Request denied

So after taunting the U.S and victims of Sept. 11 during his trial, Zacharias Moussaoui NOW thinks he can get a fair trial in the United States because he was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole rather than be executed -- and ostensibly be a martyr to enjoy whatever fruits of Paradise have been implanted in his mind by those he followed.

According to Michael J. Sniffen of The Associated Press, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema quickly rejected a motion the confessed al-Qaida conspirator filed Monday to withdraw his guilty plea and get a new trial. He was sentenced Wednesday by Brinkema to six life sentences to run as two consecutive life terms.

"I had thought I would be sentenced to death based on the emotions and anger toward me for the deaths on Sept. 11," Moussaoui explained in an affidavit. "But after reviewing the jury verdict and reading how the jurors set aside their emotions and disgust for me and focused on the law and the evidence ... I now see that it is possible that I can receive a fair trial even with Americans as jurors."

I wonder what changed his mind. Could it be that he is in a federal supermax prison in Colorado where he will be in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day, every day until he dies? He gave all indications that he would not be broken, remaining defiant to all in his way. Five days the country's most stringent prison did it.

So all this leads to these questions: Is he mentally ill and is it right to imprison the mentally ill under these circumstances? I believe Zacharias Moussaoui is bi-polar, going from the highest of the highs -- saying that he won and America lost after sentencing -- to the lowest of lows in trying to get a new chance for freedom.

Is it right to imprison him? Yes. But I also think he needs to get help, and the humane thing to do is give it to him. No judge now or ever is going to let him back in the free world, and that is the right call.