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Testimony in Moussaoui Trial Begins

By Jeralyn, Section Terror Trials
Posted on Mon Mar 06, 2006 at 05:15:35 AM EST
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Update: The jury is seated and testimony will begin this afternoon.

Update: The prosecution gave it's opening today. Moussaoui was calm.

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Testimony begins today in the death penalty trial of accused 9/11 co-conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui.

Zacarias Moussaoui may be the defendant, but it's the FBI that will likely be on trial once testimony begins Monday in the confessed al-Qaida conspirator's death penalty trial.

Both prosecutors and defense lawyers have indicated that FBI agents will provide key testimony at Moussaoui's sentencing trial, which will determine whether the 37-year-old Frenchman is sentenced to life in prison or death.

Zacarias is his own worst enemy. He won't talk to his lawyers. He didn't participate in 9/11. He was in jail when it happened. The current theory is that he was going to used in a future attack. The rationale for executing him is that he knew of al-Qaeda plans to attack the U.S. and did nothing to stop it. Michael Fortier got 11 years, not death, for a similar failure to alert authorities to the Oklahoma City Bombing. Moussaoui has been denied the potentially exculpatory testimony of Ramzi Binalshibh and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed at his trial. Both are being held by the U.S. in overseas prisons.

If Moussaoui gets the death penalty, there should be no illusion that the perpetrators of 9/11 have been held accountable. He wasn't one of them.

As I wrote here,

Moussaoui was a member of al-Qaeda who reportedly had no part in the 9/11 attacks. He was not the intended 20th hijacker. He would like us to believe he was going to pilot a plane for a future attack, but his skills were so bad he flunked out of flight school. I don't buy the Government's version for a minute. The two witnesses who could clear him of involvement in 9/11, Ramzi Binalshibh and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed , are in an overseas secret jail and the Government, in defiance of a court order, has refused to grant Moussaoui's lawyers access to them for an interview.

Moussaoui is not a sympathetic character, but if we are going to try him in a federal court, he should be provided with exculpatory information in possession of the Government, and the opportunity to bring those witnesses to court to testify in his defense. This case is stacked against him, and even though the District Court Judge, Lonnie Brinkema, has tried her best to rein in the prosecution, she's still in the 4th Circuit where conservative judges rule.

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    Testimony in Moussaoui Trial Begins | 5 comments (5 topical)
    Re: Testimony in Moussaoui Trial Begins (none / 0) (#1)
    by jimakaPPJ on Mon Mar 06, 2006 at 06:49:06 AM EST
    Doesn't this say it all?
    He has already pleaded guilty to conspiring with al-Qaida to hijack planes and commit other crimes.
    It is past time to hang him. PPJ's Rule of Thumb: If you attack, or try to attack, the US we will kill you.

    Re: Testimony in Moussaoui Trial Begins (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Mar 06, 2006 at 11:52:04 AM EST
    He has already pleaded guilty to conspiring with al-Qaida to hijack planes and commit other crimes. Under what, torture?

    Re: Testimony in Moussaoui Trial Begins (none / 0) (#3)
    by Dadler on Mon Mar 06, 2006 at 02:10:47 PM EST
    The only way to "win" the larger "war on terror" is to outlast with humanity, not with violence. That should be clear right now. Had we been thinking longer term during the decades of the Cold War, we'd not be sitting here right now. Hell, had we been thinking longer term after 9/11 we'd not be here. What if it took a generation of non-violence to prevail? Is that any worse than fueling the flames of bloodshed for the same generation? We lack the imagination as a nation.

    Re: Testimony in Moussaoui Trial Begins (none / 0) (#4)
    by Che's Lounge on Mon Mar 06, 2006 at 03:40:50 PM EST
    It is past time to hang him. What would that accomplish?

    Re: Testimony in Moussaoui Trial Begins (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 07, 2006 at 08:57:33 PM EST
    This guy sounds like "Dennis" the rare book dealer in Patriot Games. A wannabe. A useless liability to the cause. I'm surprised they didn't kill him themselves. I don't think he knew anything of consequence. Al Qaida didn't even know he was in jail until after 9/11. Give him life without parole. Keep pumpin' him for info. There's a slim chance he'll actually say somethin' useful. He probably doesn't know much. They probably didn't trust him to know much. He's an airhead.

    Testimony in Moussaoui Trial Begins | 5 comments (5 topical)