| Moussaoui defense says fbi know more than suspect { March 7 2006 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active) http://www.channelcincinnati.com/news/7778985/detail.htmlhttp://www.channelcincinnati.com/news/7778985/detail.html
FBI Intelligence Takes Hit At Moussaoui Trial
POSTED: 12:08 pm EST March 7, 2006 UPDATED: 5:07 pm EST March 7, 2006
ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Zacarias Moussaoui's lawyers are trying to suggest that the FBI knew more about al-Qaida's Sept. 11, 2001, plans than Moussaoui did.
Moussaoui is the man who pleaded guilty to conspiring with Al-Qaida to hijack airliners, but he denies any direct involvement with the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist plot.
He is now facing the death penalty or life in prison at a sentencing trial in Virginia.
Federal prosecutors want the death penalty for Moussaoui, but first they have to prove he had direct knowledge of the attacks. Moussaoui's lawyers portray him as a loser who dreamed of becoming a terrorist but was kept out of the Sept. 11 attacks.
In cross-examination, a defense lawyer got FBI agent Michael Anticev to admit that the FBI was aware years before Sept. 11 that al-Qaida planned to slam planes into prominent buildings.
Anticev told the jury earlier about al-Qaida cover stories. He read excerpts of a militant training manual with instructions on coded communications and how to make up a cover if cell members are caught.
The manual says militants must be ready for questions on their source of travel money, membership in religious groups and other subjects.
Federal prosecutors want to show that al-Qaida members are trained to lie, and that jurors should dismiss Zacarias Moussaoui's claims of ignorance about the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Moussaoui told investigators after his August 2001 arrest that his flight training was just an "ego-boosting thing."
Prosecutors say he could have prevented the Sept. 11 attacks if he had told the truth. Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press
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