Moussaoui case to fuel death penalty debate
US view doesn't match Europe's
WASHINGTON -- Now the trouble begins, as Zacarias Moussaoui's case hurtles toward an end that may lead to his execution.
The penalty phase is the next step in the prosecution of Moussaoui, the French citizen of Moroccan descent, who says the endgame of his flight training for 747s included a strike on the White House, separate from the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Despite Moussaoui's chilling admissions, international hostility to executions as well as the need for cooperation in the US fight against terrorism raise a question: Does the Bush administration really want to put Moussaoui to death?
The answer Friday was an unequivocal yes, as prosecutors basked in the glow of a victory that brought expressions of gratitude from relatives of Sept. 11 victims.
''As family members, we thank you," Hamilton Peterson said to Assistant US Attorney Ken Melson at the courthouse in Alexandria, Va., where Moussaoui pleaded guilty. Peterson's father and stepmother died when United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania.
The Moussaoui case looks much different overseas. The European Union has condemned the death penalty for foreign nationals in the United States. France, Moussaoui's country of origin, where execution is outlawed, has urged that he not face death.
Germany has expressed reluctance to turn over evidence about Moussaoui because it fears he may be executed. And Spain has said it would not extradite terrorism suspects to the United States if they could be executed.
''Seeking the death penalty in the Moussaoui case always was going to be a very dicey choice," said Larry Barcella, a former federal prosecutor. As in Europe, the Arab world ''would basically view his being put to death as a public spectacle," Barcella added.
For critics of President Bush overseas, the message in the Moussaoui case is that the Bush administration is paying no heed to international sensibilities against executions.
To Americans, the prospect of Moussaoui being seen as a martyr in the Arab world means little, said Stephen Hess, a political analyst at the Brookings Institution.
''There is simply no way that public opinion in the US would not overwhelmingly be for giving . . . the most severe penalty."
