Footage shows the five hijackers who flew American Flight 77 into the Pentagon progressing through security checks at Washington's Dulles International Airport. Hardball takes a look at the top mysteries surrounding the deadliest terror attack on American soil starting with the activities al-Qaida ring leader Mohammed Atta on the evening of Sept. 10, 2001. "They conformed to all the guidelines of checking in." The only problem, Tuohey said, came when he told Atta that, after arriving in Boston, Atta and Omari would have to check in once again before transferring to American Airlines Flight 11. Given the vagaries of traveling on the East Coast, (it was a) tremendous risk to take. Almost all of these points discuss spiritual preparation, such as prayer and citing religious scripture. [65], According to official reports, Atta flew from Prague to Newark International Airport, arriving on June 3, 2000. After consulting with the other hijacker pilots about the flights they also booked on September 11, three days later Atta again visited aa.com and retrieved his reservations and paid for his flight for himself and A. al-Omari (one of his muscle men) using his VISA card. [35][36] He was also angry and bitter at the elite in his native Egypt, who he believed hoarded power for themselves, as well as at the Egyptian government, that cracked down on the dissident Muslim Brotherhood. "[46][47] At the winter break in 1997, Atta left and did not return to Hamburg for three months. [8] He then worked for several months at the Urban Development Center in Cairo, where he joined various building projects and dispatched diverse architectural tasks. Theories on why 9/11 hijackers visited Las Vegas Abdulaziz al Omari (22), Saudi Arabia - Airport security guard. [40] Before this trip he grew out a beard, with a view to show himself as a devout Muslim and to make a political gesture thereby. [13][14] In 1985, Atta enrolled at Cairo University and focused his studies on engineering. We will examine that 9/11 mystery in our next report. Mohamed Atta, one of the key organizers among the 19 hijackers who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks, left behind a five-page handwritten document in Arabic that includes Islamic prayers . 2) Make sure you know all aspects of the plan well, and expect the . Drumhiller said it could have been "to make the final arrangements, to sort of close out everything they were doing to wrap up their time in the states.". Ziad Jarrah should demonstrate that intelligence collection needs to be a holistic endeavor and is highly complicated. Mohammed Atta sat in seat 8D in Business Class. . Plane Crash. [8][29] Among other odd jobs to supplement his income, Atta sometimes worked at a cleaning company and sometimes bought and sold cars. Bin Laden was concerned about having so many operatives in the United States. USDA loan officer Johnelle Bryant said Atta visited her office and inquired about a loan to buy a plane. [16] Also in 1990, Atta's family moved into the eleventh floor of an apartment building in the Egyptian city of Giza. The couple explained at dinner that they ran an exchange program and invited Atta to continue his studies in Germany; they also offered him room and board at their home in the city. 3", "Ticket agent recalls anger in Atta's eyes", "9/11 victim calmly describes hijack on haunting tape", https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-jun-18-na-introflight18-story.html, "102 Minutes: Last Words at the Trade Center; Fighting to Live as the Towers Die", "TWO YEARS LATER: THE 91ST FLOOR; The Line Between Life and Death, Still Indelible", "FBI affidavit: Flight attendant made call to report hijacking", "A Case of Mistaken Identity: Mohammad Atta Not Linked to Bus Bombing", "2nd Witness Arrested; 25 Held for Questioning", "A Tale of Two 'Attas': How spurious Czech intelligence muddied the 9/11 probe", "Four in 9/11 Plot Are Called Tied to Qaeda in '00", "Officer Says 2 Others Are Source of His Atta Claims", "Hijackers Were Not Identified Before 9/11, Investigation Says", "Exclusive: Witnesses in Defense Dept. of 20-25 sons of Mohamed bin Laden, who had 52-54 children in total.2 Originally an immigrant from Yemen, Muhamed bin Laden, by befriending the royal family, had established a major construction company and had amassed a fortune of some 2-3 billion dollars by the time of his death in a 1967 plane crash. Waleed purchased his ticket online with his debit card. He criticized how the newfangled skyscrapers and other modernizing projects were disrupting the fabric of communities by blocking common streets and altering the skyline. Atta was seated in business class, in seat 8D. Some, like the 9/11 plot's ringleader, Mohamed Atta, flew in from Florida, checking into a motel in Wayne for a few days and then leaving and then returning days . This was the last transmission heard from Flight 11. [23] He kept to himself to such an extent that he would often react to simple greetings with silence. Instead, he went to Central Office & Travel in Pompano Beach to purchase a ticket for a flight to Newark, leaving on the evening of August 7 and schedule to return in the evening on August 9. Original Plan for 9/11 Attacks Involved 10 Planes, Panel Says During the meeting, Atta and bin al-Shibh also decided on the targets to be hit, ruling out a strike on a nuclear plant. Many al-Qaeda members lived in this apartment at various times, including hijacker Marwan al-Shehhi, Zakariya Essabar, and others. Spanish investigators have said that Marwan al-Shehhi and two others later joined the meeting. One former flight instructor said a Federal Aviation Administration official placed an angry call on Dec. 27, threatening to investigate the maintenance record of the plane as well as the two pilots. Initially, Mohamed Atta's identity was confused with that of a native Jordanian, Mahmoud Mahmoud Atta, who bombed an Israeli bus in the West Bank in 1986, killing one and severely injuring three. Mohamed Atta", "In Egypt, some see war on terror as a war on Islam", "Interview with Professor Dittmar Machule", "Four Corners Ralph Bodenstein interview", "Will Gives a Window into Suspect's Mind", "Germans Lay Out Early Qaeda Ties to 9/11 Hijackers", "Video showing Atta, bin Laden is unearthed", "Zacarias Moussauoi v. the United States (trial testimony)", "Transcript of Johnelle Bryant Interview", "Hijacker tried to get U.S. loan to buy plane", "Algerian accused in Britain of training hijackers", "Atta recibi en Tarragona joyas para que los miembros del 'comando' del 11-S se hiciesen pasar por ricos saudes", "War Without Borders The Madrid Bombing", "Search for Sept. 11 Suspect Focuses on a Visit to Spain", "Sept. 11 hijacker raised suspicions at border", Document links al Qaeda paymaster, 9/11 plotter, "NewsMine.org hijackers traced to huffman aviation.txt", "While America Slept: The True Story of 9/11", "A Mundane Itinerary on the Eve of Terror", "9/11 mystery: What was Atta doing on 9/10? Iconic images from the September 11 attacks and their aftermath - France 24 Volker Hauth, who was traveling with Atta, described Amal as "attractive and self-confident. 9/11: Why did pilots fail to trigger basic hijack defence procedure? DHS Hits the 20-Year Mark Mr. Kraus noted that the two men had been trained on smaller, ''uncontrolled'' airports that operate without flight towers. Mohammed Atta, (born September 1, 1968, Kafr al-Shaykh, Egyptdied September 11, 2001, New York, New York, U.S.), Egyptian militant Islamist and al-Qaeda operative who helped plot and lead the September 11 attacks. He left Prague the next day, flying on Czech Airlines to Newark, New Jersey, U.S. That aircraft hit the North Tower at 8:46 a.m. United Flight 175, also from Boston, hit the South Tower at 9:03 a.m. "One of the things we did at the White House was push the FBI to focus on Portland to determine whether or not there were people there that they might have met with, Cressey said. If you try to make any moves, you'll endanger yourself and the airplane.". His mother, 79, at the time denied her son's involvement in the attacks and that she feels he is in Afghanistan. He asked about the Pentagon and the White House. Hijackers, The - New York Magazine Published Nov 7, 2001. The third hijacked plane, American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757 that took off from Dulles Airport . Why do terrorists shave their bodies? - Slate Magazine Mohamed Atta Flight Record. [24] Atta was averse to modern development. "He wanted to finance a twin-engine, six-passenger aircraft and remove the seats," Bryant told ABC's World News Tonight. ''Tower seemed to have no trouble taxiing around it at a busy time,'' the handwritten report reads. [19] In 1992, his father had overheard a German couple who were visiting Egypt's capital. The two had arrived in the United States from Saudi Arabia in April 2001 and joined Atta's team. In Germany, he enrolled in the urban planning graduate program at the Hamburg University of Technology. Wail's ticket was purchased over the phone with a debit card. In-laws characterized the father of Atta as "austere, strict, and private," and neighbors viewed the family as reclusive. "[105][106], Five witnesses who had worked on Able Danger and had been questioned by the Defense Department's Inspector General later told investigative journalists that their statements to the IG were distorted by investigators in the final IG's report, or the report omitted essential information that they had provided. [45], After leaving Plankontor in the summer of 1997, Atta disappeared again and did not return until 1998. It's Easy to Get Knives and Razors Onto a Plane, the Hijackers Found, The FBI's Radical Fundamentalist Unit Ignored This Radical Fundamentalist. The video, bearing the date of January 18, 2000, is of good resolution but contains no sound track. 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta, who is thought to have flown American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center AP "I said, specifically, 'These two clowns are up to . As it turned out, the employee said, a spark plug had needed tightening and the two pilots had probably flooded the engine. Each day a new story will be published here. Ramzi bin al-Shibh is also identified in the video. Although estimates range from 18 Records show 9/11 terrorists had connections to local family - WFTS In June 2000, Atta, Ziad Jarrah and Marwan al-Shehhi arrived in the United States to learn how to pilot planes, obtaining instrument ratings in November. "There's a real question there because he took a tremendous risk in going to Portland the night before and then having to catch a commuter flight to Boston, said Roger Cressey, who was director of transnational threats for President Bush's National Security Council. On Oct. 6, 2021, a new episode of the "Your Mom's House" podcast was released . [112], There are multiple, conflicting explanations for Atta's behavior and motivation. Hijackers in the September 11 attacks - Wikipedia Flight controllers, according to airport records, guided the waiting passenger airliners around the stalled aircraft until it was towed away 35 minutes later. Said Bahaji, a German citizen, was a close friend of Mohammed Atta, the hijacker in control of American Airlines Flight 11 which was the first plane to strike the World Trade Center. By early 1999, Atta had completed his thesis, and formally defended it in August 1999.[47]. This encounter took place "around the third week of April to the third week of May of 2000", before Atta's official entry date into the United States (see below). [107], Lt. Col. Shaffer's book also clearly indicates direct identification of the Brooklyn cell, and Mohamed Atta. How the 9/11 hijackers lived in plain sight in New Jersey He lived in Hamburg in the 1990's and is now believed to have trained at an Al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan in 1999. He also began teaching classes both at Al-Quds and at a Turkish mosque near the Harburg district. [108], Atta's father, Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta, a retired lawyer in Egypt, vehemently rejected allegations his son was involved in the September 11 attacks, and instead accused the Mossad and the United States government of having a hand in framing his son. [43], On April 11, 1996, Atta signed his last will and testament at the mosque, officially declaring his Muslim beliefs and giving 18 instructions regarding his burial. Bin Laden sent them to see Atef to get a general overview of the mission, and then they were sent to Karachi to see Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to go over specifics. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. After he graduated in 1990 with an architecture degree,[15] he joined the Engineers Syndicate, an organization under the control of the Muslim Brotherhood. Agents of terror leave their mark on Sin City / Las Vegas workers But more likely it is that the origination of his flight in Newark, delayed on the ground for 40 minutes, that made his flight more vulnerable. Newsweek is reconstructing the road to 9/11 as it was constructed 20 years ago, day by day. Had his conversations been monitored, the NSA would have heard the conversations of a husband and wife, talking about day-to-day life, in the German language, probably raising no suspicions. Why Mohammed Atta Chose That Particular Tuesday in September - Newsweek Tuohey was the ticket agent at the Portland International Jetport who handed two of the terrorists - Mohamed Atta and Abdulaziz al-Omari - their boarding passes for an early morning flight to . The incident joins the short but tantalizing list of near-miss encounters involving Mr. Atta. This piece of information was passed on to the FBI as "unevaluated raw intelligence". Jan 28, 2004 at 3:00 am. "I suspect they were casing a fallback position to launch from if, for weather or security, they couldn't get out of Boston, Drumhiller said. By the end of July, both Atta and Shehhi did solo flights. 'Stay quiet and you'll be OK,' Atta told passengers The next winter, they moved into an apartment at Marienstrasse 54 in the borough of Harburg, near the Hamburg University of Technology,[50] at which they enrolled. ; Azrbaycanca; Catal; etina; Dansk; Deutsch; Espaol; ; Franais; ; Hausa; Bahasa Indonesia; Italiano; . He stayed there until 1998. They inquired about multi-engine planes and told the instructor that "they wanted to move quickly, because they had a job waiting in their country upon completion of their training in the U.S." In mid-October, Atta and Shehhi returned to Huffman Aviation to continue training. The academic team inquired into the effects of redevelopment in the Islamic Cairo, the old quarter, which the government undertook to remodel for tourism. "He said he was an engineer and he wanted to build a chemical . The first chapter of the video showed bin Laden at Tarnak Farms on January 8, 2000. The hour-long tape places him in Afghanistan at a decisive moment in the development of the conspiracy when he was given operational command. Dekkers has written a book, "Guilty By Association," about his experience with Mohamed Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi, the two hijackers whose act of terrorism left nearly 3,000 people dead. Of the four hijacker pilots, Jarrah was the most westernized, coming from a Lebanese secular background and Christian schooling before moving to Germany for university studies. The Mohamed Atta Files. "[62][63] Bryant contacted the authorities after recognising Atta in news reports. In Hamburg, Atta became involved with the al-Quds Mosque, where he met Marwan al-Shehhi, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, and Ziad Jarrah, together forming the Hamburg cell. [6] Atta was not heard from again for nine minutes until 8:33:59, when he was heard to say: "Nobody move, please. Mr. Kraus said Mr. Atta and Mr. Shehhi told him they had not been aware that they needed to radio the tower for instructions. Here he presented an AAA membership for a discount, and paid cash for the $49.50/night room. 8:24 am - Hijacker Mohammed Atta makes the first of two accidental transmissions from Flight 11 to ground control (apparently in an attempt to communicate with the plane's cabin). This claim has been disputed; Terry McDermott has argued that it is unusual for someone to go on pilgrimage so soon after the first time and to spend three months there (more than Hajj requires). He was therefore treated favorably and not scrutinized. Shave excess hair from the body and wear cologne. Bin al-Shibh passed along bin Laden's list of targets; bin Laden wanted the United States Capitol, the Pentagon, and the World Trade Center to be attacked, as they were deemed "symbols of America." [87], The connection between the two flights at Logan International Airport was within Terminal B, but the two gates were not connected within security. Photocopy of Jarrah's passport, made by Rina Bernard when she rented out one of her apartments at 1816 Harding St. Jarrah was on board United Airlines flight 93 when it crashed in Pennsylvania. But none of them were so flagged. [38] Even before bin al-Shibh had arrived, Atta, Shehhi, and Jarrah were sent to the House of Ghamdi near bin Laden's home in Kandahar, where he was waiting to meet them. Another theory is that the 9/11 ringleader was concerned about a last-minute weather glitch or traffic jam in Boston. - United Airlines Flight 175 (traveling from Boston to Los Angeles) strikes the South Tower of the World Trade Center . The same day, he booked a one-way first-class ticket via the Internet on America West Flight 244 from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to Las Vegas. Financial records and bank video show Atta and Al-Omari made two ATM withdrawals in Portland, and the men were reportedly spotted at an area Wal-Mart, as well as in the parking lot of a Pizza Hut restaurant. In November 2000, Atta earned his instrument rating, and then a commercial pilot's license in December from the Federal Aviation Administration. [6] At 8:18am, flight attendants Betty Ong and Madeline Amy Sweeney began making phone calls to American Airlines to report what was happening. He assumed that they had already radioed the tower so he advised them to go to the offices of Signature, the private general aviation operator at the airport. [3] After they arrived, they were selected by Al Qaeda leader Mohammed Atef as suitable candidates for the "planes operation" plot. Here's some background information about the 19 hijackers of September 11, 2001.. Timeline September 11, 2001 - Nineteen men hijack four commercial airlines loaded with fuel for cross country . [109] The elder Mr. Atta said he had spoken with Mohamed by phone the day after on September 12, 2001. Report Suggest Cover-Up of 9/11 Findings", "Father Denies 'Gentle Son' Could Hijack Any Jetliner", "Father insists alleged leader of attack on WTC is still alive", "He Never Even Had a Kite" Mohamed Atta's father talks about his son, the alleged hijacker, " 11 ", New video shows 9/11 hijackers Mohammed Atta, Ziad Jarrah at Al-Qaida meeting., Interviews with those who interacted with Atta prior to 9/11, October 2001 interview with Dittmar Machule, "MUGSHOTS: Mohammed Atta - Soldier of Terror", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mohamed_Atta&oldid=1140797922, Four Corners, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, broadcast November 12, 2001, Documentary series from Court TV (now TruTV), This page was last edited on 21 February 2023, at 21:12. [10] His father, Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta, was a lawyer, educated in both sharia and civil law. 9/11 victim calmly describes hijack on haunting tape [60][61], On June 6, 2002, ABC's World News Tonight broadcast an interview with Johnelle Bryant, former loan officer at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in south Florida, who told about her encounter with Mohamed Atta. [52], German investigators said that they had evidence that Mohamed Atta trained at al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan from late 1999 to early 2000. One theory suggests that Mohamed Atta and the other pilots who led the hijacking teams were here planning the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. A secret police intelligence report . Bouthayna and Mohamed married when she was 14, via an arranged marriage. Mohammed AttaUnited States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (U.S. v. Moussaoui) Mistakenly broadcasting over the air traffic control channel instead of the public-address system, flight 11 hijacker Mohammad Atta, who is piloting the plane, announces, "We have some planes. Anyone can read what you share. [115], Mohamed Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta, Mohamed Atta's first announcement, heard by ATC at 08:23, Mohamed Atta's second announcement at 08:33, sfn error: no target: CITEREFWright2006 (. Mohamed Atta, 33, Egypt Atta was quickly identified as the ringleader of the 9/11 attacks. Mohamed Atta is shown in this photo released Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2001, in a State of Florida Division of Motor Vehicles photograph. [71] On July 8, Atta was recorded on surveillance video when he withdrew 1700 Swiss francs from an ATM. The Egyptian Mohamed Atta arrived at the Florenc bus terminal in Prague, from Germany, on June 2, 2000. [73][74] After bin al-Shibh returned to Germany on July 16, 2001, Atta had three more days in Spain. Did he meet with somebody in Portland who helped him with the attack? ", "Staff Report "We Have Some Planes": The Four Flights a Chronology", National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, "The Aviation Security System and the 9/11 Attacks Staff Statement No. My name is Mohamed Atta. [9] He was known as Abd al-Rahman al-Misri by al-Qaeda. The second chapter showed Atta and Ziad Jarrah reading their wills together ten days later on January 18. "It is possible that he calculated that security would be less stringent in Portland, Maine, than it would be in Boston, said terrorism expert Steve Emerson. The report suggests that incident was an inconvenience but did not result in major delays.