A closer look at Moussaoui

As one who thought Zacarious Moussaoui was mostly an underling in the hierarchy of al Qaeda jihadists, Monday's Weekly Standard column by Thomas Jocelyn provided me a "head scratching" moment:

There are good reasons to believe this lone juror and the Times got it wrong. A host of unchallenged facts tie Moussaoui to the man who acted as a handler for the 9/11 hijackers, Ramzi Binalshibh, in the months leading up to the attack. And while some have tried to portray Moussaoui as merely an al Qaeda wannabe with a penchant for self-aggrandizement, his ties to Ramzi Binalshibh alone should be enough to convince anyone of his participation in the 9/11 plot.

His column is in response to the latest Bin Laden audio, a strange admonishment of the US government for trying to have Moussaoui french fried for his purported role in the plot. Recall that UBL said:

"I am the one in charge of the 19 brothers and I never assigned brother Zacarias to be with them in that mission," he said, referring to the 19 hijackers.

Mr. Jocelyn's article skillfully parses the testimony taken from the two primary planners/handlers of September 11th pertaining to Moussaoui, KSM and Ramzi Binalshibh, which differed somewhat. He then takes this UBL statement to task:

"Brother Moussaoui was arrested two weeks before the events, and if he had known something even very little about the Sept. 11 group, we would have informed the leader of the operation, Mohammad Atta, and the others to leave America before being discovered," Bin Laden said.

The parts in bold come close to representing legal-speak. Knowing and receiving money from Binalshibh DID represent knowledge of A plan, however, it didn't represent knowledge of THE plan, nor does it suggest he knew the number of conspirators, their locations, or the execution date/time. And while the rest of the attackers trained and lived together in small groups, he was presumably acting alone, as far as know.

The bigger question might be why. Why did UBL feel the need to issue what amounts to a "set the record straight" supplemental audio, with no other specific threats? Here are my speculative guesses. Feel free to agree, add to, mock, ignore or correct.

1. To stem embarrassment. After Zacarious botched his assignment he proceeded to refuse counsel, changed his story, announced his intention to die as a martyr then celebrated when he realized he would live. His troubled past was used as a crutch for his becoming a terrorist, hardly the recruiting picture bin Laden would seem to desire.

Some suggest he was a favorite of UBL who wanted him placed on the team but KSM, knowing he was an idiot, stuck him harmlessly out of the way. It would seem a useless risk to take, but sometimes the boss has to be pleased.

2. To use as a propaganda tool. As Richard Miniter pointed out in the New York Sun, Debra Burlingame thinks his life sentence has provided bin Laden a useful propaganda tool. However, it's not clear to me whether he has much propaganda value, since most Americans would agree his goals were to kill as many infidels as possible, regardless of complicity in 9/11.

The propaganda aspect of the tape was stronger on the Gitmo angle in the face of mounting international pressure to close the camp. But why throw Moussaoui in? Americans are generally happy he's off the streets.

3. He was trying to cover the existence of a fifth squad on 9/11. If that's the case, why talk about it? It's been said he was perhaps a reserve pilot, there to plug holes in case others fell out. Maybe, but there's a problem with that, too.

According to the FBI Moussaoui was asking for instruction on the Boeing 747. The aircraft used on 9/11 were 757s and 767s. The avionics systems aren't the same.

4. He was bluffing that "second wave" attack groups are still in place. We know from watching terrorist operations in Iraq that they like to use tandem attacks. KSM did describe a second wave in his confession but said it was scuttled after our rapid response. Based only on the phrasing, "I never assigned brother Zacarias to be with them in that mission" it would leave open the possibility there were/are other missions Zacarious WAS assigned to.

5. He was signalling sleepers. Perhaps it's too risky to use the go-phone with the NSA program in place.

Despite his connections to Binalshibh and the conflicting testimony of the planners, it still seems a combo of numbers one and two above are the most likely, but number five can't entirely be ruled out. More than likely he felt the need to mention Zacarious to cover his mistake of assigning him into America in the first place against the advice of KSM.