US: Zacarias Moussaoui said yesterday he was supposed to fly a fifth aircraft into the White House as part of the September 11th, 2001, plot and knew two other planes were to fly into New York's World Trade Centre.
Taking the stand at his sentencing trial, Moussaoui - the only person charged in the US in connection with the 9/11 attacks - said "shoebomber" Richard Reid was to join him as part of the crew in the suicide mission.
Reid failed in an attempt to blow up an American Airlines plane from Paris to Miami in December 2001 after passengers and crew tackled him as he tried to ignite explosives in his shoe. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in January 2003.
Moussaoui's claim contradicted what he said last year in pleading guilty: that he was not supposed to be part of the 9/11 hijackings but was meant to be in a second wave of al-Qaeda attacks and fly an aircraft into the White House.
Moussaoui said he did not know the precise date of the planned attacks when he was arrested in Minnesota on August 16th, 2001, and had only scant details of the overall plan. "I had knowledge that the two towers would be hit but I didn't have the detail."
Moussaoui is on trial now to determine if he will be executed. Asked by one of his court-appointed attorneys, if he was meant to be part of the September 11th attacks, Moussaoui said: "I was supposed to pilot a plane to hit the White House."
Moussaoui, who spoke in a matter-of-fact manner in contrast to earlier courtroom outbursts, said he was asked in 1999 if he wanted to be a suicide pilot in an attack on the US but he initially declined.
He agreed to take part in the conspiracy in 2000 after having a dream, which he discussed with Osama bin Laden.
Moussaoui said he had not seen any of the other hijackers in the US. But he said he knew - at least by face - nearly all of the 19 hijackers including ringleader Mohamed Atta.
Federal prosecutors are trying to prove that Moussaoui lied to FBI agents when arrested three weeks before the hijackings, after raising suspicions at a flight school. They say the lies led to the deaths on 9/11.
Moussaoui said during the testimony that he had lied to FBI agents to help make sure the attack would go ahead.
When arrested, Moussaoui was taking simulator lessons at a flight school to learn to fly a jumbo jet.
"You were in a rush to get through jet simulator training so you would be ready as a pilot to fly a fifth plane into the White House?" prosecutor Robert Spencer asked.
"That is correct," Moussaoui said. When asked if the reason for the attack was to kill Americans, Moussaoui again replied: "That is correct."
Moussaoui denied that he was a "big shot" in al-Qaeda.