Al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui testified Monday that he and would-be
shoe bomber Richard Reid were supposed to hijack a fifth airplane on Sept. 11,
2001, and fly it into the White House.
Zacarias Moussaoui is seen in an undated
police handout photo. [Reuters] |
Moussaoui's
testimony on his own behalf stunned the courtroom. His account was in stark
contrast to his previous statements in which he said the White House attack was
to come later if the United States refused to release an Egyptian sheik
imprisoned on separate terrorist convictions.
On Dec. 22, 2001, Reid was subdued by passengers when he attempted to
detonate a bomb in his shoe aboard American Airlines Flight 63 from Paris to
Miami. The plane was diverted to Boston, where it landed safely.
Moussaoui told the court he knew the World Trade Center attack was coming and
he lied to investigators when arrested in August 2001 because he wanted it to
happen.
"You lied because you wanted to conceal that you were a member of al-Qaida?"
prosecutor Rob Spencer asked.
"That's correct," Moussaoui said.
Spencer: "You lied so the plan could go forward?"
Moussaoui: "That's correct."
The exchange could be key to the government's case that the attacks might
have been averted if Moussaoui had been more cooperative following his arrest.
Moussaoui told the court he knew the attacks were to take place some time
after August 2001 and bought a radio so he could hear them unfold.
Specifically, he said he knew the World Trade Center was going to be
attacked, but he asserted he was not involved in that part of the plot and
didn't know the details.
Nineteen men pulled off the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington in
the worst act of terrorism ever on U.S. soil.
"I had knowledge that the Twin Towers would be hit," Moussaoui said. "I
didn't know the details of this."
Sally Regenhard, whose firefighter son Christian died at the World Trade
Center, said "at least there would have been a chance" to head off the attacks
if Moussaoui had told investigators in August 2001 what she heard him admit in
court Monday.
"I was convinced that this man was only a heartbeat away from taking the
controls of a plane," she said.
Asked by his lawyer why he signed his guilty plea in April as "the 20th
hijacker," Moussaoui replied: "Because everybody used to refer to me as the 20th
hijacker and it was a bit of fun."
Before Moussaoui took the stand, his lawyers made a last attempt to stop him
from testifying. Defense attorney Gerald Zerkin argued that his client would not
be a competent witness because he has contempt for the court, only recognizes
Islamic law and therefore "the affirmation he undertakes would be meaningless."