The 33-year-old grew up in a strict household in Egypt where he was made to study hard. 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. The second chapter showed Atta and Ziad Jarrah reading their wills together ten days later on January 18. Mohamed Atta had varied his name on documents, also using "Mehan Atta", "Mohammad El Amir", "Muhammad Atta", "Mohamed El Sayed", "Mohamed Elsayed", "Muhammad al-Amir", "Awag Al Sayyid Atta", and "Awad Al Sayad". Turning toward New York. We hate America and all that it stands for. Did he meet with somebody in Portland who helped him with the attack? [16], Atta continued with flight training that included solo flights and simulator time. On September 11 we'll live tweet the events of the day, minute by minute, starting at 4:45 a.m. EST, @RoadTo911. With its passengers defiant, the plane crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Hijacker Mohamed Atta presses the wrong button when trying to communicate with passengers on Flight 11, reaching out instead to air traffic control and alerting controllers to the attacks. The Mossad killed him. His nascent infatuation with her, begrudgingly realised, was the closest thing Atta knew to romance. They also discussed the personal difficulties Atta was having with fellow hijacker Ziad Jarrah. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. He mentioned Al Qaeda and said the organization "could use memberships from Americans". He had made no progress on his thesis. Records on Atta's cellphone indicated that he phoned the Moroccan embassy in Washington on January 2, just before Shehhi flew to the country. Atta grew up in Egypt and studied urban planning in Germany. The academic team inquired into the effects of redevelopment in the Islamic Cairo, the old quarter, which the government undertook to remodel for tourism. [66][67], Atta began flight training on July 6, 2000, and continued training nearly every day. [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. Atta flew to Spain on January 4, 2001, to coordinate with bin al-Shibh and returned to the United States on January 10. ET (approx.) [8] In his will, written in 1996, Atta gives his name as "Mohamed the son of Mohamed Elamir awad Elsayed". On April 16, Atta was given a citation for not having a valid driver's license, and he began steps to get the license. Jarrah, a Lebanese citizen, would go on to pilot United Airlines Flight 93, intended to hit the U.S. Capitol Building. He left Prague the next day, flying on Czech Airlines to Newark, New Jersey, U.S. - United Airlines Flight 175 (traveling from Boston to Los Angeles) strikes the South Tower of the World Trade Center . He asked about the Pentagon and the White House. The first chapter of the video showed bin Laden at Tarnak Farms on January 8, 2000. The luggage included a copy of Atta's will, written in Arabic, as well as a list of instructions, called "The Last Night". Passengers must leave the secured area, go outdoors, cross a covered roadway, and enter another building before going through security once again. Atta also started and led a prayer group, which Ahmed Maklat and Mounir El Motassadeq joined. USDA loan officer Johnelle Bryant said Atta visited her office and inquired about a loan to buy a plane. [45], After leaving Plankontor in the summer of 1997, Atta disappeared again and did not return until 1998. A NATION CHALLENGED: THE SUSPECTS; Mohamed Atta in Close Call In Incident at Miami Airport, https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/17/us/nation-challenged-suspects-mohamed-atta-close-call-incident-miami-airport.html. Mohamed Atta, 33, Egypt Atta was quickly identified as the ringleader of the 9/11 attacks. [59] After obtaining his visa, Atta took a bus on June 2 from Hamburg to Prague where he stayed overnight before traveling on to the United States the next day. Atta was directly responsible for the deaths of more than 1,600 people during the attacks. [19] In 1992, his father had overheard a German couple who were visiting Egypt's capital. In August 2001, Atta traveled as a passenger on several "surveillance" flights, to establish in detail how the attacks could be carried out. We went through the logs of ferries leaving Maine, and we went through the logs of airlines and anything associated with potential for a terrorist cell to support Atta. Atta had lived in Germany for approximately five years and also had a "strong record as a student". He had vacationed often as a child (and would continue to take vacations with his wife while he was in the United States) and was the best English speaker and student of the four. (L to R, top to bottom) Ahmed Alnami, Ahmed Ibrahim A. al-Haznawi, Ziad Samir al-Jarrah, and Saeed Alghamdi. He inquired about flight training, "Dear sir, we are a small group of young men from different Arab countries. According to Bryant, Atta wanted to finance the purchase of a crop-duster. The two had arrived in the United States from Saudi Arabia in April 2001 and joined Atta's team. The two other "muscle men," intended to take over the plane, were also Saudi citizens: Abdulaziz al-Omari (A. al-Omari on the flight manifest) and Satam al-Suqami. Thirty minutes later, Marwan al-Shehhi hit the South Tower. On August 6, Atta booked a flight on Spirit Airlines from Fort Lauderdale to Newark, leaving on August 7 and returning on August 9. [73], On the morning of July 9, Mohamed Atta rented a silver Hyundai Accent, which he booked from SIXT Rent-A-Car for July 9 to 16, and later extended to the 19th. [77] On July 19, Atta returned to the United States, flying on Delta Air Lines from Madrid to Fort Lauderdale, via Atlanta. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, mastermind of the 9/11 plot says they began talking about the "planes operation" in 1995. Bin al-Shibh would not discuss this meeting with Fouda. 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. He held interviews with the German news magazine Bild am Sonntag in late 2002, saying his son was alive and hiding in fear for his life, and that American Christians were responsible for the attacks. [70], In July 2001, Atta again left for Spain in order to meet with bin al-Shibh for the last time. A voice believed to be that of al Qaeda hijack leader Mohamed Atta urged passengers to . The Mohamed Atta Files. In January, after flying from Miami to Madrid, he was allowed to re-enter the United States despite overstaying his previous visa. [37] Atta was anti-Semitic, believing that Jews controlled the world's media, financial, and political institutions from New York City. 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 . 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.". Almost all of these points discuss spiritual preparation, such as prayer and citing religious scripture. Wail's ticket was purchased over the phone with a debit card. IE 11 is not supported. [91] The angle at which Atta crashed into the North Tower severed all means of escape from Floor 92 or higher, ensuring that no one on those floors was able to make it out alive before the building collapsed 102 minutes later at 10:28 A.M.[92], Because the flight from Portland to Boston had been delayed,[93] his bags did not make it onto Flight 11. 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. But with more than 200,000 warrants pending on minor offenses in Broward County, he was never picked up. There, Atta and bin al-Shibh held a meeting to complete the planning of the attacks. [86][89] The plane's transponder was switched off at 8:21a.m. At 8:24:38a.m., a voice believed to be Atta's was heard by air traffic controllers, saying: "We have some planes. Once Atta's commuter flight landed in Boston, phone records show he took a call from another 9/11 hijacker, Marwan Al-Shehi. Atta's bags were later recovered in Logan International Airport, and they contained airline uniforms, flight manuals, and other items. 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. [7] In Germany, he registered his name as "Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta", and went by the name Mohamed el-Amir at the Hamburg University of Technology. Atta was at the controls when the 767 collided with the . Phillpott said that Shaffer was "relying on my recollection 100 percent," and the Defense Department Inspector General's report indicated that Philpott "may have exaggerated knowing Atta's identity because he supported using Able Danger's techniques to fight terrorism. ''They were more concerned about being reimbursed for their rental car,'' he recalled. Atta, an Egyptian, and Omari, a Saudi, held $2,400 first-class tickets to fly from Portland to Boston to Los Angeles. He provided the first official confirmation that Atta and two other pilots had been in Afghanistan, and he also provided the first dates of the training. Beginning in May 2001, Atta assisted with the arrival of the muscle hijackers, and in July he traveled to Spain to meet with bin al-Shibh to finalize the plot. But Atta's night before 9-11 - which he spent in Portland, Main -- is a mystery that has puzzled terrorism experts for five years. Mr. Pursell said that because the airport was secured, the two men could not have simply left undetected. They drove a rented Nissan to Portland, Maine, and arrived at the Comfort Inn Hotel at 5:43 p.m. At the time, Tyler Drumhiller was a top official at the CIA, responsible for all European Operations. He lived in Hamburg in the 1990's and is now believed to have trained at an Al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan in 1999. Other hijackers traveled to Las Vegas at different times in the summer of 2001. The men who would become the pilots of the four hijacked planes began working on the plot in 1999, traveled to the US in 2000, and enrolled in flight training schools. Some say it was the makeup of Jarrah's team, that he had only three instead of four muscle men (because the 20th hijacker and his fourth was denied entry into the U.S.). ; Azrbaycanca; Catal; etina; Dansk; Deutsch; Espaol; ; Franais; ; Hausa; Bahasa Indonesia; Italiano; . 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. In mid-1998, Atta worked alongside Shehhi, bin al-Shibh, and Belfas, at a warehouse, packing computers in crates for shipping. Since these were domestic flights, there was no particular means at the time for the intelligence community to receive a tip-off of a reservation. 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? [16] Also in 1990, Atta's family moved into the eleventh floor of an apartment building in the Egyptian city of Giza. Atta flew Flight 11 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. They lived in the area for several months. They were all well-educated, had experience of living in western society, along with some English skills, and would be able to obtain visas. I have been planning and working with Bin Laden on the destruction of certain American targets. At 2:12 p.m. on August 25, Mohammed Atta logged into his . Born and raised in Egypt, Atta studied architecture at Cairo University, graduating in 1990, and continued his studies in Germany at the Hamburg University of Technology. [30] Atta had harbored a desire to return to his native city, ever since he finished his studies in Hamburg; but he was prevented by the dearth of job prospects in Cairo, his family lacking the "right connections" to avail the customary nepotism. He led the team of hijackers who took control of American Airlines flight 11 and flew it into the north tower of New York City's World Trade Center. A separate section of the video shows Osama bin Laden addressing his followers at a complex near Kandahar. Atta confirmed that all the muscle hijackers had arrived in the United States, without any problems, but said that he needed five to six more weeks to work out details. Atta checked in for American Airlines Flight 11, passed through security again, and boarded the flight. Atta said, he was to crash the plane. "[111], In 2021, on the 20th anniversary of the attacks, Atta's mother was interviewed by a Spanish newspaper. "[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. And we came up empty.". '', See the article in its original context from. Days later, Shehhi, Jarrah and Atta ended up in Venice, Florida. "[1][95], In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the names of the hijackers were released. This photo taken 12 September 2001 shows the crash site of United Airlines Flight 93 in Shanksville, PA. Why was Ziad Jarrah's plane the only one that failed to hit its target? There was some confusion regarding who Mohamed Atta was, and cases of mistaken identity. [96] Mahmoud Atta, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was subsequently deported from Venezuela to the United States, extradited to Israel, tried and sentenced to life in prison. 2) Make sure you know all aspects of the plan well, and expect the . On April 3, Atta and Shehhi rented a postal box in Virginia Beach, Virginia. 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. 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.
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