Zacarias Moussaoui once again reaffirmed that he is involved in the Sept. 11 terrorist acts and said that he had ''no regret, no remorse" for the nearly 3,000 people killed on Sept. 11, 2001.
Moussaoui, testifying for the second time, also repeated his deep hatred for Americans and predicted another major terrorist attack on US soil before the end of President Bush's term. He said the strike will be so catastrophic that the government will be forced to release him from prison.
The 37-year-old Al Qaeda terrorist occupied the witness stand for nearly three hours. In his lap he fingered his worn copy of the Koran, sometimes flipping the pages to read a verse to the jury that he had marked with sticky notes.
As in his previous testimony last month, Moussaoui offered little to help save his life. But this time he gave a much starker impression of a man so filled with hate that he might be mentally ill, as his lawyers contend.
If the jury agrees, he could be spared the death penalty, Boston Globe reports.
Moussaoui said he hopes jurors sentence him to life in prison, adding that he told the truth when he testified several weeks ago that he had planned to fly a fifth hijacked plane into the White House on Sept. 11, seattletimes.com says.
Moussaoui was arrested three weeks before Sept. 11, and last year pleaded guilty to participating in the conspiracy that spawned the strikes on New York and Washington. Last week, the jury concluded that he was eligible for the death penalty because he could have prevented the attacks by alerting the FBI.
The current phase of the trial is to decide whether he deserves the death penalty. To establish that, the jury must find that Moussaoui knowingly created a grave risk of death, or that the deaths were especially heinous and cruel, or that he was involved in substantial planning for the attacks, according to latimes.com.
Moussaoui, who was taking the stand for the second time at his sentencing trial against the advice of his lawyers, also criticised his court-appointed defence team. He said their strategy should have included the argument that life in prison was the best punishment since execution would reward him with martyrdom.
Defence lawyers are trying to persuade the jury that Moussaoui is mentally unstable with delusions of importance in al-Qaeda and should not be sentenced to death, theage.com.au reports.
The following are the most interesting pieces of the transcript of the cockpit voice recorder aboard United Airlines Flight 93 and published by the AP.
09:31:57 -- Ladies and gentlemen: Here the captain, please sit down keep remaining seating. We have a bomb on board. So sit.
09:32:09 -- Er, uh ... Calling Cleveland center ... You're unreadable. Say again slowly.
09:32:10 -- Don't move. Shut up.
09:32:13 -- Come on, come.
09:32:16 -- Shut up.
09:32:17 -- Don't move.
09:32:18 -- Stop.
09:32:34 -- Sit, sit, sit down.
09:32:39 -- Sit down.
09:35:19 -- Sit down. Sit down. You know, sit down.
09:35:24 -- No, no, no.
09:35:30 -- Down, down, down, down.
09:35:32 -- Are you talking to me?
09:35:33 -- No, no, no. Unintelligible.
09:35:35 -- Down in the airport.
09:35:39 -- Down, down.
09:35:40 -- I don't want to die.
09:35:41 -- No, no. Down, down.
09:35:42 -- I don't want to die. I don't want to die.
09:35:44 -- No, no. Down, down, down, down, down, down.
09:35:47 -- No, no, please.
09:39:11 -- Ah. Here's the captain. I would like to tell you all to remain seated. We have a bomb aboard, and we are going back to the airport, and we have our demands. So, please remain quiet.
09:39:21 -- OK. That's 93 calling?
09:39:24 -- (One moment.)
09:39:34 -- United 93. I understand you have a bomb on board. Go ahead.
09:39:42 -- And center exec jet nine fifty-six. That was the transmission.
09:39:47 -- OK. Ah. Who called Cleveland?
09:39:52 -- Executive jet nine fifty-six, did you understand that transmission?
09:39:56 -- Affirmative. He said that there was a bomb on board.
09:39:58 -- That was all you got out of it also?
09:40:01 -- Affirmative.
09:44:18 -- (This does not work now.)
09:45:13 -- Turn it off.
09:45:16 -- (... Seven thousand ...)
09:45:19 -- (How about we let them in? We let the guys in now.)
09:45:23 -- (OK.)
09:45:24 -- (Should we let the guys in?)
09:45:25 -- (Inform them, and tell him to talk to the pilot. Bring the pilot back.)
09:45:57 -- (In the name of Allah. In the name of Allah. I bear witness that there is no other God, but Allah.)
09:47:31 -- Unintelligible.
09:47:40 -- (Allah knows.)
10:00:22 -- (Oh Allah. Oh Allah. Oh gracious.)
10:00:25 -- In the cockpit. If we don't, we'll die.
10:00:29 -- (Up, down. Up, down, in the) cockpit.
10:00:33 -- (The) cockpit.
10:00:37 -- (Up, down. Saeed, up, down.)
10:00:42 -- Roll it.
10:00:55 -- Unintelligible.
10:00:59 -- (Allah is the greatest. Allah is the greatest.)
10:01:01 -- Unintelligible.
10:01:08 -- (Is that it? I mean, shall we pull it down?)
10:01:09 -- (Yes, put it in it, and pull it down.)
10:02:23 -- (Pull it down. Pull it down.)
10:02:25 -- Down. Push, push, push, push, push.
10:02:33 -- (Hey. Hey. Give it to me. Give it to me.)
10:02:35 -- (Give it to me. Give it to me. Give it to me.)
10:02:37 -- (Give it to me. Give it to me. Give it to me.)
10:02:40 -- Unintelligible.
10:03:02 -- (Allah is the greatest.)
10:03:03 -- (Allah is the greatest.)
10:03:04 -- (Allah is the greatest.)
10:03:06 -- (Allah is the greatest.)
10:03:06 -- (Allah is the greatest.)
10:03:07 -- No.
10:03:09 -- (Allah is the greatest. Allah is the greatest.)
10:03:09 -- (Allah is the greatest. Allah is the greatest.)
Source: agencies
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