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Tuesday March 28, 8:25 AMMoussaoui testifies he was to fly 5th plane into White House on 9/11(Kyodo) _ Al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui testified Monday that he was supposed to hijack a fifth airplane as part of the terrorist attacks in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, and fly it into the White House, according to U.S. media reports.Moussaoui, a French citizen of Moroccan descent, gave the testimony at a federal district court sentencing trial in Virginia, stunning courtroom as he had previously said the White House attack was to come later if Washington refused to release a radical Egyptian sheik imprisoned on earlier terrorist convictions, the Associated Press said. Moussaoui, 37, is the first person convicted in the United States for the conspiracy behind the attacks. He said convicted "shoebomber" Richard Reid was to join him as part of the crew for the White House attack on the same day the two passenger jets were hijacked and hit the World Trade Center in New York, the AP said. Reid was subdued by passengers on Dec. 22, 2001, when he attempted to detonate a bomb in his shoe aboard American Airlines Flight 63 from Paris to Miami. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in January 2003. Moussaoui admitted he knew that the New York attacks were coming when he was arrested on immigration violations three weeks before the attacks, but said he lied to investigators because he wanted to conceal that he was an al-Qaida member and wanted the attacks to happen, the AP reported. But he said he did not know precisely when the New York attacks would take place, and had only scant details of the overall plan, according to news reports. In the sentencing trial, prosecutors are trying to obtain the death penalty by arguing that Moussaoui thwarted an opportunity to track down the hijackers and uncover the plot through his lies and was responsible for at least one death in the Sept. 11 attacks, the reports said. If the prosecutors fail to do so, he could get life in prison. |
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