A life dedicated to justice

This trial took me to a city which became my new home, while assisting in the prosecution of Motassadeq. This man provided operational and logistical support critical for the success of the 9/11 attacks. Motassadeq signed the will of the man he introduced to others cell members in Hamburg as “our pilot" at least a year before the attacks.

This man I refer to Mohammed Atta specifically piloted and slammed my mother’s plane into the World Trade Center killing all onboard instantly. The group of 19 hijackers and their co-conspirators left behind in Hamburg are not infamous but are all cowards; they are not martyrs, yet simple homicidal maniacs consumed with the lust of imposing their willpower over our American democratic principals and ideas.

We now find ourselves in a war where everybody does their own small part to contribute as a team of one, united by a freedom we choose to die for to protect rather than live differently.

As we approach the final two months of trial in Hamburg, Germany, and as our nation prepares to celebrate Independence Day, I prepare to leave our homeland once again and travel overseas. I will shortly join members of the German Federal Court, German federal prosecutors, and 9/11 family members co-plaintiffs counsel in London for a deposition of the only man to have interviewed Ramzi Binalshibh and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.

The Germans have sought to depose him for the three previous 9/11 trials held in Hamburg and failed, so this is considered an important chance to help the court decide Motassadeq’s guilt in the coming months. The witness, Yosri Fouda, an Al Jazeera reporter, is in fear of his life because he thinks al-Qaida operatives believe his interview of Ramzi Binalshibh and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed led to the former’s capture.

The only thoughts floating through my mind recently, other than closing arguments and the deposition, is the nexus between the Hamburg cell defendant -- who allegedly co-conspired with the man I seek to have convicted -- and the loss this past seven days of 25 more American servicemen.

I do think of their families and can only say to them without hesitation that their loss is mourned deeply by myself. I know the feeling of having a loved one torn out of my life over war, which we did not start nor provoke. My heart aches for each and every soldier’s family who has died since 9/11. My mother was given no mercy during her final minutes of life, nor should our enemy.

The defendant I have faced sitting across from me in trial for 10 months and his co-conspirators care nothing of human life, not only American lives, but even their fellow Muslim brothers who dare dissent against their solution on how we should live our lives.

The terrorists are terrified of the burgeoning freedoms slowly forming in Iraq and Afghanistan. Therefore, the escalation of attacks most recently are desperate acts now succeeding only, in using terror perpetrated in Iraq once again against Americans at home. We must try very hard to not allow this fear to grip us, and continue to work hard at developing stronger defenses of our homeland.

Once the trial is over, five German justices will deliver a verdict which I will learn to live with, no matter what the result. I will return, God willing, to our wonderful country, a man forever changed from the pure evil I have seen and heard, but with the peace of knowing I saw an injustice and tried my best to rectify it.

I simply am a member of team, compromised of millions of honorable Americans, moved to protect our country and seek justice against our enemy. Those lost that horrible day all carried rich and wonderful legacies, but were denied the peaceful right to return home to their families. Unprovoked violence will never advance one sides cause, nor will it ever solve real or perceived injustices in this world. This happens through us trying our best to respect and embrace each others differences, rather than change them to suit our own selfish needs.

Godspeed to all still in harm’s way on behalf of the murder of my mother Sonia Morales Puopolo and the 3,000 other innocent Americans lost on September 11. My prayers are with you, along with those who, despite political affiliation or positions on matters regarding the war and how it is being fought, support your daily efforts without question and are eternally grateful for your sacrifice.

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