Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who confessed to be the mastermind of the 9/11 terror attack, will be tried at a federal courthouse in lower Manhattan with the same rights as any US citizen.

What is the purpose of this trial if Mr. Mohammed has already confessed? For the Obama administration, the trial will kill two birds with one stone and neither one is to seek justice for Mr. Mohammed since we all already know he did it.

The purpose of the trial is to embarrass the Bush administration and America itself, and to give Arabs a golden opportunity to indulge in propaganda to convince the West with falsehoods regarding the root causes of Islamic terrorism; mainly that it is the consequence of US foreign policy, old grievances, and America's supports Israel.

Mr. Mohammed will have a chance to make a case against the US for the waterboarding used on him during his interrogation. That will be a confirmation to Attorney General Eric Holder's reopening of the waterboarding investigation.

The war between Islamism and the rest of the world is largely a cultural and ideological war. Jihad, violent and non-violent, is a cornerstone of Islam that seeks to penetrate the West by any means. Jihadists are commanded to strike terror in the hearts of non-believers, as the Quran says. Deep fear resulting from such terror, renders some Americans vulnerable to appeasement rather than finding the courage to fight it.

Islamists understand that dynamic very well and have used it throughout their history. Now that they have already committed the terrorist act, which softened some Americans, it is time to play with American's minds; to desensitize Americans to Islamic tyranny, and sow confusion as to who is right and who is wrong. In the process, Islamists want us to hear their manufactured propaganda of Arab grievances and put the West on the defensive. That will not be very difficult in Western culture where many are eager to blame America first.

The purpose of jihadists is to make the victims of jihad (America on 9/11), confused as to Islam's jihadist goals. That is why teaching violent jihad to Muslims must go hand in hand with teaching them hatred of the West, the object of jihad. Jihad education won't work unless it is simultaneously accompanied by promoting fear and lies about non-Muslim nations Islamists want to conquer. Islamists must also convince the West that Muslim countries are their victims. This is the only way to justify jihadist aspiration.

Jihad will go much easier and faster if it is packaged as self defense both to the West and to the Jihadist Muslim youth. Muslim victim-hood image must always be maintained.

The coming civil trial of Mohammed in New York is perhaps the best gift Obama has given to the Saudi Kind Abdullah, leader of the country that produced 15 of the 19 terrorists. He is giving him a chance to save face and present Islam as the victim. When Obama bowed to the Saudi King, it was a sign of subservience to Islam, whether Obama wants to admit it or not. 

The Arab world must be celebrating.

Nonie Darwish: Author: "Cruel and Usual Punishment; the terrifying global implications of Islamic law"