ALEXANDRIA (USA), April 14: Al Qaeda plotter Zacarias Moussaoui said on Thursday he had ‘no remorse’ for the Sept 11, 2001, tragedy, dismissed grief-stricken survivors as ‘disgusting’ and hoped new attacks would bring America more pain.
“It makes my day,” Mr Moussaoui replied when asked at his death penalty trial for his reaction to the heartbreak of families shattered by the loss of loved ones in the 2001 attacks.
On the witness stand in his death penalty trial, days before jurors will be asked to decide whether he should be executed, Zacarias Moussaoui said he dreamed that President George Bush would release him before he leaves office in 2009.
Amid signs that the jury would be handed the case early next week, he justified the strikes with Quranic verses.
In an anti-Israel tirade, he argued the United States is ‘the head of the snake’ that acts as ‘life support’ for “The Jewish State of Palestine’.
Asked by prosecutor Rob Spencer about Sept 11, Mr Moussaoui replied quickly” “No regret, no remorse.”
“I just wish it had happened on the 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th, we can go on and on.”
“So would you be happy to see 9/11 again?” Mr Spencer asked.
“Every day,” Mr Moussaoui answered.
Mr Spencer asked Mr Moussaoui, the only person charged in the United States in connection with the attacks, if he had enjoyed video of the Pentagon in flames.
“I would have laughed but I knew I would have been kicked out of court,” he replied.
One officer, Lt Col John Thurman, recalled terrible scenes moments after a hijacked jet slammed into the Pentagon and how he crawled out of the inferno. “It was pathetic. I was regretful he didn’t die,” said Mr Moussaoui.
Asked about sobs on the witness stand from the navy’s Lt Nancy McKeown, who lost two subordinates in the Pentagon, he replied: “I think it was disgusting.”
While the defence has been urging jurors to send him to prison for life, the Al Qaeda operative said he dreamt Mr Bush ‘would release him.—AFP
