A New Cause for the Troofers!

Free Zacharias Moussauoui! The Moose is trying to undo his guilty plea:

The attorneys told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit that Moussaoui's guilty plea was invalid because he was confused about the charges and didn't know that other al-Qaeda members had given information to interrogators that could have cleared him. Moussaoui pleaded guilty in 2005 to an al-Qaeda conspiracy to crash planes into U.S. buildings that led to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. After a two-month sentencing trial in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, he was sentenced to life in prison.

They might even get some significant support from the Left on this one. Talk Left, a major liberal law blog writes:

One thing the Government never established was his participation in 9/11, and that's the crime for which he's serving a life sentence. (The jury rejected the death penalty. Here's an account of the defense closing argument.)

It's unlikely Moussaoui will prevail. However, it should be noted he is a bumbling holy warrior serving life not for being a part of the 9/11 attacks, but for being a member of al Qaida, belligerent, stubborn, foolish and wanting to be a martyr.

I agree that Moussaoui was not intended as a pilot for the 9-11 attacks; rather I suspect he was intended to be part of the second wave of attacks that never came. Here's the statement of facts that Moussaoui agreed to:

9. Moussaoui knew of al Qaeda’s plan to fly airplanes into prominent buildings in the United States and he agreed to travel to the United States to participate in the plan. Bin Laden personally selected Moussaoui to participate in the operation to fly planes into American buildings and approved Moussaoui attacking the White House. Bin Laden told Moussaoui: “Sahrawi, remember your dream.”

As you can see, there is nothing there indicating that Moussaoui was part of the 9-11 team, but he was guilty of 9-11 foreknowledge--maybe not specifics but certainly in general. I'm not sure why Jeralyn Merritt, who's a pretty savvy blogger, is siding with him, but this earlier post gives us some indication:

Moussaoui stated today that Osama bin Laden had personally selected him to fly a plane into the White House. Is he telling the truth? Or is he on a death mission and exaggerating his participation in al Qaeda and his role in it to ensure he gets it? Have the oppressive conditions of his incarceration won out?

Help, help, he's being oppressed!