Al Qaeda Conspirator Pleads Guilty

Zacarias Moussaoui admitted his guilt in the deadliest terrorist plot in American history in a mostly unremarkable way, a sharp departure from his past courtroom outbursts.

Unshackled and dressed in a green jumpsuit like any prisoner, Moussaoui on Friday calmly faced the judge he once derided as a Nazi and carefully reviewed the detailed document listing the crimes that could lead to his execution.

In a plain, sturdy voice, the French citizen answered "Guilty" six times as U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema read the federal conspiracy charges linking him to the nearly 3,000 deaths on Sept. 11, al Qaeda's leaders and the 19 hijackers.

He said knew he could be put to death for his plea. "I don't expect any leniency from the Americans," he said. But then again, "I will fight every inch against the death penalty."

But Attorney General Alberto Gonzales says prosecutors will seek the death penalty for Zacarias Moussaoui. Gonzales told reporters the fact that Moussaoui participated in the 9/11 terror conspiracy is no longer in doubt.

The attorney general said Moussaoui confessed to his involvement "in a chilling admission of guilt."

When his guilty pleas were finally accepted, Moussaoui gave his most detailed description yet of what his role was: He lied to federal agents when arrested back in August 2001 so his hijacking brethren wouldn't be exposed, but his real mission was to fly a jet into the White House in a separate attack.

"I'm guilty of a broad conspiracy," Moussaoui said.

His performance even impressed Brinkema. "He has a better understanding of the legal system than some lawyers I have seen in court," the judge said at one point.

But the pleas didn't leave his story clear, nor did they trace his role in the plot, CBS News Legal Analyst Andrew Cohen said.

"There is still a disconnect here. Moussaoui pleaded guilty to being a 9/11 conspirator but then maintained later that he was not part of the 9/11 plot," Cohen said. "Those two things don't match and I'm not sure, since we won't now have a trial on the merits, that we'll ever know exactly for sure what Moussaoui's role was to be before, during and after 9/11."

The pleas did simplify a long court battle: they ended a three-year legal drama over a terror trial during which Moussaoui attempted to fire his lawyers and ranted against Brinkema and prosecutors and also produced arguments over national secrets and access to captured al Qaeda leaders that reached the Supreme Court.

Before accepting the guilty pleas, Brinkema complimented Moussaoui, who in the past had derided her in handwritten court filings.

Moussaoui, 36, was arrested on immigration charges in August 2001 after drawing attention at a Minnesota flight school because he had said he wanted to learn to fly a Boeing 747 although he had no pilot's license. He was in custody on Sept. 11. See at timeline of events in the Moussaoui case.

Unlike during past court appearances where he angrily taunted his accusers, Moussaoui on Friday occasionally joked, calmly answered questions and described for the first time how he was being trained to fly a jet into the White House. It was not clear when that attack was to occur.

"The deal will save everyone a lot of time and money but sadly it will not do much in the way of shedding any more light on what Moussaoui's true role was to be on and after 9/11," Cohen said, drawing attention to the lack of specifics in Moussaoui's descriptions.

Brinkema asked Moussaoui to review the lengthy statement of facts in which prosecutors laid out their case against him. He carefully reviewed it as hushed court spectators watched intently. Brinkema asked if he understood it.

"Yes, I have read more than 10 times this statement. I pondered each paragraph and find it factual," he said. See the court documents.

In the statement, Moussaoui said bin Laden had personally selected him to take part in an attack on the White House with a commercial airliner.

Bin Laden told Moussaoui, "Sahrawi, remember your dream," according to the statement. Abu Khaled al Sahrawi was one of the names Moussaoui used.

Brinkema asked defense lawyer Alan Yamamoto, the only attorney Moussaoui has been willing to talk to in recent weeks, if he was satisfied his client understood what he was doing by pleading guilty.

"When I have spoken to him, we have disagreed," Yamamoto said. "He is facing the possibility of death or life in prison. He has told me that he understands that."

Prosecutor Robert Spencer told the court he believed Moussaoui should be ordered to pay restitution to the victims of Sept. 11.

When the judge noted that part of the penalties could include a $250,000 fine, Moussaoui replied, "I wonder where I will get the money."

CBS News Correspondent Jerry Bowen reports on

"After 9/11, the FBI learned that millennium terrorist Ressam, who was cooperating with investigators, could have recognized Moussaoui from the Afghan (terrorist training) camps," Barbara Grewe of the 9/11 Commission told Bowen.

Friday, before Moussaoui formally entered his plea, he was asked if he understood the statement could be used against him to prove he was guilty. "Absolutely I do understand that," he said.

A few seconds later, he added, "Where do I get the pen?"

Outside the courthouse, family members of Sept. 11 victims expressed satisfaction with the outcome and their gratitude to the government for pursuing the case.

Dominic J. Puopolo Jr. of Miami Beach, Fla., whose mother from Dover, Mass., died on American Airlines Flight 11 that crashed into the World Trade Center, said he had "a tremendous feeling justice is being served." He said, "I promised my mother shortly after she was murdered I'd somehow have justice."