ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Zacarias Moussaoui (search) wants Attorney General John Ashcroft to answer a multiple choice quiz about the government's theory of his role as a terrorist conspirator.
Several of 17 handwritten pleadings released Thursday by U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema have a version of the quiz, which asks Ashcroft to check one of four boxes.
The choices are:
-- 20th hijacker (search).
-- 5th plane pilot missing in action.
-- I, Ashcroft don't know.
-- Let's kill him anyway.
"1st prize: 1st class seat at Zacarias Moussaoui execution," the motion said, adding, "Only joking, it is not going to happen."
Brinkema has ruled that Moussaoui, an acknowledged Al Qaeda loyalist, is entitled to learn why the government has referred to him as a fifth pilot of an attacking plane -- a theory that prosecutors have not publicly explained.
In the motions, Moussaoui repeats often that he be authorized to question senior Al Qaeda prisoners, contending they could exonerate him of charges that he conspired with the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers.
Brinkema has given Moussaoui the right to directly question at least one Al Qaeda prisoner, Ramzi Binalshibh, a suspected coordinator of the Sept. 11 attacks. The government objected and secret proceedings are underway to work out a compromise that would give the defendant access to the captive's statements.
Moussaoui, a French citizen, is the lone U.S. defendant charged as a conspirator with the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers and could face the death penalty if convicted.
Moussaoui, who contends the government, the judge and his court-appointed lawyers are conspiring to kill him, predicted in one motion that he will be freed and leave the United States.
Referring to defense lawyer Frank Dunham, Moussaoui said, "No doubt that Dunham will go crazy when I, Zacarias Moussaoui, will leave the United Satan on a 747-400 1st class. Non-smoking. No drink. No women."
In another motion, he challenged President Bush to "stop playing chicken and ... come out and fight hand-to-hand combat with knife if he want to kill me."
Moussaoui said he would call experts during the penalty phase of his case to show the United States has a history of "dirty foreign policy."
But Moussaoui said he has tried without success to obtain tapes from the History Channel "to deepen my understanding on the average American mind [if they have any]."
He predicted that authorities would deny his request over fears that his Al Qaeda colleagues would insert a "subliminal image" into the tapes "to send me terrorist message."
The government has kept Moussaoui in isolation in the Alexandria Detention Center to avoid his receiving Al Qaeda messages, and the government reviews his pleadings in an attempt to spot any messages he is sending.
Brinkema released the pleadings after media organizations petitioned her to do so, and the Justice Department dropped objections to their public release. The news organizations are pressing the government for additional releases to the public.
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