The most revealing aspect of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s testimony before a military tribunal may not have been the details about the many al-Qaeda plots he claims to have orchestrated but the insight it offered into the suspected September 11 mastermind.

In an hourlong written and oral presentation to his military captors on Saturday, Mohammed showed himself to be ambitious, boastful and, when given the chance, talkative. He was even thoughtful about his cause and his craft.

It was the first public glimpse of the man who has claimed credit for the deadliest terrorist attack in US history, and more than two dozen other plots as well.

But was Mohammed revealing the truth about himself and his deeds, or just playing to the jury?

By framing his life as an underdog militant in terms Americans might understand, and by expressing occasional regret and remorse, Mohammed may have been seizing the opportunity to make his best and most palatable case to the public about why he and al-Qaeda have waged war against the United States, US officials and experts reviewing his testimony suggest.

“It is designed to have an American audience understand that there is another way of looking at the conflict between the West and radical Islam under bin Laden’s leadership, and that is quite striking,” said Jerrold Post, the former chief personality profiler for the CIA.

Post, the author of a forthcoming book, The Mind of the Terrorist, described the “performance” by al-Qaeda’s former chief of operations as part psychological warfare and part artfully crafted courtroom argument.

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