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Posted on 04/23/2005 3:40:22 PM PDT by SmithL
WASHINGTON - Now the real trouble begins as the case of Zacarias Moussaoui hurtles toward a conclusion and the life of the admitted terrorist conspirator hangs in the balance. Next comes the penalty phase in the criminal prosecution of the 36-year-old French citizen, who says the endgame of his flight training for 747 airliners was a strike on the White House, separate from the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
As chilling as Moussaoui's admissions are, international hostility to executions and the need for cooperation in President Bush's fight against terrorism raise an intriguing question: Does the Bush administration really want to put this man to death? The answer Friday was an unequivocal yes, as prosecutors basked in the glow of a victory that brought deep expressions of gratitude from relatives of Sept. 11 victims.
"As family members we thank you," Hamilton Peterson said in heartfelt comments to Assistant U.S. Attorney Ken Melson outside the courthouse in Alexandria, Va., where Moussaoui pleaded guilty. Hamilton's father and stepmother died on United Airlines Flight 93 in Pennsylvania.
Hamilton praised the president's "ever-vigilant efforts."
The Moussaoui case looks a lot different overseas. The European Union condemns the death penalty for foreign nationals in the United States. France, Moussaoui's country of origin, urges that he not be subject to execution.
German authorities have expressed reluctance to turn over evidence they had about Moussaoui because of concerns regarding his possible execution. Spain has said that it would not extradite terrorist suspects to the United States if they could be executed.
"Seeking the death penalty in the Moussaoui case always was going to be a very dicey choice," former federal prosecutor Larry Barcella said. In addition to Europe, the Muslim world "would basically view his being put to death as a public spectacle."
For critics of the president, the message of Moussaoui fighting for his life is that the Bush administration is paying no heed to international sensibilities against executions. To Americans, the prospect of Moussaoui as martyr or as a recruiting tool for al-Qaida means little.
"World opinion doesn't even weigh in on the scale," said Stephen Hess, a presidential scholar and political analyst at the Brookings Institution. "There is simply no way that public opinion in the U.S. would not overwhelmingly be for giving whatever the most severe penalty is. The rest of the world will go along on its separate track. It is not negotiable."
Despite admitting to six felonies, Moussaoui still can keep fighting in federal court, giving him an international stage.
Legal experts say he can highlight what he regards as the unfairness of it all, including his inability to call Sept. 11 planners as witnesses on his behalf in the proceeding that will determine whether he lives or dies.
He says the those planners would testify that he was not involved in Sept. 11. The issue barring his access to these witnesses was already decided before the planned criminal trial, which now will not take place.
"The whole world will be watching this penalty phase and it will be troubling to the judge that Moussaoui has no access to the al-Qaida detainees who might be able to help him," said Peter Margulies, a law professor at Roger Williams University in Providence, R.I.
Moussaoui can use only written summaries of interviews with those witnesses.
While admitting he was part of a conspiracy, Moussaoui can argue that his role sets him apart from others on Sept. 11. He did not hijack the planes and he did not direct the suicide crews.
"Everything about this case is different, it's a crime unlike any other in very significant ways and Moussaoui's involvement is different from any other death penalty case: He didn't kill anyone," former federal prosecutor Pete White said.
If we expect a death sentence from this judge I think we will be sorely disappointed.
And just how the hell do you know that Mr. White? Have you lived with Moussaoui all these years?
France, Germany and Spain. The trifecta of terrorist appeasers.
Is there some reason the terrorists don't go after these countries (I know Spain was hit) with as much zeal as they went after us? I mean, you could probably blow up the Eiffel Tower, and all the Beergartens in Germany, kill thousands and get a Ticker Tape Parade the next day.
Absolutely maddening!
He got that right.
sorry, please add in that the robber was driven to the robbery and the drive sat outside in the car .... my goof.
They could always give him a life sentence to appease the p*ssy Euros then have him found dead in prison. Either way he's dead and that's all that matters.
If we don't execute this man we put every American who travels overseas at risk. They will all be subject to kidnapping in exchange for his release...and then they will be killed when he isn't.
Mouassoui was in custody when his pals flew those planes into our buildings. He could have stopped the whple conspiracy. He's going down and the French can like it or eat it. Either way is fine by me.
If foreign governments refuse to cooperate in bringing to justice those who commit crimes against Americans--especially international terrorists--the Constitutional alternative is for Congress to vote Letters of Marque and Reprisal against the criminals--and against those who become their willful accomplices after the fact. Foreigners need to understand what the likely alternatives are to their intransigence. War is what happens when mutual cooperation fails--and given what's at stake in the war against terror, such obstructionism would be a clear causus belli.
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In the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria Division, United States of America v. Criminal No. 01-455-A, Zacarias Moussaoui, defendant.
If this case were to go to trial, the government would prove the following facts beyond a reasonable doubt:
1. Al Qaeda was an international terrorist group dedicated to opposing the United States with force and violence. Usama Bin Laden was the founder and head of al Qaeda. The leadership of al Qaeda included Abu Hafs al Masri, who served as the head of al Qaeda's military committee. Since 1996, al Qaeda maintained headquarters in Afghanistan. Members of al Qaeda pledged bayat to Usama Bin Laden and al Qaeda. Al Qaeda associated with other terrorist groups.
2. Usama Bin Laden and al Qaeda declared a jihad against the United States. Bin Laden and members of al Qaeda issued fatwahs indicating that violent attacks on the United States and its citizens were both proper and necessary and that Muslims should kill Americans — including civilians — anywhere in the world, anytime.
3. Usama Bin Laden and al Qaeda provided and supported training camps and guesthouses in Afghanistan, including camps known as al Farooq and Khalden. These camps were used to instruct members and associates of al Qaeda and its affiliated groups in the use of firearms, explosives, chemical weapons, and other weapons of mass destruction.
4. Defendant Zacarias Moussaoui, who also used the names "Abu Khaled al Sahrawi" and "Shaquil," became a member of al Qaeda and pledged bayat to Bin Laden, Moussaoui's "father in jihad."
5. Moussaoui trained at al Qaeda's Khalden Camp in Afghanistan.
6. Moussaoui managed an al Qaeda guesthouse in Kandahar. This was a position of high respect within al Qaeda. Moussaoui communicated directly with Bin Laden and Abu Hafs al Masri.
7. As part of its conspiracy to attack the United States, al Qaeda members conceived of an operation in which civilian commercial airliners would be hijacked and flown into prominent buildings, including government buildings, in the United States. To effect this attack, al Qaeda associates entered the United States, received funding from abroad, engaged in physical fitness training, and obtained knives and other weapons with which to take over airliners. Some al Qaeda associates obtained pilot training, including training on commercial jet simulators, so they would be able to fly hijacked aircraft into their targets.
8. Bin Laden personally approved those selected to participate in the operation, who were willing to die in furtherance of their religious beliefs and al Qaeda's agenda.
9. Moussaoui knew of al Qaeda's plan to fly airplanes into prominent buildings in the United States and he agreed to travel to the United States to participate in the plan. Bin Laden personally selected Moussaoui to participate in the operation to fly planes into American buildings and approved Moussaoui attacking the White House. Bin Laden told Moussaoui: "Sahrawi, remember your dream."
10. An al Qaeda associate provided Moussaoui with information about flight schools in the United States. In September 2000, Moussaoui, who was in Malaysia, contacted the Airman Flight School in Norman, Oklahoma, via email, seeking flight training. Moussaoui intended to use his training as a pilot in furtherance of al Qaeda's plan to use planes to kill Americans.
11. Moussaoui trained in knife fighting in Afghanistan.
12. On February 23, 2001, Moussaoui traveled from London to Chicago and then on to Norman, Oklahoma, where he attended the Airman Flight School and received training as a pilot. At the Airman Flight School, Moussaoui received training as a pilot of smaller planes. In Summer 2001, an al Qaeda associate directed Moussaoui to attend training for larger jet planes.
13. While in Oklahoma, Moussaoui joined a gym and bought knives. Moussaoui selected certain knives because they had blades short enough to get past airport security.
14. In early August 2001, an al Qaeda conspirator using the alias of "Ahad Sabet," wire transferred money from Germany to Moussaoui in Oklahoma so Moussaoui could receive additional flight training.
15. In August 2001, Moussaoui traveled to Minnesota where he trained on a Boeing 747-400 simulator at the Pan Am International Flight Academy in Eagan, Minnesota. Moussaoui told an al Qaeda associate that he would complete simulator training before September 2001.
16. On August 16, 2001, Moussaoui was arrested in Minnesota by agents of the INS and the FBI. At the time of his arrest, Moussaoui possessed the following items:
_ two knives
_ flight manuals for the Boeing 747 Model 400
_ a flight simulator computer program
_ fighting gloves and shin guards
_ a piece of paper referring to a handheld Global Positioning System
_ software that could be used to review pilot procedures for the Boeing 747 Model 400
_ a hand-held aviation radio.
After his arrest, Moussaoui lied to federal agents to allow his al Qaeda "brothers" to go forward with the operation to fly planes into American buildings. Specifically, Moussaoui falsely denied being a member of a terrorist organization and falsely denied that he was taking pilot training to kill Americans. Instead, Moussaoui told federal agents that he was training as a pilot purely for his personal enjoyment and that, after completion of his training, he intended to visit New York City and Washington, D.C., as a tourist.
17. On September 11, 2001, al Qaeda operatives used force and violence to hijack American Airlines Flight 11, bound from Boston to Los Angeles, and crashed it into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City, destroying the building and killing thousands of people.
18. On September 11, 2001, al Qaeda operatives used force and violence to hijack United Airlines Flight 175, bound from Boston to Los Angeles, and crashed it into the South Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City, destroying the building and killing thousands of people.
19. The World Trade Center was a complex of buildings owned by the Port Authority of New JerseyNew York, which was constructed for the purpose of housing businesses engaged in interstate and foreign commerce. As a result of the crashes of American Airlines Flight 11 and United Flight 175, approximately 2,830 people died in or around the World Trade complex. Among those killed at the World Trade, the dead included 343 firefighters from the New York Fire Department, 37 law enforcement officers from the Port Authority of New Jersey/New York, and 23 law enforcement officers from the New York City Police Department. World Trade Center Towers I (North Tower) and II (South Tower) were completely destroyed, as were other buildings in the World Trade Center complex. The destruction of these buildings resulted in the disruption of interstate and international commerce for those businesses located in the World Trade Center complex. Additionally, the offices of the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Customs Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, all of which were housed in the World Trade Center complex, were destroyed.
20. On September 11, 2001, al Qaeda operatives used force and violence to hijack American Airlines Flight 77, bound from Virginia to Los Angeles, and crashed it into the Pentagon, a United States government building, damaging the building and killing 189 people, many of whom were United States government employees, including employees of the United States Department of Defense, engaged in their official duties.
21. On September 11, 2001, al Qaeda operatives used force and violence to hijack United Airlines Flight 93, bound from Newark to San Francisco, which then crashed in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, killing all on board.
23. All four airplanes identified above were flying in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States at the time that they were hijacked and all were completely destroyed.
Seen and agreed,
Zacarias Moussaoui, Defendant
If we expect a death sentence from this judge I think we will be sorely disappointed.
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Most probable sentence: "Mr.Moussaoui, this court hereby orders you to write the following message 100 times upon the blackboard --
"From this day forward I will be a good little Islamofascist murdering monster."
Does this assclown writer realize how many inanities he's packed into that one sentence? How does someone committed to suicide "fight for his life"? And instead of "international sensibilities", how about "foreign meddling"?
Offer this terrorist the opportunity to still be a martyr for his sick religion. He can have his lethal injection (hanging would be better) shown on pay-per-view, and the islamic world could pay to watch his martyrdom. They already do a brisk market in videos showing Americans getting their heads hacked off. But this time the money would go to the families of the 9-11 victims.
Let him shout "allahu fubar", and then die far more humanely than the deaths they have planned for us. Let 'em generate more martyrs that way.
CSPAN has Scalia, Breyer and O'Connor on right now hosted by Russert.
A jury will decide Moussaoui's sentence. The man was conspiring with Osama bin Laden to destroy the White House with a 747. How do you think a jury from the Washington suburbs will view that?
I believe we should keep him a live for the same reason we should of kept Timothy McVeigh alive.
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That's a good idea. Throw him in a cell with a 300-pound sex offender named Bruno.