By James Vicini
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Reuters) - Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in the United States in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks, pleaded guilty on Friday, but said he was part of a broader conspiracy to use airplanes as weapons of mass destruction and was training to strike the White House.
Moussaoui, 36, a French citizen of Moroccan descent, said he had been personally chosen by al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to take part in an operation to fly hijacked planes into American buildings.
He pleaded guilty to all six counts charging him with conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism, commit aircraft piracy, destroy aircraft, use weapons of mass destruction, murder U.S. employees and destroy property.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales confirmed in a public statement that the government would seek the death sentence. Moussaoui, who earlier this week had said he would accept that, appeared to change his mind.
"Moussaoui will fight every inch against the death penalty," he told the court. "I can't expect any leniency from the Americans."
Addressing the judge in the crowded courtroom that included Sept. 11 victims' family members, Moussaoui for the first time gave details of what he intended to do for al Qaeda in the United States.
Moussaoui, who was detained shortly before the Sept. 11 attacks because of suspicions about his taking flying lessons in Minnesota, said he was not meant to be part of the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon.
But he told the court, "I am guilty of a broad conspiracy to use airplanes as a weapon of mass destruction."
"I was being trained on a 747 to eventually use this plane to strike the White House," said the bearded Moussaoui, wearing a green prison jump suit. He went to two U.S. flight training schools before the Sept. 11 attacks.
He said the purpose of his plot was to free the blind Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, who is in prison in the United States after being found guilty of terrorism charges which predated Sept. 11.
According to a statement of facts that Moussaoui signed, bin Laden personally selected him to participate in the operation to fly planes into American buildings and approved Moussaoui attacking the White House.
Bin Laden, according to the court documents, told Moussaoui, "Remember your dream."
The first four counts that he pleaded guilty to carry a possible death sentence.
After a detailed explanation of the indictment, his rights and that he faced a maximum penalty of death, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema went through each of the six counts and asked Moussaoui how he pleaded. He calmly and clearly said "Guilty" every time.
The plea took place the same day that the suspected leader of al Qaeda in Spain, accused of aiding the Sept. 11 hijackers, went on trial with 23 others in Madrid.
Moussaoui's action went against the advice of his lawyers, who have said he is not mentally competent to enter the plea. Brinkema accepted Moussaoui's plea after finding that it had been made knowingly and voluntarily.
TRIAL DELAYED
His trial has been delayed by legal wrangling over a number of issues, including his mental fitness, whether he could represent himself and whether he could interview top al Qaeda captives held by the United States at undisclosed locations overseas.
Until the hearing, his intended role with al Qaeda had never been clearly explained.
Some U.S. officials initially said they believed Moussaoui was supposed to have taken part in the attacks as the "20th hijacker." Others later said he was supposed to have been part of a "second wave" of attacks that were not carried out.
Moussaoui attended flight training schools in Oklahoma and Minnesota in 2001 and received money from an al Qaeda operative who helped finance the Sept. 11 attacks, according to the indictment.
But just weeks before the attacks, he was jailed in Minnesota on immigration charges after a flight trainer told the FBI that Moussaoui had acted suspiciously.
Brinkema said the next step in the case will be for the defense to file motions about the death penalty, and that the government will then respond. She did not set any date for the sentencing proceedings to begin.
(Additional reporting by Caroline Drees)
