other senior al Qaeda members and the hijackers, plus eight other charges including murder in violation of the law of war, attacking civilians, and providing material support for terrorism. Mohammed, bin Attash, Bin al Shibh and Baluchi are also charged specifically with hijacking four aircraft -- two that hit the World Trade Center towers in New York, the one that hit the Pentagon and the one that crashed in the western Pennsylvania countryside. According to the Pentagon, the attacks killed 2,973 people, including eight children. The charges describe 169 "overt acts" that led to the 9/11 attacks.

The sworn charge sheet

The Pentagon has built a $12 million Expeditionary Legal Complex with a snoop-proof courtroom capable of trying six alleged co-conspirators before one judge and jury. Media and other observers are sequestered in a soundproofed room behind thick glass, at the rear. The judge at the front and a court security officer have mute buttons to silence the feed to the observers' booth -- if they suspect someone in court could spill classified information.

More about the special court

The lead 9/11 case prosecutor is retired Army Col. Robert Swann, formerly the Pentagon's chief prosecutor for military commissions. The rest of his 9/11 prosecution team includes: Edward Ryan, a civilian attorney with the Department of Justice; Clayton G. Trivett Jr., a retired Navy lieutenant currently a civilian employee of the Department of Defense; George Toscas, Thomas P. Swanton and Jordan Goldstein of the Department of Justice and U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Jeffrey Groharing, a judge advocate general who is also prosecuting the Omar Khadr non death penalty case.

The lead military defense attorneys detailed by the Department of Defense, from left: Army Lt. Col. Michael Acuff, for Khalid Sheik Mohammed; Navy Lt. Cmdr. James E. Hatcher, for Waleed bin Attash; Navy Cmdr. Suzanne Lachelier, for Ramzi bin al Shibh; Navy Lt. Cmdr. Brian Mizer, for Ammar al Baluchi; Army Maj. Jon S. Jackson, for Mustafa al Hawsawi.

On Sept. 6, 2006, President Bush disclosed the transfer of the defendants to Guantánamo and urged legislative approval for the trials: "As soon as Congress acts to authorize the military commissions I have proposed, the men our intelligence officials believe orchestrated the deaths of nearly 3,000 Americans on Sept. 11, 2001, can face justice."

The full White House text