But the erratic Moussaoui put a damper on the festivities when he suddenly withdrew his guilty plea after U.S. Judge Leonie Brinkema told him he had to admit direct participation in the 9-11 plot. This, Moussaoui said, he couldn’t do because of his “obligation toward my creator, Allah.” Now the case will go to trial Sept. 30. Justice officials say they are confident it won’t change the outcome. “Our guys are ready to go,” said one. But privately, some lawyers familiar with the evidence–including a few law-enforcement officials–are not so sure.
Brinkema last week appeared to adopt arguments submitted in secret by Moussaoui’s court-appointed lawyers that merely showing Moussaoui was a member of Al Qaeda and wanted to harm Americans is not enough to convict.
Can the government make the case? Sources familiar with tens of thousands of classified FBI documents that have been assembled for the case tell NEWSWEEK there’s nothing that shows Moussaoui ever had contact with any of the 9-11 hijackers. Some documents even suggest internal FBI doubts over whether Moussaoui really was supposed to be the “20th hijacker,” as Justice officials have suggested. “There was a lot of skepticism about this case,” said one high-level source. Moussaoui has openly admitted his allegiance to Al Qaeda, and prosecutors do have some compelling circumstantial evidence: Moussaoui received $14,000 in money orders from Ramzi bin al-Shibh, a fugitive Qaeda operative and former roommate of hijacker ringleader Mohamed Atta, in August 2001. The money arrived just weeks before Moussaoui was arrested when instructors at a Minneapolis flight school reported his suspicious interest in learning to steer large jetliners. But, backed by a team of more than 50 assistants, Moussaoui’s lawyers have been crafting a circumstantial counterargument: while the other hijackers met repeatedly with each other, Moussaoui is conspicuously absent from any of their gatherings. “It’s like the reverse of ‘Where’s Waldo?’ " said lawyer Ed MacMahon. One big problem, though: Moussaoui, convinced that his own lawyers are out to kill him, refuses to talk to them and insists on representing himself. So far, Brinkema has agreed to let him try. Unless the judge changes her mind, some lawyers say, Moussaoui’s legal incompetence–rather than the evidence–may be the government’s strongest card.
