THE WISDOM FUND: News & Views
April 22, 2005
The Financial Times

Moussaoui Pleads Guilty to Charges Over 9/11

by Edward Alden

Zacarias Moussaoui, the only individual criminally charged by the US with participating in the September 11 plot, pleaded guilty on Friday to charges that could carry the death penalty.

Mr Moussaoui appeared in a Virginia court against the wishes of his lawyers and said he was guilty of all six counts brought against him by US prosecutors. . . .

Mr Moussaoui, a French national, was arrested in August 2001, when officials with the Federal Bureau of Investigation learnt that he had paid $6,800 in cash to a Minnesota flight school to learn to fly large aircraft. . . .

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Enver Masud, "What Really Happened on September 11?," The Wisdom Fund, March 7, 2005

Leslie Crawford, "Madrid puts 41 on trial for links to 9/11 attacks," Financial Times, April 21, 2005

[He told the court that nothing in the statement he signed declared he was "specifically guilty of 9/11." . . .

Moussaoui was arrested in August 2001 for overstaying his visa after drawing suspicion at a Minnesota flight school because he wanted to learn to fly a Boeing 747 even though he had no pilot's license. He was behind bars on September 11.--"Moussaoui pleads guilty, will fight to avoid death penalty in Sept. 11 case," Associated Press, April 23, 2005]

[Mounir el Motassadeq, 31, a Moroccan, was cleared, however, of abetting mass murder. He is one of only six men worldwide to have been tried or have trials pending in connection with the attacks on America in 2001.--Brian Whitaker, "Member of 9/11 terror cell jailed," Guardian, August 20, 2005]

[But the Madrid High Court dismissed charges that three defendants killed 2,973 people in the attacks.--Edward Owen, "Islamic terror cell chief jailed for 9/11 conspiracy," Times, September 27, 2005]

Roland Lloyd Parry, "Spain's 9/11 trial condemned as a failure," Times, September 27, 2005

"Moussaoui Indictment," U.S. Dept. of Justice

"U.S. tries to show proof of Moussaoui as threat," Associated Press, March 10, 2005

[U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema said she did not "know of any case where a failure to act has ever been sufficient activity to result in the death penalty as a matter of law."--Jerry Markon, "Terror Case 'Delicate,' Judge Warns Prosecutors," Washington Post, March 11, 2006]

[The US government's attempt to secure the death penalty for the al-Qa'ida plotter Zacarias Moussaoui is close to collapse after a prosecution lawyer in effect coached future witnesses, a blatant breach of court rules.--Rupert Cornwell, "Breach of court rules set to spare life of '20th hijacker' Moussaoui," Independent, March 14, 2006]

[An FBI agent who interrogated Zacarias Moussaoui before Sept. 11, 2001, warned his supervisors more than 70 times that Moussaoui was a terrorist and spelled out his suspicions that the al-Qaeda operative was plotting to hijack an airplane, according to federal court testimony yesterday.--Jerry Markon and Timothy Dwyer, "FBI Was Warned About Moussaoui," Washington Post, March 21, 2006]

Jerry Markon and William Branigin, "FAA Reportedly Dismissed Moussaoui Concern," Washington Post, March 22, 2006

Matthew Barakat, "Moussaoui Says He Was to Hijack 5th Plane," breitbart.com, March 27, 2006

Jerry Markon, Timothy Dwyer and Debbi Wilgoren, "Al-Qaeda Plotters Dismiss Moussaoui's Role," Washington Post, March 28, 2006

[The government claims Moussaoui should be put to death for failing to report everything he knew about 9/11, which it claims would have saved lives. "This is blatantly unconstitutional," says 9/11 Truth Scholar Webster Tarpley. "Under the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution, nobody can be prosecuted for a failure to incriminate themselves.'" . . .

The most stunning example of government mendacity in the Moussaoui trial, Fetzer explains, came with the inflammatory recordings, allegedly the last moments of Flight 93, which went down in Pennsylvania. "Not only should they not have been admitted into evidence," he said, "but Allen Green has noted that much of the conversation is from the passenger cabin -- which would not have been picked up in by the cockpit voice recorder, even through an open door. Yet the cockpit door was supposed to be closed before it was finally broken open using a drink cart."

Another blunder was noted by a Muslim member of S9/11T. The last words of the "hijackers" on the tape are "Allah is great! (Allahu akbar!"). Muhammad Columbo says, "The last words of a Muslim cannot be these! They are used in the call to prayer, or in an attack at war. On the moment of death, a Muslim must confirm that "There is but one God, Allah, and that Mohammed is his prophet!" The government's own evidence proves either the tapes or the Muslims are fake.-- "Scholars Call Moussaoui Trial a 'Charade'," globalresearch.ca, April 22, 2006]

[The jury did not decide Moussaoui's guilt; he did that himself months ago, when he pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the attacks. The jurors decided earlier that Moussaoui was indeed responsible for at least some of the deaths that day because, even though he was already in jail for immigration violations, he concealed what he knew about the unfolding terrorist plot.--Neil A. Lewis and David Stout, "Moussaoui gets life in prison over 9/11," New York Times, May 3, 2006]

Jerry Markon and Timothy Dwyer, "Some Saw Moussaoui As Bit Player, Juror Says," Washington Post, May 5, 2006

["The truth is that he has no connection whatsoever with the events of September 11. I am certain of what I say because I was responsible for entrusting the 19 brothers... with the raids," said the speaker, who reportedly sounds like the al-Qa'ida leader.--Andrew Buncombe, "Bin Laden denies Moussaoui link," Independent, May 24, 2006]

[Yarkas had been the only person in the world with a standing conviction over the Sept. 11 attacks after a trial.--Maria Jesus Prades, "Spanish Court Throws Out 9/11 Conviction," Associated Press, June 1, 2006]

[In July of 2006 a large collection of documents was published on a website containing prosecution and defense exhibits for the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui. Included in the prosecution exhibits are a set of Flash presentations detailing the government's account of the passengers on all four commandeered jetliners.--"Victims Lists, Passenger Manifests, and the Alleged Hijackers," 911research.wtc7.net, 2006]

"United States v. Zacarias Moussaoui, Criminal No. 01-455-A, Trial Exhibits," uscourts.gov, 2006

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