Sept. 11 Victims' Chronicle of Loss May Go Unheard

[kskiska]

Monday, October 27, 2003; Page A01

Cathie Ong-Herrera needed to see a therapist to deal with the loss of her sister, who died aboard one of the airliners that slammed into the World Trade Center.

She didn't turn to a social worker or victim's rights advocate. She contacted David J. Novak, a federal prosecutor in Alexandria working on the case against alleged Sept. 11, 2001, conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui.

Novak had interviewed Ong-Herrera after Sept. 11, called repeatedly to check on her and even arranged for family members to hear the last words of Betty Ong -- a 23-minute tape of a heroic call the flight attendant made recounting the hijacking of American Airlines Flight 11. The tape, he told the family, would be played at Moussaoui's trial.

(snip)

But as the case against the only person charged in the United States in connection with the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon grinds on, the thousands of hours spent on the victim impact project -- which has created a historical record of the attacks and allowed thousands of people to tell their stories -- may never enter a courtroom.

A federal judge in Alexandria recently barred prosecutors from seeking the death penalty and prohibited them from presenting any evidence linking Moussaoui to Sept. 11. If upheld, the ruling would prevent the victims' testimony.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21681-2003Oct26.html

[Rex]

1. How can a judge prohibit evidence linking Moussaoui to 911?

unless there IS no evidence! I wonder if Moussaoui and L H Oswald have anything in common?

[madrchsod]

2. the case against

moussaoui has trapped the feds into either trying him for a lesser charge or dropping the case or sending him to the military tribunal where no one will know what happens and little georgie can pass the death sentence. handing him over to the military is even a worse case for the feds,this would show the world that the us court system is totally corrupted by the bush klan and the usa could no longer be trusted as long as bush remains in power.

[grasswire]

3. they already admitted it a couple of weeks ago

Washington 10/19/03 - The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has concluded that Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in America in connection with the September 11 attacks, was not involved in the strikes, Time magazine reported on Sunday.

The news weekly, in its edition appearing on Monday, quotes unidentified sources as saying the FBI has long believed that the Moroccan-born Frenchman "played no part in the 9/11 scheme and was only a minor player in al-Qaeda."

(snip)

Because of the government's refusal to allow Moussaoui to interview captured members of al-Qaeda, a US district judge, Leonie Brinkema, has barred prosecutors from alleging that Moussaoui was linked to the September 11 attacks. Moussaoui has argued that the captured al-Qaeda members could provide evidence that he was not involved in the September 11 plot.

The government's case against Moussaoui rests largely on proving the connection with the September 11 attacks and prosecutors are appealing the judge's ruling.