101 three sixty five

An uncharacteristic diatribe against an easy villian.

The Photo-Sideblog.
The image of Zacarias Moussaoui was synthesized based on a 2001 photograph, and a drawing made in the present. I have aged and adjusted his appearance to account for three and a half years of intensive confinement. I made him look evil too with some eye treatment.
I remember Time magazine got in trouble on that with OJ, but too bad. Sue me. Oh wait - no, don't.
I started with this photo taken at the time of his arrest, shortly before 911, where he looks like an athlete or drug dealer - or the dad next door for that matter.

Now, accordingto this drawing by Dana Verkouteren of the Associated Press, the 911 defendant has a fuller beard, less vibrant complexion and a smaller overall presentation:

Zacarias Moussaoui says he's guilty, yet plans to mount a defense to save his life. Moussaoui (pronounced Moss'-uh-wee?) claims that he thought he was training to fly an airplane into the White House instead of the World Trade Center or Pentagon ... Wha, they have to let him go because ... they didn't guess the right building. I'm thinking Zack got it wrong though, and was just told he was supposed to pick up the 'Blind Sheik' and fly on to Afghanistan, or else crash into the White House, where the Bush family, and all the aids, and employees, as well as any visitors and tourists would have been killed. The president was, as you know, on a stump to advocate for No Child Left Behind in a Florida classroom.

But, if I recall, an abandoned rental car, at Logan airport, contained evidence that some of the operatives in the 911 attack were kept ignorant of the nature of their terminal role in the operation. Perhaps all of the pilots believed they were on a rescue mission, and would fly prisoners to freedom. So Moussaouri's defense is stupidity?

Or is he going to go for insanity. Let's see, he's pleaded guilty to 911. But he was going to murder the president's family and employees and destroy the presidential mansion that survived a terrorist attack (by our fine ally in the Iraq adventure) almost two centuries prior, instead of fly into the buildings that were hit? He's clearly nuts.

He's probably thinking that an insanity plea will get him out of the death penalty. But with Alberto "Say Cheese" Gonzales on the other side, I'm thinking the death penalty is about to get creative.

[Information about this story came from NPR. The photograph and drawing of Zacarias Moussaoui is from the New York Times. The photograph of A.G. Gonzales is from the US Department of Justice.]

comments