Why did the Prosectuon want this in evidence?

Prosecutors called Fitzgerald as their sole rebuttal witness, apparently to show that the 37-year-old Frenchman of Moroccan descent had acknowledged weeks ago that he was part of the Sept. 11 scheme.

But after acknowledging under cross-examination that Moussaoui made no attempt to avoid the death penalty, Fitzgerald said that the bearded defendant remarked that "it was different dying in battle, like an F-16 fighter pilot, than to die in a jail," likening it to "a toilet."

I think prosecutors knew Moussaoui didn't believe he would be the 5th pilot for 9/11 and nonetheless, through their cross-examination yesterday, encouraged the jury to believe him.

From the AP here and here:

The February meeting was to have been off the record but was introduced by prosecutors to rebut a defense exhibit. Closing its case Tuesday, the defense had introduced a partial transcript of Moussaoui's guilty plea last April. In that 2005 pleading, Moussaoui said, "Everybody knows that I'm not 9/11 material." He said Sept. 11 "is not my conspiracy." He said he was going to attack the White House if the United States did not release radical Egyptian cleric Omar Abdel Rahman, imprisoned for other terrorist crimes.

The defense finished its case by reading portions of the 9/11 report and showing a video of Condaleezza Rice.

Also Tuesday, defense attorney Alan Yamamoto read portions of the joint Sept. 11 report by the Senate and House intelligence committees. The panel said that before Sept. 11, the U.S. intelligence community produced 12 reports between 1994 and 2001 "suggesting that terrorists might use airplanes as weapons." Later, the defense played videotape of then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and other top officials telling the 9/11 Commission they had no inkling al-Qaida had considered using airplanes as missiles.

This combination supported the defense theory that the government knew more beforehand than Moussaoui about Sept. 11 but ignored or bungled leads that might have unraveled the plot. Prosecutors contend Moussaoui's lying to FBI agents upon arrest prevented the FBI and the Federal Aviation Administration from identifying the hijackers and keeping them off airplanes on Sept. 11.

Judge Brinkema also denied a defense motion to dismiss the death penalty.

After the jury departed for the day, Judge Leonie M. Brinkema turned away a defense bid to strike the death penalty, saying, "This case changed dramatically with Mr. Moussaoui's testimony Monday."

The morning developments in which additional al Qaeda members' statements were read to the jury in which the members denied Moussaoui was part of 9/11 is here, and my take on Moussaui's Richard Reid 5th pilot testimony is here.