Moussaoui jury hears tape of 9/11 hijacking

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jurors in the Zacarias Moussaoui trial listened to a recording of terrified shouts and cries in the cockpit as desperate passengers twice charged panicked hijackers during the final half-hour of doomed United Flight 93 on September 11, 2001. "Is that it? I mean, shall we pull it down?" one hijacker asked in Arabic 123 seconds before the 757 jetliner slammed into a Pennsylvania field with 33 passengers, seven crew members and four hijackers. "Yes, put it in it, and pull it down," another voice replied in Arabic. In the remaining two minutes, more voices are heard than earlier, including some in English appearing to urge passengers to take action. Before the tape ended with a roar of static, the creed "Allah is the greatest. Allah is the greatest. Allah is the greatest. Allah is the greatest," was heard in Arabic. The government rested its case to win the execution of September 11 conspirator Moussaoui shortly after 17 jurors and alternates and 150 audience members became the first people other than investigators and victims' relatives to hear the only audible cockpit recording recovered from the four jetliners hijacked by al-Qaida in the nation's deadliest terror attack.