Former roommate aids Moussaoui probe
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) – A former roommate who befriended Zacarias Moussaoui during flight training is helping the government, saying the accused terrorist talked openly of wanting to be a Muslim holy warrior. Hussein al-Attas told a court this week that Moussaoui intended to finish flight training in Minnesota last summer and then go to New York. But he has not directly linked the French citizen to the Sept. 11 attacks.
On several occasions, Moussaoui “had expressed a general desire to participate in Jihad,” or holy war, al-Attas said Monday as he pleaded guilty to making false statements and agreed to cooperate in the government’s terror investigation.
But al-Attas, 24, a Saudi student who has been in custody since Sept. 11, maintained through his lawyer that he didn’t know anything about the plot that unfolded that day – clearly indicating Moussaoui never discussed it.
The lawyer, Alexander Eisemann, said during the plea proceeding that his client simply “found himself with the wrong person at the wrong time.”
The cooperation of al-Attas adds to the complexity of a case in which Moussaoui has insisted on representing himself, accused the judge of conspiring to kill him, had his mental competency questioned and offered to plead guilty.
Moussaoui, the lone man charged as a Sept. 11 conspirator, is due in court again Thursday where he has said he intends to again submit the guilty plea that the judge refused to accept last week.
The lawyers appointed to be his standby counsel may be planning another effort by Thursday to question Moussaoui’s mental fitness. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema has left the door open to reconsidering her June decision that Moussaoui was competent to represent himself.
She said Monday there was no additional evidence at that point to change her mind.
If Moussaoui still wants to plead guilty, Brinkema would probably have to ask Moussaoui on Thursday whether he had links to the hijackers, to ensure that he was pleading guilty to the crimes charged in the indictment.
Brinkema chose not to question Moussaoui’s role last week when he shocked an arraignment by his attempted guilty plea. She told Moussaoui to take a week to think about the consequences of his actions in the death penalty case.
Moussaoui admitted this much: “I have knowledge and I participated in al-Qaida. I am member of al-Qaida.”
However, he previously has denied involvement in the Sept. 11 conspiracy while insisting he knows who aided the hijackers. He has asked to testify before a grand jury and has said he believes the information he possesses should warrant saving his life.
Al-Attas briefly shared a room with Moussaoui in Oklahoma last year and drove him to Minnesota, where Moussaoui enrolled in a flight school that became suspicious of his intentions and turned him over to the FBI.
While government officials believe Moussaoui may have planned to be the 20th hijacker on Sept. 11, he was arrested for immigration violations a month before the attacks.
Al-Attas said Moussaoui, who went by the name “Shaqil,” sought to persuade him to go to Pakistan to speak with Islamic scholars and others who believe that Islam favors participation in Jihad.
The two planned to travel to New York, Colorado and possibly Los Angeles, but the Colorado and Los Angeles trips were dropped while the two were in Minnesota, al-Attas said.
Eisemann, al-Attas’ attorney, said Moussaoui told his friend he “wanted to see some of the sights in America and Mr. al-Attas was going along for the ride.”
Al-Attas has agreed to remain in detention as a material witness so he could testify for the government in Moussaoui’s case.
The indictment against Moussaoui describes conduct that mirrors that of the hijackers, including training at U.S. flight schools, purchase of flight training videos for large planes and receipt of money from the same individual.
If Moussaoui pleads guilty, the judge could still convene a jury for the penalty phase of his trial.
The Bush administration has said it would seek Moussaoui’s execution.