Posted on 04/17/2006 10:53:51 AM PDT by WestTexasWend
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A witness called by defense attorneys trying to spare the life of Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui said today he came from a broken home where his mother was repeatedly beaten, and has a history of mental illness in his family.
Jan Vogelsang, a clinical social worker, said Moussaoui was in and out of orphanages the first six years of his life. As a teenager, she said, he was rejected as a "dirty Arab" by the family of his longtime girlfriend, with whom he lived and won dance contests.
Vogelsang said at the outset of her testimony that she did not intend to make excuses for Moussaoui's actions as a terrorist but wanted to explain how he had reached that point.
Moussaoui, born in a French town and of Moroccan descent, was in jail in Minnesota during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The jury has decided that lies he told federal agents a month earlier kept authorities from identifying and stopping some of the hijackers, making him responsible for at least one death that day and qualifying him for the death penalty.
Now jurors are deciding whether Moussaoui deserves execution or life in prison.
Vogelsang said that Moussaoui's mother, Aicha el-Wafi, was beaten throughout her pregnancies — including six before she gave birth to Moussaoui. Moussaoui first went to an orphanage four months after his birth, when his mother was placed in a convalescent home, the witness said.
She added that Moussaoui's family only nominally practiced Islam and celebrated Christian holidays because his mother wanted her children to integrate into French culture.
Vogelsang's testimony came after a 45-minute delay, when U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema held a closed hearing without public explanation.
Testimony resumed today with the defense in flux. Moussaoui took the witness stand in his own defense Thursday for a second time, and again did more harm to himself than good as he reveled in the death and destruction of Sept. 11 and mocked the testimony of the victims and their families.
One day after Moussaoui's testimony, the judge vacated an earlier order compelling would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid to testify in his defense. The jury may instead hear a written statement summarizing some of what the al-Qaida comrade would have said on the witness stand.
Reid is serving a life sentence in the federal government's maximum-security prison in Florence, Colo., after a failed try to blow up an American Airlines flight in 2001.
Moussaoui, who calls Reid his "buddy" from their days together in al-Qaida training camps in Afghanistan, testified last month that he and Reid were going to hijack a fifth plane on Sept. 11, 2001, and fly it into the White House.
That testimony came after Moussaoui had for years denied any specific role in 9/11.
Moussaoui's lawyers have suggested he fabricated his story about Reid and their role in the 9/11 plot in an effort to sabotage his own defense and achieve martyrdom through execution. They also say he is trying to inflate his role in history.
Defense lawyers had hoped Reid would disavow any knowledge of Moussaoui's claim and bolster their argument that Moussaoui is now lying.
On Thursday, after Moussaoui's testimony, the lawyers and U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema held a lengthy bench conference. Brinkema sent jurors home for the weekend and advised them that their deliberations could begin early this week, sooner than had been anticipated.
It is likely that the defense would have to cut back some of its planned testimony to conclude its case by then.
Moussaoui is the only person charged in this country in the Sept. 11 attacks.
You've got to be f-ing kidding me.
boo hoo
Poor widdle baby.
Hitler had a bad childhood too. BFD.
yeah,, so did Abraham Lincoln
I'll add one more hoo.
Boo Hoo Hooo
Well, his "golden years" are not looking too promising either.
It's like an Islamic 50's sitcom family...Muzzie and Harriot.
I had a not-so-great-childhood also. Boo frikin' hoo.
Just hang the miserable troglodyte, already!
His difficult childhood made him say that he had "no remorse" or "regrets?"
Note to Moussaoui: YOUR CHILDHOOD IS OVER
Among the best known treatments for so difficult a childhood are sodium thiopental, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride, all intravenously. Works 100% of the time.
If he thinks his childhood was tough, just wait till after he dies and discovers that his "paradise" is run by a horned guy with a pitchfork and his 72 virgins all look like Helen Thomas.
(please, no Helen Thomas pics, I just ate)
Oh come on. Either execute him or release him (to the waiting crowd).
Talk about a tough case for a defense lawyer. You have a client that wants to be found guilty and is stupid as anything. I bet they love just getting up in the mornings to go to work.
Hey, I had a bad childhood myself. I turned into a loyal, red-blooded, patriotic, southern baptist, and hard working, somewhat well-paid American. I don't want to hear any whining.
oh, just wack the dude, man, and be over with it. I don't want my tax dollars keeping this idiot alive and clothed.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.