Prisoner claims Moussaoui was backup for Sept. 11 attacks

WASHINGTON -- An al-Qaida prisoner's reported description of Zacarias Moussaoui as merely a backup figure could weaken the government's argument for executing the man accused as a Sept. 11 conspirator, legal experts said Wednesday.

U.S. officials said Tuesday that a top al-Qaida operative, Ramzi Binalshibh, told interrogators that Moussaoui met with the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks in late 2000 or early 2001 in Afghanistan.

Binalshibh, a former aide to top al-Qaida operative Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, said Mohammed provided Moussaoui with contacts in the United States -- but the two men were not confident that Moussaoui could keep a secret, said officials speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Moussaoui, acting as his own lawyer, and a defense team appointed by the judge have asked that Binalshibh be a defense witness. The request is complicated in Moussaoui's case because the government may not want enemy combatants like Binalshibh to reveal sensitive information in courtrooms.