Let The Testimony Begin

Today brings the commencement of the testimony against Zacarias Moussaoui, which the jury will use to determine whether Moussaoui gets the death penalty or life in prison. Last week, the jury had determined that Moussaoui was eligible for the death penalty.

Among those who are expected to testify is former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was at 7WTC when the towers collapsed and was a steadying influence on the city, and indeed the nation as a whole, in the days and weeks after the attacks. His leadership after the attacks is one that other mayors should take to heart and I'm sure that his accounts from those early days and weeks will have a significant impact on the jurors.

The jurors will also get to hear audiotaped messages from Flight 93. Flight 93 was hijacked and experts believe the plane was headed towards the White House when the passengers managed to overpower the hijackers and the plane crashed in Shanksville, PA. Prosecutors have also noted that they will not only have "...up to 45 victim-impact witnesses and they plan to identify each of the 2,972 people killed that day by name and photograph to the jury."

While the emotions will run high because of the Moussaoui trial testimony, news that more bone fragments were recovered from the Deutsche Bank building site in NYC is sure to get 9/11 families upset as well.

The combination of events is sure to reopen emotional wounds that never quite healed after 9/11 - and the news coverage of the tapes and the Moussaoui trial has meant that footage that was seldom seen after the attacks is being shown once more. That includes videos of the towers collapsing and the carnage after the towers came down.

UPDATE:
Mayor Giuliani took to the stand and recounted watching people jumping from the burning towers to their death. And a smiling Moussaoui was sitting no more than 10 feet away from the mayor when he was giving his testimony. I have no idea what was going through Moussaoui's sick twisted cranium, but it couldn't be anything good. He's on his way to getting his wish - death by lethal injection - if the jury determines that he should get the death penalty instead of life in prison.

Moussaoui is the only person held in the US on charges directly relating to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. And the Washington Post has one of the worst headlines I've seen in a while "9/11 Takes Center Stage at Moussaoui Trial." That's what Moussaoui was on trial for - his involvement in the 9/11 terrorist attacks and his culpability in not alerting authorities to the impending attacks. This phase is going through all the damage wrought by Moussaoui's fellow Islamic terrorists on the US on 9/11/2001.