[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]
|
Status: Not Logged In; Sign In
911 Title: Moussaoui sent FBI on September 11 'goose chases': agent An FBI agent told the September 11 death penalty trial that lies by confessed Al-Qaeda plotter Zacarias Moussaoui silenced "alarm bells" which may have stopped the attacks. Judge Leonie Brinkema meanwhile dramatically warned the US government was on "delicate legal ground," in an increasingly tense hearing, but denied a defence motion for a mistrial over claims Moussaoui's rights had been infringed. Earlier, in a day of testy legal sparring, a flight instructor tasked to teach Moussaoui to fly a Boeing 747 said he feared he might hijack an airliner. Moussaoui is the only man tried in the United States over the world's deadliest terror attack in 2001, which killed 3,000 people. He was in jail at the time, but prosecutors say he should be put to death as he is as guilty as the 19 hijackers after failing to pass on knowledge that Al-Qaeda planned to use airliners as missiles. Moussaoui watched quietly as the drama unfolded, offering his usual "God curse America," shout as the trial broke up for the weekend, but adding "Bye, Bye." Star witness, FBI special agent Harry Samit, who arrested Moussaoui less than a month before the September 11 attacks, said the Frenchman's lies sent his investigation off on "wild goose chases." He was asked what he would have done had Moussaoui told him what he later admitted to the court in 2005, that he was an Al-Qaeda operative, who had sworn allegiance to Osama bin Laden and travelled to the United States to take part in plans to attack US buildings with hijacked airliners. "I would have immediately sounded the alarm," Samit said, adding he would have put out warnings to the FBI, CIA, and the Federal Aviation Administration. In FBI interviews, Moussaoui, 37, denied being a member of a terror group, and gave no indication of such a plan, after being arrested after attracting suspicion at a 747 flight simulator center. Even, so, Samit said he was convinced Moussaoui was "involved in plot to hijack a commercial airliner." "It was the obsession of our squad." Despite his suspicions, Samit's superiors concluded there was insufficient evidence to show Moussaoui was linked to a foreign terror group or about to commit a crime. That meant Samit had no authority to apply for warrants to search Moussaoui's belongings. Defence lawyers later dramatically filed a motion for a mistrial, complaining at "unprofessional" "improper" and "unconstitutional" questions from prosecution counsel David Novak. Novak had asked Samit whether Moussaoui telephoned him from jail to change answers he had given in an interview just after his arrest in August 2001. The defence said such questions infringed on their client's constitutional rights against self incrimination because Moussaoui had already invoked his rights to legal counsel. "I am not declaring a mistrial," said Judge Leonie Brinkema. "I think we can adequately try this case from here on in." Brinkema had however instructed the jury to ignore Novak's question. She also acknowledged that barely a week into what could be a one to three month trial, the case had become mired in a "legal morass." And she warned the prosecution that it was treading on "very delicate legal ground." "I don't know any case when the failure to act has ever resulted in the death penalty." The flight instructor who led Samit to Moussaoui, earlier said he had visions of the Al-Qaeda conspirator hijacking an airliner. Clarence Prevost, a retired Northwest Airlines captain said he soon realised his student knew little about aviation. Moussaoui had earlier sent emails to US flight simulator schools asking in poor English how he could be taught to fly "one of these big bird even if I am not a real professional pilot." Prevost said he at first thought Moussaoui was a "guy with too much money" who just wanted to play at being an airline pilot, and remarked he had only 50 hours of basic flight training and private pilot's licence. He decided to act when he asked the normally friendly Moussaoui if he was a Muslim, and he snapped back "I am nothing." "We know nothing about this guy, and we are teaching somebody to throw the switches on a 747, maybe we shouldn't be doing this," Prevost said he told his boss, who replied that Moussaoui should be indulged after paying 6,800. "We will care when there is a hijacking and he knows how to throw all the switches and the law suits start rolling in," Prevost said he replied. Prosecutors are trying to show Moussaoui's actions in 2000 and 2001, in the United States and Asia, are consistent with those of the hijackers who seized civilian airliners and used them as missiles against New York and Washington. Defence lawyers say Moussaoui was a lone Muslim incompetent rejected by Al-Qaeda, and had nothing to do specifically with the September 11 strikes.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread |
|
[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]
|