Moussaoui Trial Details August 2001 Arrest
March 9, 2006 — -- A key witness in the government's death penalty case against Zacarias Moussaoui testified for four hours today about the FBI investigation of the admitted al Qaeda operative in the days leading up to 9/11.
Prosecutors are seeking to show Moussaoui knowingly lied or covered up knowledge of the 9/11 attacks after his August 16, 2001 arrest by INS and FBI agents. If the jury determines that he did lie, then the court will hold a separate phase to determine if he should be executed or face life in prison.
FBI Agent Harry Samit testified that after FBI headquarters shot down several attempts by Minnesota-based field agents to apply for search warrants for Moussaoui's bags and laptop computer, agents received information from France that Moussaoui had ties to Chechen terrorists. The French government was also interested in investigating Moussaoui's activities as an Islamic extremist. The U.S. government finalized a deal with France on September 10, 2001, to deport Moussaoui to his home country, where French authorities would have the authority to search his belongings.
Had the FBI been able to establish probable cause for a criminal search warrant or a FISA warrant, they would have found contact information for "Ahad Sabet" an alias used by 9/11 facilitator Ramzi Binalshibh who was in Germany at the time. In earlier testimony FBI Agent Michael Anticev said it could take as long as 3 months to get access to German phone records.
Prosecutor David Novak focused on information Moussaoui withheld during interviews with FBI and INS agents. Novak read from the statement of facts in the case and asked Samit if Moussaoui "told you he came to the U.S. to fly a plane into the White House." Samit said it "would have triggered an immediate attempt to gather information."
Samit testified that after Moussaoui's arrest, he often asked agents to let him return to his flight training. "It was a constant theme during our interviews." Samit said.
The testimony also revealed details about the arrest of Hussein Al-Attas, Moussaoui's one-time roommate who drove them to flight school in Minnesota. Attas was arrested the day after Moussaoui for immigration violations. Samit said that during interviews with agents, Attas told federal agents Moussaoui said it was "perfectly acceptable to kill civilians in jihad."
Moussaoui and Attas told agents they were going to travel to New York and Denver after Moussaoui finished flight school. Moussaoui told Samit he had business in Denver with a major airline.
Seemed Like 'A Guy With Too Much Money'
Earlier in the day the prosecution questioned Moussaoui's flight instructors from Oklahoma and Minnesota. Shohaib Nazir Kassim testified that Moussaoui "was not a very good pilot, he couldn't maintain basic aircraft control." Kassim also remembers a brief encounter with Mohammed Atta and Marwan al Shehhi at the Airman flight school in 2000, but could not remember many details other exchanging a "hello" with the men.
Despite logging only 50 hours of flight time, Moussaoui traveled to Minnesota to enroll at the Pan Am International Flight Academy where he attracted the suspicion of his instructor Clancy Prevost because he wanted to train on 747 simulators. Before Moussaoui, Prevost's most inexperienced student had 600 hours of flight time.
Prevost said at first he thought "this was a guy with too much money. I thought he was just fulfilling a dream." In a class Prevost determined Moussaoui "had no frame of reference for a commercial airliner" and decided to look for ways to divert him. "I tried to waste as much time as I could," he said.
He also testified Moussaoui became defensive when the two spoke about religion. Prevost said when he asked if Moussaoui was a Muslim, Moussaoui shot back, "I am nothing!"
Prevost was suspicious of Moussaoui and thought someone learning to fly should undergo a background check. He told his superiors at the Pan Am academy they might want to call the FBI.
"We don't know anything about this guy and we're teaching him to throw switches on a 747," Prevost recalled saying. "We'll care when the lawsuits start rolling in."