As you read this, Zacarias Moussaoui (MAH-SOW-EE), the only person charged in connection with the September 11 attacks, is thinking: “How the heck did I get caught?”

Before I continue, lets really examine this statement: Moussaoui was the only person charged in connection with EVERYTHING that took place on September 11, 2001.

That’s like a basketball team losing the big game and everyone starts throwing cups at a benchwarmer.

Because metaphorically speaking, that’s all Zacarias Moussaoui really was, an Al-Qaeda benchwarmer.

In sports, a benchwarmer is one who typically suits up, but rarely gets any playing time. He works out with the team, knows all the plays and may even get a few minutes in small games. But he’s never the first choice during crunch time. Moussaoui was a benchwarmer.

Born in France, Zacarias dreamed of being a star. But not of the Tom Cruise variety; Zack wanted to blow things up. But living in the UK, there wasn’t a lot of work in the suicide bombing industry. So in 1998, headed to Afghanistan, home of The Notorious B.I.N.

It could almost be a musical if it weren’t so true.

It was here that Mou assimilated himself into the Al-Qaeda network. The group realized that he wasn’t the coldest beer in the fridge, but with work, his blind loyalty could later prove useful.

It began to appear that the second string player was showing promise. In early 2001, he was sent to the United States on a very special mission. A mission that would finally give him the fame he had always dreamed of.

Moussaoui was sent to an American flight school.

Moussaoui, happy to be taken seriously, headed to Norman Oklahoma where he joined a local flight school while Al-Qaeda bank rolled his education. Thousands of dollars were given to Moussaoui for school and housing. It was like a student loan program gone wrong. But the fast paced lifestyle of Oklahoma proved too much, and Moussaoui dropped out of school before receiving his flight certificate.

This is a man that was invited to take part in the most elaborate conspiracy since the Kennedy assassination, and he drops out of flight school. Al-Qaeda was not pleased.

Unshaken, he enrolled in another flight school. But Mou’s behavior became erratic. He began paying his flight instructors in cash and acting strangely. One day, Moussaoui remarked to his instructors that taking off and landing didn’t interest him, and that he only really wanted to know how to steer the plane.

His flight instructors called the police.

This was August of 2001, weeks before 9/11. Behind bars for an expired visa, Moussaoui missed his chance at glory, and on September 11 his crew hijacked four jets and the rest is history. He was later linked to the group responsible.

Things got worse. He remains the only person directly connected to 9/11, and what’s worse is that the United States is seeking the death penalty for Moussaoui, who didn’t actually succeed in doing anything but failing flight school and wasting valuable Al-Qaeda blood money.

Flight school dropout, failed terrorist and patsy for the biggest act of terrorism in American history. How do you top that? You represent yourself in court, that’s how, you big silly.

Moussaoui served as his own attorney and his defense tactics where comedic at best. O.J. killed two people and was still smart enough to hire six lawyers for his trial. Because, when you kill a white woman, you need as much help as you can get.

Had he not been arrested in August of 2001, it’s safe to assume that he would have been on one of the four planes.

But it’s more likely he would have overslept and missed the flight.

“Gee–I was supposed to be somewhere today, but where? What’s today–the eleventh? Is it laundry day?”

Benchwarmers lack the talent to be on the floor, and when they’re thrown into a big game, they fold under pressure. Zacarias Moussaoui is the prodigal benchwarmer, a man who both missed the big game and caught the heat of the loss.

–Jamaal Bachelor