ALEXANDRIA, Virginia - French Al-Qaeda member Zacarias Moussaoui on Friday pleaded guilty to six charges in connection to the September 11, 2001, attacks, but vowed to fight any move to sentence him to death.
"I came to the United States of America to be part of a conspiracy to use an airplane as a weapon of mass destruction," Moussaoui told the court.
He said he was involved in a plot to destroy the White House but was not to be part of the September 11 attack.
"I was trained on a 747 (simulator) to strike the White House. This conspiracy was a different conspiracy from 9/11," said Moussaoui, who was dressed in a green prison jumpsuit but was not shackled or handcuffed.
Moussaoui is accused of conspiracy to commit terrorism, commit aircraft piracy, destroy aircraft and use weapons of mass destruction -- charges for which he faces the death penalty.
He is also accused of conspiracy to murder and to destroy property which carry heavy prison sentences.
The Frenchman was detained before the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington in which almost 3,000 people died.
Moussaoui, who has admitted being an Al-Qaeda member, told the hearing: "My war name, my jihad name is Abu Khalid al Sahrawi."
As she put each charge, US District Judge Leonie Brinkema asked if any pressure had been applied to plead guilty. "Absolutely not," Moussaoui replied each time.
"I don't expect any leniency from the Americans," the 36-year-old Moussaoui said, while adding that his guilty pleas did not mean that he accepted a capital punishment sentence.
"I will not apply for death and in fact I will fight every inch against the death penalty," he said.
Brinkema allowed Moussaoui to admit guilt despite last-minute moves by his lawyers suggesting he was not mentally competent to enter the plea.
Brinkema said she had found Moussaoui was "completely competent" to make the pleas after meeting with him Wednesday. "Mr Moussaoui is an extremely intelligent man, he better understands the legal system than some lawyers that I have seen in this court," she said.
The judge will set a date for a penalty phase at which a jury will decide if Moussaoui should get the death penalty.
Moussaoui's statement that he was not part of the September 11 plot s statement was consistent with earlier claims that although he was an Al-Qaeda member, he was meant to participate in other plots.
The official US commission which looked into the September 11 attacks said captured Al-Qaeda leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed told interrogators that Moussaoui was to be used in a loosely planned "second wave" of attacks.
Nineteen men hijacked four jets and crashed them into the twin World Trade Center towers in New York, the Pentagon outside Washington and a field in Pennsylvania.
As part of his defense strategy, Moussaoui and his lawyers sought access to three top Al-Qaeda operatives in US custody: Mohammed, Ramzi bin al-Shaiba and Moustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi -- all accused Al-Qaeda organizers and financiers. Mohammed is considered the number-three in Al-Qaeda.
The move repeatedly delayed Moussaoui's trial as both sides wrangled over access to the detainees, which the US Justice Department claimed would threaten US security and classified information.
Last month, the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of the government, ending the debate.
In 2002, Moussaoui tried to plead guilty but reneged after the judge gave him a week to think about his offer.
Later that year, he fired his lawyers and decided to represent himself. But his rambling, handwritten proceedings, which often included invectives against his lawyers and the judge, led Brinkema to revoke his right serve as his own lawyer in 2003.
04/22/2005 21:27 GMT