What's Really Wrong With The Moussaoui Case

[QueEx]

<font size="5"><center>What's Really Wrong With The Moussaoui Case</font size>
<font size="4">Prosecutors are blaming Carla Martin for witness tampering,
but that's just one symptom of a deeply
flawed government prosecution</font size></center>

TIME Magazine
By DOUGLAS WALLER/WASHINGTON
Posted Thursday, Mar. 16, 2006

Carla J. Martin has taken most of the flack this week for the potential collapse of the Justice Department’s death penalty case against confessed Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui. It is after all Martin, a former flight attendant turned government aviation lawyer, who stands accused of improperly coaching witnesses scheduled to testify in Moussaoui's sentencing trial, e-mailing trial transcripts and offering advice on how to testify.

But for all the trouble Martin allegedly caused federal prosecutors — who have told the court they were unaware of her actions and will try next week to get Judge Leonie Brinkema to reverse her decision barring the seven witnesses' testimony — critics claim Martin is only one symptom of much deeper problems in the way the Justice Department has handled the high-profile terror case.

For one, the sea of government attorneys working on the case, many from outside Justice, simply got too large; the more lawyers the prosecution has working on a case, many attorneys argue, the more chances a serious mistake will be made. Martin herself works as a Transportation Security Administration lawyer, and prosecutors say she had no substantive involvement with the case, simply locating TSA files and helping arrange witness interviews. Lawyers who know her say she's an aggressive attorney but has confined herself to work in civil and administrative law, which has looser rules for admissible evidence than in criminal law. The case was "a classic example of too many chefs spoiling the soup," says Larry Barcella, a former assistant U.S. attorney who's handled a number of terror trials.

A more fundamental problem is what aviation security lawyers deride as the government’s "imperial overreach." Prosecutors are arguing that if Moussaoui had come clean with FBI agents interrogating him before 9/11, airport security could have been beefed up to foil the hijackers. In other words, they are claiming that he should be put to death because of his inactions rather than his actions. "It’s enough of a stretch to get juries to convict people who drive getaway cars in a murder of conspiracy," says one government security lawyer not involved in the case. "But these prosecutors think Moussaoui should be put to death for not revealing a plan he never took part in?"

It hasn’t helped matters that prosecutors have given the judge headaches over other missteps. Two years ago, for example, Brinkema took the death penalty off the table after government lawyers disobeyed her order that Moussaoui's legal team be allowed to interview captured al-Qaeda leaders that they claimed might clear their client, a ruling a higher court eventually overturned. And as recently as last week, Brinkema admonished prosecutor David Novak for posing an inappropriate question to an FBI agent who was testifying during the jury trial. "I don't think in the annals of criminal law there has ever been a case with this many significant problems," Judge Brinkema complained.

Martin's attorney, Roscoe C. Howard Jr., released a statement Thursday claiming his client, who was placed on paid administrative leave from her job Thursday and could face civil or criminal charges, has been "viciously vilified by assertions from the prosecution." What prosecutors have told the judge she did, the statement said, is not "the whole truth." Howard said Martin is preparing her response, which "will show a very different, full picture of her intentions, her conduct and her tireless dedication to a fair trial."

That may well be, but even Carla Martin's e-mails to prep witnesses — which were intended to bolster the government's case — ended up pointing out a serious flaw in it. As part of their case, prosecutors are arguing that if Moussaoui had come clean about the plot, enhanced airport screening could have detected the short-bladed knives that the hijackers carried on board. But as Martin herself wrote in one of her e-mails, "There is no way anyone could say that the carriers could have prevented all short-bladed knives from going through."

- With reporting by Sally B. Donnelly

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1174270,00.html

 

[Makkonnen]

with all the fascist bullshit masquerading as patriotism it shouldnt surprise u that the govt has no case
how many convicted terrorists are there now after all the detainings and arrests?

 

[GET YOU HOT]

Moussaoui Says He Was to Hijack 5th Plane
By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN, Associated Press Writer

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Laying out a stunning new version of his terrorist mission, al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui testified Monday that he was supposed to hijack a fifth jetliner on Sept. 11, 2001, with would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid and fly it into the White House.

But the jury also heard the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, now in U.S. custody, repeatedly state that Moussaoui was to be a part of a second wave of attacks unrelated to Sept. 11. In a 58-page statement read to jurors, Shaikh Mohammed said that he only wanted Middle Easterners for Sept. 11 so that Europeans like Moussaoui stood a better chance of mounting a subsequent attack after security was increased.

Testifying against the advice of his court-appointed lawyers, Moussaoui shocked the courtroom. Jurors who will decide whether he is executed or imprisoned for life were almost motionless during his nearly three hours on the stand. They didn't look down to take notes; all eyes locked on the bearded 37-year-old Frenchman of Moroccan descent — the only person charged in this country in connection with Sept. 11.

His testimony started in familiar territory. He denied he was supposed to be the so-called missing 20th hijacker of Sept. 11. He testified he was not intended to be a fifth terrorist on United Airlines Flight 93 that crashed into a Pennsylvania field — the only plane hijacked by four instead of five terrorists.

Then came the shock.

Defense attorney Gerald Zerkin: "Before your arrest, were you scheduled to pilot a plane as part of the 9/11 operation?"

Moussaoui: "Yes. I was supposed to pilot a plane to hit the White House."

He said he didn't know details of the other hijackings set for that day except that planes were to be flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

Zerkin asked if he knew who else would be on his plane.

"Richard Reid. The other crew members were not definite," Moussaoui replied, referring to a man he had met in the 1990s at London's Finsbury Park mosque, where Islamic fundamentalists recruited followers.

On Dec. 22, 2001, Reid was subdued by passengers aboard American Airlines Flight 63 from Paris to Miami when he attempted to detonate a bomb in his shoe. That plane landed safely in Boston. Reid later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.

This account by Moussaoui diverged sharply from his previous statements, including his confession when pleading guilty last April. For three years, he has said he had no involvement in the Sept. 11 plot. Instead, he has said he was taking pilot lessons in Minnesota to fly a 747 jetliner into the White House at a later date if the United States refused to release a radical Egyptian sheik imprisoned for separate terrorist convictions.

Former federal prosecutor Preston Burton said in an interview that Moussaoui was admitting "far more individual involvement than he had made before." Now in private practice in Washington, Burton called it "a stunning revelation that would help prosecutors rather than him."

On cross-examination, prosecutor Rob Spencer underlined that Moussaoui was now saying his attack was to be part of the Sept. 11 plot.

Spencer: " Osama bin Laden put you back in as the pilot of the fifth plane?"
Moussaoui: "That's correct."

Moussaoui had explained earlier Monday that at one point he was excluded from pre-hijacking operations because he had gotten in trouble with his al-Qaida superiors on a 2000 trip to Malaysia. He had rejected flight training they tried to arrange for him there and had been floating ill-conceived bombing and robbery plots to the local al-Qaida affiliate that was putting him up.

Moussaoui said he was summoned back to Afghanistan by Shaikh Mohammed. "My position was, like you say, under review," Moussaoui testified. It was only after he acknowledged to Osama bin Laden that he had gone wrong in Malaysia that bin Laden restored him to the plot, he added.

Moussaoui told the court he knew the World Trade Center attack was coming and had lied to investigators when arrested in August 2001 because he wanted the operation to continue.
Prosecutor Spencer asked: "You knew on Aug. 16 that other al-Qaida members were in the United States?"
"That's correct," Moussaoui replied.

Spencer: "You knew there was a pending plot?"
"That's correct."

Spencer: "You lied because you wanted to conceal that you were a member of al-Qaida?"

"That's correct."
"You lied so the plan could go forward?"

"That's correct." BRAINWASHED

To get a death penalty, the government must show that an action of Moussaoui's led directly to at least one of the nearly 3,000 deaths on Sept. 11. Prosecutors have said the act was his lying to the FBI after his Aug. 16, 2001, arrest, lies that they contend prevented the FBI and Federal Aviation Administration from detecting the plot and saving at least one life.

Before Moussaoui testified, his attorneys took one last stab to keep him off the stand. Zerkin argued that his client would not be a competent witness because he recognizes only Islamic law, not American law, and believes it's permissible to lie to further holy war. But when Moussaoui balked at the witness oath, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema asked him directly if he would tell the truth and he said he would.

Spencer tried but failed to counter one of the defense's opening day arguments. Defense attorney Edward MacMahon had told the jury Moussaoui wanted martyrdom and the only way he could achieve that would be if the jury gave him the death penalty. "Don't make him a hero," MacMahon pleaded.

Three times, Spencer asked Moussaoui a version of "If you get the death penalty, you are not a martyr?"

"It's more complex," Moussaoui protested. "It depends."

Spencer: "Depends on what?"

"If you have fought to the best of your ability," Moussaoui said.

Former federal prosecutor Lee Rubin, now in private practice in Palo Alto, Calif., said prosecutors need to be careful how they play up Moussaoui's testimony with the jury. "The first question is, Is it truthful? Or is he committing suicide, effectively?"

"Rather than rotting in a jail, he might consider the ultimate martyrdom to be being put to death by the American infidels," Rubin said.

In testimony read by a public defender, Shaikh Mohammed said he wasn't aware that Moussaoui was in custody until after Sept. 11, and that Moussaoui's arrest on Aug. 16 would have disrupted Sept. 11 plans if he were a part of the operation.

Shaikh Mohammed also said he wanted all the second-wave hijackers to be Europeans or Asians who might face less scrutiny in a post-Sept. 11 world. But that attack never materialized, he said, because he did not anticipate the ferocity of the U.S. response to Sept. 11 and the only other pilot backed out.

Shaikh Mohammed considered Moussaoui too self-confident and too talkative. He instructed Sept. 11 planner Ramzi Binalshibh to cut off contact with Moussaoui in early August 2001 for fear that Moussaoui would get Binalshibh caught.

Defense attorneys had wanted to call Khalid Mohammed to the courtroom, but the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled his testimony could be submitted in writing for security reasons.

 

[GET YOU HOT]

A very strange thing occured, i had a link on how CIA methods of brainwashing...link and its GONE!

Gone
The requested resource
/mc/c_brainwashingDullesWarrenCommission.html
is no longer available on this server and there is no forwarding address. Please remove all references to this resource

 

[QueEx]

Moussaoui Says He Was to Hijack 5th Plane
By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN, Associated Press Writer

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Laying out a stunning new version of his terrorist mission, al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui testified Monday that he was supposed to hijack a fifth jetliner on Sept. 11, 2001, with would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid and fly it into the White House.

But the jury also heard the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, now in U.S. custody, repeatedly state that Moussaoui was to be a part of a second wave of attacks unrelated to Sept. 11. In a 58-page statement read to jurors, Shaikh Mohammed said that he only wanted Middle Easterners for Sept. 11 so that Europeans like Moussaoui stood a better chance of mounting a subsequent attack after security was increased.

Testifying against the advice of his court-appointed lawyers, Moussaoui shocked the courtroom. Jurors who will decide whether he is executed or imprisoned for life were almost motionless during his nearly three hours on the stand. They didn't look down to take notes; all eyes locked on the bearded 37-year-old Frenchman of Moroccan descent — the only person charged in this country in connection with Sept. 11.

His testimony started in familiar territory. He denied he was supposed to be the so-called missing 20th hijacker of Sept. 11. He testified he was not intended to be a fifth terrorist on United Airlines Flight 93 that crashed into a Pennsylvania field — the only plane hijacked by four instead of five terrorists.

Then came the shock.

Defense attorney Gerald Zerkin: "Before your arrest, were you scheduled to pilot a plane as part of the 9/11 operation?"

Moussaoui: "Yes. I was supposed to pilot a plane to hit the White House."

He said he didn't know details of the other hijackings set for that day except that planes were to be flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

Zerkin asked if he knew who else would be on his plane.

"Richard Reid. The other crew members were not definite," Moussaoui replied, referring to a man he had met in the 1990s at London's Finsbury Park mosque, where Islamic fundamentalists recruited followers.

On Dec. 22, 2001, Reid was subdued by passengers aboard American Airlines Flight 63 from Paris to Miami when he attempted to detonate a bomb in his shoe. That plane landed safely in Boston. Reid later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.

This account by Moussaoui diverged sharply from his previous statements, including his confession when pleading guilty last April. For three years, he has said he had no involvement in the Sept. 11 plot. Instead, he has said he was taking pilot lessons in Minnesota to fly a 747 jetliner into the White House at a later date if the United States refused to release a radical Egyptian sheik imprisoned for separate terrorist convictions.

Former federal prosecutor Preston Burton said in an interview that Moussaoui was admitting "far more individual involvement than he had made before." Now in private practice in Washington, Burton called it "a stunning revelation that would help prosecutors rather than him."

On cross-examination, prosecutor Rob Spencer underlined that Moussaoui was now saying his attack was to be part of the Sept. 11 plot.

Spencer: " Osama bin Laden put you back in as the pilot of the fifth plane?"
Moussaoui: "That's correct."

Moussaoui had explained earlier Monday that at one point he was excluded from pre-hijacking operations because he had gotten in trouble with his al-Qaida superiors on a 2000 trip to Malaysia. He had rejected flight training they tried to arrange for him there and had been floating ill-conceived bombing and robbery plots to the local al-Qaida affiliate that was putting him up.

Moussaoui said he was summoned back to Afghanistan by Shaikh Mohammed. "My position was, like you say, under review," Moussaoui testified. It was only after he acknowledged to Osama bin Laden that he had gone wrong in Malaysia that bin Laden restored him to the plot, he added.

Moussaoui told the court he knew the World Trade Center attack was coming and had lied to investigators when arrested in August 2001 because he wanted the operation to continue.
Prosecutor Spencer asked: "You knew on Aug. 16 that other al-Qaida members were in the United States?"
"That's correct," Moussaoui replied.

Spencer: "You knew there was a pending plot?"
"That's correct."

Spencer: "You lied because you wanted to conceal that you were a member of al-Qaida?"

"That's correct."
"You lied so the plan could go forward?"

"That's correct." BRAINWASHED

To get a death penalty, the government must show that an action of Moussaoui's led directly to at least one of the nearly 3,000 deaths on Sept. 11. Prosecutors have said the act was his lying to the FBI after his Aug. 16, 2001, arrest, lies that they contend prevented the FBI and Federal Aviation Administration from detecting the plot and saving at least one life.

Before Moussaoui testified, his attorneys took one last stab to keep him off the stand. Zerkin argued that his client would not be a competent witness because he recognizes only Islamic law, not American law, and believes it's permissible to lie to further holy war. But when Moussaoui balked at the witness oath, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema asked him directly if he would tell the truth and he said he would.

Spencer tried but failed to counter one of the defense's opening day arguments. Defense attorney Edward MacMahon had told the jury Moussaoui wanted martyrdom and the only way he could achieve that would be if the jury gave him the death penalty. "Don't make him a hero," MacMahon pleaded.

Three times, Spencer asked Moussaoui a version of "If you get the death penalty, you are not a martyr?"

"It's more complex," Moussaoui protested. "It depends."

Spencer: "Depends on what?"

"If you have fought to the best of your ability," Moussaoui said.

Former federal prosecutor Lee Rubin, now in private practice in Palo Alto, Calif., said prosecutors need to be careful how they play up Moussaoui's testimony with the jury. "The first question is, Is it truthful? Or is he committing suicide, effectively?"

"Rather than rotting in a jail, he might consider the ultimate martyrdom to be being put to death by the American infidels," Rubin said.

In testimony read by a public defender, Shaikh Mohammed said he wasn't aware that Moussaoui was in custody until after Sept. 11, and that Moussaoui's arrest on Aug. 16 would have disrupted Sept. 11 plans if he were a part of the operation.

Shaikh Mohammed also said he wanted all the second-wave hijackers to be Europeans or Asians who might face less scrutiny in a post-Sept. 11 world. But that attack never materialized, he said, because he did not anticipate the ferocity of the U.S. response to Sept. 11 and the only other pilot backed out.

Shaikh Mohammed considered Moussaoui too self-confident and too talkative. He instructed Sept. 11 planner Ramzi Binalshibh to cut off contact with Moussaoui in early August 2001 for fear that Moussaoui would get Binalshibh caught.

Defense attorneys had wanted to call Khalid Mohammed to the courtroom, but the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled his testimony could be submitted in writing for security reasons.

GYH,

How about do us all a favor: (1) put the URL at end of articles; and (2) don't editorialize or put your comments within articles without clearly letting the reader know that you have done that. Its okay to highlight, bold, italicize, etc., within an article -- but please do not add text, especially if you don't let us know you have done so.

Thanks,

QueEx

 

[Greed]

Al Qaeda detainees contradict Moussaoui testimony

Al Qaeda detainees contradict Moussaoui testimony
By Deborah Charles
Tue Mar 28, 6:26 PM ET

Top al Qaeda operatives and others in U.S. custody said in testimony on Tuesday that Zacarias Moussaoui was untrustworthy and not part of the September 11 attacks.

One day after Moussaoui gave shocking testimony that he was meant to fly a plane into the White House as part of the September 11 plot, the men detained as U.S. enemy combatants contradicted him.

Most of the testimony was read aloud from detainees who were forbidden from testifying because of national security concerns. Much of it questioned Moussaoui's competence, and the man said to be the financier of the September 11 attacks said he had had no involvement with Moussaoui.

Moussaoui is on trial to determine if he gets the death penalty for admitting guilt in connection with the attacks in New York and Washington which killed about 3,000 people.

Last year, when he pleaded guilty to conspiracy in connection with the attacks, Moussaoui said he was meant to be in a second wave of attacks.

In an effort to rebut Moussaoui's own damaging admissions on Monday, defense attorney Edward MacMahon read a transcript from the hearing in which Moussaoui pleaded guilty and where he said he was not involved in the September 11 attacks.

The defense then rested its case. Closing arguments were scheduled for 1 p.m. on Wednesday, after which the jury will begin deliberations.

As part of their effort to rebuild its case, the defense presented a statement from Sayf al-Adl, a senior member of al Qaeda's military committee, who said Moussaoui was "absolutely not" going to take part in the September 11 mission.

Mustafa al Hawsawi, the financier who gave several of the hijackers airline tickets to the United States, said he had "no knowledge" of Moussaoui's financial dealings.

DAILY CALLS FROM MOUSSAOUI

A senior al Qaeda operative, known as Khallad, said Moussaoui broke security by phoning him every day during a trip to Malaysia in 2000.

Khallad, who was linked with the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa and masterminded the 2000 attack on the USS Cole, was eventually forced to turn off his telephone.

In testimony from Riduan Isamuddin -- known as Hambali -- Moussaoui was depicted as "not bright in the head and having a bad character."

"According to Hambali, Moussaoui managed to annoy everyone he came in contact with," the testimony said, adding that Hambali said he did not trust Moussaoui.

Hambali -- a top member of Jemaah Islamiah, an Asian group linked to al Qaeda -- said Moussaoui spoke of dreams he had to fly a plane into the White House. Moussaoui also constantly suggested operations Jemaah Islamiah members thought were "ridiculous," according to the testimony.

Hambali said he eventually paid for a plane ticket to Europe in order to get Moussaoui to leave Malaysia.

Moussaoui, who was arrested on August 16, 2001, said he did not have many details of the plot but knew he was to fly a plane into the White House and that the towers of New York's World Trade Center were also to be targets.

In testimony later on Tuesday, an FBI agent disclosed that Moussaoui met with prosecutors last month to offer to testify against himself for the government in exchange for better jail conditions until he was executed. A deal was never made after Moussaoui refused to cooperate unconditionally and was told he had a constitutional right to testify regardless of any deal.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060328/ts_nm/security_moussaoui_dc

 

[QueEx]

Re: Al Qaeda detainees contradict Moussaoui testimony

<font size="5"><center>Moussaoui ‘more Al-Qaeda wannabe’
than 9/11 plotter</font size></center>


The Sunday Times
Tony Allen-Mills, New York
April 02, 2006

AT ONE point in his explosive appearance in a Virginia courtroom last Monday, Zacarias Moussaoui cracked a joke. The man accused of being the “20th hijacker” in the attacks of September 11, 2001, was outlining the exceptions to Islamic laws against lying.

A Muslim was entitled to lie about jihad (holy war) and to encourage reconciliation, said the would-be terrorist whose life is hanging on a jury’s verdict expected this week. He could also lie “if a wife asks her husband, ‘Am I beautiful?’ and the wife is 60 years old”.



Sitting across the high-security federal courtroom in Alexandria, Virginia, Judge Leonie Brinkema — who is 61 — permitted herself a rare smile. The main question as the jury adjourned on Friday evening without reaching a verdict was whether Moussaoui had succeeded in turning his trial into a bigger but much sicker joke.

Moussaoui was arrested in Minnesota a month before 9/11 after arousing suspicions as he learnt how to fly a Boeing 747. The US government has argued that by failing to warn FBI agents of the attacks, he became eligible for execution as a party to mass murder.

After years of denying that he knew anything about the timing of 9/11, Moussaoui took to the witness stand on Monday and practically invited the jury to vote for his execution. Standing before the court in a green prison jumpsuit and white skullcap, Moussaoui dumbfounded his defence by proclaiming that he was “supposed to pilot a plane to hit the White House”.

Not only did Moussaoui confess to everything the prosecution had accused him of, he added a new detail that neither the US nor British intelligence communities believes. He said his co-conspirator in the hijacking plan was Richard Reid, the British “shoe bomber” sentenced to life imprisonment after trying to blow up a transatlantic jet in December 2001.

The outburst transformed a trial that had featured a series of blunders by government prosecutors and a frank recognition by many relatives of 9/11 victims that, whatever his warped ambitions to become a killer of Americans, Moussaoui may have been a self-aggrandising Al-Qaeda nonentity.

All that changed when Moussaoui decided to testify. Yet one of the main pieces of evidence that Moussaoui’s “confession” was bogus — and may have been aimed at persuading the jury to collaborate in his effective suicide — was his relationship with Reid, according to US intelligence sources convinced the British bomber had nothing to do with 9/11.

It emerged this weekend that Reid wrote to Moussaoui in October 2002 — when both men were in prison — offering to help his defence. The letter indicates Reid was ready to testify that Moussaoui was not involved in the 9/11 plot.

The jury was given the weekend off when it failed to reach a verdict on Friday afternoon, after 12½ hours of deliberation. Legal sources said Moussaoui’s jury had little way of knowing the true nature of his relationship with Reid. The two would-be terrorists attended Brixton mosque in south London at different times.

Interrogators later established that Reid and Moussaoui had both trained at the Khalden camp in Afghanistan where Al-Qaeda housed its international brigade of volunteers. But the real 9/11 hijackers were trained at al-Matar camp, where an Osama Bin Laden lieutenant named Abu Turab al-Urduni taught mostly Saudi and Yemeni volunteers how to slit the throats of aircraft crew. According to testimony presented last week, al-Urduni made the men practise on sheep and camels.

In an attempt to salvage their case, Moussaoui’s lawyers presented testimony from Al-Qaeda leaders who dismissed him as a fool. One described Moussaoui as “very troubled, not right in the head”; others said he was dumped from operations as a security risk.

The notion that Moussaoui and Reid were central to the 9/11 conspiracy — and had been entrusted with the task of destroying the White House — was “pretty fantastical”, one Washington official said. “If there had ever been any evidence that Reid was in any way connected to this, the Feds would be all over him,” the official added. Another source said there were no plans to interview Reid about the allegations.

All of which was confusing for victims’ families watching the proceedings. If the jury decides Moussaoui is eligible for the death penalty, a second phase of the trial will open to decide whether it should be applied. Relatives of victims will be allowed to testify about their losses.

Yet several relatives said their hopes of satisfaction had dissolved in Moussaoui’s rantings. While some said he should be executed anyway, others saw little point in making a martyr of a footsoldier.

Carie Lemack, co-founder of a families’ lobbying group, said she could not understand why the government was seeking the death penalty when Moussaoui wanted to die.
“I don’t want to give him the dignity of a planned execution,” she said. “Let him sit in a cold, dirty cell alone for the rest of his long days, unable to direct his rants at anyone.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2114348,00.html

 

[hoodedgoon]

Re: Al Qaeda detainees contradict Moussaoui testimony

I have to say I’m a little bit confused by this case.
1. dude was in jail months before the attacks
2. his other Al Qaeda buddies said he's a lose cannon and was not part of the plot
3. Based on FBI and government evidence, Al Qaeda was actually trying to get rid of this guy case he was crazy. They didn’t want anything to do with him.

So exactly why is this guy up for the death penalty. Seems like the Gov is so desperate to convict someone even crazy Al Qaeda wannabe

 

[Greed]

Re: Al Qaeda detainees contradict Moussaoui testimony

well, i guess we can see who's going to become the new tookie.

 

[QueEx]

Re: Al Qaeda detainees contradict Moussaoui testimony

Web Exclusive| Nation

<font size="5"><center>Moussaoui's Mother: "This Is a Show Trial"</font size>
<font size="4">In an interview with TIME as her son's defense wraps up,
she denounces the attempt to make him a "scapegoat,"
but calls his taunting remarks about 9/11 "atrocious"</font size></center>

TIME Magazine
Posted Thursday, Apr. 20, 2006

Aicha el-Wafi, 59, says weeks of stress, a failing appetite and little sleep during the trial of her son Zacarias Moussaoui have left her a wreck. As his trial nears an end and she awaits word on whether he will be sentenced to death, Moussaoui's mother talked with TIME Paris correspondent Bruce Crumley about her son's path to Islamic extremism and what she insists is a show trial intended to make him the scapegoat for 9/11. Excerpts from the interview:

TIME: This trial and your son's declarations during it are getting a lot of attention. Is there something you'd want to say to people that you fear may be otherwise getting lost in the bustle?

Aicha el-Wafi: What I want to say is that the people responsible for the horrible crimes and murderous tragedy of Sept. 11 must be judged, and families of victims and all of America deserve justice. But that's not what's happening today. Who really believes Zacarias Moussaoui played a part in those attacks? He was in prison on Sept. 11, and had been for weeks. He's admitted he was in the U.S. to prepare for some plot. He's said he's a member of al-Qaeda, and proud of that. He's pleaded guilty — against the urging of the lawyers and my pleadings not to. So, with all that going against him, why not admit he was part of the Sept. 11 attack as well? Because he wasn't. And that's the deep injustice of this trial: he's being judged for the things he says, the things he believes, the convictions he has that shock us all, but not for his involvement in the attacks.

You know, when I was in Virginia for the first part of the trial, and during an earlier visit to New York, I spoke with and even stayed in the homes of families who had lost loved ones in the attacks. And do you know what they said? While they were disgusted with things Zacarias has said, they said they, too, thought this trial was a farce. They said it was an attempt by the American government to deliver a head on a stake to answer for Sept. 11.

But not everyone is duped, you can be certain. Lots of people watching in America and around the world know this is a show trial. The families of victims know it. They told me, "We want the real people behind this. We're not going to be fooled or satisfied by this sideshow." They know this thing is heading towards a pre-determined outcome, and for political reasons. In fact, you know what happened to me recently? The son and grandson of the two people who were executed for spying for the Russians — the Rosenbergs — came up to me, gave me a book about that affair, and said 'Have courage — lots of people know what this is really about."​

But his dedication to al-Qaeda and his violent accusations and comments regarding America, Jews, foes of jihad don't exactly support his claims of innocence in 9/11.

Yes. This is one reason I stopped doing the telephone calls with him last May — 45 minutes, once a month. Mostly, it was because he'd pleaded guilty, and trying to speak reason with him on what he was going to do made no more sense. But also, whenever we spoke about anything beyond me and him — the family, things from the past — you couldn't have a discussion. Religion, politics, the situation with Israel and Palestine, the American action in the world — his positions were taken, mind made up, there was no room for any flexibility or debate. It was really very striking: the contrast between the Zacary I recognized and knew when we spoke about us, and this militant he'd become on anything else.​

What were your reactions when he made provocative, outrageous statements in court, ones clearly designed to mock and belittle the personal and national loss in 9/11?

It was atrocious. Horrible. I had to look away. I plugged my ears and closed my eyes. I felt faint. Eventually, I left the courtroom. I felt terrible for the families of victims, people who had lost their loved ones in the attacks. What must they have felt?! I even felt bad for anyone else in America who'd be shocked. It made me feel sick for them. But it also proved a personal blow to me as well: I could actually see him digging his own grave each time he said such things.

It was also very hard to look at him afterwards. I'd see this man and listen to the terrible things he'd say and wonder, 'Do I know this man? Can he really be the son I know so well? Is there, somewhere deep down in there, still a core of the old Zacary people knew and loved underneath all the extremism?" Often, during the phone calls, I knew there was. After these outbursts, it was hard to know.​

Will you hold America responsible for his unjust death if he's given a death sentence?

No. This isn't about America, or Americans in general. This is one government pushing this. It is true, however, that this trial would have been quite different had it taken place in most other countries. In fact, it might have been stopped before this stage. Had we wanted to mount the best defense possible — one that could strip the manipulation and even lies off the prosecution — we would have needed money. Lots of money. But I'm retired; I don't have any money. And in American courts, that winds up being a big factor. Especially when you're fighting a political machine.​

Don't you think the issue of your son's mental stability should have been a major, if not the foremost factor in his defense, especially after he pleaded guilty?

I don't think he is, but I'm not a doctor. They've started trying hard to prove he's crazy. Is he? Are others in my family? I can't say, because I'm not a psychiatrist. What I can say is this: [my children] experienced some very hard, ugly things in life — racism, rejection, injustice, violence — and in some cases have reacted in ways that are just as hard. In some cases, they became really sick. With Zacary, I think he sought out people and ideas as extreme as the humiliation and fury he experienced before he became an Islamist.

In any case, what I can tell you is this: someone who pleads guilty to the charges he has, yet argues he's really only guilty of something unrelated to those charges — the Sept. 11 attacks — may not be crazy, but he's not thinking logically. Which also takes us back to something Khalid Sheikh Mohammed told his interrogators: that Zacarias Moussaoui wasn't reliable enough, that he wasn't part of the Sept. 11 plot. Look at the care the others took to remain secret, not draw attention to themselves, to even play the role of the miscreant to keep anyone of suspecting their real thinking and intentions. Now look at Zacarias Moussaoui's behavior — the one that led to his arrest, and the one in court. You don't think Khalid Sheikh Mohammed didn't have a point when he said my son was unpredictable?​

He clearly doesn't appear to have ever kept his emotions closely in check. But do you think he's mentally ill?

I know he's not well generally. He's been in isolation for years! The confinement, being alone, medication he's been given, have all taken a toll on him. Mentally? I'm not a doctor; I can't say.​

He actually appears to have become even more defiant and radical since his arrest.

Which perhaps isn't surprising. He joined a sect — an extremist, violent sect. Like others in his case, he underwent a kind of brainwashing — as all people in sects do. Once someone is brainwashed, they are under the control of those they consider their leaders. What happens when they are cut off from those leaders? Zacary seems to have gone even further. Maybe it's like someone who feels like they are in the middle of the sea: they hold on even tighter to the buoy that got them there.​

Isn't it difficult to fully support the defense's current tactic of describing your son as mentally ill and bringing his family into it?

Am I excited about depicting my entire family as insane? Not at all! (laughs) And I won't do it — because it's not the case. On the one hand, I want to keep my son alive and will do what I can to achieve that. On the other hand, it's true that it's not a natural human desire to want to go out and say everyone in your family is mentally ill!​

There is some history of that, isn't there?

Without succumbing to defensiveness or pride, I think a lot has been said here in the interests of defending my son that is more nuanced than you might have heard. My children have seen hard, hard things. A violent father, racism, rejection, their identity questioned — French-born children of this nation made to feel like they don't belong. Djamila, my oldest daughter, had her head cut open as a child when her father threw a glass at her. Later, she was thrown out of a teenage party she'd been invited to by a father who said Arabs weren't allowed in the house. Three days later, she slit her wrists. She hasn't had an easy life since, and she is, indeed, very sick.

Her father, who was mentally ill when I was married to him [at age 14], though I didn't know it then. We also didn't know he'd been married three times before. He beat me so often you wouldn't believe it if I told you. Once, he grabbed me by the throat, held a knife to it, and said he'd butcher me like a lamb. Another time, he tried to throw me out of a 12-story window. Another, he beat me with a bicycle chain. By the time I took the children and ran away from him, we'd all seen a lot. He's in a hospital now in Paris, where they care for the mentally ill.

Nadia, my other daughter, has had hard times and has bouts of depression, but lots of people do. She's not mentally ill. Neither is my oldest son, Abd Samad, though he is also an Islamist radical: a Habishite, who hates the Wahabists like Zacarias, and consider them traitors and rivals. This is the success story the prosecutors pointed to to prove Zacarias' actions couldn't be the result of family mental histories or other common troubles.​

So do you believe Zacarais is mentally ill, or that there's enough evidence of that in the family that illness is a real possibility?

I know he's not well generally speaking. Ill or not, I don't know. What I can say is, I don't understand his thinking.​

Do you think he wants to die?

No. It's clear he doesn't. But I know him. When he's confronted with injustice, a deck obviously stacked against him or people like racists making impossible demands, his reaction was always the same: defiant, provocative, and daring his rivals to throw everything at him.​

He doesn't want to become a martyr for jihad, an al-Qaeda hero?

No. If he did, he'd have admitted to everything the prosecution is accusing him of from the start, and never contested the death penalty. But he's fighting it because he knows it's not justified for what he did, for what he says.

And this is the terrible irony of this farce: the government, the prosecution, is going to give the extremists the one thing they love most: a martyr for their cause, and a brother to avenge. And for what? Because he got caught before he could do whatever it was he was trying to, and was in jail when the others attacked on Sept. 11? They are dead, and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Ramzi Binalshibh are under arrest. But it's Zacarias they want to execute. Who will benefit from that? The ones who need martyrs, of course.​

Will you go to see him before he's executed, if that's the sentence?

Seeing him is so hard. It takes so long to arrange... Of course, I'd need to see him, speak with him again. He's my son, and I love him no matter what. But these kinds of arrangements can take so long. I'd hope there wouldn't be any rush to get it over with.​

This is a hard, hypothetical question, but what would you do if some al-Qaeda leader arranged for you to get the same money that families of suicide bombers in Palestine or other suicide bombers have in the past, as a kind of payment to the Moussaoui family for their martyr?

I'd have none of it, of course. It would repel me; disgust me. If I understand the logic of it correctly, Palestinian families get that kind of payment as compensation for their contribution to the cause. My only cause right now is keeping my son alive, and hoping the injustice of his execution can be avoided. Someone paying money for his death would be at once desecrating and celebrating my defeat in that cause.​

`
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1185866,00.html

 

[QueEx]

Re: Al Qaeda detainees contradict Moussaoui testimony

Sounds like a mother's love, a mother's pain, and the truth, to me.

QueEx

 

[Greed]

Moussaoui wants to withdraw guilty plea

Moussaoui wants to withdraw guilty plea
By Deborah Charles
48 minutes ago

Zacarias Moussaoui, who was sentenced last week to life in prison, filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea on Monday and said he lied when he testified that he was meant to be part of the September 11 hijacking plot.

Moussaoui, 37, said in the affidavit filed with the motion that he had pleaded guilty to conspiracy in connection with the attacks against the advice of his lawyers because his understanding of the U.S. legal system was "completely flawed."

"Because I now see that it is possible that I can receive a fair trial, even with Americans as jurors and that I can have the opportunity to prove that I did not have any knowledge of and was not a member of the plot to hijack planes and crash them into buildings on September 11, 2001, I wish to withdraw my guilty plea and ask the court for a new trial to prove my innocence of the September 11 plot," he said in the affidavit.

Last week a jury of nine men and three women decided that Moussaoui, the only person charged in a U.S. court for the hijacked airliner attacks, should go to prison for life rather than be executed.

One of Moussaoui's court-appointed lawyers said the motion to withdraw the guilty plea was likely a "futile effort."

Moussaoui's lawyers -- who rarely speak to their client -- said in a footnote that they were aware of a federal rule that prohibits a defendant from withdrawing a guilty plea after a sentence is imposed. But they said they filed the motion anyway "given their problematic relationship with Moussaoui."

Over the past four years, Moussaoui tried several times to fire his lawyers and said they were part of a conspiracy to kill him.

When Moussaoui pleaded guilty to six counts of conspiracy in April 2005, he said he was an al Qaeda operative and was supposed to be a part of a second wave of hijackings.

But the Frenchman of Moroccan descent, who was arrested three weeks before the September 11 attacks, changed his story when he testified during his two-month sentencing trial. He said he was supposed to have piloted a fifth plane into the White House on September 11.

In the affidavit, Moussaoui said he had lied when he testified in court.

"I have never met Mohamed Atta and, while I may have seen a few of the other hijackers at the guest house, I never knew them or anything about their operation," he said. During his testimony, Moussaoui said he knew or recognized most of the September 11 hijackers -- some from when he worked at an al Qaeda guest house in Afghanistan.

Moussaoui said he was "extremely surprised" when the jury did not return a verdict of death.

"I had thought that I would be sentenced to death based on the emotions and anger toward me for the deaths on September 11," he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060508...6dZ.3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--

 

[Greed]

Moussaoui Has New View of Justice System

Moussaoui Has New View of Justice System
By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN, Associated Press Writer
21 minutes ago

Stunned that he was sentenced to life in prison rather than execution, Zacarias Moussaoui now believes he could get a fair trial from an American jury. Too late, the judge says.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema quickly rejected a motion the confessed al-Qaida conspirator filed Monday to withdraw his guilty plea and get a new trial.

In his motion, Moussaoui said he lied on the witness stand March 27 when he reversed four years of denials and claimed he was to have hijacked a fifth jetliner on Sept. 11, 2001, and crashed it into the White House, "even though I knew that was a complete fabrication."

The 37-year-old Frenchman blamed his behavior on the effects of solitary confinement, his inability to get a Muslim lawyer and his misunderstanding of the U.S. justice system.

Moussaoui said he was "extremely surprised" by his life sentence by a federal court jury last week.

"I had thought I would be sentenced to death based on the emotions and anger toward me for the deaths on Sept. 11," he explained in an affidavit. "But after reviewing the jury verdict and reading how the jurors set aside their emotions and disgust for me and focused on the law and the evidence ... I now see that it is possible that I can receive a fair trial even with Americans as jurors."

After seven days of deliberation, the jury of nine men and three women on Wednesday rebuffed the government's appeal for the death penalty for Moussaoui, the only person charged in this country in the 9/11 suicide hijackings of four commercial jetliners that killed nearly 3,000 people.

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema gave Moussaoui six life sentences, to run as two consecutive life terms in the federal supermax prison at Florence, Colo.

At sentencing, Brinkema told him he could not appeal the conviction he got when he pleaded guilty in April 2005. "You waived that right," she said. She said Moussaoui could appeal the life term but "I believe it would be an act of futility."

On Monday, Brinkema said federal rules prohibit withdrawing a guilty plea after sentencing so his request must be rejected.

In filing Moussaoui's motion, his court-appointed lawyers told the court they knew that rule would doom the effort but filed it anyway because of their "problematic relationship with Moussaoui" and because new lawyers have yet to be appointed to replace them.

Brinkema had told the defense team, with whom Moussaoui never cooperated, that they finally could leave the case after filing any motions Moussaoui wanted.

Explaining his twists and turns, Moussaoui wrote in the affidavit, "Solitary confinement made me hostile toward everyone, and I began taking extreme positions to fight the system."

Moussaoui said that, coupled with his inability to get a Muslim lawyer, led him to distrust his lawyers when they told him he could be convicted of being an al-Qaida member but acquitted of involvement in 9/11.

The motion said Moussaoui told his lawyers he wanted to withdraw his guilty plea because when he entered it his "understanding of the American legal system was completely flawed."

Moussaoui wrote that he pleaded guilty because he mistakenly thought the Supreme Court would immediately review his objection to being denied the opportunity to call captured enemy combatant witnesses to buttress his claim of not being involved in the 9/11 plot.

An appeals court agreed with the government that national security would be at risk if captured operatives like 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed testified or were even questioned by Moussaoui's lawyers. Instead, statements taken from their interrogations were read to the jury.

Mohammed's statements said Moussaoui was never considered for the 9/11 plot, only a later attack.

Moussaoui's shocking testimony that he was to crash a 747 jetliner into the White House on 9/11 revived the government's flagging case in the first part of the sentencing trial. Previously, he had claimed he had nothing to do with 9/11, but rather was to fly the 747 into the White House later if the United States refused to release a radical Egyptian sheik serving life for terrorist acts.

On April 3, the jury found Moussaoui eligible for the death penalty. It apparently accepted prosecutors' arguments that by withholding information from federal agents who arrested him on Aug. 16, 2001, he bore responsibility for at least one death on 9/11 by preventing the agents from identifying and stopping some hijackers.

Nevertheless, the same jury was unable to unanimously find that Moussaoui, who was in jail on 9/11, deserved execution. Three jurors wrote on the verdict form that they doubted he knew much about the 9/11 plot.

Moussaoui's lawyers made clear to the jury they thought he was lying to achieve martyrdom through execution. Prosecutors even stipulated the government doubted his claim that shoe-bomber Richard Reid was to be part of his hijack team on 9/11
___
On the Net:
Court documents:
http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov/notablecases/moussaoui/index.html

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060509...OFI2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--

 

[Greed]

Moussaoui Begins Serving Life Sentence

remind me never to go to prison.

Moussaoui Begins Serving Life Sentence
By ROBERT WELLER, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 55 minutes ago

Convicted Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui on Saturday began serving his life sentence at the nation's most secure prison after U.S. marshals flew him overnight from Virginia to Colorado.

Marshals brought Moussaoui, prisoner 51427-054, before dawn Saturday to the Supermax federal prison in southern Colorado, where he will spend 23 hours a day in his cell and have little to no contact with other notorious criminals.

"He has now begun serving his sentence of life without the possibility of release," the U.S. Marshals Service said in a statement.

A special team of deputy marshals took Moussaoui from a detention center in Alexandria, Va., late Friday night, put him on a small jet operated by the agency and delivered him to the prison in Florence, Colo., about 90 miles southwest of Denver.

Moussaoui was the only prisoner aboard, said Ken Deal, chief deputy U.S. marshal in Denver. Deal said he did not know if the 37-year-old Frenchman made any statements during the transfer.

"He is secure in the administrative max (prison) in Florence, Colorado," Deal said. "All the inmates transferred there are handled with the highest level of security."

Moussaoui arrived at 5:17 a.m. EDT, the Federal Bureau of Prisons said in a statement. Prison spokesman Todd Javernick refused to say whether Moussaoui made any comments.

The transfer came got under way on the same day that Moussaoui's court-appointed lawyers appealed his life sentence and the denial of his request for a new trial.

In a one-paragraph notice of appeal, the lawyers said Moussaoui wanted the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review the final judgment and sentence he received May 4 and Judge Leonie Brinkema's May 8 denial of his request to withdraw his guilty plea and go to trial on the original charges.

The $60 million Supermax, formally called Administrative Maximum, was built in 1995 in a town of 3,600 people. The triangular, two-story prison was designed for inmates once held at the U.S. Penitentiary in Marion, Ill., which had replaced Alcatraz when it closed in 1963.

Among the inmates at the prison are Ramzi Yousef, Eric Rudolph, Ted Kaczynski and Terry Nichols. Also there is Richard Reid, the would-be shoe bomber he said was to help him fly a fifth plane into the White House. The Bureau of Prisons said the Supermax currently houses 398 "of the nation's most violent, disruptive and escape prone inmates."

Since Moussaoui's sentencing, he has said he lied when testifying at his sentencing trial that he was to hijack a fifth jetliner on Sept. 11, 2001. He has returned to claiming — as he had for four years before the trial testimony — that he had nothing to do with the suicide hijackings that took nearly 3,000 lives.

Moussaoui was in jail in Minnesota on immigration charges when the attacks took place. But he has admitted he was training to hijack a 747 jetliner and fly it into the White House as part of a later plot to gain release of a radical Egyptian sheik who is serving a life term for terrorist acts.

Moussaoui pleaded guilty in April 2005 to six counts of conspiring with al-Qaida to fly planes into U.S. buildings. A jury considering the three counts that carry the death penalty decided he was eligible for execution. They could not agree unanimously that he deserved it, so he was automatically sentenced to the lesser and only other penalty permitted: life in prison.

Brinkema sentenced him to six life terms, to run as two consecutive life sentences.

At Supermax, the soundproofed cells were designed so inmates cannot make eye contact with each other. Each 7-by-12-feet cell has a long, narrow window looking out at other prison walls or the small concrete recreation yard.

Concrete platforms topped with mattresses function as beds. Each cell also contains a concrete stool, shower and toilet.

Inmates get one hour out of their cells each day to eat or play basketball or handball, though some earn longer recreation periods through good behavior. They can take academic courses via closed-circuit television in each cell. Religious services are conducted in a small chapel.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060513...2BI2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--

 

[GET YOU HOT]

Alleged bin Laden tape: Moussaoui not part of 9/11
Voice on tape says two Guantanamo detainees knew of plot

Wednesday, May 24, 2006; Posted: 1:34 p.m. EDT (17:34 GMT)

The purported Osama bin Laden tape accuses the U.S. of "oppression, injustice and arbitrariness."
(CNN) -- A Web site message purportedly from Osama bin Laden says admitted al Qaeda follower Zacarias Moussaoui had nothing to do with the attacks of September 11, 2001.

"I am certain of what I say, because I was responsible for entrusting the 19 brothers -- Allah have mercy upon them -- with those raids, and I did not assign brother Zacarias to be with them on that mission," the taped statement says.

"And his confession that he was assigned to participate in those raids is a false confession, which no intelligent person doubts is a result of the pressure put upon him for the past four and a half years."

If the tape is confirmed as authentic, it would be the first time that bin Laden has claimed to have personally assigned the jobs for 9/11.

The audio message, addressed to the American people in Arabic with English subtitles, was posted on a Web site that typically carries such messages.

Earlier this month, a federal jury sentenced Moussaoui to life in prison without parole for his connection to the attacks. Although he was not charged with direct involvement in the plot, prosecutors had sought the death penalty.

Moussaoui, a French citizen of Moroccan descent, pleaded guilty more than a year ago to six counts of terrorism conspiracy related to the attacks.

He was caught two weeks before September 11 when he aroused the suspicions of a flight instructor in Minnesota from whom he was taking flying lessons.

Although he had previously said he had no knowledge of the attacks, Moussaoui testified during his sentencing trial that he was to have piloted a fifth plane.

He said Richard Reid, who tried to blow up an airplane in December 2001 with explosives hidden in his shoes, would have been part of his crew.

Prosecutors at the trial agreed to a defense stipulation that al Qaeda leaders never assigned Moussaoui and Reid to work together on any terrorist operation.

"If Moussaoui was studying aviation to become a pilot of one of the planes, then let him tell us the names of those assigned to help him control the plane," the purported bin Laden tape says.

"But he won't be able to tell us their names for a simple reason: that in fact they don't exist."

CNN is unable to independently verify that the voice on the tape is bin Laden's; a U.S. intelligence official told CNN the recording is being checked to verify its authenticity.

A U.S. counterterrorism official told CNN that "there is no reason to doubt that it is him." The official characterized the tape as "a propaganda tape" and "an effort to be relevant, to show he's knowledgeable about recent events."

The tape also mentions prisoners held at the U.S. Navy detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying "all the prisoners to date have no connection with the events of September 11 and knew nothing about them, with the exception of two of the brothers, may Allah free them all."

The tape does not name the two "brothers" who supposedly knew about the attacks.

The tape further says that the Bush administration is aware that none of the Guantanamo prisoners have any connection to the attacks, "but they avoid mentioning it" to justify the Defense Department's budget.

About 500 detainees from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are being held at the facility.

Unlike two previous tapes from bin Laden, this one does not threaten any new attacks. Instead, it offers a way "to safety and security."

"My mentioning of these facts isn't out of hope that Bush and his party will treat our brothers fairly in their cases, because that is something no rational person expects," it says.

"But rather it is meant to expose the oppression, injustice and arbitrariness of your administration in using force and the reactions that result from that."

"This is from one perspective, and from another perspective, perhaps there will one day come from the Americans someone who desires justice and fairness, and that is the path to security and safety, if you are interested in it," the tape says.

Last month, the complete version of what had been bin Laden's most recent audio message appeared on Islamist Web sites, four days after excerpts were broadcast on the Arabic-language TV channel Al-Jazeera.

In that message, al Qaeda's leader focused much of his almost 52-minute message on what he continually referred to as "a Zionist-crusader war on Islam," which he said was shown most explicitly by cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed that were published by a Danish newspaper in late 2005 and later reprinted around the world.

In that message, bin Laden also attacked the Western public for its support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, blasted Western governments for cutting off aid to Hamas and called for jihad in the Sudanese region of Darfur.
CNN's David Ensor contributed to this report.