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RogerRabbit
Master Chief Petty Officer
Joined: 05 Sep 2004
Posts: 748
Location: Oregon
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 Posted: Fri Apr 22, 2005 10:23 pm Post subject: Moussaoui pleads guilty to 9/11 crimes |
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7573706/
| Quote: | ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Zacarias Moussaoui pleaded guilty Friday to conspiring with the Sept. 11 hijackers to kill Americans and declared he was personally chosen by Osama bin Laden to fly a plane into the White House during a later attack.
Moussaoui admitted guilt in front of a packed courtroom only a few miles from where one of the four hijacked planes crashed into the Pentagon in 2001. He pleaded to six conspiracy counts, four of which could bring the death penalty.
He said he would contest such a sentence, which prosecutors say they intend to pursue. “I will fight every inch against the death penalty,” he said.
‘I don’t expect any leniency’
Asked by U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema if prosecutors had promised him the possibility of a lighter sentence for his admission, Moussaoui said no. Then he added, “I don’t expect any leniency from the Americans.”
Brinkema accepted his pleas, making the French citizen the lone person convicted in a U.S. court in connection with the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.
While a sentencing phase still must come, the hearing brought a dramatic conclusion to a bizarre three-year legal battle during which the mercurial Moussaoui insulted Brinkema, tried to fire his lawyers and once asked to plead guilty only to change his mind a week later.
Wearing a green prison jump suit and a full beard, Moussaoui entered the hushed courtroom and politely answered questions from Brinkema, a departure from some previous appearances during which he sometimes ranted at her.
“How do you plead?” she asked him for each of the six felony counts. Each time, he answered, “Guilty.” |
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RogerRabbit
Master Chief Petty Officer
Joined: 05 Sep 2004
Posts: 748
Location: Oregon
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| Posted: Fri Apr 22, 2005 10:27 pm Post subject: Voinovich surprised by reaction to decision |
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http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1114162329159261.xml
| Quote: | Friday, April 22, 2005
Elizabeth Auster
Plain Dealer Bureau
Washington - Ohio Republican Sen. George Voinovich says he is surprised by the fuss he stirred with his unexpected announcement Tuesday that he wasn't prepared to vote to confirm John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations.
But if Voinovich has any regrets for single-handedly forcing a delay in Bolton's confirmation, he's not showing it.
"I feel real good," he said Thursday. "My conscience told me this is what I think I should do."
Voinovich, answering questions briefly from reporters Thursday, said he planned to vote for Bolton before Tuesday's meeting of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee because he felt reassured by an earlier private meeting with Bolton in which he asked many hard questions about foreign policy.
Voinovich said he changed his mind for various reasons, including "hearing some things that bothered me" at the committee meeting.
He cited complaints about Bolton's interpersonal relationships that made him question whether Bolton treats people "with dignity and respect."
Voinovich said he also was disturbed by the outrage on the faces of Democrats on the panel who complained that they weren't being given a chance to examine allegations about Bolton.
"This was very serious business," said Voinovich.
"These are guys who have been on this committee for a long time."
Voinovich said he feared that failing to give Democrats a chance to explore their concerns could undermine "a sense of decency" that often has prevailed on the foreign relations panel and "do real damage to the possibility of having a bipartisan foreign policy."
He felt that Bolton and the Bush administration would be better off if questions about the nomination were resolved by the committee.
The alternative, he said, was a "free-for-all" on the Senate floor.
Voinovich, who has periodically infuriated conservatives by straying from the party line, declined to say whether he is being pressured by the White House to support Bolton. And he laughed off a question about whether GOP colleagues are upset with him.
"My colleagues know I'm the same old George," he said.
A California-based conservative group, Move America Forward, has mounted a radio advertising campaign in Ohio criticizing Voinovich's action.
The group claimed to have raised nearly $50,000 by early Thursday afternoon for the campaign. Ads began running Thursday throughout Ohio, said executive director Siobhan Guiney.
Voinovich spokeswoman Marcie Ridgway said the senator's office is getting a steady stream of e-mails and phone calls on the Bolton issue, with response split between people supporting and opposing Voinovich's action.
Most of the calls and e-mails are from outside Ohio, she said. |
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