Laying out a stunning new version of his terrorist mission, al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui told jurors he was supposed to hijack a fifth jetliner on September 11, 2001, with would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid and fly it into the White House.

But the jury also heard the mastermind of the September 11 attacks, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, now in US custody, repeatedly state that Moussaoui was to be a part of a second wave of attacks unrelated to September 11. In a 58-page statement read to jurors, Shaikh Mohammed said that he wanted only Middle Easterners for September 11 so that Europeans like Moussaoui stood a better chance of mounting a subsequent attack after security had been increased.

Testifying against the advice of his court-appointed lawyers, Moussaoui shocked the courtroom. Jurors who will decide whether he is to be executed or imprisoned for life were almost motionless during his nearly three hours on the stand. They didn't look down to take notes; all eyes locked on the bearded 37-year-old Frenchman of Moroccan descent.

His testimony started in familiar territory. He denied he was supposed to be the so-called missing 20th hijacker of September 11. He testified he was not intended to be a fifth terrorist on United Airlines Flight 93 that crashed into a Pennsylvania field, the only plane hijacked by four instead of five terrorists.

Stunning admission

Then came the shock.

Defence 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 didn't know details of the other hijackings set for that day except that planes were to be flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre.

This account by Moussaoui diverged sharply from his previous statements, including his confession when pleading guilty last April. For three years, he has said he had no involvement in the September 11 plot. Instead, he has said he was taking pilot lessons in the upper Midwest state of Minnesota to fly a 747 jetliner into the White House later should the United States refuse to release a radical Egyptian sheik imprisoned for separate terrorist convictions.

Former federal prosecutor Preston Burton said in an interview that Moussaoui was admitting "far more individual involvement than he had made before." Now in private practice in Washington, Burton called it "a stunning revelation that would help prosecutors rather than him."

On cross-examination, prosecutor Rob Spencer underlined that Moussaoui was now saying his attack was to be part of the September 11 plot.

Spencer: "Osama bin Laden put you back in as the pilot of the fifth plane?"

Moussaoui: "That's correct."

Moussaoui told the court he knew the World Trade Centre attack was coming and had lied to investigators when arrested in August 2001 because he wanted the operation to continue.

Prosecutor Spencer asked: "You knew on August 16 that other al-Qaida members were in the United States?"

"That's correct," Moussaoui replied.

Spencer: "You knew there was a pending plot?"

"That's correct."

Spencer: "You lied because you wanted to conceal that you were a member of al-Qaida?"

"That's correct."

"You lied so the plan could go forward?"

"That's correct."

To get a death penalty, the government must show that an act of Moussaoui led directly to at least one of the nearly 3,000 deaths on September 11. Prosecutors have said the act was his lying to the FBI after his August 16, 2001, arrest, lies that they contend prevented the FBI and Federal Aviation Administration from detecting the plot and saving at least one life.

Before Moussaoui testified, his attorneys took one last stab to keep him off the stand. Zerkin argued that his client would not be a competent witness because he recognizes only Islamic law, not American law, and believes it's permissible to lie to further holy war.

When Moussaoui balked at the witness oath, US District Judge Leonie Brinkema asked him directly if he would tell the truth and he said he would.

Spencer tried but failed to counter one of the defence's opening day arguments. Defence attorney Edward MacMahon had told the jury Moussaoui wanted martyrdom and the only way he could achieve that would be if the jury gave him the death penalty.

"Don't make him a hero," MacMahon pleaded.

Source: China Daily