Al Qaeda operative Zacharias Moussaoui has testified he intended to fly a fifth hijacked plane into the White House on September 11, 2001, and that he was also aware that two other planes were supposed to hit the World Trade Centre.
As a stunned courtroom in Virginia listened, Moussaoui also revealed Monday that the now known "shoebomber" Richard Reid was supposed to have joined him as a part of the suicide mission.
Reid was pinned down by passengers on an American Airlines plane over the Atlantic in December 2001 as he tried to set off explosives. He was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2003.
Moussaoui's latest statements contradict his earlier plea that he was not a part of the 9/11 attacks and was only supposed to be in the second wave of Al Qaeda attacks and fly a plane into the White House.
He maintained that he was only aware of the broad outline of the attacks and not the details when he was arrested in August 2001.
"I had knowledge that the two towers would be hit, but I didn't have the detail," said Moussaoui.
"I was supposed to pilot a plane to hit the White House," Moussaoui replied when asked by his court appointed attorney if he was a part of the 9/11 attacks.
He further said he was initially asked in 1999 to be a suicide pilot on an attack against the US, but he refused. He changed his mind the following year after having a dream which he discussed with al Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
