Crazy or Scary (or both?)

Zacarias Moussaoui might be our window into the mind of a deranged nut job, or he might be an inside voice to the millions overseas who think just like him. He testified in his own trial today for a completely unknown purpose and said a variety of things. Among them:

...it made his day to hear accounts of Americans' suffering from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and he would like to see similar attacks "every day."

...

Taking the witness stand for the second time in his death-penalty trial Thursday, Moussaoui mocked a Navy sailor who wept on the stand as she described the death of two of her subordinates.

"I think it was disgusting for a military person" to cry, Moussaoui said of the testimony of Navy Lt. Nancy McKeown. "She is military, she should expect people at war with her to want to kill her."

Asked if he was happy to hear her sobbing, he said, "Make my day."

...

Moussaoui said he had "no regret, no remorse" about the Sept. 11 attacks. Asked by prosecutor Rob Spencer if he would like to see it happen again, Moussaoui responded: "Every day until we get you."

...

Offering a lengthy explanation of why he hates Americans, Moussaoui criticized the United States' support for Israel. He said Muslims have been at war with Christians and Jews for centuries. Israel, he said, is "just a missing star in the American flag."

...

Moussaoui told jurors that Islam requires Muslims to be the world's superpower as he flipped through a copy of the Koran searching for verses to support his assertions. One he cited requires non-Muslim nations to pay a tribute to Muslim countries.

"We have to be the superpower. You have to be subdued. We have to be above you," Moussaoui said.

A lot of people would pass off Moussaoui as a lunatic. The man is obviously insane and either is saying what he wants regardless of the consequences - or he is actively seeking his own death by execution.

I would argue, though, that passing off Moussaoui as insane counters the fact that the things he said in his trial today are things that can be heard every day across the Arab world. On TV stations like Al-Jazeera, in mosques in Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and even within the US propaganda identical to Moussaoui's is preached day in and day out. While we may pass him off as nuts, what he has to say resonates with cries of "Death to America" rumbling from within an Iranian sports arena as rape victims are stoned to death in front of thousands.

Is he crazy? Probably. Is he alone in his ideas? No. Are we listening?

"...you should expect people at war with you to want to kill you."