The reasons a jury in liberal Alexandria, Va., gave for sparing the life of confessed terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui struck many in the Nation’s Capital as a classic demonstration of the liberal ideology of victimhood, in which the perpetrator of a crime is deemed the person truly wronged.
The jury unanimously decided Moussaoui carried out his aborted part in the 9/11 plot "after substantial planning and premeditation … to commit an act of terrorism." But then they decided he should not die because of "mitigating factors." One mitigating factor cited by nine jurors, for example, was that Moussaoui had a "hostile relationship with his mother." After the verdict was announced, the New York Times reported that Moussaoui pumped his fists in the air and shouted, "America, you lost, you lost!"