Moussaoui Tells Court He Has ‘No Regrets, No Remorse’

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

ALEXANDRIA, Va.- Reasserting his role in the attacks of September 11, 2001,an Al Qaeda conspirator, Zacarias Moussaoui, told jurors yesterday he has “no regret, no remorse,” was disgusted by the heart-rending testimony of victims, and relatives and only wished they had suffered more.


He said hearing a Navy officer sobbing in court made his day.


“So you would be happy to see 9/11 again?” Prosecutor Rob Spencer asked.


“Every day until we get you,” the bearded 37-year-old Frenchman shot back.


As court-appointed defense lawyers began the last phase of their effort to save him from execution, Moussaoui put in a second unsettling appearance on the witness stand.


For 2 1/2 hours, Moussaoui argued with a defense lawyer, Gerald Zerkin, and Mr. Spencer about when he had been telling the truth over the last four years and whether he was sane.


In the process, he revealed why he implicated himself in the September 11 attacks after four years of denials, how he would have defended himself, his reasons for hating America, and his dream of being freed by President Bush in a prisoner exchange for captured American troops.


Among his most startling statements, Moussaoui said Army Lieutenant Colonel John Thurman’s harrowing account of escaping the burning Pentagon left him with “regret that he didn’t die.”


He mocked a Navy officer who wept as she described the death of two subordinates in the attack on the Pentagon.


“I think it was disgusting for a military person” to cry, Moussaoui said of Lieutenant Nancy McKeown. “She is military. She should expect people at war with her to want to kill her.”


Asked if he was happy to hear her sobbing, he said, “Make my day.”


He noted many relatives of victims wept on the witness stand, then walked past him in the courtroom and looked his way without crying. “I find it disgusting that people come here to share their grief over the death of some other person,” he said.


“I’m glad there was pain, and I wish there will be more pain,” Moussaoui said. “The children in Palestine and in Chechnya will have pain. I want you to share their pain.”


So, Mr. Spencer asked: “You have no regret, no remorse?”


“No regret, no remorse,” Moussaoui responded.


When he left court after the judge and jury, he yelled: “God curse America. We will win. It’s just a question of time.”


In a lengthy explanation of why he hates Americans, Moussaoui said Islam requires Muslims to be the world’s superpower as he flipped through a copy of the Koran searching for verses to support his assertion. He said one verse requires Muslims “to fight against all who believe not in Allah.”


“We have an obligation to be the superpower. You have to be subdued,” Moussaoui said. “America is a superpower and you want to eradicate Islam.”


He criticized American support for Israel.”Every child who has been killed in Palestine has been killed because of you,” he said. Israel is “just a missing star in the American flag,” he added.


In a particularly revealing response, Moussaoui explained to Mr. Spencer why he shocked the sentencing trial by testifying March 27 that he had been ordered to hijack a fifth plane on September 11, 2001, and fly it into the White House – a plot he had long maintained was targeted for a later date.


“I thought it was useless to try to differentiate myself from 9/11,” Moussaoui said. “I wanted to stand for 9/11 from the beginning. I thought I could do so and fight on against the death penalty. On purely rational grounds, it’s a bit odd. … By testifying truthfully, I will save my life. It’s an act of religion.”


Pressed by Mr. Zerkin on whether he thought he was helping his case, Moussaoui responded: “I was putting my trust in God, so from an Islamic point of view, yes,” acknowledging that non-Muslims might view his testimony as harmful.


For the first time in four years of fighting to represent himself or get a Muslim lawyer, he finally explained the defense he wanted to put on. With American troops engaged around the world, Moussaoui said, a life sentence would make him available “as a bargaining chip they could exchange for U.S. troops” held prisoner.


He told Mr. Spencer he’s dreamed that President Bush will do this before leaving office in 2009. Mr. Spencer asked if that wasn’t just propaganda. Moussaoui replied: “No, I believe it.”


Moussaoui also pointed out that an Al Qaeda conspirator in the 1998 bombings of American embassies in Africa avoided the death penalty when jurors decided life in prison would be worse than execution, which would reward him with martyrdom. As it happens, the court-appointed lawyers Moussaoui despises have adopted that argument.


Mr. Zerkin got Moussaoui to acknowledge lying in court documents he filed while acting for 18 months as his own attorney and that he told the court a year ago when he pleaded guilty that he had no role in the 2001 attacks. Moussaoui wrote those off as “psychological warfare and propaganda.”


Defense lawyers claim Moussaoui is lying about his role in September 11 in hope of achieving martyrdom through execution.They have subpoenaed would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid from a federal prison to ask him whether he was to be second-in-command of Moussaoui’s hijack crew on September 11, 2001, as Moussaoui testified.


Perhaps anticipating that Reid might not confirm his account, Moussaoui testified that Reid “doesn’t know anything. They told me not to say anything to him. When appropriate, they will tell him.”


He also argued that he could not get a fair trial so close to the Pentagon and criticized his lawyers for not trying to move the case to Colorado as he tried to do when he represented himself. Moussaoui asserted they preferred the fame that comes from handling a high-profile trial.


The trial resumes Monday.


The New York Sun

© 2025 The New York Sun Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The material on this site is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used.

The New York Sun

Sign in or  create a free account

or
By continuing you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use