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Fri Feb 24 11:55:10 PST 2006

forward on both forearms so close to the microphone that his lips 
brushed against it. He was silent when Spencer said "good morning" but 
answered questions from both sides politely and even apologized for 
"making a speech."

In a thick French accent, he matter-of-factly explained the great 
pleasure he derived from the deaths of so many Americans on Sept. 11. At 
one point, Spencer whipped out one of the numerous handwritten motions 
Moussaoui had written from jail when he was representing himself earlier 
in the case. The motion said the 19 hijackers should be "blessed" by Allah.

"You still believe that?" Spencer asked.

"One hundred percent," Moussaoui replied.

Minutes earlier, Moussaoui testified that he had bought two small knives 
in Oklahoma and was prepared to use them to cut the throat of a 
passenger or flight attendant on the plane he hijacked. "To cut the 
throat of somebody is not difficult," he said, explaining that he did 
not need training to do it.

The French citizen even injected a bit of humor, poking fun at the 
perception by many Americans that he was intended to be the "20th 
hijacker," which refers to the fact that the hijacked plane that crashed 
in Pennsylvania had only four crew members instead of five. Asked by 
Zerkin why he had signed his guilty plea as "the 20th hijacker," 
Moussaoui replied: "Because everybody used to refer to me as the 20th 
hijacker, and it was a bit of fun." He said he was not meant to be on 
that plane.

Moussaoui said he initially declined to take part in the Sept. 11 plot 
when he was first asked by senior al-Qaeda leaders in 1999 while he was 
managing a guest house for bin Laden's organization in Afghanistan.

He changed his mind, he said, after dreaming about crashing a plane into 
the White House. He mentioned the dream to bin Laden, who sent a senior 
lieutenant to tell Moussaoui to get flight training in the United States.

By the summer of 2001, Moussaoui said, he knew other hijackers were in 
the United States, but he had no contact with them here. He identified 
most of the 19 hijackers when prosecutors flashed their pictures on a 
screen, saying he knew them from his time in Afghanistan.

His own hijacking cell, Moussaoui said, was to include Reid, who later 
pleaded guilty to trying to blow up a Paris-to-Miami flight by igniting 
his shoes. Reid, who pledged loyalty to bin Laden when he was sentenced 
to life in prison in 2003, once worshiped with Moussaoui at a London mosque.

Moussaoui testified repeatedly that he views himself as being at war 
with the United States. Asked by Zerkin whether a death sentence would 
make him a martyr, he said: "I believe in destiny. . . . What I'm doing 
now is just to speak the truth, and God will take care of the rest."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/27/AR2006032700148.html

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Moussaoui Says He Was to Fly 5th Plane 
White House Attack Planned for 9/11, Terrorist Testifies 
By Jerry Markon and Timothy Dwyer 
Washington Post Staff Writers 
Tuesday, March 28, 2006; A01 

Zacarias
Moussaoui took the stand at his death penalty trial yesterday and
declared that he was supposed to hijack a fifth airplane on Sept. 11,
2001, and crash it into the White House in the terrorist attacks that
killed nearly 3,000 people.
The al-Qaeda operative said his role
was to head a five-man crew that included Richard Reid, the British
citizen who later tried to set off explosives in his shoes aboard a
transatlantic flight. Moussaoui said that his orders came from Osama
bin Laden and that his plan was foiled by his arrest in August 2001.
"I
was supposed to pilot a plane to hit the White House," Moussaoui told a
riveted federal courtroom in Alexandria. "I only knew about the two
planes of the World Trade Center in addition to my own plane."
His
words were as stunning as the way in which he delivered them. When he
pleaded guilty to conspiring with al-Qaeda last year, Moussaoui denied
involvement in Sept. 11 and insisted that he was to be part of a second
wave of attacks. He then launched into one of his rambling courtroom
outbursts, ending it by screaming, "God curse America!"
The
familiar Moussaoui was gone yesterday. In his place was a hardened
terrorist operative who spoke calmly and methodically, looking straight
at his questioners as he voiced his hatred for the nation that had put
him on trial for his life. "I consider every American to be my enemy,"
Moussaoui, 37, said as jurors leaned forward in their seats. "For me,
every American is going to want my death because I want their death."
The
extraordinary spectacle of an admitted al-Qaeda member testifying about
the deadliest terrorist attack in American history was later matched by
something equally unusual. Defense lawyers read into the record
evidence gathered in the United States' secret and controversial
detention system, telling jurors what Khalid Sheik Mohammed, a key
planner of Sept. 11, would have said had he taken the stand.
And
Mohammed's words, given to interrogators at the undisclosed location
where he is being held, contradicted Moussaoui's testimony.
He
said Moussaoui had been slated for a second wave of attacks that would
have included targets not hit on Sept. 11, such as the White House and
the Sears Tower in Chicago. Mohammed noted that the Sept. 11 attacks on
the Twin Towers and the Pentagon proceeded on schedule despite
Moussaoui's arrest while taking flying lessons in Minnesota.
Even
if Moussaoui's precise role is never certain, what was clear yesterday
was the damage that his testimony, given over the strenuous objections
of his lawyers, had done to his defense. Under cross-examination by
Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert A. Spencer, Moussaoui admitted to the
government's primary argument for his execution -- that he lied to the
FBI after his arrest to allow the Sept. 11 attacks to go forward.
Moussaoui
acknowledged that he did not know the exact date of the attacks but
that he knew they were to take place just after August. He learned of
the attacks while listening to the radio while in jail in Minnesota,
and "I immediately understood," he testified.
Moussaoui said he lied "because I wanted my mission to go ahead,"
adding that he "never told them anything about the operation."
"You hid that from them. You concealed it, right?" Spencer asked.
"Indeed," Moussaoui replied.
Legal
experts said those admissions, combined with Moussaoui's chilling
demeanor in court, probably would resonate with the jury, which is
expected to begin deliberating this week on whether he is eligible for
the death penalty. If jurors found him eligible, a second phase of the
hearing would determine whether Moussaoui should be executed.
"It
sounds like he's toast," said Eric Muller, a former federal prosecutor
who teaches at the University of North Carolina. "The prosecution's
best hope was to make him appear scary rather than crazy. It sounds
like he was really scary."
Brian Jenkins, a terrorism expert who
is senior adviser to the president of the Rand Corp., said Moussaoui
"has destroyed much of his defense. He has gone as far as he possibly
can to make the prosecution's case."
That case had appeared
troubled only days ago. Prosecutors were embarrassed by the misconduct
of a government lawyer, Carla J. Martin, who improperly coached
witnesses. Moussaoui's attorneys unearthed government documents that
showed in new detail how the FBI had ignored repeated warnings from its
own agents that Moussaoui was a terrorist who wanted to hijack an
airplane.
Before Moussaoui took the stand, his attorneys, with
whom he does not speak, tried to block his testimony. One, Gerald T.
Zerkin, said Moussaoui does not recognize the court's authority and,
"as an al-Qaeda member, he believes it is okay to lie."
But
prosecutors urged U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema to let him
speak. Brinkema agreed, acknowledging that Moussaoui "had expressed his
disdain of the United States" but had promised to behave in court.
Asked
by a court clerk to raise his right hand and promise to tell the truth,
Moussaoui stood motionless. He then told Brinkema he understood that he
was required to speak truthfully, and he was allowed to take the stand.
From
that moment on, Moussaoui was intense but controlled, often leaning
forward on both forearms so close to the microphone that his lips
brushed against it. He was silent when Spencer said "good morning" but
answered questions from both sides politely and even apologized for
"making a speech."
In a thick French accent, he matter-of-factly
explained the great pleasure he derived from the deaths of so many
Americans on Sept. 11. At one point, Spencer whipped out one of the
numerous handwritten motions Moussaoui had written from jail when he
was representing himself earlier in the case. The motion said the 19
hijackers should be "blessed" by Allah.
"You still believe that?" Spencer asked.
"One hundred percent," Moussaoui replied.
Minutes
earlier, Moussaoui testified that he had bought two small knives in
Oklahoma and was prepared to use them to cut the throat of a passenger
or flight attendant on the plane he hijacked. "To cut the throat of
somebody is not difficult," he said, explaining that he did not need
training to do it.
The French citizen even injected a bit of
humor, poking fun at the perception by many Americans that he was
intended to be the "20th hijacker," which refers to the fact that the
hijacked plane that crashed in Pennsylvania had only four crew members
instead of five. Asked by Zerkin why he had signed his guilty plea as
"the 20th hijacker," Moussaoui replied: "Because everybody used to
refer to me as the 20th hijacker, and it was a bit of fun." He said he
was not meant to be on that plane.
Moussaoui said he initially
declined to take part in the Sept. 11 plot when he was first asked by
senior al-Qaeda leaders in 1999 while he was managing a guest house for
bin Laden's organization in Afghanistan.
He changed his mind, he
said, after dreaming about crashing a plane into the White House. He
mentioned the dream to bin Laden, who sent a senior lieutenant to tell
Moussaoui to get flight training in the United States.
By the
summer of 2001, Moussaoui said, he knew other hijackers were in the
United States, but he had no contact with them here. He identified most
of the 19 hijackers when prosecutors flashed their pictures on a
screen, saying he knew them from his time in Afghanistan.
His own
hijacking cell, Moussaoui said, was to include Reid, who later pleaded
guilty to trying to blow up a Paris-to-Miami flight by igniting his
shoes. Reid, who pledged loyalty to bin Laden when he was sentenced to
life in prison in 2003, once worshiped with Moussaoui at a London
mosque.
Moussaoui testified repeatedly that he views himself as
being at war with the United States. Asked by Zerkin whether a death
sentence would make him a martyr, he said: "I believe in destiny. . . .
What I'm doing now is just to speak the truth, and God will take care
of the rest."
<a
 href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/27/AR2006032700148.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/27/AR2006032700148.html</a> 
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