Cuba ? The five men charged with coordinating the Sept. 11 attacks are in a hurry to enter guilty pleas on their apparent quest for martyrdom, with only six weeks remaining before President-elect Barack Obama takes office.

The war-crimes detainees said they decided on Nov. 4 — the day Obama was elected — to abandon their defenses against the capital charges. Obama opposes the military trials and has pledged to close Guantanamo’s detention center, which holds some 250 men.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed on Monday told a military judge he will confess to masterminding the attacks that killed 2,975 people, shocking victims’ relatives who watched from behind a glass partition.

Four other men also abandoned their defenses, in effect daring the Pentagon to grant their wish for martyrdom. The judge ordered lawyers to advise him by Jan. 4 whether the Pentagon can apply the death penalty — which military prosecutors are seeking — without a jury trial.