When You Wish Upon a ScarZacarias Moussaoui finally makes his dreams come true.
By Dahlia LithwickPosted Monday, April 3, 2006, at 7:12 PM ETHand it to Zacarias Moussaoui, who managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory with his fantastical eleventh-hour trial testimony last week about a never-before-mentioned fifth 9/11 airplane; the one that he would apparently have co-piloted with Richard Reid and flown into the White House. In a trial featuring some of the most spectacular episodes of government overreaching and misconduct we will ever see, Moussaoui managed to persuade the jurors that he was a key figure in the 9/11 attacks—even though he was in jail at the time and had always claimed before that Sept. 11 was "not my conspiracy."
When it looked like little Moussaoui was too small to play the outsized role the prosecutors had scripted for him, he simply grew himself to fit into it. Moussaoui's lies don't appear to have actually advanced the conspiracy of 9/11, but they have certainly forwarded the conspiracy to put him to death as a perpetrator of 9/11.
Faced with the choice of believing the combined wisdom of Waleed bin Attash, Sayf al-Adl, and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, or that of the defendant, jurors finally opted to believe Moussaoui and today found him eligible for the death penalty. And why shouldn't they believe him? One terrorist in the hand is better than three in undisclosed overseas locations.
Put aside the uncomfortable fact that Moussaoui was always willing—even eager—to die as a martyr. Put aside also the fact that Moussaoui told the prosecution that he wanted to be executed. And that he was willing to testify against himself if it would mean avoiding a life sentence—because it was "different to die in a battle ... than in a jail on a toilet," as he put it.
Why shouldn't his jurors make his dreams come true?
This was what negotiators describe as a Pareto-optimal result: a win-win, in which Moussaoui, the government, and Americans craving vindication all got what they wanted. In the end, the verdict's only casualties are a few impossible-to-explain facts. Facts that should have added up to just this: We don't execute people for fanciful happenings that may have followed from imaginary conversations.
Nobody will dispute that Moussaoui would have happily done anything at all to help the 9/11 plot succeed. But he did nothing to help it succeed because, as everyone but Moussaoui now agrees, he was flaky, wifty, and weird. It's not a capital crime to be flaky, wifty, or weird. Nor is it a capital crime to wish you were a hero instead of a dud.
Yet because of Moussaoui's false testimony, the government's nutty conspiracy theory, and the nation's need for closure, Moussaoui's name will be in the history books and the law books for all time; inextricably linked with 9/11, just as it has always been in his dreams. And perhaps we will all sleep better for believing that if Moussaoui had come forward and told what little he knew, we could have stopped those terrible attacks, just as it happens in our own dreams.
How lucky for Moussaoui that his fantasies and ours are such a perfect match.
Dahlia Lithwick is a Slate senior editor. When Moussaoui first came into the news, liberals haled him as the Diogenes of the 21st century. Moussaoui unmasked the ineptitude of the FBI when they did not react to the information connected with Moussaoui. Of course that was then, when libs were trying to blame Bush for 9/11 and the only thing they had was a brief which said OSB might want to attack federal buildings with airplanes. Then Moussaoui was a fountain of truth which provided all the necessary information to have prevented 9/11. All Bush had to do was connect the dots. Moussaoui was succefully pulling apart the government's case as Dahlia proclaimed here.
This is now; when 9/11 being Bush's fault only sold Michael Moore. Now Moussaoui is a crackpot delusional who was clueless about 9/11 and had no part in it and no details. Bush/adminstration is using Moussaoui as a scape goat because they could not capture OSB because of their ineptitude. When Moussaoui speaks now it is all lies and untruths of a wannabe with a death wish who is engineering his own demise. The dots are now non-existant.
--TheRanger
(To reply, click here.)
The ruling told the story of a choice of what bad guy to believe and they went with Zacarias Moussaoui. Dahlia Lithwick goes with the theory based on logic that Moussaoui grew himself into the position of star player by puffing up his role in a badly lacking trial against him. It is hard to argue against given the evidence (or lack of evidence) so Lithwick's bottom line of "How lucky for Moussaoui that his fantasies and ours are such a perfect match" is the sad ending. Timothy McVeigh rushed headlong into his death penalty so now we add Moussaoui rushing by proxy. If Moussaoui sticks with this, there will be no court in the land that can or will help him on appeal. It just is.
--marylb
(To reply, click here.)
We've had examples of "suicide by cop" before - cases where misfits have provoked police officers into killing them (like by displaying fake weapons) - but this will be the first time some nut commits suicide by jury. Since the administration went forum shopping for one of the venues most likely to impose a death penalty Moussoui will no doubt get his wish for immortality. How much nicer it would be to think of him rotting away into obscurity with no virgins to comfort him through eternity. Oh well, another Bush "win". Meanwhile, Bush will have his template for stopping the next attack - just wait for one of the conspirators to come forward and confess. Good plan.
--Piney
(To reply, click here.)
In her reporting for the past year or more, Dahlia has consistently beat the drum of civil libertarians who want to see accused suspects in the so-called "War on Terror" tried in normal criminal courts with the trappings of due process. "Give the man a trial, don't keep him locked up indefinitely." "If you have a case, present it to a judge and jury. If you don't, then give it up." "Put up or shut up -- if he's not just a patsy, then try him."
Now, Moussaoui has been tried in a federal criminal court. He testified in open court about his activities. A jury found him guilty, and also found him eligible for the death penalty, in conformity with Blakely. Due process was admittedly slow in coming, but it did eventually come. Moussaoui was not forced to testify against himself, he had an opportunity to challenge the evidence against him, he had lawyers who were appointed for him that (despite Moussaoui's best efforts) tried to represent his interests.
Now what does Dahlia say? Due process is not enough. Moussaoui's testimony cannot be believed (since it is contrary to Dahlia's preconceived beliefs). The jury found the wrong person credible. The system that would "allow" Moussaoui to be sentenced to death is a system crazed and thirsty for revenge without reason.
Obviously, sometimes the legal process reaches the wrong conclusion. Maybe it did here; I don't know, I wasn't on the jury that heard the evidence (as Dahlia no doubt was, based on her confident assertions of fact). But I can't help noting the irony that, having finally gotten what she wanted -- a trial for Moussaoui with plenty of process protections -- Dahlia still isn't satisfied. Is it any wonder that people begin to suspect she isn't really dispassionately interested in "civil liberties" and "process protections" as much as she simply wants any result that is contrary to the government?
--HLS2003
(To reply, click here.)
(4/4)
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When Moussaoui first came into the news, liberals haled him as the Diogenes of the 21st century. Moussaoui unmasked the ineptitude of the FBI when they did not react to the information connected with Moussaoui. Of course that was then, when libs were trying to blame Bush for 9/11 and the only thing they had was a brief which said OSB might want to attack federal buildings with airplanes. Then Moussaoui was a fountain of truth which provided all the necessary information to have prevented 9/11. All Bush had to do was connect the dots. Moussaoui was succefully pulling apart the government's case as Dahlia proclaimed here.
This is now; when 9/11 being Bush's fault only sold Michael Moore. Now Moussaoui is a crackpot delusional who was clueless about 9/11 and had no part in it and no details. Bush/adminstration is using Moussaoui as a scape goat because they could not capture OSB because of their ineptitude. When Moussaoui speaks now it is all lies and untruths of a wannabe with a death wish who is engineering his own demise. The dots are now non-existant.
--TheRanger
(To reply, click here.)
The ruling told the story of a choice of what bad guy to believe and they went with Zacarias Moussaoui. Dahlia Lithwick goes with the theory based on logic that Moussaoui grew himself into the position of star player by puffing up his role in a badly lacking trial against him. It is hard to argue against given the evidence (or lack of evidence) so Lithwick's bottom line of "How lucky for Moussaoui that his fantasies and ours are such a perfect match" is the sad ending. Timothy McVeigh rushed headlong into his death penalty so now we add Moussaoui rushing by proxy. If Moussaoui sticks with this, there will be no court in the land that can or will help him on appeal. It just is.
--marylb
(To reply, click here.)
We've had examples of "suicide by cop" before - cases where misfits have provoked police officers into killing them (like by displaying fake weapons) - but this will be the first time some nut commits suicide by jury. Since the administration went forum shopping for one of the venues most likely to impose a death penalty Moussoui will no doubt get his wish for immortality. How much nicer it would be to think of him rotting away into obscurity with no virgins to comfort him through eternity. Oh well, another Bush "win". Meanwhile, Bush will have his template for stopping the next attack - just wait for one of the conspirators to come forward and confess. Good plan.
--Piney
(To reply, click here.)
In her reporting for the past year or more, Dahlia has consistently beat the drum of civil libertarians who want to see accused suspects in the so-called "War on Terror" tried in normal criminal courts with the trappings of due process. "Give the man a trial, don't keep him locked up indefinitely." "If you have a case, present it to a judge and jury. If you don't, then give it up." "Put up or shut up -- if he's not just a patsy, then try him."
Now, Moussaoui has been tried in a federal criminal court. He testified in open court about his activities. A jury found him guilty, and also found him eligible for the death penalty, in conformity with Blakely. Due process was admittedly slow in coming, but it did eventually come. Moussaoui was not forced to testify against himself, he had an opportunity to challenge the evidence against him, he had lawyers who were appointed for him that (despite Moussaoui's best efforts) tried to represent his interests.
Now what does Dahlia say? Due process is not enough. Moussaoui's testimony cannot be believed (since it is contrary to Dahlia's preconceived beliefs). The jury found the wrong person credible. The system that would "allow" Moussaoui to be sentenced to death is a system crazed and thirsty for revenge without reason.
Obviously, sometimes the legal process reaches the wrong conclusion. Maybe it did here; I don't know, I wasn't on the jury that heard the evidence (as Dahlia no doubt was, based on her confident assertions of fact). But I can't help noting the irony that, having finally gotten what she wanted -- a trial for Moussaoui with plenty of process protections -- Dahlia still isn't satisfied. Is it any wonder that people begin to suspect she isn't really dispassionately interested in "civil liberties" and "process protections" as much as she simply wants any result that is contrary to the government?
--HLS2003
(To reply, click here.)
(4/4)