Feds Outline Moussaoui Link to 9/11

— -- Feds Outline Moussaoui Link to 9/11 Hijacker

W A S H I N G T O N, Sept 24 — Federal prosecutors today detailed for the first time the evidence they saidlinks Zacarias Moussaoui to one of the hijackers who carriedout last year's Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

In court documents filed to support their request to playthe cockpit voice recording from the hijacked plane thatcrashed in Pennsylvania last year, prosecutors said they couldprove the identity of one the hijackers, Ziad Jarrah, by hisvoice on the tape.

They said they could also link Jarrah to Moussaoui.

Jarrah was believed to have been the pilot and one of fourmen involved in the hijacking of United Airlines Flight 93,which crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after passengersapparently tried to intervene to stop the hijacking.

Some U.S. officials have said Moussaoui, a Frenchman ofMoroccan descent who was being held on immigration charges onSept. 11, was meant to be the 20th hijacker. Flight 93 had onlyfour hijackers while the other three hijacked planes had five.

Prosecutors said the voices on the recording would helpwitnesses identify the Flight 93 hijackers, including Jarrah.They said they could link Jarrah to Moussaoui because theyfound one of Jarrah's business cards in the rubble inPennsylvania with a phone number written on back. Phone recordsshowed Moussaoui had called that number, they said.

"Jarrah's role as a hijacker on Flight 93 is important tothe government's evidence linking defendant [Moussaoui] to theconspiracy because a telephone number that defendant calledduring the conspiracy was scrawled on a business card belongingto Jarrah, which was found at the crash site in Pennsylvania,"prosecutors wrote in the filing to the court.

The filing was made in response to a request by U.S.District Judge Leonie Brinkema, who said earlier this month therecordings appeared to have marginal value as evidence andposed the danger of unfair prejudice to Moussaoui.

It was unclear whether the explanation given by theprosecution would be enough to prove the relevance of playingthe recordings in open court.

Moussaoui, who is representing himself, has a team oflawyers on standby who contend that playing the recording incourt would be "highly inflammatory." The 34-year-old Frenchman has been charged with six countsof conspiracy in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks. Four ofthe charges carry the death penalty.

He has denied being a part of the hijackings, but admittedto being a member of al Qaeda. The United States blames Osamabin Laden and his al Qaeda network for the attacks that killedabout 3,000 people.

Prosecutors said the cockpit voice recordings of Flight 93and ExecuJet 956, which tracked Flight 93 for some time beforeit crashed, offer key evidence for their case.

"Simply put, there is be no better evidence [sic] of thehijacking than the actual words of the hijackers during thecourse of the hijacking," they wrote.

Prosecutors rejected the defense arguments, saying therecordings offer evidence that directly substantiates some ofthe acts alleged in the indictment. For example, they can beused to help explain the methods used to hijack the planes andto show the ultimate intended targets.

"[T]he violent acts depicted on the CVRs [recordings]assist the jury in determining the means the hijackers used toovertake the crew and passengers, a fact that may be criticalin putting into context some of the evidence regarding thedefendant's conduct," they wrote.

The prosecutors also plan to use the recordings to showthat the airplane that crashed in Pennsylvania was forced downand was actually destined for a target in Washington.

— Reuters

FBI Knew About Bin Laden Associates' Flight Training in U.S.W A S H I N G T O N, Sept 24 — Before the Sept. 11, 2001,attacks, FBI officials in New York knew that several associatesof Osama bin Laden had trained at U.S. flight schools, butbelieved the al Qaeda leader needed pilots to transport goodsin Afghanistan, a congressional investigator said today.

The FBI leadership essentially ignored a memo from an FBIagent in Phoenix on July 10, 2001, outlining his concerns thata coordinated effort was under way by Saudi-born extremist binLaden to send students to the United States for flighttraining, congressional investigators conducting an inquiryinto Sept. 11 found.

The so-called Phoenix memo was written by FBI agent KennethWilliams, who testified from behind a screen at the jointhearing of the House and Senateintelligence committees. Williams was not identified by name,but his testimony made clear he had authored the memo.

The memo noted that an "inordinate number of individuals ofinvestigative interest" were attending flight training inArizona, and speculated that it was part of an effort toestablish a group in civil aviation that would be in a positionto conduct terrorist activity in the future, Eleanor Hill,staff director of the joint inquiry, told the hearing.