Defense Gets Its Say in Moussaoui Trial

Defense Gets Its Say in Moussaoui Trial
Defense Plan to Point the Finger at FBI, CIA in Sentencing Trial for Moussaoui

By MATTHEW BARAKAT

ALEXANDRIA, Va. Mar 27, 2006 (AP)— If jurors in the death-penalty trial of Zacarias Moussaoui are looking for someone to blame for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, defense lawyers are pointing the finger at the FBI and other federal agencies they say botched intelligence.

The sentencing trial for Moussaoui, the only person in this country charged in connection with the airborne attacks that claimed more than 3,000 lives, resumes Monday with the defense's first witness scheduled for cross-examination.

The witness, former FBI agent Erik Rigler, on Thursday summarized for the jury a Justice Department report that criticized the CIA for keeping intelligence about two known al-Qaida terror operatives in the United States from the FBI for more than a year.

The two were among the 19 suicide hijackers on 9/11. The report said they had been placed on a watchlist in Thailand in January 2000, but not on a U.S. list until August 2001.
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http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1771252

may it be so