FACTS ARE STUBBORN THINGS:

Moussaoui Tied to Plot: Alleged '20th Hijacker' Met 9/11 Planner (Susan Schmidt, November 20, 2002, Washington Post)

Ramzi Binalshibh, an alleged coordinator of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks now in U.S. custody, has linked accused conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui to the suspected mastermind of the terror strikes on New York and Washington, revealing that Moussaoui met with Khalid Sheik Mohammed in Afghanistan in the winter of 2000, according to sources familiar with the interrogation.

Binalshibh's disclosures place Moussaoui in direct contact with Mohammed, believed to be al Qaeda's director of operations, who allegedly spent two years planning the terror attacks. Mohammed provided Moussaoui with names of contacts in the United States, and Binalshibh gave him an e-mail address and wired him money to advance the plot, Binalshibh has told interrogators.

Moussaoui's involvement in the plot has been obvious from day one, which makes this revelation particularly devastating not just for the 20th hijacker but for those on the Left who've been defending him, Executing justice: Why Bush should refrain from death penalty in Moussaoui case (MICHAEL MELLO, January 10, 2002, Rutland Herald)

Please pardon my treason. In writing this essay, I am probably, in the words of Attorney General John Ashcroft, guilty of “aiding terrorists.” By reading it, you might be committing the crime of conspiring with me.

Think that reading an essay isn’t enough of an overt act to count as conspiracy? Then consider paragraph 48 of the capital conspiracy indictment against Zacarias Moussaoui: “Moussaoui joins a gym.” The indictment devotes an entire subhead to that overt act. (Or consider Mary Serrat,
executed for conspiracy to aid the Lincoln assassins; she was, in essence, put to death for running a boarding house at which some of the conspirators lived and met.)

The government is now in the process of deciding whether to seek the death penalty for conspiracy in the Moussaoui case. The Justice Department needs to step back, take a deep breath, and decide that life imprisonment is sufficient. [...]

There are two things wrong with executing Zacarias Moussaoui for conspiracy to commit terrorism. The first is the crime. The second is the punishment.

Mr. Mello, part of Ted Bundy's defense team, was one of the very few professors I ever had who was truly loathesome. As in this column, he was perfectly willing to twist facts to suit his own purposes. The problem for such people is that when the facts catch up, and they usually do, you end up looking like an idiot, as he does here.
Posted by Orrin Judd at November 20, 2002 12:01 AM