That's the Spirit
The coolest fast food promotion ever, courtesy of Long John Silver's:

IF NASA FINDS CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE OF AN OCEAN ON MARS,
AMERICA EATS FREE GIANT SHRIMP

"We are strongly behind NASA's efforts to find conclusive evidence of an ocean on Mars for two reasons," said Mike Baker, Chief Marketing Officer for Long John Silver's, Inc. "As Americans, we're proud of NASA's exploration of space; as the world's most popular quick-service seafood chain, we get excited about ocean water, wherever it is. If there's ocean water on Mars, that would be giant news. And giant news calls for Giant Shrimp!"

Via Teresa Nielsen Hayden ("Making Light"). posted by Thomas Nephew at 10:51:00 PM -- |    

 
Mzoudi found not guilty in German 9/11 trial
The Zurich newspaper Neue Zuercher Zeitung (NZZ) joins many other German language newspapers in reporting that, as expected, Abdelghani Mzoudi was found not guilty earlier today of being an accessory to the 9/11 attacks by Hamburg judge Klaus Ruehle.

The German newsweekly FOCUS reports that Ruehle admitted the verdict might cause consternation in the U.S., but went on to tell Mzoudi:

"You were set free not because of proven innocence, but because the evidence was insufficient for a guilty verdict."

German prosecutors will appeal the verdict.

For background on the case, see "Mzoudi trial evidence phase ends; acquittal likely," which I posted back in early January. The turning point in the trial came when the prosecution, following legal protocol, revealed it had information forwarded to it by American authorities in which an unnamed source stated that Mzoudi was not part of the conspiracy. The source is believed to be Ramzi Binalshibh, captured in September of 2002 and now presumably jailed at Guantanamo.

Moreover, German authorities now claim that there was no conspiracy per se in Hamburg, and that all of the 9/11 planning occurred in Afghanistan. Finally, as the NZZ notes, there was difficulty producing key witnesses for or against Mzoudi: Atta is dead, Binalshibh's testimony was completely blocked by American authorities -- except, oddly, for the alleged Binalshibh statement seeming to exonerate Mzoudi.

The trial took an unexpected turn when a new witness was produced by German prosecutors. "Zakeri," claiming to be an Iranian agent, took the stand last week to say he had information linking Mzoudi to 9/11, Al Qaeda, and activities in Iran. His statements re Mzoudi were hearsay, however, and not convincing at that.

Taken together, and apparently absent compelling evidence to the contrary, Ruehle found Mzoudi not guilty.

A separate FOCUS backgrounder, "The friend of the death pilots," itemizes some of the facts that convinced German prosecutors to try Mzoudi. He trained in a "military" camp in Afghanistan, signed Mohammad Atta's will, and lived with the 9/11 perpetrators. FOCUS reports that

The prosecution called Mzoudi a 'public agent'* of the terrorist pilots. He made his address available to them as a camouflage address.

There may be more than that to the case, but it's difficult to find out from the German media because there has been such a focus on the maybe-Binalshibh statement and on Zakeri's last-minute, unconvincing testimony. There was an unsuccessful effort to try for more evidence via U.S. authorities. The NZZ reports that

Just before the verdict the court rejected a motion by a co-plaintiff to resume hearing evidence. Co-plaintiff attorney Andreas Schulz based his motion on his assumption that the American government had changed its mind about releasing documents about the important witness Ramzi Binalshibh. He was therefore asking for a renewed request for relevant legal help from the USA.

Schulz, who represents 9/11 victims' families in the trial, was desperately trying to delay the inevitable by trying to reach the only people who could help put Mzoudi away.

So why didn't the U.S. do more to help prosecute Mzoudi? Couldn't Binalshibh's testimony have been made possible with appropriate safeguards? Or was it clear to U.S. officials that Mzoudi was either too small of a fish or no fish at all?

Or are they looking forward to Mzoudi's possible deportation? (See this earlier post.) In a third article, FOCUS notes that upon receipt of the verdict, Hamburg interior minister Nockemann would have authority to move for deportation, and explains:

According to law it must be established that Mzoudi had supported international terrorism. In that regard it depended on [an evaluation of] defending against danger and not just the criminal law evaluation.

I.e., security concerns could be considered as well as the court's verdict. However, Nockemann is head of a law-and-order party that sets many Germans' teeth on edge. It could become controversial for Nockemann to try to deport Mzoudi, since some fear he would be turned over to the US by Moroccan authorities or arrested and perhaps tortured in Morocco, while "Zakeri" suggested he might be assassinated by Al Qaeda for alleged cooperation with Western authorities.


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* TRANSLATION NOTES: public agent: 'Statthalter,' lit. proconsul, regent, state- or placeholder, i.e., someone acting on behalf of someone else. Criminal law evaluation: 'strafrechtliche Bewertung'. posted by Thomas Nephew at 7:53:00 PM -- |    

 
Mzoudi 9/11 trial update: Zakeri testimony unconvincing
Via Scott Hanson and numerous German media such as SPIEGEL, it's clear that last Thursday's last-minute appearance of Hamid Reza Zakeri in the German trial of Abdelghani Mzoudi last Thursday was not very convincing.

As I wrote last month, Zakeri is a purported ex-Iranian spy who claims to have information linking Mzoudi to Al Qaeda and the 9/11 attacks.

In Thursday's hearing, Zakeri -- who arrived wearing a wig and glasses -- claimed that he heard from an unnamed Iranian official that Mzoudi was among the 9/11 conspirators. Moreover, he claims Mzoudi spent parts of 1997 in a terrorist training camp in Iran. As Scott writes, "hearsay from an unreliable witness," something even the prosecutor admitted in his closing comments. Zakeri's testimony was described as "confused" (wirr) by some reports; he seems to not have made a good impression on judge Ruehle, who said at one point, "I don't know if you're intentionally expressing yourself so indistinctly. I just don't understand you."

On Friday, the German intelligence agency BND issued a fairly remarkable statement, saying it considers Zakeri a charlatan who likes to "offer information about every important subject, if he thinks it's to his advantage," and whose information is "not verifiable and speculative." The German Verfassungsschutz (Constitution Protection) agency has made similar comments.

Judge Ruehle has rescheduled issuing his verdict to this coming Thursday. As I wrote to Scott, what I don't understand is why the alleged Binalshibh statements are taken any more seriously than Zakeri's. It's not clear that the statements "clearing" Mzoudi have been definitely attributed to Binalshibh, so it seems like they're anonymous, they haven't been heard in court, and they're thus of even less probative value than Zakeri's testimony, I would think. The problem is, there doesn't seem to be anything in evidence but the German prosecutors' say-so that Mzoudi is really a bad guy.

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UPDATE, 2/5: Mzoudi has been found not guilty. More above by this evening. posted by Thomas Nephew at 1:21:00 PM -- |    

 
Mars Exploration Rover Mission
If you've got broadband, check out NASA's "Challenges of Getting To Mars: Six Minutes of Terror." It's a pretty cool overview, with some superb animation (and frankly, a pretty good soundtrack) of how they decelerated the "Spirit" and "Opportunity" probes from 12,000mph (19,200km/h) to 0mph in about six minutes. (Quicktime, MPEG).

After aerobraking, parachute and retro-rockets, the velocity is still 55mph when the probe hits the ground in its protective cocoon of airbags:

"We hit hard, we bounce high... -- SMACK -- the first impact: 40gs -- we bounce just as high as we fell from and then -- SMACK -- again, nearly 40gs ..."

Engineers as rock stars. Deservedly so. And this is a great little mini-documentary (about, well, six minutes) to show them and their little metal babies off in. posted by Thomas Nephew at 1:31:00 AM -- |    

 
Oh, the places I've been...


create your own visited country map

(via Peggy of Moveable Beast)

...and the states I've seen (however briefly)


create your own visited states map

The "world66.com" site that helps you make these maps aspires to be a kind of Wikipedia for travelers, with everyone adding their two cents worth to the proceedings. You can really edit the travel guide pages, I took out someone's "asd asf" graffiti next to the Manhattan subtitle on the (somewhat sparse) New York City page.

I may add a bit about Ngorongoro Crater, in Tanzania, one of the most amazing places I've ever been. I could also offer tips on how to best go about hitchhiking through Europe in the early 1980s, a topic sure to be of interest to everyone. (Basically, pick a place where a car can stop. Better yet, don't hitchhike.) My U.S. highlights include a summer in Southeast Alaska and canoeing the Penobscot River in Maine. posted by Thomas Nephew at 12:59:00 AM -- |