Moussaoui White House Crash Plan?

Prosecutor Points Finger At Terror Suspect; Accomplices Assumed

(AP)  Terrorism suspect Zacarias Moussaoui was part of a plot to fly a plane into the White House, a prosecutor alleged Friday, raising the possibility he had accomplices.

Moussaoui “was keenly aware of why he was here,” prosecutor Kenneth Karas told a Jan. 30 hearing, responding to defense lawyers' arguments that the defendant didn't know the object of al Qaeda's conspiracy to fly planes into U.S. buildings.

While previous court documents mentioned that Moussaoui planned to crash an airliner into the White House, it was unclear how he could do so without help.

“It was going to involve others,” Karas said at the hearing, without further elaboration. “The fact that he didn't know the precise whereabouts or even if we can assume he didn't know the names of the people doesn't mean he doesn't know the objects of the conspiracy.”

Karas said “the evidence is clear” that Moussaoui had accomplices in a plan to fly a fifth attack plane, although he did not make clear whether the alleged operation was planed on Sept. 11.

The prosecutor named one of those who provided evidence as Faiz Bafana, a member of Jemaah Islamiya, a Southeast Asian group the United States says has links to the al Qaeda terrorist network.

Previous papers filed by defense lawyers said that Moussaoui met with Bafana in Malaysia in 2000 and “talked freely ... about a dream he had to fly an airplane into the White House.”

However, the defense lawyers said Bafana did not take Moussaoui seriously.

In another transcript released Friday, a federal judge acknowledged that her order to let Moussaoui question an al Qaeda prisoner probably would determine whether the government would allow the case to continue in her criminal court.