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Moussaoui claims to have been part of Sept. 11 plot

A courtroom artist's rendering of Zacarias Moussaoui testifying at his sentencing trial in the Federal Courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia, on Monday. PHOTO: EPA

The jury that will determine Zacarias Moussaoui's fate must decide whom it believes: Moussaoui himself, who, in stunning testimony, said he and shoe-bomber Richard Reid planned to fly a plane into the White House on Sept. 11, 2001; or the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, who said Moussaoui had nothing to do with the attacks on Washington and New York.

Moussaoui's testimony on Monday at his death-penalty trial that he was part of the Sept. 11 plot came as a shock, since he previously had denied any role in the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.

As soon as Moussaoui finished testifying, the jury was read statements made by Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the Sept. 11 mastermind now in US custody, who said Moussaoui was to have been used in a second wave of attacks completely disconnected from Sept. 11.

Moussaoui is the only person in the US charged in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks.

But even prosecutors are not alleging a direct role for Moussaoui in the Sept. 11 plot. Instead, they argue that Moussaoui allowed the Sept. 11 plot to go forward by lying about his al-Qaeda membership and his true plans when federal agents arrested him in August 2001.

He repeatedly had denied involvement in Sept. 11, and when he admitted guilt last April to conspiring with al-Qaeda to hijack aircraft and commit other crimes, he pointedly made a distinction between his conspiracy and Sept. 11.

On Monday, though, Moussaoui put himself at the center of the plot. He was asked by defense attorney Gerald Zerkin: "Before your arrest, were you scheduled to pilot a plane as part of the 9/11 operation?"

Moussaoui: "Yes. I was supposed to pilot a plane to hit the White House."

He said he knew few other details, except that planes were to be flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

He had met Reid, his purported partner, in the 1990s at London's Finsbury Park mosque.

On Dec. 22, 2001, Reid was subdued by passengers on a flight from Paris to Miami when he attempted to detonate a bomb in his shoe. That plane landed safely in Boston. Reid later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.

Moussaoui's defense attorneys, in their opening arguments, suggested that Moussaoui may prefer martyrdom to life in prison.

He is not cooperating with his court-appointed attorneys, and he testified against their wishes.

Mohammed's testimony came in the form of a 58-page statement culled from government interrogations. He said repeatedly that Moussaoui was to have been part of a second wave of attacks, distinct from US.

Mohammed said he was not aware that Moussaoui was in custody until after Sept. 11, and that Moussaoui's arrest on Aug. 16 would have disrupted Sept. 11 plans if he were a part of the operation. Mohammed said the second-wave of attacks never materialized because he did not anticipate the ferocity of the US response to Sept. 11 and the only other pilot backed out.
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