Moussaoui's revelations
Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2006 8:53 pm
So what is everyone's take on Moussaoui? He says some interesting things.<br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>I had knowledge that the two towers would be hit, but I did not have the details," Moussaoui told jurors after taking the witness stand in his own defense.<br><br>Moussaoui said that while he didn't know the "precise date to the day" of the planned terrorist attacks, he knew they would come soon after his arrest in August 2001 in Minnesota. He said he made sure he had a radio in his jail cell. <br><br>When the first news reports on September 11 described a fire at the trade center, Moussaoui said, "I immediately understood."<br><br>(...)<br><br>Moussaoui testified that had he not been arrested he would have tried to fly into the White House on a fifth hijacked plane. <br><br>His testimony differed from an earlier admission on one key point: On Monday, Moussaoui said the White House attack was to have taken place on September 11. Earlier Moussaoui said it was to have been part of a later wave of attacks. <br><br>In an extraordinary revelation, Moussaoui also named Reid as one of his team members. <br><br>Reid was subdued by passengers in December 2001 when he attempted to set off a bomb in his shoe on board an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami. The plane was diverted to Boston, where it landed safely and Reid was arrested. He is serving a life prison term.<br><br>Reid has written Moussaoui at least once during their incarceration. <br><br>(...)<br><br>There were no dramatic outbursts and no speeches. Instead, Moussaoui spoke in moderate, even soft tones. Within 30 minutes, he had undone more than four years of his defense team's work. <br><br>(...)<br><br>Under cross examination, Moussaoui repeatedly expressed no remorse for what happened on September 11.<br><br>Referring to an aerial view of the trade center rubble, prosecutor Rob Spencer asked Moussaoui if he was "happy that happened."<br><br>"That's correct," Moussaoui said.<br><br>Spencer also asked Moussaoui if he would have used the short knives he possessed to cut the throats of flight crews.<br><br>"Possibly, if it is necessary," he said.<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Moussaoui acknowledged that he had "rejoiced" at hearing a United Flight 93 flight attendant beg for her life on a recovered flight recorder. <br><br>Earlier, under questioning by one of his attorneys, Gerald Zerkin, Moussaoui dispelled the idea that he was intended to be the 20th hijacker on September 11 -- the missing fifth man on Flight 93, which crashed in a Pennsylvania field.<br><br>But Moussaoui said he knew the Lebanese pilot of that plane, Ziad Jarrah, from Afghanistan, where the two men had conversed in French. <br><br>Moussaoui also admitted knowing lead 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta. He said he knew Atta was "big time" because he saw him frequently in Afghanistan in the company of al Qaeda operations leader Khalid Shaiykh Mohammed.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> <br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Moussaoui said he spent a total of three and half years in al Qaeda camps and became a specialist in using household explosives.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> <br><br>His English fluency and his French passport made him "special" to al Qaeda, he said, insisting he was only an "intermediate" player. <br><br>Moussaoui said he initially declined when the group's military leader, Mohammed Atef, asked in 1999 if he was interested in hijacking planes and crashing them into buildings. <br><br>Agreed to martyrdom<br>The next year, he said, he agreed to the martyrdom mission. <br><br>Moussaoui admitted his "dream," sanctioned by al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, to crash a plane into the White House, when he pleaded guilty 11 months ago to joining the conspiracy. But at that time, he said his White House attack was to follow 9/11.<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>He testified Monday that his knowledge of the conspiracy was compartmentalized and that he had "specific involvement only for my own plane."</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> <br><br>Moussaoui took the stand Monday over the objections of his defense team. He said he had been waiting four years to tell his story. <br><br>(...)<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>When Zerkin asked Moussaoui why he lied, Moussaoui replied, "Because I am al Qaeda."<br><br>"The Prophet says, 'war is deceit,' " Moussaoui later told prosecutor Robert Spencer. "You're allowed to lie for jihad. You're allowed any technique to defeat your enemy."</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>After Moussaoui testifies, the defense plans to present statements from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the architect of the conspiracy, plot facilitator Ramzi Binalshibh and other top al Qaeda detainees being held as "enemy combatants" at undisclosed military locations overseas.<br><br>The jury will hear written substitutions for their live testimony.<br><hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/03/27/moussaoui/" target="top">link</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br><br> <p></p><i></i>