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Moussaoui Sentenced to Life in Prison MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN and MATTHEW BARAKAT - AP \|\| May 05, 2006 ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui was sentenced Thursday to spend his life in the country's strictest prison, scolding Americans on the way for missing a chance to learn from him why they are hated by al-Qaida terrorists. Capping four years of legal maneuvering and a two-month trial, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema sentenced the unrepentant 37-year-old Frenchman to six life sentences. She told him he would "die with a whimper," isolated from the world and not in the glory of martyrdom. In a parting shot, Moussaoui, the only person charged in the U.S. in the nation's deadliest terrorist attack, accused Americans of "hypocrisy ... beyond any belief." Special rules at the federal super maximum-security prison in Florence, Colo., where Brinkema sent Moussaoui, will bar the voluble if ineffective terrorist from contact with the outside world for the rest of his life. Putting aside the abusive epithets and clownish comments he became known for, Moussaoui sought to offer a sober explanation of his hatred for the United States and chastised America for refusing to listen. Moussaoui directed what may be his last public words to three relatives of victims killed on Sept. 11, 2001 — relatives who moments before stood in court, faced Moussaoui and described loved ones lost the day four hijacked jetliners crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field. He said Americans feel only their own pain and wondered if they would ever consider "how many people the CIA has destroyed." He called the trial "a wasted opportunity for this country to understand ... why people like me, like (hijacker) Mohamed Atta and the rest have so much hatred for you." Moments later, Brinkema refused to be interrupted by Moussaoui as she disputed his declaration Wednesday that "America, you lost. ... I won." She told Moussaoui that after the proceeding everyone else in the room would be "free to go any place they want. They can go outside and they can feel the sun, ... smell the fresh air, ... hear the birds. They can eat what they want tonight. They can associate with whom they want." She went on: "You will spend the rest of your life in a supermaximum security prison. ... It's quite clear who won ... and who lost." "You came here to be a martyr in a great big bang of glory," she said, "but to paraphrase the poet T.S. Eliot, instead you will die with a whimper." At that point, Moussaoui tried to interrupt her, but she raised her voice and spoke over him. "You will never again get a chance to speak and that's an appropriate and fair ending." A day earlier, the nine male and three female jurors could not unanimously agree to the government's demand for Moussaoui's execution. Their tally for or against death was not divulged. Article Posted at www.KnowledgeDrivenRevolution.com They could not unanimously agree that Moussaoui, who was in jail in Minnesota on immigration charges, caused the nearly 3,000 deaths that day, and three believed he had only limited knowledge of the Sept. 11 plot — despite his dramatic courtroom testimony that he was to hijack a 747 jetliner that day and fly it into the White House. And despite graphic images and sounds of the carnage and pain of Sept. 11 put into evidence, the jurors rejected the government's contentions that Moussaoui himself acted "in an especially heinous, cruel or depraved manner." Their inability to agree unanimously on death automatically produced the sentences of life in prison. Last month, the same jury ruled Moussaoui eligible for the death penalty after prosecutors argued his lies to federal agents in August, 2001, kept them from identifying and stopping some Sept. 11 hijackers and avoiding at least one death that day. Earlier, Lisa Dolan, who lost her husband, Bob, in the attack on the Pentagon, was one of three family members of victims who spoke at sentencing. Looking directly at Moussaoui, she said, "There is still one final judgment day." Moussaoui sat in his chair staring at Dolan and the other family witnesses, Rosemary Dillard and Abraham Scott, betraying no emotion. When his turn came, Moussaoui put aside prepared remarks to respond to them, referring first to Dillard, who spoke of losing her husband, Eddie, at the Pentagon. "She said I destroyed her life and she lost her husband," Moussaoui said. "Maybe one day she can think about how many people the CIA has destroyed. ... You have an amount of hypocrisy which is beyond any belief. Your humanity is a very selective humanity. Only you suffer; only you feel." Prosecutor Rob Spencer objected Moussaoui was giving a political speech. Brinkema agreed and told him to discuss the appropriate sentence. "You have branded me as a terrorist or criminal," Moussaoui continued. "You should look about yourself first. I fight for my belief." Then, having spoken for less than five minutes, he wrapped up: "You don't want to hear the truth." He said Americans had wasted the opportunity of this trial to learn why he and other al-Qaida members hate Americans. "As long as you don't want to hear, you will feel, America," he said. "If you don't want to hear, you will feel" pain. "God curse America and save Osama bin Laden. You will never get him." Outside the courthouse later, Scott, who lost his wife, Janice Marie, at the Pentagon, said, "It was extremely hard listening to him and not jumping over that little (courtroom) fence and doing bodily harm to him" at various points in the trial. At a conference in Austria, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told reporters: "There are challenges ... to prosecuting terrorist cases in our system. I think justice was served in this case." In France, Moussaoui's mother, Aicha El Wafi, said, "Now he is going to die in little doses. He is going to live like a rat in a hole. What for? They are so cruel." French authorities said Thursday they may eventually press the United States to have Moussaoui serve his life sentence in France under agreements providing for transfer of convicts. They were awaiting formal word of his sentencing conditions. Brinkema told Moussaoui he cannot appeal his guilty plea but could appeal the sentence. She predicted "it would be an act of futility" but asked his attorneys to file the required appeal notice as a precaution and as their last act before relinquishing their court-appointed duty to represent him. About KDR \| \| Home \| \| Weekly Features Archive	Weekly Weekly Features Archive
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Moussaoui Sentenced to Life in Prison

MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN and MATTHEW BARAKAT - AP || May 05, 2006

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui was sentenced Thursday to spend his life in the country's strictest prison, scolding Americans on the way for missing a chance to learn from him why they are hated by al-Qaida terrorists.

Capping four years of legal maneuvering and a two-month trial, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema sentenced the unrepentant 37-year-old Frenchman to six life sentences. She told him he would "die with a whimper," isolated from the world and not in the glory of martyrdom.

In a parting shot, Moussaoui, the only person charged in the U.S. in the nation's deadliest terrorist attack, accused Americans of "hypocrisy ... beyond any belief."

Special rules at the federal super maximum-security prison in Florence, Colo., where Brinkema sent Moussaoui, will bar the voluble if ineffective terrorist from contact with the outside world for the rest of his life.

Putting aside the abusive epithets and clownish comments he became known for, Moussaoui sought to offer a sober explanation of his hatred for the United States and chastised America for refusing to listen.

Moussaoui directed what may be his last public words to three relatives of victims killed on Sept. 11, 2001 — relatives who moments before stood in court, faced Moussaoui and described loved ones lost the day four hijacked jetliners crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field.

He said Americans feel only their own pain and wondered if they would ever consider "how many people the CIA has destroyed." He called the trial "a wasted opportunity for this country to understand ... why people like me, like (hijacker) Mohamed Atta and the rest have so much hatred for you."

Moments later, Brinkema refused to be interrupted by Moussaoui as she disputed his declaration Wednesday that "America, you lost. ... I won."

She told Moussaoui that after the proceeding everyone else in the room would be "free to go any place they want. They can go outside and they can feel the sun, ... smell the fresh air, ... hear the birds. They can eat what they want tonight. They can associate with whom they want."

She went on: "You will spend the rest of your life in a supermaximum security prison. ... It's quite clear who won ... and who lost."

"You came here to be a martyr in a great big bang of glory," she said, "but to paraphrase the poet T.S. Eliot, instead you will die with a whimper."

At that point, Moussaoui tried to interrupt her, but she raised her voice and spoke over him.

"You will never again get a chance to speak and that's an appropriate and fair ending."

A day earlier, the nine male and three female jurors could not unanimously agree to the government's demand for Moussaoui's execution. Their tally for or against death was not divulged.

Article Posted at www.KnowledgeDrivenRevolution.com

They could not unanimously agree that Moussaoui, who was in jail in Minnesota on immigration charges, caused the nearly 3,000 deaths that day, and three believed he had only limited knowledge of the Sept. 11 plot — despite his dramatic courtroom testimony that he was to hijack a 747 jetliner that day and fly it into the White House.

And despite graphic images and sounds of the carnage and pain of Sept. 11 put into evidence, the jurors rejected the government's contentions that Moussaoui himself acted "in an especially heinous, cruel or depraved manner."

Their inability to agree unanimously on death automatically produced the sentences of life in prison.

Last month, the same jury ruled Moussaoui eligible for the death penalty after prosecutors argued his lies to federal agents in August, 2001, kept them from identifying and stopping some Sept. 11 hijackers and avoiding at least one death that day.

Earlier, Lisa Dolan, who lost her husband, Bob, in the attack on the Pentagon, was one of three family members of victims who spoke at sentencing. Looking directly at Moussaoui, she said, "There is still one final judgment day."

Moussaoui sat in his chair staring at Dolan and the other family witnesses, Rosemary Dillard and Abraham Scott, betraying no emotion.

When his turn came, Moussaoui put aside prepared remarks to respond to them, referring first to Dillard, who spoke of losing her husband, Eddie, at the Pentagon. "She said I destroyed her life and she lost her husband," Moussaoui said. "Maybe one day she can think about how many people the CIA has destroyed. ... You have an amount of hypocrisy which is beyond any belief. Your humanity is a very selective humanity. Only you suffer; only you feel."

Prosecutor Rob Spencer objected Moussaoui was giving a political speech. Brinkema agreed and told him to discuss the appropriate sentence.

"You have branded me as a terrorist or criminal," Moussaoui continued. "You should look about yourself first. I fight for my belief." Then, having spoken for less than five minutes, he wrapped up: "You don't want to hear the truth."

He said Americans had wasted the opportunity of this trial to learn why he and other al-Qaida members hate Americans.

"As long as you don't want to hear, you will feel, America," he said. "If you don't want to hear, you will feel" pain.

"God curse America and save Osama bin Laden. You will never get him."

Outside the courthouse later, Scott, who lost his wife, Janice Marie, at the Pentagon, said, "It was extremely hard listening to him and not jumping over that little (courtroom) fence and doing bodily harm to him" at various points in the trial.

At a conference in Austria, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told reporters: "There are challenges ... to prosecuting terrorist cases in our system. I think justice was served in this case."

In France, Moussaoui's mother, Aicha El Wafi, said, "Now he is going to die in little doses. He is going to live like a rat in a hole. What for? They are so cruel."

French authorities said Thursday they may eventually press the United States to have Moussaoui serve his life sentence in France under agreements providing for transfer of convicts. They were awaiting formal word of his sentencing conditions.

Brinkema told Moussaoui he cannot appeal his guilty plea but could appeal the sentence. She predicted "it would be an act of futility" but asked his attorneys to file the required appeal notice as a precaution and as their last act before relinquishing their court-appointed duty to represent him.