On Aug. 4, 2001, a young Saudi named Mohammed Al-Qahtani tried to gain entry into the United States via the airport in Orlando Florida but was denied by an immigration inspector who found him highly suspicious. Al-Qahtani was sent home.

What the immigration inspector did not know, but the 9/11 Commission Report would later reveal, was that Mohammed Atta was in the airport's passenger pick-up area awaiting Al-Qahtani's arrival. Atta made several telephone phone calls from an airport pay phone while Qahtani was being questioned.

Al-Qahtani was later captured on the battlefield in Afghanistan, in late 2002.

In today's Washington Post, Bob Woodward reports that Susan J. Crawford, the judge overseeing Al-Qahtani's trial, says the terrorist was tortured which is why she did not refer the case for prosecution.

"His treatment met the legal definition of torture. And that's why I did not refer the case for prosecution," Crawford said.

Crawford also told Woodward:

"There's no doubt in my mind he would've been on one of those planes had he gained access to the country in August 2001," Crawford said of Qahtani, who remains detained at Guantanamo. "He's a muscle hijacker. . . . He's a very dangerous man. What do you do with him now if you don't charge him and try him? I would be hesitant to say, 'Let him go.' "  

What will Obama do with 20th hijacker Mohammed Al-Qahtani if he can't be tried? 

(Photo: Al-Qahtani at right. Credit: Khaled Fazaa/Getty Images)

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