I think I'm on record as saying that I think Zacharias Moussaoui is insane. If not, permit me to get on the record on that account now. But I'm not the only one who has doubts about the supposed "20th hijackers" latest claims -- disputing earlier denials to assert that he was supposed to pilot a plane into the White House on 9/11, despite the fact that flight instructors he dealt with said he could barely take off in the simulator. Even people on the right are starting to question whether he is using his testimony in his sentencing trial to aggrandize himself. Call it suicide by jury, or maybe an attempt to spare his life by portraying himself as a more valuable intelligence asset than he really is, but Moussaoui's claims just strike me as ... well ... made up.
Now comes the news that apparently, al-Qaida detainees in U.S. custody, including 9/11 mastermind Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, whom we tortured to get to what he knows, by the way -- say Moussaoui is full of it.
ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (Reuters) - Top al Qaeda operatives and others in U.S. custody said in testimony on Tuesday that Zacarias Moussaoui was untrustworthy and not part of the September 11 attacks.
One day after Moussaoui gave shocking testimony that he was meant to fly a plane into the White House as part of the September 11 plot, the detained enemy combatants contradicted him.
Most of the testimony was read aloud from detainees who were forbidden from testifying because of national security concerns. Much of it questioned Moussaoui's competence, and the man said to be the financier of the September 11 attacks said he had had no involvement with Moussaoui. ...
...In a clear effort to rebut Moussaoui's own damaging admissions on Monday, the defense presented a statement from Sayf al-Adl, a senior member of al Qaeda's military committee, who said Moussaoui was "absolutely not" going to take part in the September 11 mission.
Mustafa al Hawsawi, the financier who gave several of the hijackers airline tickets to the United States, said he had "no knowledge" of Moussaoui's financial dealings.
A senior al Qaeda operative, known as Khallad, said Moussaoui broke security by phoning him every day during a trip to Malaysia in 2000.
Khallad, who was connected with the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in east Africa and masterminded the 2000 attack on the USS Cole, was eventually forced to turn off his telephone.
In testimony from Riduan Isamuddin -- better known as Hambali -- a top member of Jemaah Islamiah, an Asian group linked to al Qaeda, Moussaoui was depicted as "not bright in the head and having a bad character."
"According to Hambali, Moussaoui managed to annoy everyone he came in contact with," Hambali's testimony said, adding that Hambali said he did not trust Moussaoui. ... Still believe he was an integral part of the 9/11 plot? Sounds more like a wannabe...
Meanwhile, TalkLeft agrees with the LAT that Moussaoui should not be put to death. The Times puts forward the usual reasons (all of which I agree with) -- that the death penalty debases our society, that it will do nothing but give the Islamist the martyrdom he seems to crave, and that he very well could provide useful intelligence as a living prisoner for the rest of his life that he clearly would be unable to provide as a corpse. Talkleft adds this:
I will add one legal argument: No one should be executed for what they planned on doing, rather than what they did.
And I'll add one more:
Abdul Rahman.
The U.S. rather meekly pushed to save his life, along with the more robust efforts of the Europeans. What do you think it would do to the Muslim world if we push forward with the execution of a Muslim, who appears to be much crazier than they're claiming Rahman is -- particularly when much of the Muslim world not only has no sympathy for us over 9/11, but doesn't even believe Osama bin Laden did it?
We'll get our pound of flesh, but we also could reopen the gates of hell once again.
Just because you can do something, doesn't always mean you should. We certainly can kill Zacharias Moussaoui, but we need to ask ourselves whether the pleasure of seeing him die (for those who want to) is worth the price.
Previous:
Tags: Moussaoui, Terrorism, bin Laden, 11, Law, Bush. |
