Weir thinking about it

Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged with the 9/11 attacks, has notified the US government that he intends to plead guilty to his alleged role and could enter the plea as early as this week, if a judge finds him mentally competent. He's charged with six counts of conspiracy to commit murder and terrorism on that horrifying day that will live in infamy as the most savage attack on our country.

French—born, of Moroccan Arab descent, Moussaoui initially refused 'in the name of Allah' to make a plea, so a plea of not guilty was entered for him at the request of his public defender. He was arrested in Minnesota on August 16, 2001 after officials of a flight school tipped off the FBI that he was seeking flight training on a Boeing 747 jumbo jet. The flight academy officials said his attitude was belligerent and he was evasive about his personal background. In addition, he paid the $6300 fee in cash and insisted on training with a jumbo jet even though he lacked the skill to fly a small plane.

As if that weren't suspicious enough, he also said he only wanted to learn how to steer the jet while it was in the air. He wasn't interested in learning how to take off or land. The INS detained Moussaoui on charges of violating the terms of his visa, and the FBI deemed him to be a terrorist suspect. When the FBI tracked the suspect's movements to the Airman Flight School in Norman, Oklahoma, they discovered that he had logged 57 hours of flight time earlier in 2001 but was never allowed to fly alone because of his poor skills. It was later determined that several of the September 11 hijackers had either enrolled in or visited the Oklahoma flight school. Since Moussaoui was in custody on 9/11 he was not part of the attack on America. We can only guess which building into which he was planning to fly.

Mr. Moussaoui has been playing a game with our court system from the beginning, behaving arrogantly in front of the judge, firing his court—appointed lawyers, and stating that he is praying for the destruction of the United States. One gets the feeling that he's not at all intimidated by our justice system and in fact thinks it's fun to play with. Who can blame him?

The terrorists know very well how criminals are coddled in this country. They also know they can be as ornery and abusive as they want, with no repercussions. Just try to do the same thing in a Middle Eastern country. In fact, just getting captured by terrorists usually is a death sentence, preceded by torture. The videos of masked men beheading Americans tell us all we need to know about the animals we're dealing with. Yet, an example of human detritus like Moussaoui is allowed to scream obscenities and threats at us in our own courtrooms.

Tolerating such behavior only serves to makes our enemies more emboldened than ever. After all, why should they worry about being captured if they know that they, too, will be able to push their weight around in the legal corridors of their enemies' country? I've always believed that public safety is endangered when the bad guys of the world are not afraid of being arrested. The pain and suffering visited upon our citizenry may be incalculable, because we'll never know what might have been prevented. However, dealing with these homicidal/suicidal maniacs, we do know that they have every intention of committing genocide against us. If we were to make them fear for their lives if they dare to threaten us in one of our own halls of justice, we could be preventing future calamities.

The irony is, if the terrorists ever get the chance they will torture and kill every one of us, such is the virulence of their hatred. Furthermore, they take great pride in their willingness to sacrifice their lives for what they believe in. Since they consider death to be their greatest reward, why not give them what they want before they take a whole bunch of us with them?

That's not a statement of machismo; it's simply one of common sense. The first responsibility of a civilization is to insure its own survival. Hopefully, US District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema will accept the guilty plea and dispose of this mound of garbage masquerading as a human.

Bob Weir is a former detective sergeant in the New York City Police Department. He is the editor of The News Connection in Highland Village, Texas. BobWeir777@aol.com