Dear All,
a touching article- take care,
Libby S.
Terrorist's mom gets hug
BY HELEN KENNEDY
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
As legal jousting continued over Zacarias Moussaoui's fate in
Washington, an extraordinary scene was taking place in White Plains - his
weeping mother was enfolded in a hug by the mother of a 9/11 victim.
"She's just a mom. And she's going though such horror now," said
Connie Taylor. "She's very humble and so, so sorry. As she was telling me
how sorry she was, the tears were just streaming. She was beside herself
with emotion. It was very moving."
Taylor's 37-year-old son, Brad, was last heard from making emotional,
scared calls home from the 89th floor of the World Trade Center. But she has
only compassion for Aicha El Wafi.
The hastily-organized meeting between Taylor and El Wafi took place
Sunday night at Memorial United Methodist Church just before her return home
to France after spending a week at her son's trial in Virginia.
As Taylor hugged the weeping woman, many of the three dozen others
there - a mix of peace activists and churchgoers - also began to cry. "She
really appreciated it. She was very skeptical and scared at first [about
coming to the meeting]," Taylor said.
Taylor said she feels that both women have lost their sons, but at
least she does not have the added pain of blaming hers for anything.
El Wafi told the church members that she is angry with her son - and
worried about another son who has joined a radical Islamist group in
Lebanon. "In these movements, they look for the little cracks to get into
people's minds and control them," she said through an interpreter, according
to the Westchester Journal News.
She told of her arranged marriage at 14 and raising four children on a
cleaning woman's salary when her husband left. "She has no words to explain
or express how terrible she feels," the interpreter said. "She never asked
for any of this. She would love to be just a mother."
Taylor, who opposes capital punishment, said she hopes Moussaoui is
not put to death. "I just feel that's not our call," she said. "Also, it's
strange to me that someone who really hasn't done anything can get this kind
of a sentence."
Originally published on March 14, 2006
