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The Houston Chronicle:

The only person to be tried in connection with the 9/11 attacks got a fair trial, and blind extremism lost

When Zacarias Moussaoui was taken from the courtroom Thursday he shouted, "America, you lost!" He could not have been more mistaken.

The victory went to the United States for showing, through one jury verdict, that its values and sense of justice will not be sacrificed on the altar of terrorist hatred. The verdict — life in prison — demonstrated that in the United States, despite the turmoil that followed the events of 9/11, 12 citizens can calmly and rationally reason through a problem together and reach a unanimous opinion.

By denying Moussaoui the martyrdom he craved, the jury sent the message that Americans do not share extremists' desire to kill all who disagree with them. Moussaoui's fair trial in a court of law reminds the world that an independent judicial system is essential for democracy to flourish.

Many Americans, particularly those who lost friends and family in the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, might disagree, but Moussaoui got no less than he deserved. He will spend the rest of his life in the harsh environment of a federal supermax prison. The trial judge was well within her authority to note that everyone in the court but Moussaoui was free to go and partake of the joys of life, making the would-be martyr's declaration of victory incomprehensible.

However satisfactory to the cause of justice the Moussaoui verdict was, many troubling questions remain unanswered. Considering the defendant's mental state, was he really fit to stand trial? If he is not mentally ill, he is dangerously delusional.

Perhaps more disturbing is that five years after 9/11, the United States has not been able to bring more of those responsible for the carnage to justice. By passage and renewal of the U.S. Patriot Act, Congress took away many protections from unwarranted government surveillance that Americans once took to be theirs. The administration has asserted broad powers that, during wartime, need not bow to the Bill of Rights.

The United States has imprisoned hundreds of al-Qaida suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Did none of them share culpability for the attacks on America? Why was none put on trial, as Moussaoui was?

Five years after the president and others were briefed about al-Qaida's ambition to attack the United States, perhaps using hijacked jets, the U.S. intelligence community is in more disarray than ever. On Friday, CIA Director Porter Goss resigned.

While the executive branch is reeling from setbacks in Iraq, high energy prices, runaway deficits and domestic policy failures, the U.S. justice system provided even a loathsome defendant the full range of constitutional protections against trial by revenge.