bad_meetz_evil
04-12-2006, 04:45 PM
ALEXANDRIA, Va. - In the final minutes of doomed United Air Lines Flight 93, Sept. 11 hijackers try to shake off passengers trying to take control of the plane as it flies over Pennsylvania. "I don't want to die," a passenger is heard to cry out and a hijacker says, "Shall we finish it off?"
Moments later, the plane hurtles out of control to the ground, according to a cockpit voice recording played for a jury on Wednesday by federal prosecutors seeking the execution of Zacarias Moussaoui. The prosecutors figuratively placed the jury aboard the flight for its last heart-wrenching moments.
One passenger tells the hijackers, "Please, don't hurt me." Amid sounds of a struggle, a hijacker asks, "There is something, a fight?" The response is, "Yeah."
The last sound heard as the plane nears the ground: "Allah is the greatest." Then silence.
Flight 93 crashed in a Pennsylvania field as passengers tried to retake the plane — according to a cockpit voice recording played publicly Wednesday for the first time.
Moussaoui is the only person charged in this country in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks. The jury deciding his fate has already declared him eligible for the death penalty by determining that his actions caused at least one death on 9/11.
Even though he was in jail in Minnesota at the time of the attacks, the jury ruled that lies told by Moussaoui to federal agents a month before the attacks kept them from identifying and stopping some of the hijackers.
Now they must decide whether Moussaoui deserves execution or life in prison.
The recording began with the hijackers' voice clearly stating "ladies and gentlemen, this is the captain ... we have a bomb on board, so sit."
For the next few minutes, passengers are repeatedly told, 'Don't move," "Shut up" "Sit," and "down down down."
An air traffic voice says, "Is that United 93 calling?"
A translation of the hijackers' Arabic words was provided to the jury. At one point a hijacker is heard to say "In the name of Allah, most merciful, most compassionate."
There are what sound like groans in the cockpit. Then in Arabic a couple of minutes later, a voice of a hijiacker says "Everything is fine. I finished." He said that around the time that the plane is turning back toward Washington.
As the jury heard the recording, prosecutors played a video presentation that simultaneously showed the flight path, speed and heading in a mockup similar to a flight simulator.
In the final minutes of Flight 93, passengers attempted to retake the plane at which point the hijackers crashed it into the western Pennsylvania field. The plane had been headed for the U.S. Capitol, according to Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.
Defense lawyers say the jury should spare Moussaoui's life because of his limited role in the attacks, evidence that he is mentally ill and because his execution would only play into his dream of martyrdom.
After several days of testimony related to the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, the focus shifted Tuesday to the
Pentagon, where the jury saw some of the most gruesome evidence in the trial.
Several photos showed badly burned bodies, facial features still discernible. Defense lawyers objected unsuccessfully to their display.
Also on Tuesday, the judge issued an order requiring an unidentified individual to be produced for testimony. The order apparently applied to would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid — defense lawyers issued a subpoena last week seeking his testimony. Prosecutors had opposed the subpoena.
Moussaoui testified previously that he and Reid were going to hijack a fifth plane on Sept. 11 and fly it into the White House. The defense lawyers, who have tried to discredit their client's credibility, have said Moussaoui is exaggerating his role in Sept. 11 to inflate his role in history
Moments later, the plane hurtles out of control to the ground, according to a cockpit voice recording played for a jury on Wednesday by federal prosecutors seeking the execution of Zacarias Moussaoui. The prosecutors figuratively placed the jury aboard the flight for its last heart-wrenching moments.
One passenger tells the hijackers, "Please, don't hurt me." Amid sounds of a struggle, a hijacker asks, "There is something, a fight?" The response is, "Yeah."
The last sound heard as the plane nears the ground: "Allah is the greatest." Then silence.
Flight 93 crashed in a Pennsylvania field as passengers tried to retake the plane — according to a cockpit voice recording played publicly Wednesday for the first time.
Moussaoui is the only person charged in this country in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks. The jury deciding his fate has already declared him eligible for the death penalty by determining that his actions caused at least one death on 9/11.
Even though he was in jail in Minnesota at the time of the attacks, the jury ruled that lies told by Moussaoui to federal agents a month before the attacks kept them from identifying and stopping some of the hijackers.
Now they must decide whether Moussaoui deserves execution or life in prison.
The recording began with the hijackers' voice clearly stating "ladies and gentlemen, this is the captain ... we have a bomb on board, so sit."
For the next few minutes, passengers are repeatedly told, 'Don't move," "Shut up" "Sit," and "down down down."
An air traffic voice says, "Is that United 93 calling?"
A translation of the hijackers' Arabic words was provided to the jury. At one point a hijacker is heard to say "In the name of Allah, most merciful, most compassionate."
There are what sound like groans in the cockpit. Then in Arabic a couple of minutes later, a voice of a hijiacker says "Everything is fine. I finished." He said that around the time that the plane is turning back toward Washington.
As the jury heard the recording, prosecutors played a video presentation that simultaneously showed the flight path, speed and heading in a mockup similar to a flight simulator.
In the final minutes of Flight 93, passengers attempted to retake the plane at which point the hijackers crashed it into the western Pennsylvania field. The plane had been headed for the U.S. Capitol, according to Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.
Defense lawyers say the jury should spare Moussaoui's life because of his limited role in the attacks, evidence that he is mentally ill and because his execution would only play into his dream of martyrdom.
After several days of testimony related to the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, the focus shifted Tuesday to the
Pentagon, where the jury saw some of the most gruesome evidence in the trial.
Several photos showed badly burned bodies, facial features still discernible. Defense lawyers objected unsuccessfully to their display.
Also on Tuesday, the judge issued an order requiring an unidentified individual to be produced for testimony. The order apparently applied to would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid — defense lawyers issued a subpoena last week seeking his testimony. Prosecutors had opposed the subpoena.
Moussaoui testified previously that he and Reid were going to hijack a fifth plane on Sept. 11 and fly it into the White House. The defense lawyers, who have tried to discredit their client's credibility, have said Moussaoui is exaggerating his role in Sept. 11 to inflate his role in history