Zacarias Moussaoui

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Taking the stand over his lawyers' protests, al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui declared yesterday that he and Richard Reid, later arrested as the so-called "shoe bomber," were to hijack a fifth airliner on Sept. 11, 2001, and fly it into the White House. But Moussaoui's bombastic testimony - doubted by intelligence officials - was immediately contradicted by the words of captured Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who said in an interrogation read aloud in court that Moussaoui was too "problematic" and unreliable to join the 19 hijackers on their suicide missions.

The FBI's investigation of the deadly 2001 anthrax attacks was the most complex and important in the bureau's history. Immense resources were invested in the search for the perpetrator, whose actions killed five people, sickened 17 others, sowed panic in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 and caused taxpayers to spend extraordinary sums on a crash program to protect the nation against the danger of biological terrorism. Yet for all that, the "Amerithrax" investigation, as the FBI dubbed the case, dragged on for seven years and, until quite recently, got nowhere.

It's been years since they were detained, held in an isolated encampment that allows for few if any visitors. Many of the prisoners have never talked to a lawyer, while others languish in obscurity on flimsy or, worse, secret evidence. Their jailers aren't dictators or military juntas. That infamous distinction belongs to the United States. Its shameful treatment of suspected terrorists held at the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo demands their return to U.S. courts. The system of military tribunals created to deal with hundreds of detainees, many brought to Guantanamo on suspect charges, has been deeply flawed from the start, designed with little regard for due process.

It's been years since they were detained, held in an isolated encampment that allows for few if any visitors. Many of the prisoners have never talked to a lawyer, while others languish in obscurity on flimsy or, worse, secret evidence. Their jailers aren't dictators or military juntas. That infamous distinction belongs to the United States. Its shameful treatment of suspected terrorists held at the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo demands their return to U.S. courts. The system of military tribunals created to deal with hundreds of detainees, many brought to Guantanamo on suspect charges, has been deeply flawed from the start, designed with little regard for due process.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- For all his taunts, jeers and bombast, Zacarias Moussaoui did not get the last word. When he was formally sentenced yesterday for his role as a Sept. 11 conspirator, U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema had the final say. And she did it with a touch of poetry. "You came here to be a martyr, and to die in a great big bang of glory," the judge told him. "But to paraphrase the poet T.S. Eliot, instead you will die with a whimper. The rest of your life you will spend in prison."

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Zacarias Moussaoui's two sisters told his jury yesterday how their baby brother tried to escape the family's poverty and abuse but instead fell under the spell of Muslim extremists who turned a hopeful young man into one filed with hate. The videotaped testimony of his sisters, each of whom suffers from serious mental psychoses, was recorded last year. They were questioned at their quarters in separate French mental institutions, and only after it was certified that they had been taking their medications to ward off their schizophrenia.

THE JUSTICE Department should think long and hard about its refusal to comply with a judge's order in the case of Zacarias Moussaoui. The so-called 20th hijacker, on trial for his life, has sought the testimony of a key al-Qaida leader, Ramzi Binalshibh, who is in U.S. custody somewhere overseas. Judge Leonie M. Brinkema told the government to arrange for a videotaped deposition. The government says it won't do it because it could threaten national security. That's not an argument to be lightly dismissed.

Congress and the American people deserve to know exactly what the CIA and FBI knew before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks for two fundamental reasons: the importance of accountability and the need for a serious culture change inside the intelligence community. "Maybe" remains the most assertive answer to the question of whether the attacks might have been prevented, and nothing uncovered so far would have revealed plans to turn jetliners into fuel-laden missiles. So closed-door hearings that began yesterday on Capitol Hill ought not be about second-guessing or finger-pointing.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Zacarias Moussaoui handed the U.S. government yesterday its only conviction tied to the Sept. 11 terror attacks, admitting he conspired to kill Americans and claiming he was personally selected by Osama bin Laden to fly a plane into the White House as part of a second wave of attacks. Moussaoui pleaded guilty to each of six conspiracy charges against him, four of which could carry the death penalty. Speaking in a calm, sure voice before a packed courtroom, Moussaoui said he would fight a death sentence with "every inch" of his body and had not cut a deal with the government.

WASHINGTON -- There is an interesting byproduct of the Sept. 11 attacks that seems to be sweeping the country: In universities and the media, people are learning about al-Qaida and its religious philosophy. There is a tendency in our country, particularly among academics, to treat all beliefs as worthy of equal merit. It is a type of intellectual relativism that ignores the obvious in favor of the inquiry. The sudden interest in the core beliefs of al-Qaida and similar groups appears entirely the result of their success in killing a great number of people.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- For all his taunts, jeers and bombast, Zacarias Moussaoui did not get the last word. When he was formally sentenced yesterday for his role as a Sept. 11 conspirator, U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema had the final say. And she did it with a touch of poetry. "You came here to be a martyr, and to die in a great big bang of glory," the judge told him. "But to paraphrase the poet T.S. Eliot, instead you will die with a whimper. The rest of your life you will spend in prison."

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- A federal jury decided yesterday to spare the life of Zacarias Moussaoui, ensuring that the first person to be held accountable for the Sept. 11 terror attacks will spend a lifetime in prison. The jury reached its decision after seven days of deliberations, and its verdict paperwork showed that the nine men and three women were widely split over how to punish the man who claimed he was to have flown a fifth plane into the White House but whose trial suggested he really knew little about that plot.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Zacarias Moussaoui's two sisters told his jury yesterday how their baby brother tried to escape the family's poverty and abuse but instead fell under the spell of Muslim extremists who turned a hopeful young man into one filed with hate. The videotaped testimony of his sisters, each of whom suffers from serious mental psychoses, was recorded last year. They were questioned at their quarters in separate French mental institutions, and only after it was certified that they had been taking their medications to ward off their schizophrenia.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- A federal jury concluded yesterday that Zacarias Moussaoui is eligible for the death penalty, sending his trial into a final stage that will decide whether he deserves to forfeit his life for the deaths in the Sept. 11 attacks or is mentally too unstable to warrant execution. The unanimous decision marked a major victory for the government, which has struggled to win trial verdicts in terrorism prosecutions since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Prosecutors were aided by Moussaoui himself, whose insistence on taking the stand helped offset government blunders.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Taking the stand over his lawyers' protests, al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui declared yesterday that he and Richard Reid, later arrested as the so-called "shoe bomber," were to hijack a fifth airliner on Sept. 11, 2001, and fly it into the White House. But Moussaoui's bombastic testimony - doubted by intelligence officials - was immediately contradicted by the words of captured Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who said in an interrogation read aloud in court that Moussaoui was too "problematic" and unreliable to join the 19 hijackers on their suicide missions.

WASHINGTON -- Zacarias Moussaoui and nearly 500 potential jurors are set to gather in a Northern Virginia courtroom today, marking the start of the only trial in the United States of a person charged with direct involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks. Moussaoui, a 37-year-old Frenchman of Moroccan descent, has pleaded guilty to six counts of conspiracy in connection with the 2001 attacks in New York and Washington. As a result, the trial will be solely over whether he is executed by lethal injection or spends the remainder of his life in prison.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Zacarias Moussaoui invoked the name of Allah and refused to enter a plea yesterday to a six-count criminal indictment that accused him of a role in the Sept. 11 terrorist plot. His lawyer and the judge in the case entered a plea of not guilty for him. At a half-hour hearing conducted under heavy security at the federal courthouse, Judge Leonie M. Brinkema of U.S. District Court scheduled Oct. 14 to start the trial for Moussaoui, the first person directly charged in the hijackings.

WASHINGTON -- Zacarias Moussaoui and nearly 500 potential jurors are set to gather in a Northern Virginia courtroom today, marking the start of the only trial in the United States of a person charged with direct involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks. Moussaoui, a 37-year-old Frenchman of Moroccan descent, has pleaded guilty to six counts of conspiracy in connection with the 2001 attacks in New York and Washington. As a result, the trial will be solely over whether he is executed by lethal injection or spends the remainder of his life in prison.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Zacarias Moussaoui handed the U.S. government yesterday its only conviction tied to the Sept. 11 terror attacks, admitting he conspired to kill Americans and claiming he was personally selected by Osama bin Laden to fly a plane into the White House as part of a second wave of attacks. Moussaoui pleaded guilty to each of six conspiracy charges against him, four of which could carry the death penalty. Speaking in a calm, sure voice before a packed courtroom, Moussaoui said he would fight a death sentence with "every inch" of his body and had not cut a deal with the government.

THE JUSTICE Department should think long and hard about its refusal to comply with a judge's order in the case of Zacarias Moussaoui. The so-called 20th hijacker, on trial for his life, has sought the testimony of a key al-Qaida leader, Ramzi Binalshibh, who is in U.S. custody somewhere overseas. Judge Leonie M. Brinkema told the government to arrange for a videotaped deposition. The government says it won't do it because it could threaten national security. That's not an argument to be lightly dismissed.