Send Him on to His "Reward"

From a March 8, 2006 article in the Washington Post:

"The courtroom was silent, the jurors somber, as a prosecutor yesterday relived a great national tragedy. Yet in a corner of the room, one man smiled.

"The final moments of American Airlines Flight 11, which crashed into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, were on display in U.S. District Court in Alexandria. Assistant U.S. Attorney David Raskin said flight attendants reported the emergency as attackers took over the cabin. He recalled the chilling tones of lead hijacker Mohamed Atta in a message inadvertently broadcast to air traffic control: 'We have some planes.'

"The moment Raskin described the plane hitting the tower, Zacarias Moussaoui nodded, a smile creasing his lips. As he left the courtroom, where jurors will determine whether he lives or dies for his role in the attacks of that day, he pumped his fist and shouted, 'God curse America!'...

"Moussaoui pleaded guilty in April to conspiring with al-Qaeda in the Sept. 11 plot. He said bin Laden had instructed him to fly an airplane into the White House....

"A few rows away sat Moussaoui's mother, Aicha el-Wafi, who said she hardly recognized her son and called him 'too fat and too lethargic.' El-Wafi, who flew in from France for the trial's first few days, said Moussaoui is 'mad at me' because she has spoken to his attorneys, with whom her son does not speak. She added that 'the United States needs a guilty man. They made a scapegoat of him, but on his own agreement.'"...

In television interviews, some courtroom observers stressed that Moussaoui is not crazy. Rather, he is totally committed to Al-Qaeda. In one interview, an observer stressed that Moussaoui's death at the hands of infidels would bring him the shame he deserves and would not elevate him to the status of martyr.