Moussaoui Alludes to Post-911 Attack Plan

WASHINGTON - Zacarias Moussaoui, the only defendant U.S. prosecutors have charged with complicity in the Sept. 11 attacks, contends he was not part of that day's hijackings but was preparing for a later operation outside the United States, court papers revealed Tuesday.

In a separate development in the case, a federal appeals court in Richmond, Va. ordered that the public and news media be admitted to portions of a June 3 court session to consider whether Moussaoui can interview an al-Qaida member also held as a prisoner.

The government had argued the hearing should be closed because classified information would be discussed. A 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (news - web sites) panel said only the parts of the argument that dealt with such information would be closed. The unanimous decision by the three-judge panel essentially agreed with 11 news organizations that had sought greater openness.

Moussaoui's description of his role as an acknowledged al-Qaida loyalist was disclosed in a brief that was filed April 1 by the defendant's court-appointed lawyers. The court released the document Tuesday after classified portions were edited out.

The lawyers argued in favor of a lower court ruling that Moussaoui should be connected with a video hookup to interview an al-Qaida prisoner. The prisoner's name was blacked out, but he is widely believed to be suspected Sept. 11 coordinator Ramzi Binalshibh, who was captured in Pakistan last year and now is in U.S. custody.

Moussaoui "contends ... that he was part of another operation to occur outside the United States after Sept. 11 involving different members of al-Qaida" from the 19 hijackers who died in the attacks, said the lawyers.

The pleading said there is evidence that Moussaoui had made plans for activities after Sept. 11, 2001, "demonstrating that he contemplated living past that date." Moussaoui had been arrested the previous month, while taking flight training in Minnesota.

The defense motion said that Binalshibh's testimony could back up Moussaoui's contention that he was not supposed to participate in the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon (news - web sites) and the target of a fourth plane that crashed in western Pennsylvania.

The papers also said testimony established that Moussaoui, during a visit to Malaysia in 2000, "talked freely ... about a dream he had to fly an airplane into the White House."

Moussaoui spoke of the dream at the home of Faiz Bafana, a member of Jemaah Islamiya, a Southeast Asian group the United States says has links to the al-Qaida terrorist network. Bafana reportedly has been interviewed by U.S. officials.

"This behavior caused Bafana to think that Moussaoui was not serious about his dream, believing that otherwise Moussaoui would have insisted on going outside to discuss it," the pleading said. Moussaoui, worried about electronic surveillance, insisted on leaving the house any time sensitive information was discussed, the defense lawyers said.

The June 3 appellate hearing on the witness access issue might not take place. The appeals court has asked the trial judge, Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Va., to attempt to work out a compromise.

If the hearing happens, the appeals panel said attorneys could argue in public about whether the appeals court has jurisdiction in this pretrial stage; whether the executive branch's powers necessitate reversal of the lower court's decision in favor of access; and whether a defendant's normal right to potentially favorable information applies to an enemy combatant held overseas.

The motion was filed by The Associated Press, ABC, CNN, CBS, The Hearst Corp., NBC, The New York Times, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, The Star Tribune Co., Tribune Co. and The Washington Post.

http://college4.nytimes.com/guests/articles/2001/11/10/883493.xml

November 10, 2001

No Bail for Friend of Man Suspected of Preparing for Sept. 11 Hijackings

By JO THOMAS

An Oklahoma friend of Zacarias Moussaoui, the man the authorities suspect was meant to be the 20th suicide hijacker in the Sept. 11 attacks, has been ordered held without bail on weapons charges by a federal magistrate in Oklahoma City.

The Oklahoma man, Mujahid Abdulqaadir Menepta, 51, who was arrested on Oct. 11 and taken to New York as a material witness in the World Trade Center investigation, is dangerous and poses a flight risk, Jeffrey Whitney, an agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, testified at a hearing on Wednesday. He made no specific reference to Mr. Moussaoui.

Without offering many details, Mr. Whitney told the court that some telephone numbers connected with cellphones seized in a search of Mr. Menepta's home in Norman were associated with continuing criminal investigations in Oklahoma City, St. Louis, Detroit, El Paso and Kansas City, Mo. These involve organized crime, drugs and money laundering, he said.

Mr. Whitney told the court that Mr. Menepta, who was born Melvin Lattimore in St. Louis, and changed his name in 1989 after converting to Islam, came to the attention of the authorities the day after the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. He testified that an informer told federal agents that Mr. Menepta had belonged to an Islamic group in Norman and St. Louis, whose leaders advocated terrorist acts and killing law enforcement agents.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/722374/posts?page=35
Excerpts:

WHAT HAPPENED AT THE NONDESCRIPT ROADSIDE motel outside Oklahoma City was just a fleeting encounter during the twisted cross-country odyssey of the terrorists who would carry out the September 11 attacks. Mohamed Atta, alleged leader of the plot, and two companions wanted to rent a room, but couldn't get the deal they wanted, so they left.

It was an incident of no particular importance, except for one thing. The owner of the motel remembers Atta being in the company of Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called "20th hijacker," who was arrested prior to September 11 and now faces conspiracy charges in connection with the terror assaults.

The motel co-owner, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the incident occurred around August 1, 2001, just six weeks before 9/11.

"They came in around 10 or 11 a.m. and started talking to my desk clerk," he said. Even though he was working about 10 feet away from the trio, the owner didn't really pay any attention at first. "They were asking my clerk, who no longer works here, about a weekly rate for our rooms." (The former clerk could not be reached for comment.)

The motel, explained the owner, sets aside some rooms with small kitchenettes to rent on a weekly basis. "But they were all taken." He said the clerk explained the situation, but the visitors were persistent. "Finally, my clerk asked me to talk to them."

The motel owner said that Moussaoui and a man who appeared to be Marwan al-Shehhi -- who helped crash a jetliner into the south tower of the World Trade Center -- were friendly and said a few things, but Atta was clearly the leader. "He did most of the talking and seemed very serious," said the owner, adding, "I was standing face to face, about two feet away from Atta, and talked to the three of them for about 10 minutes. Atta asked if he could rent one of the other rooms at a weekly rate, and I told him no.

"I asked him what they were doing here in the area. And Atta told me they were going to flight school. I thought he meant [Federal Aviation Administration] training in Oklahoma City. But Atta told me no, they were taking flight training in Norman.

After the attacks, said the motel owner, he recognized his visitors in photos from television reports. "I was really stunned," he said. Then he decided to call the FBI hot line. The motel owner said he didn't hear right back from the FBI. In the interim, he also spoke to a former law-enforcement officer who was investigating reported sightings of Mujahid Abdulquaadir Menepta at the same motel during the mid-1990s. Menepta, reportedly a friend of Moussaoui's, was arrested 30 years ago in Colorado for aggravated robbery and served more than three years in prison.

After September 11, Menepta publicly defended Moussaoui, calling him a "scapegoat." The FBI arrested him as a material witness and subsequently charged Menepta with a federal gun violation. He pleaded guilty and in April 2002 was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison. He was never charged with any terrorism-related crime. But during the preliminary hearing on the gun charge, Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Agent Jeffrey Whitney testified that a confidential source placed Menepta at a meeting of a radical Islamic group in St. Louis where he allegedly threatened to shoot any police officer who entered the mosque. Menepta's attorney challenged the credibility of this report in court.

A former desk clerk at the motel -- a different clerk from the one who purportedly dealt with Atta and Moussaoui -- told the Weekly that he remembered Menepta because in 1994 and 1995 -- prior to the Oklahoma City attack -- Menepta frequently visited the motel office. There, he bought coffee and talked for hours to this clerk.

ONE REASON FOR THE FBI'S APPARent lack of interest might be this motel's alleged connection to Timothy McVeigh and a group of Iraqis who worked in Oklahoma City. According to the motel owner and other witnesses and investigators interviewed by the Weekly, McVeigh and several of these Iraqis were motel guests in the months preceding the 1995 bombing. Witnesses also claimed they saw several of the Iraqis moving barrels of material around on the bed of a truck. The motel owner said the material smelled of diesel fuel and he had to clean up a spill. Diesel fuel was a key component of the truck bomb that blew up the Federal Building.

Where is Lattimore these days?

He is a free man, now.He was connected to WTC 1993, OKC bombing, and was Moussaoui's roommate. 15 months behind bars doesn't seem long enough for Lattimore. It was more than Sakher Hammad got. He had a work pass for the WTC dated 5 September 2001, said he was working on the plumbing,was not a licensed plumber. The chief witness in his Memphis driver's license fraud case, Katherine Smith, was burned alive with gasoline in Sakher's co-defendants car one day before she was to appear in court on the matter. Hammad got 51 days in jail.

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http://www.newsok.com/cgi-bin/show_article?ID=843957&pic=none&TP=getattack

Moussaoui's friend gets prison term

A Norman man who came under federal investigation because of his friendship with accused terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui was sentenced Wednesday to 15 months in federal prison.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/07/01/attack/main513949.shtml

'I Am A Member Of Al Qaeda'

ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 18, 2002
CBS) Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged as a Sept. 11 conspirator, attempted to plead guilty Thursday to new federal charges that could bring him the death penalty. But the judge — in a rare bench ruling — insisted he take a week to think about it.

"I am a member of al Qaeda" pledged to Osama bin Laden, Moussaoui told U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, who moments earlier had entered an innocent plea on his behalf to a third indictment. Shortly after that, Moussaoui tried to plead guilty.

CBS News Correspondent Jim Stewart reports Moussaoui may be crazy, but he's not stupid. He implied he would tell the government everything he knows about the Sept. 11 attacks, along with another conspiracy if the government agrees not to execute him.

It began with Moussaoui offering the judge what he called a "pure ... affirmative plea" to the terrorist charges against him.

"You must plead guilty or not guilty," Brinkema said. Sit down, she ordered.

And then, he dropped his bombshell. "I plead guilty," Moussaoui said. "This will ensure to save my life."

The terrorist case is "much more complicated than what the government is saying," he continued.

"I have information to give about an existing conspiracy … and ongoing conspiracy."

Prosecutors could only watch as Moussaoui went on. As for Sept. 11, he said, "I know exactly who (did) it, when it was decided, who was in it."

Brinkema insisted that Moussaoui think about his decision for a week. She scheduled a hearing for next Thursday.

"I don't need," Moussaoui said in response. "I've been thinking about it for months."

Moussaoui said he wanted to fight the government's attempt to have him executed. The penalty phase normally would come after a guilty plea or conviction in a trial.

The arraignment had been scheduled after the government on Tuesday obtained a third indictment against Moussaoui following a new Supreme Court ruling on the death penalty. The new indictment added allegations that would enable the government to seek the death penalty.

What happens now? CBS News.com Legal Analyst Andrew Cohen says "Either the judge will take Moussaoui at his word and allow him to enter a guilty plea next week, in which case the only issue left will be sentencing; or the judge will require him to undergo more evaluation by psychiatrists, in which case the clock will stop on the trial schedule. Either way, his September trial now is very unlikely.

"This is good news and bad news for the government," Cohen continues. "The good news is that Moussaoui essentially admitted to the crimes in court. The bad news is he did it in a way that a mentally competent person typically wouldn't do, which raises a red flag about whether a future plea will be accepted by the courts."

Moussaoui is the only individual charged in connection with the attacks. The original indictment in December accused him of plotting with the 19 hijackers and mimicking their conduct, including enrollment in flight schools. While government officials believe he was planning to be the 20th hijacker, Moussaoui was in custody on Sept. 11 on immigration violations.

Moussaoui went back to court Thursday on a third indictment. Charges were initially filed against him in December. In June, prosecutors dropped references to Moussaoui's interest in crop-dusting aircraft.

Last December, Moussaoui told Brinkema he had no plea and the judge entered a plea of innocent.

After the June revision in the indictment, Moussaoui tried to plead "no contest," but Brinkema again entered an innocent plea after explaining the term was the equivalent of pleading guilty.

Moussaoui, who is acting as his own lawyer, sat alone in the middle of three seats at the defense table. And when he stood to speak at the lecturn, facing the judge, two marshals stood directly in back of him and two others stood just a few feet away.

After entering the innocent plea on his behalf, Brinkema asked Moussaoui if he wanted her to set a new trial date to give him more time to prepare. Jury selection now is set to begin for Sept. 30.

Moussaoui said he wanted time to think about it, and the judge suggested that he should consult with court-appointed lawyers who remain in the case despite the judge's decision to let him represent himself.

"I don't have to consult with people who want to undermine my defense," said Moussaoui, who has accused the court-appointed lawyers of seeking to have him executed.

He told the judge, "Stop this nonsense game you are playing here. I don't have to take advice from you regarding the way I defend myself."

When the judge started to tell Moussaoui, "All right," he told her in a mocking tone, "Everything is all right. This is not justice."

When she then told him to sit down, he mockingly said, "Yes, yes have a seat."

Acting as his own lawyer, Moussaoui has flooded the court lately with motions that make the judge wonder about his sanity. In some he's asked to address congress and a grand jury. In others he's talked about Deep Throat and the O.J. Simpson trial.

According to Cohen, "the question that has to be answered by the judge is: Is this guy competent to stand trial? Is he competent to make these sorts of decisions?"

For the record, the Justice Department had no comment on today's events, but privately they were elated. They just hope he doesn't change his mind, because this may be the best chance they have of figuring out who called the shots on Sept. 11.

©MMII CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press and Reuters Limited contributed to this report.

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