Defense's Turn At Moussaoui Trial

If jurors in the death-penalty trial of Zacarias Moussaoui are looking for someone to blame for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, defense lawyers are pointing the finger at the FBI and other federal agencies they say botched intelligence.

The sentencing trial for Moussaoui, the only person in this country charged in connection with the airborne attacks that claimed more than 3,000 lives, resumes Monday with a former FBI agent scheduled for cross-examination.

The witness, former FBI agent Erik Rigler, on Thursday summarized for the jury a Justice Department report that criticized the CIA for keeping intelligence about two known al Qaeda terror operatives in the United States from the FBI for more than a year.

The two were among the 19 suicide hijackers on 9/11. The report said they had been placed on a watch list in Thailand in January 2000, but not on a U.S. list until August 2001.

CBS News Legal Analyst Andrew Cohen says the defense may be over in a few days and jurors may start deliberating as early as Wednesday. And the highlight will be testimony from Moussaoui himself, who wants to explain to jurors how he is a member of Al Qaeda but was part of a different terror plot - one that was supposed to unfold after Sept. 11.

"Moussaoui's lawyers are going to get into evidence information from his Al Qaeda superiors, leaders of the terror movement who were captured years ago by the United States and who apparently told their captors that Moussaoui was a small fry, someone who wasn't in the loop of the 9-11 terror plot," says Cohen. "If jurors believe that evidence it'll clearly help Moussaoui."

Prosecutors argue that Moussaoui, a French citizen, thwarted a prime opportunity to track down the 9/11 hijackers and possibly unravel the plot when he was arrested in August 2001 on immigration violations and lied to the FBI about his al-Qaida membership and plans to hijack a plane.

Had Moussaoui confessed, the FBI could have pursued leads that would have led them to most of the hijackers, government witnesses have testified.

To win the death penalty, prosecutors must first prove that Moussaoui's actions - specifically, his lies - were directly responsible for at least one death on Sept. 11.

Moussaoui pleaded guilty last April to conspiring with al-Qaida to hijack planes and other crimes, but he denies any role in 9/11. He says he was training for a possible future attack on the White House.