Moussaoui Martyrdom Postponed

A federal jury decided today not to sentence Zacarias Moussaoui to death.

After seven days of deliberation, the nine men and three women rebuffed the government's appeal for death for the only person charged in this country in the four suicide jetliner hijackings that killed nearly 3,000 people on Sept. 11, 2001.

Three jurors said Moussaoui had only limited knowledge of the Sept. 11 plot and three described his role in the attacks as minor, if he had any role at all.

If you've been reading for a while, you already know I agree. I have been skeptical of how involved Moussaoui was in the actual plotting, because, though better educated he has never struck me as being much brighter than Richard "the Shoe Bomber" Reid." History may tell, but I'm not going to wait with bated breath for an answer.

So now, we don't have to read his name in the news for the next decade as appeals play out, and he gets to rot in prison and die an ignoble death (preferably from pork products), rather than getting "rewarded" with martyrdom. Welcome to inglorious anonymity, prisoner number TBD.

Smash has different ideas.