posted May 10, 2006 01:28 AM            

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Facing life in a so-called supermax prison, convicted Al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui says he lied in admitting involvement in the Sept. 11 plot, but a judge Monday rejected his attempt to withdraw his guilty plea.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, who sentenced Moussaoui on Thursday after a jury spared him a death sentence, paid no heed to his argument that he now recognizes he can get a fair trial in America.

She denied the motion, filed Friday but made public Monday, under a rule barring a defendant from withdrawing a plea once he's been sentenced.

Moussaoui said he testified he was training to fly a hijacked plane into the White House on Sept. 11, 2001, "even though I knew that was a complete fabrication."

Moussaoui said he lied because he believed "it was the intention of the American justice system to put me to death."

By McClatchy News Service
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060509/NEWS07/605090409/1009

Well, that's weird, isn't it? And here I thought he just hated our freedoms!

This is also quite interesting:

MSNBC VIDEO: Moussaoui wore 'stun belt' for new testimony

If you're looking for a reason why Zacarias Moussaoui suddenly testified today to a version of the 9/11 plotline that sounds more like the Official story than even the official Whitewash Commission report, this video may have the answer.

In it, NBC news reporter Pete Williams lets slip that Moussaoui is wearing a "Stun belt" underneath his clothing controlled by US Marshals. MSNBC host Dan Abrams gets some more details on the stun belt.

A taste of the exchange:
WILLIAMS: The old outbursts were gone... He was very docile today... We believe that he's wearing one of those stun belts, and it may be that he was very worried about doing anything that would cause those Marshals to press the button....

ABRAMS: A stun belt? They literally have sOmething around his waist? That they can push a button and?