Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, is apparently planning to make a full confession in his Guantanamo tribunal in hopes of getting the death penalty.

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba – The alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks and four co-defendants told a military judge Monday they want to immediately confess at their war-crimes tribunal, setting up likely guilty pleas and their possible executions.

The five said they decided on Nov. 4, the day President-elect Barack Obama was elected to the White House, to abandon all defenses against the capital charges. It was as if they wanted to rush toward convictions before the inauguration of Obama, who has vowed to end the war-crimes trials and close Guantanamo.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two others said they would postpone entering pleas until the military determines their two co-defendants are mentally competent. “We want everyone to plead together,” he said.

Mohammed and another defendant have said they would welcome execution as a path to martyrdom...