The Jodge formally sentenced Moussaoui to ife in prison this morning.

Breit Bart reports that:

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema told Zacarias Moussaoui "you will die with a whimper," never allowed to speak publicly again, as she sentenced him to life in prison.

Brinkema handed down the sentence at the end of a two-month trial in which the jury rejected the government’s case to have Moussaoui executed.

Of course the man had to have his tough talk:

An unrepentant Moussaoui, the only person tried in the U.S. for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, warned Americans in his final public words that they would never catch Osama bin Laden.

"God save Osama bin Laden _ you will never get him," Moussaoui declared moments after walking into the courtroom flashing a victory sign.

"You have branded me as a terrorist or a criminal or whatever," he said. "Look at yourselves. I fight for my belief." He spoke for less than five minutes; the judge told him he could not use his sentencing to make a political speech.

Thank you.  While there are criticisms about the judge floating around, I think she handled this well.

Barring an unforeseen circumstance, Moussaoui will be sent to a maximum federal prison in Colorado under special conditions that will prevent him from having any contact with the outside world.

As I noted earlier we know what those circumstances are.

French authorities said Thursday they may eventually press the United States to have Moussaoui serve his life sentence in France under two conventions on the transfer of convicts. They were waiting to hear the conditions of his sentencing.

Moussaoui’s mother Aicha El Wafi, pressed for her country to intervene. "My son will be buried alive because France didn’t dare contradict the Americans," she said.

She apparently didn’t tune in during his sentencing.

In their successful defense of Moussaoui, defense lawyers overcame the impact of two dramatic appearances by Moussaoui himself _ first to renounce his four years of denying any involvement in the attacks and then to gloat over the pain of those who lost loved ones.

It’s hard for me to pity him.

Personal reflection alert:

If nothing else, I hope the general public uses this, along with the Flight 93 movie to wake up and remember 9/11.

We have started to return to the complacency that we had on 9/10, thinking it can’t happen here.  After hearing the testimony of a witness who was there, who had video taped people falling to their deaths from the burning WTC, I find my own apathy a bit distressing.  It is easy to distance oneself from the tragedy when it is across the country and years away.  I didn’t have a personal connection, so it was never real to me.  It still isn’t. 

That’s why I posted the picture in the right corner of my blog.  So I have to be reminded every time my page loads.

So I won’t forget.