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Moussaoui: Bin Laden OK'd White House attack plan

Court document reveals new details of plot


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Moussaoui answered "guilty" to each of the six felony counts against him.
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9/11 terror suspect Moussaoui will be allowed to plead guilty.
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ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (CNN) -- Osama bin Laden handpicked Zacarias Moussaoui to go to the United States to take part in an operation to fly planes into buildings and personally approved of Moussaoui's plan to target the White House, according to a "statement of facts" submitted in court Friday.

"Sahrawi, remember your dream," bin Laden told Moussaoui, according to the statement, referring to him by his jihad name of Abu Khaled al Sahrawi.

Moussaoui had once told his al Qaeda peers that he had a dream of flying a plane into the White House, according to the statement.

Moussaoui signed the statement of facts in court as part of pleading guilty to six counts of terrorism conspiracy that could lead to the death penalty. (Full story)

Before signing the document, Moussaoui told the court he had already read the statement more than 10 times and "pondered" it in jail.

"I find it factual," he said.

The document does not directly tie Moussaoui to the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, but speaks more generally of an al Qaeda plot to fly planes into buildings in the United States.

Reporters pressed Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and other Justice Department officials on whether Moussaoui's plan to attack the White House was part of September 11 or a separate plot, as Moussaoui maintains.

"The statement of facts speak for themselves," Gonzales said.

Much of the document details information contained in the indictment, but there were several key points that had not been publicly revealed previously.

Moussaoui was arrested August 16, 2001, in Minnesota after raising suspicions at a flight school when he showed up willing to pay close to $7,000 cash for Boeing 747 simulator training.

"After his arrest, Moussaoui lied to federal agents to allow his al Qaeda 'brothers' to go forward with the operation to fly planes into American buildings. Specifically, Moussaoui falsely denied being a member of a terrorist organization and falsely denied that he was taking pilot training to kill Americans," according to the statement of facts.

"Instead, Moussaoui told federal agents that he was training as a pilot purely for his personal enjoyment and that, after completion of his training, he intended to visit New York City and Washington, D.C., as a tourist."

When he was arrested, he had two knives in his possession, as well as flight manuals for Boeing 747s, a flight simulator computer program, fighting gloves and shin guards, a handheld aviation radio and a piece of paper referring to a handheld global positioning device.

Before his arrest, while in Oklahoma, Moussaoui bought "certain knives because they had blades short enough to get past airport security," according to the document.

"Moussaoui told an al Qaeda associate that he would complete simulator training before September 2001."

According to the statement of facts, Moussaoui previously was in Afghanistan, where he trained at an al Qaeda camp and managed an al Qaeda guesthouse in Kandahar, a position in which he "communicated directly with bin Laden." He also received knife training in Afghanistan. (Profile)

He entered the United States on February 23, 2001, traveling from London to Chicago and on to Norman, Okla., where he attended the Airman Flight School and received training as a pilot of smaller planes. In the summer of 2001, an al Qaeda associate told him to "attend training for larger jet planes," according to the document.

At Friday's hearing, Moussaoui said he did not have a direct role in the September 11 attacks, but was part of a "broader conspiracy" to attack the United States.

"I was not part of 9/11," Moussaoui said. "I'm not 9/11 material."


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