No Jihad for Moussaoui: Life in Prison, No Virgins, so much for death to America

By: Steve Yuhas

It took seven days for the nine men and three women to decide the fate of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person in the United States charged and guilty of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

When the public information officer for the federal court in Alexandria outlined the rulings it became clear that there were a few jurors that believed Moussaoui to be little more than a wanna be Jihadist who had very little information about 9-11 or that he had a role in al Qaeda at all.

So ends the spectacle that was the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui who will end up in the same prison system that holds such lamentable men as the notorious shoe bomber, Richard Reid, and American Taliban John Walker Lindh.

What is it about these failed Jihadists that make them such failures – they either cop pleas to get less time in prison or make such annoyances of themselves that even when given life in prison and when they will be forgotten in a few days they still maintain the notion that they are important?

When leaving the courtroom, in typical Moussaoui outburst style, he yelled to the audience and media “America you lost. I won.”  After that he clapped his hands a few times (I guess that is what Jihadists do when they’re headed to the big house) and left the courtroom.

Common sense aside because Moussaoui wanted a death sentence and did not get it so it is unclear to right thinking people how he won – the nation was divided on how to treat one man in custody who could have stopped 9-11 if he really wanted to (or if an FBI agency run by the Clinton administration would have allowed his computer to be searched).

In a week of tapes by al Qaeda leaders, amazingly ignoring the fact that one of their brothers was facing death in America by a jury, one would have thought that there would be something more dramatic to the end of Moussaoui than an outburst in court, but that is the American system and you know what?  I kind of like it.

This is a country where even the worst of the worst – a man who could have stopped 9-11 or a guy who wanted to blow up a plane with his shoes are sent to prison instead of beheaded on television to be shown to the English speaking world as entertainment.

Contrast the American way with the way of those who want to kill us and then compare it with the left in this nation who could not resist the urge to blame the President and the Congress for not looking in every container reaching our port because it would bring commerce to a halt or who want to complain about the high cost of energy instead of allowing it to be drilled for in our own country leaving us dependent on nations that produce shoe bombers and Moussaoui type people.

The left had a defeat today with the words of Rosemary Dillard, who lost her husband in the attacks. "We showed the world what we will do to terrorists and that we will treat them with respect, no matter how much they disrespect us and that means an awful lot, that that makes us the bigger and better person and society."  It appears that those who really consider terrorism understand that it is a complex animal and not the simple thing that some people make it out to be.

The words of the widow Dillard said should resonate with the world.  Americans are not going to allow terrorists to take away our way of life and if they do or try again, which they will, they may bring down buildings and kill thousands, but in the end they fail and are left to clapping their hands and yelling at an almost empty courtroom.

President Bush reacted to the jury’s verdict with resolve and a caution, "We have had many victories, yet there is much left to do, and I will not relent in this struggle for the freedom and security of the American people."

The fight will be long and the people of America would do well to understand that the resolve shown by our troops and our government in keeping us secure need only fail once for terrorists to have their way with us again and the desire for another attack has not waned and probably increased.

Flight 93 is a movie now and one terrorist, or wanna be if you believe some on the jury, is going to jail for the rest of his life to be guarded by Americans, fed by Americans and given the freedom to make a black mark on his head when he bangs it on the ground – the sign of a good Muslim.

That is the American way of dealing with those we disagree with and those who will do us harm – if Moussaoui, Reid and Lindh had their way thousands more Americans would be dead, but as the world looks at our nation they must be scratching their heads in wonderment at how we can be so compassionate by not putting to death a man that takes open credit for 9-11.

The amazing thing is that the jury reached the right verdict and that was to deny Moussaoui his failed quest for martyrdom, the virgins he would have received and the poster boy status he would have become in the Middle East (and in the west) for those who want to behead us.

America remains a country of compassion and proof positive of that is we spared the life of someone who wanted to die, who admitted complicity in 9-11 and who would not have been missed by anyone.  And still people question the compassion of America.

Steve Yuhas is a columnist and radio talk show host on KOGO AM 600 and may be reached at www.steveyuhas.com or steve@steveyuhas.com