In the aftermath of the attack, law enforcement agents discovered a four-page document in Mohamed Atta's baggage. Having little else to do, he mostly studied at home and easily excelled in school. It's hard to tell.". Shave excess hair from the body and wear cologne. Bryant said "the picture that came out in the newspaper, that's exactly what that man looked like. "[113] In turn, political scientist Robert Pape has claimed that Atta was motivated by his commitment to the political cause, that he was psychologically normal, and that he was "not readily characterized as depressed, not unable to enjoy life, not detached from friends and society. As the five-year anniversary of 9/11 approaches, major questions about the terrorist attacks remain unanswered. FBI investigators have officially concluded that 11 of the 19 terrorists who hijacked the aircraft on 11 September did not know they were on a suicide mission, Whitehall . The report suggests that incident was an inconvenience but did not result in major delays. On Sept. 12, 2001, investigators combed over the field near Shanksville, Pa., where United Flight 93 crashed a day earlier. Atta was directly responsible for the deaths of more than 1,600 people during the attacks. But none of them were so flagged. Mr. Pursell, meanwhile, had already gotten a cellphone call from Mr. Atta and Mr. Shehhi. Atta purchased cockpit videos for Boeing 747-200, Boeing 757-200, Airbus A320 and Boeing 767-300ER models via mail-order from Sporty's Pilot Shop in Batavia, Ohio, in November and December 2000.[16]. [33], After coming to Hamburg in 1992, Atta grew more religiously fanatical and frequented the mosque with greater regularity. 9/11 mystery: What was Atta doing on 9/10? - NBC News The Israeli Supreme Court later overturned his extradition and set him free. They were on a suicide flight. On the morning of September 11, 2001, 46 minutes into United Airlines Flight 93, a nonstop flight from Newark, New Jersey to San Francisco, four hijackers took control of the Boeing 757-222. 9/11 mastermind hijacker's mum claims he's still ALIVE and in [94], On October 1, 2006, The Sunday Times released a video it had obtained "through a previously tested channel", purporting to show Mohamed Atta and Ziad Jarrah recording a martyrdom message six months earlier at a training camp in Afghanistan. [32] Atta Sr. rejected media reports that stated his son was drinking wildly, and instead described his son as a quiet boy uninvolved with politics, shy and devoted to studying architecture. Given the vagaries of traveling on the East Coast, (it was a) tremendous risk to take. But she was also said to be 'emancipated' and 'challenging'. Mohamed Atta is shown in this photo released Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2001, in a State of Florida Division of Motor Vehicles photograph. "[114] By contrast, criminal justice professor, Adam Lankford, has found evidence that indicated Atta was suicidal, and that his struggles with social isolation, depression, guilt, shame, hopelessness, and rage were extraordinarily similar to the struggles of those who commit conventional suicide and murder-suicide. Kersten said in an interview at the agency's headquarters in Wiesbaden that Atta was in Afghanistan from late 1999 until early 2000,[53][54] and that there was evidence that Atta met with Osama bin Laden there. The incident, which occurred on a busy travel day at the country's ninth-busiest passenger airport, is especially notable because of how close it brought the two men to official scrutiny. In late 1999, Atta, Shehhi, Jarrah, Bahaji, and bin al-Shibh decided to travel to Chechnya to fight against the Russians, but were convinced by Khalid al-Masri and Mohamedou Ould Salahi at the last minute to change their plans. In the spring of 2000, Atta entered the United States and enrolled in an aviation school in Venice, Fla. On Sept. 10, 2001, Atta picked up another 9/11 terrorist, Abdul-Azzia Al-Omari, at the Milner Hotel in Boston. Months later both he and Jarrah enrolled at flying schools in America. Almost all of these points discuss spiritual preparation, such as prayer and citing religious scripture. Officials at Signature did not respond to several telephone requests to find out whether anyone at the company remembered Mr. Atta or Mr. Shehhi. He failed to show up for court and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest. This document is divided into three sections; the first is a fifteen point list providing detailed instructions for the last night of a martyr's life, the second gives instructions for travelling to the plane and the third from the time between boarding the plane and martyrdom. How the 9/11 hijackers lived in plain sight in New Jersey 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. In this series, Newsweek maps the road to 9/11 as it happened 20 years ago, day by day. [73][74] After bin al-Shibh returned to Germany on July 16, 2001, Atta had three more days in Spain. Just stay quiet." Mr. Pursell, meanwhile, said the two men never explained why they chose to fly to Miami or apologized for the costs incurred by the school. TERRORIST: Mohammed Atta's mum claims her son is still alive and in Guantanamo Bay . In Maine, an unanswered question remains about the events on 9/11 On April 16, Atta was given a citation for not having a valid driver's license, and he began steps to get the license. [16] Atta traveled twice to Las Vegas on "surveillance flights" rehearsing how the 9/11 attacks would be carried out. Miami International is controlled, that is, the tower controls the movement of all airplanes on the airfield. In this field, we haven't yet any knowledge but we are ready to undergo an intensive training program (up to ATP and eventually higher)." Mohamed Atta - Terrorist Attack, 9/11 & Hijacker - Biography Bouthayna and Mohamed married when she was 14, via an arranged marriage. 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? the suspected ringleader of the Sept. 11 hijackings and the pilot of the first plane to crash into the World Trade Center, was a homosexual. Last words of a terrorist | World news | The Guardian [9][44] This was the same day that Israel, much to the outrage of Atta, attacked Lebanon in Operation Grapes of Wrath; signing the will "offering his life" was his response. "Might have just been doing surveillance detection just to see if somebody might have been following him up in that area, Drumhiller said. He had made no progress on his thesis. On December 26, Atta and Shehhi needed a tow for their rented Piper Cherokee on a taxiway of Miami International Airport after the engine shut down. When Atta returned, he claimed that his passport was lost and applied for a new one, which is a common tactic to erase evidence of travel to places such as Afghanistan. 'Stay quiet and you'll be OK,' Atta told passengers LA Times Archives, Tracking the Flights Hijacked on 9/11, Last edited on 21 February 2023, at 21:12, [mmmd elmi wd essj.jed t], Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System, "On Path to the U.S. An airport incident report indicates that the Piper Cherokee stalled at 5:45 p.m. and was removed from the taxiway by 6:20 p.m. Thirty minutes later, Marwan al-Shehhi hit the South Tower. 9/11 terrorists caught testing airport security months before attacks [107], Lt. Col. Shaffer's book also clearly indicates direct identification of the Brooklyn cell, and Mohamed Atta. [38] These beliefs were even stronger during Operation Infinite Reach, which he believed that Monica Lewinsky was a Jewish agent influencing Bill Clinton against aiding Palestine, which would later play a key role in creating the Hamburg Cell. There, Mr. Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi, another man the F.B.I. By the end of July, both Atta and Shehhi did solo flights. Mohamed Atta, right, and Abdulaziz al-Omari pass through security at the Portland jetport ahead of a commuter flight to Boston on Sept. 11. As it turned out, the employee said, a spark plug had needed tightening and the two pilots had probably flooded the engine. [45], After leaving Plankontor in the summer of 1997, Atta disappeared again and did not return until 1998. [38] The instructions in his last will and testament reflect both Sunni funeral practices along with some more puritanical demands from Salafism, including asking people not "to weep and cry" and to generally refrain from showing emotion. Thirty minutes later, Marwan al-Shehhi hit the South Tower. THE LAST NIGHT. A spokesman for the F.A.A. 9/11: Why did pilots fail to trigger basic hijack defence procedure? Readers may recall the shaving custom from the media coverage of 9/11. Apr. [48] When he returned in spring 1998, after disappearing for several months, he had grown a thick long beard, and "seemed more serious and aloof" than before to those who knew him. [16] Also in 1990, Atta's family moved into the eleventh floor of an apartment building in the Egyptian city of Giza. While in the United States, Atta owned a red 1989 Pontiac Grand Prix. Bin al-Shibh later explained that they believed it would contribute to operational security for Atta to fly out of Prague instead of Hamburg, where he traveled from previously. In this series, Newsweek maps the road to 9/11 as it happened 20 years ago, day by day. ''They said I'd hear back from them, which I never did.''. [86] In Portland, Mohamed Atta was selected by the Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS), which required his checked bags to undergo extra screening for explosives but involved no extra screening at the passenger security checkpoint. Evidently, he tried to deliver a message instructing the passengers and crew to stay put over the cabin's PA system, but pressed the wrong switch and thereby tipped off ATC that the flight had been hijacked. [87], The connection between the two flights at Logan International Airport was within Terminal B, but the two gates were not connected within security. The family had few relatives on the father's side and kept their distance from Bouthayna's family. There hasn't been a successful attack against commercial aviation in the U.S. in the 20 years since 9/11, and outside experts agree that while there is still room for improvement, the TSA has been . In the Czech Republic, some intelligence officials say the source of the purported meeting was an Arab informant who approached the Czech intelligence service with his sighting of Atta only after Atta's photograph had appeared in newspapers all over the world. [42] He made acquaintances at al-Quds; some of whom visited him on occasion at Centrumshaus. Atta phoned his graduate advisor, Machule, and mentioned family problems at home, saying, "Please understand, I don't want to talk about this. He was therefore treated favorably and not scrutinized. . Flight 93 was aiming for the Capitol on 9/11 - Washington Post Statements entered at . Attackers did not know they were to die | World news | The Guardian The FBI also reported that "two middle-eastern men" were seen in the parking lot of a Pizza Hut, where Atta is known to have eaten that day. The 9/11 Commission obtained details about the meeting, based on interrogations of bin al-Shibh in the weeks after his arrest in September 2002.