Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks, and four other prisoners have asked to plead guilty to war crime charges they face at a Guantanamo Bay tribunal. All five men face the death penalty if convicted. It it unclear whether the men could be executed without a a verdict by a military jury. Anthony Romero of the American Civil Liberties Union compared Monday’s proceedings to a circus.

Anthony Romero: “What it underscores is just the circus-like nature of the Guantanamo military commissions, the fact that the rules are not understood, that they haven’t been truly analyzed by all sides, and that there is no way to salvage this debacle. And the only way to salvage it is by scrapping it entirely and starting afresh.”