Western Resistance

« Somalia: Islamic Militia Battle Ceasefire - 90 Dead | | Pakistan: Taliban Execute First Person Under Islamic Law »

March 27, 2006

US: Moussaoui's Links To UK Islamist In White House Attack Plot

Today Zacarias Moussaoui (pictured left) took to the stand at the court in Alexandria, Virginia, to give evidence in the trial hearing which will decide if he should receive the death penalty or a life sentence. He pleaded guilty on April 22 last year to conspiracy charges, related to his involvement with the attacks on 9/11, 2001.

His performance today has been revelatory, to say the least. According to Bloomberg, he testified that he had planned to hijack a plane and fly it into the White House. His co-conspirator was, he claimed, Richard Reid (pictured, below right), the British born potential shoe-bomber, who is currently in prison in the United States, after he failed to detonate a bomb in his shoe on a transatlantic flight.

It is known that the two had attended the Finsbury Park Mosque, when its imam was hook-handed Abu Hamza, currently serving a seven year sentence in the UK for conspiracy to murder, and other offences.

When defense lawyer Gerald Zerkin today asked Moussaoui if he had been scheduled to be a pilot on September 11, 2001, Moussaoui answered: "Yes, I was supposed to pilot a plane to hit the White House."

According to Reuters, Associated Press via Forbes and the BBC, before Moussaoui had taken the stand, US District Judge Leonie Brinkema asked if he would tell the truth.

37-year old Moussaoui, a French national of North African descent said he was an al-Qaeda member, but said he was not scheduled to be part of the attacks which took place on September 11, 2001. He had been intended to be part of a second wave later that day.

According to BBC TV News, Moussaoui had been arrested in Minnesota on August 16, 2001, three weeks before the attacks of 9/11, but bought a radio while in prison, so that he could hear the live news of those attacks as they happened.

When asked by Zerkin if anyone else had been scheduled to be on the plane he intended to hijack, he answered: "Richard Reid. The other crew members were not definite."

His evidence was a direct contradiction of the stories he had previously told for three years, i.e. that he was not meant to be a 9/11 attacker, and that he intended to fly a plane into the White House later on, conditional upon the US releasing an imprisoned Egyptian sheikh.

He told the court that by deliberately misleading investigators while he was in custody, enabled the 9/11 attacks to go ahead.

Prosecutor Rob Spencer asked him: "You lied because you wanted to conceal that you were a member of al-Qaida?"

Moussaoui replied: "That's correct."

Spencer stated: "You lied so the plan could go forward?"

"That's correct," Moussaoui confirmed.

Upon being asked about his knowledge of the details of the 9/11 plot, he said: "I had knowledge that the two towers would be hit but I didn't have the detail."

Agence France Presse state, according to the BBC, that when he was asked who had ordered him to fly a plane into the White House, Moussaoui had answered: "Osama bin Laden."

Richard Reid was on board an American Airlines Flight 63 bound from Paris to Miami, when he began to act suspiciously, attempting to put a lighted match to his shoe, on December 22, 2001. Passengers, including an American football player, subdued Reid, and the plane landed safely in Boston.

In January 2003, Reid, then aged 29, a former petty criminal, was sentenced to life imprisonment, while shouting his hatred for America.

It has been argued that Moussaoui's surprise confession has been done as a means of quick suicide, as his revelations certainly strengthen the case of the prosecution, who are arguing for the death penalty to be enacted.

Three times, Prosecutor Rob Spencer asked Moussaoui that if he received the death penalty, would he not be a martyr, and the defendant answered that the answer depended on if he had "fought to the best of your ability."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at March 27, 2006 7:57 PM

Comments

Posted by: hutchrun at March 27, 2006 9:35 PM

Posted by: hutchrun at March 27, 2006 10:00 PM

Post a comment