Trial Is No Contest of Liberties

"No contest," he shouted repeatedly at U.S. District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema before his trial -- as if Zacarias Moussaoui is clueless of what a nolo contendre plea signals.

Known as the "20th hijacker," Moussaoui is the Harlequin in this tragedy.

Moussaoui is charged with collaborating with Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida terrorist network in the Sept. 11 attacks.

Livid at the accusations, he dispenses with attorneys with the same celerity that those preternatural dump trucks transported rubble and jetsam from "Ground Zero."

In the case of "Zacarias Moussaoui Muslim vs. United States Godless Government" -- as he scrawls on court documents -- Moussaoui is pulling furiously in a blockbuster tug-of-war.

Moussaoui has feverishly tried to paint the portrait of himself as a bumbling, dim-witted lackey -- with courtroom outbursts and flailings, both of body and mind.

But Brinkema often has cut him off at the pass.

He has played on the sympathy of Americans concerned about the vaporization of the Constitution.

Civil libertarians are up in arms over the government's classification of enemy combatants and the resulting free rein of John Ashcroft -- something akin to Godzilla with a draconian flair.

Hardliners can't get enough of the jailing and furtive lawsuits.

But both ends of the spectrum should realize the Atlas-ian responsibility upon the shoulders of Judge Leonie Brinkema. Shrugging she is not.

"This court's paramount concern is ensuring that the defendant receive a fair trial," Brinkema wrote after postponing the trial to give the defense team more time to review crucial documents.

Supremely tactful, her astute judgment is befitting of, well, a judge.

The prime example: when she refused Moussaoui's "no contest" plea and advised him to seek counsel.

She disarms like a soldier, but without the abrasions.

A disturbingly public figure such as Moussaoui must be removed from his comfort zone, and that is exactly what Brinkema has done.

Moussaoui must be pursued because Americans don't understand the "new" enemy, of which he might be the most visible archetype.

Generations past understood nuclear weapons or the swarthy, poorly bankrolled terrorist. But few understand, or choose to understand, the highly educated, sophisticated and exacting persona of the contemporary terrorist.

As the possibility of an invasion of Iraq looms, Americans need to take a cue from Brinkema: justice tempered by mercy.

The concept of justice and mercy intertwined in an eternal dance dates back to the beginning of man.

Judaism has always maintained that there are many names of God. But of the two most commonly referred to in scripture; one denotes the characteristic of justice, the other, mercy.

Mercy having been served, let us hope justice is to follow.

Nathan Perez can be reached at nperez@email.unc.edu.