They're Not Boo-ing, They're Saying Mooooo-saoui

Turns out the Zacarias Moussaoui death penalty trial is one more example of you don't get what you don't pay for. His court appointed lawyer, who just happens to be named Ed MacMahon (after the sentencing, does he say to the judge, "You are right sir!"), has opted for the "you're ugly and your mother dresses you funny" defense. Only MacMahon has introduced a fascinating new wrinkle to this old strategy--he's accusing both those on the prosecution and his own client of everything he can think of.

According to NPR's Morning Edition, MacMahon called Moussaoui "isolated and useless, obnoxious to everyone he meets and most importantly a headache to al Qaeda," which, at the least, makes the terrorist more effective than President Bush. MacMahon also quoted an al Qaeda leader who called Moussaoui "cuckoo in the head." At this point Moussaoui stood up and said, "That's my defense lawyer, ladies and gentleman, the man works for me."

But MacMahon wasn't finished, as he had a monster-size Publishers' Clearinghouse check of horrible embarrassment to deliver at the FBI's doorstep. He insisted that even if Moussaoui knew of the plot, "The agency was so incompetent and beset by bureaucratic infighting before 9/11 that the FBI would have done nothing with the information."

So that about does it--the defendant is useless and the prosecution incompetent. Why even waste the bench's time with a farce like this?

It is interesting to note that prosecutors and the FBI insist that if Moussaoui fessed up, they would have arrested all 19 hijackers and foiled that horrible plot. And not a word was spoken about how crucial it would have been to violate NISA laws to wire-tap anyone.