Zacarias Moussaoui proudly reaffirmed Thursday his involvement in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist plot and indicated that he hopes he gets to live to try another attack on the U.S.
Taking the stand for the second time at his death-penalty trial, Moussaoui very calmly and matter-of-factly said that the sobbing Sept. 11 survivors and family members who testified against him were “disgusting,” that the testimony of one man who crawled out of his burning Pentagon office was “pathetic” and that executed Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh is “the greatest American.”
His cool demeanor was on display throughout his cross-examination.
Moussaoui laughed when Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Spencer asked if he thought the United States was destined to fall. “I know it, I know it,” he said. He stared at Spencer as the prosecutor inquired: “You wake up every day to destroy the United States, don’t you?”
“To the best of my ability,” Moussaoui responded.
“It was your choice to accept a suicide mission from Osama bin Laden,” Spencer stated.
“It was my pleasure,” Moussaoui clarified.
The exchange between the prosecutor and the terrorist came as Moussaoui’s lawyers began their case to spare the convicted al-Qaeda operative’s life. But, just as he did when he testified in the trial’s first phase, Moussaoui might have hamstrung that argument before it began.
What Moussaoui wants, he indicated Thursday, is to live to fight another day. He said he hopes jurors sentence him to life in prison, adding that he told the truth when he testified weeks ago that he had planned to fly a fifth hijacked plane into the White House on Sept. 11.
He said he was convinced that President Bush would free him in a prisoner exchange and he would return to Europe.
Moussaoui, 37, pleaded guilty last year to conspiring with al-Qaeda in the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. He is the only person convicted in a U.S. courtroom on charges stemming from the attacks.
After three weeks of testimony, jurors decided this month Moussaoui was eligible for execution, finding that his lies to federal agents when he was arrested in August 2001 allowed the attacks to go forward. The jury is now hearing testimony about whether Moussaoui should be put to death.
Questioned by his court-appointed attorney, Gerald Zerkin, Moussaoui declared that he thought his lawyers were trying to kill him. He denounced the defense team, saying the lawyers were too interested in fame and had refused his requests for a Muslim attorney.
