NYT: Defense Tries to Undo Damage Moussaoui Did

[DeepModem Mom]

Defense Tries to Undo Damage Moussaoui Did
By NEIL A. LEWIS
Published: March 29, 2006

ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 28 — Defense lawyers trying to prevent the government from executing Zacarias Moussaoui for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks ended their case on Tuesday with last-minute efforts to undo the damage he had inflicted on himself with testimony in which he calmly agreed to the charges against him.

The lawyers presented the accounts of senior Qaeda terrorists who gave statements from captivity to deflate Mr. Moussaoui's surprise claim on Monday that he was to have played a major role in the Sept. 11 attacks. The Qaeda officials, whose testimony was recited in court, portrayed Mr. Moussaoui as an unreliable and unstable colleague who was unconnected to the Sept. 11 plot.

"He had dreams about flying a plane into the White House," a South Asian terrorist known as Hambali, captured in 2003, was quoted as saying. Hambali said Mr. Moussaoui was known to be "not right in the head and having a bad character."

Besides the account of Hambali, the defense on Tuesday offered the recollections of Mustafa al-Hawsawi, a financial and travel planner for Al Qaeda who worked closely with the Sept. 11 hijackers; Mohammed al-Qahtani, who is widely believed to be the real missing "20th hijacker"; and a Qaeda operative known as Khallad, whom investigators have linked to the bombing of two American embassies in Africa in 1998 and the attack on the destroyer Cole in Yemen 2000, as well as to the Sept. 11 plot.

Mr. Al-Qahtani is imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba; the others are being held in the secret detention system of the Central Intelligence Agency, which is believed to house about two dozen senior Qaeda officials....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/29/national/29moussaoui.html?_r=1&oref=login

[mike_c]

1. Moussaoui is insane-- "not right in the head" indeed....

This show trial is an utter travesty-- the best the gov't can do is seek to execute a madman who is more pathetic than dangerous.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. See this post -- Moussaoui tried to cut a deal, said worth more alive...

than dead:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2194131

[leesa]

3. He is dangerous....but to our government, the ones who did 9-11.

His bizarre side trip this past week is enough to make people forget about the part where he states our government knew all about it and in essence sanctioned it. He's a patsy and will go to his death for being such a sucker. Like McVey, the guy who blew up the Murray building...stupid enough to recruit for a job, but they have no idea what the real job actually is. His only roll now is to perpetuate the stupid notion that 19 hijackers commandeered and flew 3 planes into buildings on 9-11 so the Bush Crime Family could have their new Pearl Harbor.

[TaleWgnDg]

4. What a legal and ethical conundrum are Moussaoui's lawyers . . .

in. Damned if they do and damned if they don't. In short, the guy isn't mentally competent to stand trial . . . sad, no matter what the hell Moussaoui actually did.

[neuvocat]

5. He's done a better job than was expected.

Not but for a lawyer with a fool for a client.