Posted on 03/07/2006 2:54:13 PM PST by Aussie Dasher
ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Prosecutors in Zacarias Moussaoui's death penalty trial sought Tuesday to unravel his claims that he knew nothing of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, arguing that al-Qaida members are carefully scripted to lie when caught.
FBI agent Michael Anticev, testifying for a second day, offered the jury a primer on al-Qaida cover stories and the organization's techniques of deception when cell members are questioned.
Moussaoui's lawyers are portraying him as a pathetic loner who dreamed of becoming a terrorist but was shut out of Sept. 11 planning and considered by one al-Qaida leader a "cuckoo in the head."
They also want to show the government knew far more about brewing al-Qaida plots than Moussaoui did, and in that vein pressed Anticev on what the FBI was doing to follow up on warning signals before 9/11.
Anticev at first asserted, "I don't think anybody was looking at using aircraft as weapons," but acknowledged under questioning that the FBI had been aware of supposed plans to fly airliners into the Eiffel Tower and CIA headquarters.
Moussaoui's mother, Aicha, sat three rows behind her son in the courtroom; he ignored her except for a glance. She said later he was angry with her for speaking to his court-appointed lawyers, whom he has disavowed.
Moussaoui has been less disruptive than in earlier proceedings, but when leaving the courtroom for a recess, declared, "God curse America" and his lawyers, and "God bless Osama bin Laden."
Anticev read excerpts from an al-Qaida training manual that included instructions on coded communications and how to develop a cover story if cell members are detained.
The manual says members should be prepared to answer questions about how they got their travel money, whether they belong to religious organizations and more.
When Moussaoui was arrested in the month before the attacks, he told the FBI his flight-training was merely an "ego-boosting thing."
The government argues Moussaoui should be put to death rather than imprisoned for life because he told lies that prevented authorities from foiling attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.
Opening his cross-examination, defense lawyer Edward MacMahon sought to show that the FBI knew more than a decade ago that Osama bin Laden was sending trainees to U.S. flight schools to learn to be pilots, and at least one went to the same Oklahoma school where Moussaoui trained.
For Moussaoui, who readily acknowledges his allegiance to bin Laden and al-Qaida, Anticev's testimony seemed to provide a trip down memory lane. Prosecutor David Raskin questioned Anticev about the structure of bin Laden's al-Qaida organization.
Moussaoui smiled Monday when prosecutors played a 1998 ABC television interview of bin Laden as part of Anticev's testimony. He smiled again after the jury was shown portions of an al-Qaida training tape that showed the bombing of the USS Cole in a Yemeni port in 2000.
Anticev's testimony touched on the some of the names and faces that will be a part of Moussaoui's death-penalty trial over the next one to three months, including Sept. 11 attack mastermind, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.
Moussaoui pleaded guilty in April to conspiring with al-Qaida to hijack planes and commit other crimes. The trial will simply determine Moussaoui's punishment, and only two options are available: death or life in prison.
To obtain the death penalty, prosecutors must first prove a direct link between Moussaoui and the Sept. 11 attacks. Moussaoui denies any connection to 9/11 and says he was training for a possible future attack.
During opening statements, prosecutor Rob Spencer maintained that if Moussaoui had told the truth about his plans and his terrorist links when he was arrested in August 2001, the FBI and other agencies would have been able to unravel the al-Qaida threat and thwarted the Sept. 11 attacks.
"Had Mr. Moussaoui just told the truth, it would all have been different," said Spencer.
MacMahon scoffed at the notion, saying Moussaoui's arrest set off numerous red flags to the FBI bureau in Minneapolis that arrested him, but FBI headquarters simply chose to ignore the warnings.
"The government expects you to believe Moussaoui held all the clues to finding these men," MacMahon told the jury. "You will see right through it."
Spoken like a true Democrat.
Old sparky will have the last word.
HIS God might curse America, but OUR God won't.
I think he's gonna cry. But hopefully, just die.
"Moussaoui Shouts 'God Curse America' at Trial"
Well that makes it official, Moussaoui is a democrat party member. Maybe the US hating Yale University will offer him admission as a scholarship student now.
All his god can do is curse and my God will not hear him until he ........... well you know!!!
Because God will listen to this demonic minion of Satan.
If they do give him that, where will it be? McVeigh was the last in Terre Haute. Is that the only Fed death row?
I imagine he said "Allah", not "God".
Not the same thing, bub.
If Moussaoui only said ..... 9/11 would not have happened.
LOL. FAA/FBI would have wrote him off as a lone wacko.
you sure that "our" God will never curse America?
Yeah...God curse America. Now get back in line before I kick ya so hard, you'll be wearin' yer ass fer a hat.
This guy wants to die in bad way. Why are we taking so long obliging him?
It is a Newsmax story...that said, such behavior is only expected from muslims.
I wonder when Burnbra Streisland, Michael Moore, Jeese Jackson, and other Dims are going to start their "Save Moussaoui" campaign.
I can't imagine a jury giving this guy anything less than a death sentence.
Yes, they don't want it publicized but Yale has made a standing offer of admission to Moussaoui, for whenever his legal circumstances permit him to attend. The president of Yale University wrote a personal acceptance letter to Moussaoui, telling him how eager the Yale administration and faculty are to have such a "distinguished critic of America" join their campus. If Moussaoui is inconvenienced by a life sentence in prison, Yale will send faculty tutors on rotating visits to provide an education in jail. If Moussaoui is sentence to death, Yale will petition the court for at least a temporary stay of execution so that the great "critic" can at least visit the campus and give public lectures.
The Yale faculty has declared by an overwhelming majority vote that Moussaoui is a "political prisoner" on a par with Mumia (cop killer) and the liberal intellectuals of New Haven are working overtime preparing their campaign to demand freedom and a lifetime pension for Moussaoui.
He should get Ramsey Clark for a defense attorney- then his lawyer could curse America for him.
Well, let me be the first to give him at least half credit....
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