Hi All,
I find Zacarias Moussaoui's published comments during his trial interesting if only because they perfectly express the general pattern of Jihadi thinking. If more people really had a grasp on that, then they'd understand that this is not a conflict that will dissappear or be negotiated away.
Here are some of the main points:
1) The present Jihad is simply a continuation of the struggle against the enemies of Islam that has been going on since the 7th century
2) There are only two sides in that struggle, those who are for Allah and Islam and those who are against Allah and Islam.
2) That struggle must continue until all the enemies of Islam are conquered or dead
3) Those who fight against Islam deserve no pity or mercy
4) If a lie told to an infidel will advance the course of the Jihad, then it is a good thingNow one may not choose to believe that the above concepts are truly part of Islam (regardless of whether Muhammad employed or endorsed them in his own conduct of Jihad) but the fact remains, those waging Jihad really do believe them, and those concepts are being taught in Masjids throughout the world. Please be assured that Moussaoui didn't arrive at his worldview by himself.
Points 2 & 4 in particular, desperately need to be understood in the West. No promise or offer made by a Jihadi to his enemies should be considered trustworthy, and we need to understand that Jihadis don't really discriminate between Republicans and Democrats, Americans and Israelis. To them, either you are "fer" or you're "agin." That's why killing Australians, Irishmen, Britons, Spaniards, Italians, or Americans of all political stripes and persuasions is legitimate in their eyes, and why we ultimately stand or fall together.
ALEXANDRIA, Va.(AP) - Confessed al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui said Thursday it made his day to hear accounts of Americans' suffering from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and he would like to see similar attacks "every day."
Taking the witness stand for the second time in his death-penalty trial Thursday, Moussaoui mocked a Navy sailor who wept on the stand as she described the death of two of her subordinates.
"I think it was disgusting for a military person" to cry, Moussaoui said of the testimony of Navy Lt. 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."
Moussaoui said he had "no regret, no remorse" about the 9/11 attacks. Asked by prosecutor Rob Spencer if he would like to see it happen again, Moussaoui responded: "Every day until we get you."
Moussaoui also said on cross-examination that he is convinced
President Bush will free him before the end of his term and that he will return to London.
Prosecutor Rob Spencer tried several times to get Moussaoui to say he didn't really believe that, but Moussaoui was insistent.
"I haven't doubted it for one single second," said Moussaoui, adding that the vision came to him in a dream just like his dream of flying a plane into the White House....
Offering a lengthy explanation of why he hates Americans, Moussaoui criticized the United States' support for Israel. He said Muslims have been at war with Christians and Jews for centuries. Israel, he said, is "just a missing star in the American flag."
Moussaoui told jurors that Islam requires Muslims to be the world's superpower as he flipped through a copy of the Koran searching for verses to support his assertions. One he cited requires non-Muslim nations to pay a tribute to Muslim countries.
"We have to be the superpower. You have to be subdued. We have to be above you," Moussaoui said. "Because Americans, you are the superpower, you want to eradicate us."
At one point, defense lawyer Gerald Zerkin asked Moussaoui if he thought he was helping his case when he testified earlier that he planned to pilot a plane into the White House on Sept. 11.
"I was putting my trust in God, so from an Islamic point of view, yes," Moussaoui responded, acknowledging that non-Muslims might view his testimony as harmful to his case.
At several points during his afternoon testimony, Moussaoui acknowledged that he has lied when it has suited his interests throughout the course of his four-year case....
