observations on this life

What the Hell is Going On Here?

Ok, once again I have mixed feeling about something Uncle Sam is doing in the name of justice. This hum moment concerns the trial of a french national accused of being a part of the posse' that carried out the September 11th attacks. In a New York Times article published this morning it states, "At the time of the attacks, Mr. Moussaoui was already in jail, having been arrested three weeks earlier on immigration violations in Minnesota, where he was taking lessons to fly a jetliner." The article further states, "The Justice Department has argued that even though he was not a direct participant in the Sept. 11 attacks, he is responsible for those deaths because he lied to investigators when he was arrested, concealing his knowledge of Al Qaeda's interest in flying planes into buildings."

Now, I know that in some cases the person who didn't pull the trigger got the needle anyway.... I'm not aligned with that policy.... but then again, I'm not at all aligned with killing anyone. Hate the death penalty... Always have, always will. But, in this case, the guy was arrested for immigration violations.... The guy was obviously not on the plane. The guy was in jail... So how you gonna make a case for killing him when he was in the custody of said government at the time of the attacks.

Porsecutors want this guy dead so badly that they've started coaching witnesses and providing transcripts of portions of the trial to them so that they do not make errors in their statements that could harm the government's case. The judge, a woman, is furious and threatening to throw out the option of a death sentence because of the misconduct. Hoorraayyy for her.... Too bad she won't throw the case out completely.

If Mr. Moussaoui knew about the plot, one will never know... But, government officials did have intelligence that told them it could happen. Does that mean that each person in the dark, dank, deep offices that feret out that kind of intelligence should go to the gallows with this guy, maybe.... I guess that if he knew and did nothing to stop the attacks, and if the government knew it could happen, and they did nothing to stop the ability of people to carry knives on planes, then aren't they both as guilty and therefore subject to a lethel injection?

Seems to me that whatever the sentence dropped down on the head of the frenchman should be dropped on the people in our government who knew too.... Fair is fair, unless you're Uncle Sam's boy and then... well.... you will get out of jail for free and you don't even need a card!

If what the government is saying is true and this frenchman did indeed intent to fly a plane into a civilian target, he should go to prison, maybe not for life, but long enough that he is no longer a threat to the women and children in this country when he is released.

I understand the gravity of what happened that day, but I also understand that in these "fucked up united states" we play the game in an unfair way..... Getting a conviction is more important than following the letter of the law, which they made. Witnesses that have yet to testify are kept out of the courtroom for a reason... prosecutors are allowed to coach them, but they can't share everything with them... taints the case.... but who cares about tainting where men like Frenchie are concerned... He's Muslim, probably fundamentally so. He was learning to fly jets, and had overstayed his visa.... sounds like reason enough to wack him.... NOT!