Govt's Case on Moussaoi Remains Weak
Despite the Court's ruling allowing the death penalty trial of Zacarias Moussaoui to proceed, minus the witnesses tainted by Carla J. Martin, the prosecutor still has an uphill battle in trying to prove that Zacarias contributed to or caused the death of any of the 9/11 victims. The Washington Post has a great editorial, Another Blown Case, on this and other federal terrorism trials to date. Some snippets:
This case nevertheless joins a line of big terrorism prosecutions marred by government misconduct, overzealousness, hyping of charges or just plain ineffectiveness.
- A conviction in Detroit had to be set aside because of prosecutorial misconduct. The government brought spectacular charges against accused Islamic Jihad activist Sami al-Arian, only to see a jury reject many of them -- and convict on none -- after a lengthy trial.
- Then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft announced the arrest of Jose Padilla with great fanfare as the foiling of a plot to detonate a radiological "dirty" bomb; after holding him for years as an enemy combatant, the government indicted him for far lesser matters.
- Mohamed Qahtani, the Guantanamo Bay inmate the government has labeled the 20th hijacker -- when it wasn't busy making the same claim about Mr. Moussaoui -- was subjected to such abusive interrogation that he probably cannot face trial at all.
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