The jury that will determine Zacarias Moussaoui's fate must decide whom it believes: Moussaoui himself, who, in stunning testimony, said he and shoe-bomber Richard Reid planned to fly a plane into the White House on Sept. 11, 2001; or the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, who said Moussaoui had nothing to do with the attacks on Washington and New York.
Moussaoui's testimony on Monday at his death-penalty trial that he was part of the Sept. 11 plot came as a shock, since he previously had denied any role in the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.
As soon as Moussaoui finished testifying, the jury was read statements made by Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the Sept. 11 mastermind now in US custody, who said Moussaoui was to have been used in a second wave of attacks completely disconnected from Sept. 11.
PHOTO: EPA
Moussaoui is the only person in the US charged in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks.
But even prosecutors are not alleging a direct role for Moussaoui in the Sept. 11 plot. Instead, they argue that Moussaoui allowed the Sept. 11 plot to go forward by lying about his al-Qaeda membership and his true plans when federal agents arrested him in August 2001.
He repeatedly had denied involvement in Sept. 11, and when he admitted guilt last April to conspiring with al-Qaeda to hijack aircraft and commit other crimes, he pointedly made a distinction between his conspiracy and Sept. 11.
On Monday, though, Moussaoui put himself at the center of the plot. He was asked by defense attorney Gerald Zerkin: "Before your arrest, were you scheduled to pilot a plane as part of the 9/11 operation?"
Moussaoui: "Yes. I was supposed to pilot a plane to hit the White House."
He said he knew few other details, except that planes were to be flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center.
He had met Reid, his purported partner, in the 1990s at London's Finsbury Park mosque.
On Dec. 22, 2001, Reid was subdued by passengers on a flight from Paris to Miami when he attempted to detonate a bomb in his shoe. That plane landed safely in Boston. Reid later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.
Moussaoui's defense attorneys, in their opening arguments, suggested that Moussaoui may prefer martyrdom to life in prison.
He is not cooperating with his court-appointed attorneys, and he testified against their wishes.
Mohammed's testimony came in the form of a 58-page statement culled from government interrogations. He said repeatedly that Moussaoui was to have been part of a second wave of attacks, distinct from US.
Mohammed said he was not aware that Moussaoui was in custody until after Sept. 11, and that Moussaoui's arrest on Aug. 16 would have disrupted Sept. 11 plans if he were a part of the operation. Mohammed said the second-wave of attacks never materialized because he did not anticipate the ferocity of the US response to Sept. 11 and the only other pilot backed out.
Romania’s electoral commission on Saturday excluded a second far-right hopeful, Diana Sosoaca, from May’s presidential election, amid rising tension in the run-up to the May rerun of the poll. Earlier this month, Romania’s Central Electoral Bureau barred Calin Georgescu, an independent who was polling at about 40 percent ahead of the rerun election. Georgescu, a fierce EU and NATO critic, shot to prominence in November last year when he unexpectedly topped a first round of presidential voting. However, Romania’s constitutional court annulled the election after claims of Russian interference and a “massive” social media promotion in his favor. On Saturday, an electoral commission statement
Chinese authorities increased pressure on CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd over its plan to sell its Panama ports stake by sharing a second newspaper commentary attacking the deal. The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office on Saturday reposted a commentary originally published in Ta Kung Pao, saying the planned sale of the ports by the Hong Kong company had triggered deep concerns among Chinese people and questioned whether the deal was harming China and aiding evil. “Why were so many important ports transferred to ill-intentioned US forces so easily? What kind of political calculations are hidden in the so-called commercial behavior on the
‘DOWNSIZE’: The Trump administration has initiated sweeping cuts to US government-funded media outlets in a move critics said could undermine the US’ global influence US President Donald Trump’s administration on Saturday began making deep cuts to Voice of America (VOA) and other government-run, pro-democracy programming, with the organization’s director saying all VOA employees have been put on leave. On Friday night, shortly after the US Congress passed its latest funding bill, Trump directed his administration to reduce the functions of several agencies to the minimum required by law. That included the US Agency for Global Media, which houses Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Asia and Radio Marti, which beams Spanish-language news into Cuba. On Saturday morning, Kari Lake, a former Arizona gubernatorial and US
Indonesia’s parliament yesterday amended a law to allow members of the military to hold more government roles, despite criticisms that it would expand the armed forces’ role in civilian affairs. The revision to the armed forces law, pushed mainly by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s coalition, was aimed at expanding the military’s role beyond defense in a country long influenced by its armed forces. The amendment has sparked fears of a return to the era of former Indonesian president Suharto, who ex-general Prabowo once served and who used military figures to crack down on dissent. “Now it’s the time for us to ask the
RSS