Moussaoui Has One Foot on a Banana Peel and . . .

If you don't know the rest of that expression, maybe Google can help. 

Here's the scoop from the Associated Press:

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A federal jury found al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui eligible Monday to be executed, deciding that his lies to FBI agents led directly to at least one death in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The only person to face charges in this country in the nation's worst terrorist assault, Moussaoui now faces a second phase of his sentencing trial to determine if he actually will be put to death.

He sat in his chair and prayed silently as the verdict was read. He refused to stand.

"You'll never get my blood, God curse you all," he said afterward.

I'm not feeling a lot of love in the room with this guy.

The jury's verdict today was the culmination of some vivid trial testimony that put Moussaoui squarely in the middle of the September 11th plot.  From the Washington Post:

His eligibility for death culminates a three-week hearing that proved as unpredictable as the behavior of Moussaoui himself.

The French citizen of Moroccan descent had long been known for courtroom outbursts, and he often screamed curses at America and blessings for Osama bin Laden when jurors and the judge were out of the courtroom.

But when Moussaoui took the stand, over the strong objections of his attorneys, his demeanor was calm and his words were chilling. Staring straight at his questioners, he said he was supposed to hijack a fifth airplane on Sept. 11 and fly it into the White House with a crew that included British "shoe bomber" Richard Reid.

Although he did not know the exact date of the attack, he said it was supposed to come just after August and that the World Trade Center was among the other targets. He said he wanted to kill every American and matter-of-factly explained how he was prepared to cut the throat of a passenger or flight attendant on the plane he would have hijacked.

And in a series of admissions, Moussaoui acknowledged he had lied to agents when he was arrested in Minnesota in August 2001 so as to allow the plot to go forward. According to testimony at the trial, Moussaoui told agents he was taking flying lessons purely for enjoyment. He was training on a 747 simulator when he was arrested on immigration charges.

The New York Times notes:

In concluding unanimously today that the defendant lied to federal agents after his arrest in August 2001, that he did so contemplating that human life would be taken, and that at least one victim of the Sept. 11 attacks died as a direct result of his deception, the jurors said death should at least be considered as the appropriate punishment.

Here's how the next phase of the trial promises to shape up, according to the AP:

The testimony will include families of 9/11 victims who will describe the human impact of the al-Qaida mission that flew four jetliners into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field.

Court-appointed defense lawyers, whom Moussaoui has tried to reject, will summon experts to suggest he is schizophrenic after an impoverished childhood during which he faced racism in France over his Moroccan ancestry.

What else lies ahead?  I'm predicting that we'll be hearing "Free Moussaoui!," "Moussauoi Is Innocent!," or something similar before this is over.  Why?  Because holding anyone other than George Bush and his administration responsible for anything is pretty much verboten these days. 

There are other reasons too.  The death penalty itself is always controversial. 

Added to that, there are some who believe that it is in their own interests to undermine any possible progress America might make in the war on terror.  Sadly, some who feel that way are Americans.

Let's remember through all of this exactly what Moussaoui fully intended to do to ordinary men, women and children minding their own business -- what he would have done if he had not been stopped.  The throat-slitting, the hijacking, the overpowering, the deadly last approach toward another place filled with men and women, the explosive collision, the awful fireball, the dying, the suffering, the dead, the maimed, the burned, the terrified, the bereaved.

Argue against the death penalty on general principle if you want and I won't fault you for that, but if we're going to have the death penalty at all for those who conspire to take innocent lives as a form of terrorist warfare on the United States, Moussaoui would seem like a prime candidate.

I've heard the argument already that Mousssaoui wants to die a martyr, so we'd be punishing him more by keeping him alive.  But listen again to the words he just spoke today when told that the jury had found him possibly eligible for the death penalty:  "You'll never get my blood, God curse you all." I'm sorry, but I did not hear a "thank you!" there. 

Besides, I just don't buy that sitting in a jail cell is a punishment worse than death.  A prisoner with a life term can find ways to make an unscheduled exit to the next world if he really so chooses.  Meanwhile, the prisoner kept alive is free to seek publicity, rally support for nefarious causes, kill again while in prison, mock the victims if he so chooses, and who knows what else.

This sounds a bit like a brief for Moussaoui's execution, but it's really not.  If the jury decides, quietly and without visible bias, that from a narrow legal standpoint Moussaoui should not be executed because the specific crime he is charged with does not justify the death penalty, then the jury will have spoken, and any verdict it reaches within the range of reason is entitled to at least some deference.

No, what I fear is the Media Circus, particularly the Anti-American, Pro-Terrorist Media Circus (that's the "AAPTMC" for short).  We don't need an AAPTMC that comes across as if it values Zacarias Moussaoui's life as much as, or more than, it values, say, Todd Beamer's life (of Flight 93 "let's roll!" fame).

Remember, too, that there are a whole lot more "Moussaoui's" where this one came from -- men with genuine hatred in their hearts still waiting for their chance to travel to America and live out their own special, twisted version of the "American dream."  Maybe you'll meet one of them some day, though I fervently hope not.

So on to the penalty phase.  Remember that this man before us intended to be a hijacker too, right there alongside Mohammed Atta and the rest.  He wanted to kill innocent men, women and children just like you and me.  He wanted to be among those slitting some innocent person's throat before murdering the whole planeload -- maybe yours? 

With that said,

Let's roll.

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Update 4/3/06:  Others offering thoughts on today's verdict:  In the Bullpen, Sister Toldjah, A Blog For All, State of the Day

Comments

[Washington]

He will have people in his corner. The amazing aspect of this entire period post 9/11 is the willful ignorance of so many on the left. I dislike beating a dead horse but it is difficult not to write constantly about the sympathy shown to terrorist; yet, a kind word for those protecting our freedom is difficult to obtain from so many...