Flight 93 tapes heard

[Mavdog]

These passengers were courageous, and should be considered heros imho.
what to do with moussaoui.........
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Moussaoui Jurors Hear Flight 93 Tape By MATTHEW BARAKAT, Associated Press Writer

In the final minutes of doomed United Air Lines Flight 93, on Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers try to shake off passengers clamoring for control of the plane over Pennsylvania. Amid groans and sounds of a struggle, a voice says, "I am injured." A hijacker asks, "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.

Culminating their case, the prosecutors figuratively placed the jury aboard the flight for its last heart-wrenching moments, using a computerized simulation of the plane's flight path based on information from the flight data recorder.

Hamilton Peterson, whose parents were on Flight 93, earlier heard an enhanced audio version that was played for family members only. He believes the recording provides evidence that passengers attacked and killed a hijacker guarding the cockpit door.

The audio played in the courtroom made it impossible to confirm that interpretation. The Sept. 11 Commission concluded there was a struggle for control but reached no conclusion about whether passengers killed a hijacker.

Much of the what was heard was open to interpretation. In the last minute, voices could be heard in English saying "push up" and "pull down," as flight data showed the steering yoke moving wildly. Some interpreted that as a struggle for control in the cockpit between passengers and hijackers.

The hijackers for more than four minutes before that been swinging the plane wildly in an effort to throw the rebelling passengers off balance.

At 10 a.m. a hijacker asks in Arabic "Shall we finish it off?" The response come back: "No, not yet."

Then a voice is heard in English: "In the cockpit! If we don't, we die!"

At 10:01 a.m., a hijacker asks again: "Shall we put it down? The response: "Yes, put it down."

At 10:02 a.m., a hijacker says, "Give it to me. Give it to me." At 10:03 a.m., the recording ends, and the simulation shows the plane flying nose down, then rolling over belly up and hitting the ground nose first.

The Flight 93 cockpit voice recording is the only such tape that investigators were able to hear from any of the four airplanes hijacked on Sept. 11.

The government later Wednesday rested its case after the judge rejected prosecutors' request to display a running presentation of the names and photos of all of the nearly 3,000 victims of Sept. 11. Prosecutors were instead allowed to show one large poster with the pictures of all but 92 of the victims, and three victim-impact witnesses gave testimony following the playing of the Flight 93 tape.

The judge sent the jury home for the day. Just after that, Moussaoui shouted, "God curse you all!"

His defense will commence its case on Thursday.

During the government's playing of the recording, a voice is heard from the cockpit, possibly that of a flight crew member, saying, "Please don't hurt me. Oh God!" A few seconds later, somebody says, three times, "I don't want to die."

But then, amid sounds of a struggle, a hijacker asks, "There is something, a fight?" The response is, "Yeah."

The last words heard as the plane nears the ground were repeated four times in Arabic: "Allah is the greatest. Allah is the greatest. Allah is the greatest. Allah is the greatest." Then, just the sound roaring static can be heard.

The flight, one of four hijacked on Sept. 11, 2001, crashed in a Pennsylvania field as passengers tried to retake it. The cockpit voice recording had not been played publicly before.

The recording began at 9:31 a.m. 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, in English, "Don't move," "Shut up" "Sit," and "down down down."

The hijackers alternated between Arabic and English.

As the tape proceeded, it was clear that passengers were gaining the upper hand.

A voice of a hijacker, presumably inside the cockpit, says, "They want to get in." The voice continues, "Hold from within." At 10 a.m., there is a voice that says, "I am injured."

Sounds of a struggle can be heard. At that point, the plane appears to go out of control. There are sounds of the hijackers trying to shake off the passengers. The plane pitches back and forth.

The plane had been headed for the U.S. Capitol, according to Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.

Moussaoui, who has admitted to being a terrorist conspirator and al-Qaida sympathizer, 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.

Defense lawyers have already said they think 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.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema 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.

[orangedays]

I hope Moussaoui burns.

[dude1394]

It's truly unfortunate that public hangings are not allowed for the more nefarious individuals in these the aughts.

I would truly like to see his neck stretched. Of course there's a few more I'm interested in as well.

[EricaLubarsky]

I personally would have hoped that his trial was kept secret so he wouldn't get his whiskers scratched knowing that he would be a historical figure. I also hope that he does not get put to death because he would get the martythood that he wants.

Make him offer a living sacrifice-- 30+ years(however long he lives) in a tough, tough prison to serve his purpose. Death is too quick for people that don't understand the value of human life.

[Evilmav2]

I'd be happy if that terrorist deceiver Moussaoui ends up spending the rest of his life without pillows, fellow inmates to talk to, reading materials, television, or a direct look at the sun in a Federal SuperMax facility. This particular warrior of Allah is still a young man, so spending 23 hours of every day of the next 60+ years of his life in an unrelentingly solitary 12*12 cell (with one hour a day allotted for exercise time in a 20*20 yard-cube) would be a meaner fate for the Jihadi than mere execution...


Put Moussaoui a box, so first the terrorist's mind, and then his body may reap their just deserts...

[chumdawg]

Originally Posted by Evilmav2

I'd be happy if that terrorist deceiver Moussaoui ends up spending the rest of his life without pillows, fellow inmates to talk to, reading materials, television, or a direct look at the sun in a Federal SuperMax facility. This particular warrior of Allah is still a young man, so spending 23 hours of every day of the next 60+ years of his life in an unrelentingly solitary 12*12 cell (with one hour a day allotted for exercise time in a 20*20 yard-cube) would be a meaner fate for the Jihadi than mere execution...


Put Moussaoui a box, so first the terrorist's mind, and then his body may reap their just deserts...

Word. Hell, a guy who works for me, and who did time in Texas state prison, described to me time he served in solitary confinement. Days on end, alone in an empty cell that never sees the light of day--and naked, at that. That's right, naked. And this is Texas state prison.

Surely the feds can come up with something more demeaning. And yes, surely it will be worse than execution.

[dude1394]

Not for me kill the sob. He's not worth using up valuable oxygen.

[Drbio]

I'd like to see him thrown into Evil's cell and then a couple of pigs be placed in their with him. He will be forced to die with pigs which is taboo to idiot muslims. Let him wallow in pig shit and be forced to eat nothing but pork product until he rots away in his own piss and feces. Let it be a long, slow process and lets get it on a dedicated cable channel so we can all watch.

[chumdawg]

Actually, Doc, you may be on to something there. Nobody loves death like Americans do.