Moussaoui Trial

[jared2]

What is your reaction to the sentence for convicted 9/11 plotter Zacarias Moussaoui?

[efusco]

Probably reasonable. Would I like to see him dead...yea, but I don't think the charges or evidence (as I heard it from the TV news anyway) support the death penalty.

[jared2]

In my opinion, Moussaoui is a mentally unstable patsy who had little or nothing to do with 911. Very much like Lee Harvy Oswald. The real perpetrators of the crime will never face trial.

[efusco]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jared2 @ May 4 2006, 01:32 PM) [snapback]249804[/snapback]</div>

In my opinion, Moussaoui is a mentally unstable patsy who had little or nothing to do with 911. Very much like Lee Harvy Oswald. The real perpetrators of the crime will never face trial. [/b]

I suspect that's accurate.

I'll quickly delete this thread before someone notices us agreeing with one another....

[jared2]

Nice to see we are in agreement about something, though I doubt we would agree on who the "real perpetrators of 911" were.

[IsrAmeriPrius]

We prosecuted a delusional wannabe who at best had a tangential involvement in the tragic events that unfolded on September 11, 2001, while at the same time the United States government has not put on trial the masterminds and planners of these horrific terrorist acts, despite having them in custody.

As Hamlet said: “Something is rotten in the state...”

[efusco]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jared2 @ May 4 2006, 02:39 PM) [snapback]249848[/snapback]</div>

Nice to see we are in agreement about something, though I doubt we would agree on who the "real perpetrators of 911" were. [/b]

I didn't know it was a question...

[IsrAmeriPrius]

Excerpts from the Los Angeles Times:

Yet two presumed key planners of the Al Qaeda plot, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Ramzi Binalshibh, have not been charged, though they have been in U.S. custody for more than three years.

A central contradiction in the Bush administration's fight against terrorism is that bit players often have been put on trial, while those thought to have orchestrated the plots have been held in secret for questioning.

The difference in treatment, government officials say, stems from the view that gathering intelligence from suspected terrorists is more important than publicly punishing them.

According to reports of Mohammed's statements during interrogations, 10 years ago he conceived of the idea of using hijacked airplanes as missile-like weapons, and eventually persuaded Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to fund the plot.

In a 56-page statement submitted as evidence at Moussaoui's trial, Mohammed stressed that Moussaoui was seen by leaders of the Sept. 11 plot as unreliable. Moussaoui was to train in the U.S. and be ready for a possible "second wave" of attacks, Mohammed said.

Moussaoui "did not know [Mohamed] Atta," the leader of the hijackers, "and there was never any contact between them," Mohammed said.

That did not prevent the administration from prosecuting Moussaoui, who had been arrested in Minnesota and jailed on a visa violation three weeks before Sept. 11, 2001.

"They cannot be prosecuted because of the way they have been interrogated," said University of Maryland law professor Michael Greenberger, a terrorism expert who served in the Clinton administration. "They have been subjected to very aggressive questioning, and any statements they made now can't be used against them."

That has been the irony of the Moussaoui case from the beginning. We have prosecuted a marginal character who appeared unmoored from reality, while the real planners of the crime will not be brought before justice in the United States," Greenberger said.

No Trials for Key Players[/b]

[BellBoy]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ May 4 2006, 08:49 AM) [snapback]249706[/snapback]</div>

Probably reasonable. Would I like to see him dead...yea, but I don't think the charges or evidence (as I heard it from the TV news anyway) support the death penalty.
[/b]

I actually supported the death penalty for awhile, but the I have changed my mind after I did some research on whether it's really effective or not (not, IMO). Besides that would allow him God knows how many appeals...more money wasted on that asshat. No, thanks.

As far as Zackie goes, I was really worried that they'd let emotion prevail and give him the DP--I'm glad cooler heads prevailed. I'm sure everyone thought that he'd become a martyr--which is just what we need with all of these radical religious zealots running around shrieking 'death to America'.

I think that a lifetime in solitary would be a fate worse than death. I hope he enjoys his new accommodations.

I would think that there are a bunch of things that may befall our homey: he could hang himself I guess...but I was thinking more along the lines of those fun guys in the kitchen that might give his meatloaf just a hint of zesty urine to compliment his "tapioca" pudding. Mmm MMM! He'll have a blast (um, no pun intended)...it'll be just like al Queda training camp! Um, except without all of the fun shooting and playing the on the monkey bars, etc.

A toast! As they say in Italy (and on HBO)..."Salute a cent’anno!" Health for a 100 years! Va fungool, putz!

[jared2]

"I think that a lifetime in solitary would be a fate worse than death

It would, in fact, be a form of torture that would drive almost anyone insane. Is this a good thing? You be the judge. He is clearly a marginal character that was served up for a show trial to assuage atavistic intincts in the public. His "trial" was another psychological operation, like 9/11 itself.