Bin Ladin - "Moussaoui didn't do it"

Via AP/Yahoo:

CAIRO, Egypt - Osama bin Laden purportedly said in an audio tape Tuesday that Zacarias Moussaoui — the only person convicted in the U.S. for the Sept. 11 attacks — had nothing to do with the operation.

"He had no connection at all with Sept. 11," the speaker, claiming to be bin Laden, said in the tape posted on the Internet.

"I am the one in charge of the 19 brothers and I never assigned brother Zacarias to be with them in that mission," he said, referring to the 19 hijackers.

This could be an attempt to embarrass the administration - weak psychological warfare from the king of terrorists. Regardless, UBL does acknowlege that Moussaoui wasn't here on a vacation:

"Since Zacarias Moussaoui was still learning how to fly, he wasn't No. 20 in the group, as your government has claimed," bin Laden said. "It knows this very well," he added.

Maybe Moussaoui was removed from the group because he couldn't get through his training in time? Or was he in the lineup for a later operation? Regardless, Bin Laden's characterization reveals enough to know that "brother" Moussaoui was a) active in al-Qaida and b) up to no good.