[16] Atta and Shehhi established accounts at SunTrust Bank and received wire transfers from Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's nephew in the United Arab Emirates. In this series, Newsweek maps the road to 9/11 as it happened 20 years ago, day by day. . As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Sources and Detailed Information - National Park Service 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. Political psychologist Jerrold Post has suggested that Atta and his fellow hijackers were just following orders from al-Qaeda leadership, "and whatever their destructive, charismatic leader Osama bin Laden said was the right thing to do for the sake of the cause was what they would do. Bin al-Shibh explained that he passed along instructions from Osama bin Laden, including his desire for the attacks to be carried out as soon as possible. Having little else to do, he mostly studied at home and easily excelled in school. After Jarrah's team hijacked Flight 93, flight attendants and passengers started making phone calls from the back of the plane. At 2:43 p.m., Atta established an American Airlines "AAdvantage" profile #6H26L04 and reserved a business class seat on American Airlines Flight 11 departing Boston at 7:45 a.m. Reading airline charts and inquiring with the airline, he had determined that the flight would be in a Boeing 767-223ER plane, one that he had scouted and studied over months, taking numerous test flights to screen the plane and the boarding and security procedures. At 8:26 a.m., Flight 11 makes . [34] His friends in Germany described him as an intelligent man in whom religious convictions and political motives held equal sway. He said that he went on pilgrimage to Mecca again, just 18 months after his first time. The Israeli Supreme Court later overturned his extradition and set him free. By the time it took off, Mohammed Atta was just four minutes away from hitting the North Tower of the World Trade Center. [69], On June 27, Atta flew from Fort Lauderdale to Boston, Massachusetts, where he spent a day, and then continued to San Francisco for a short time, and from there to Las Vegas. Maine's connection to 9/11 endures - spectrumlocalnews.com [52], German investigators said that they had evidence that Mohamed Atta trained at al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan from late 1999 to early 2000. Mr. Pursell described the incident at the Miami airport as a nuisance more than a serious violation, an assessment shared by many others in general aviation. Mahmoud Atta was 14 years older than Atta. In August 2001, Atta traveled as a passenger on several "surveillance" flights, to establish in detail how the attacks could be carried out. They also discussed the personal difficulties Atta was having with fellow hijacker Ziad Jarrah. [73] The absence of other hotel stays, signed receipts or credit card stubs has led investigators to believe that the men may have met in a safe house provided by other al-Qaeda operatives in Spain. The official, Mr. Kraus said, said the two pilots had abandoned the plane without radioing the tower and were walking across the airfield toward the main hanger used for general aviation. 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. His nascent infatuation with her, begrudgingly realised, was the closest thing Atta knew to romance. Given the vagaries of traveling on the East Coast, (it was a) tremendous risk to take. Thirty minutes later, Marwan al-Shehhi hit the South Tower. After he graduated in 1990 with an architecture degree,[15] he joined the Engineers Syndicate, an organization under the control of the Muslim Brotherhood. [70], In July 2001, Atta again left for Spain in order to meet with bin al-Shibh for the last time. We hate America and all that it stands for. Shower. Mohammed Atta sat in seat 8D in Business Class. While in South Portland, they were seen making two ATM withdrawals and stopping at Wal-Mart. Jan 28, 2004 at 3:00 am. ''They were more concerned about being reimbursed for their rental car,'' he recalled. 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]. Passengers Defeated the Well-trained Hijacker Assigned to - Newsweek Newsweek is reconstructing the road to 9/11 as it was constructed 20 years ago, day by day. Mohamed Atta, 33, Egypt Atta was quickly identified as the ringleader of the 9/11 attacks. Usually in these types of things you have your initial plan and you have a fallback plan. Bin al-Shibh was worried that Jarrah might even abandon the plan. Then at 8:50pm, he checked into the Hotel Diana Cazadora in Barajas, a town near the airport. 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 . [25] The invitation had been for a three-day visit, but Atta ended up staying several weeks that August, only to visit Aleppo yet again that December. He lived in Hamburg in the 1990's and is now believed to have trained at an Al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan in 1999. [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. Ramzi bin al-Shibh was also there, teaching occasional classes, and became Atta's friend. He was therefore treated favorably and not scrutinized. By this view, Atta's political and religious beliefs affected the method of his suicide and his choice of target, but they were not the underlying causes of his behavior. Former Maine airline ticket agent recalls encounter with 9/11 - WMTW This was the last transmission heard from Flight 11. The family had few relatives on the father's side and kept their distance from Bouthayna's family. 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). Mohamed Atta - Terrorist Attack, 9/11 & Hijacker - Biography In Germany, he enrolled in the urban planning graduate program at the Hamburg University of Technology. Miami International is controlled, that is, the tower controls the movement of all airplanes on the airfield. 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. Atta and Shehhi then moved into a small house nearby in Nokomis where they stayed for six months. This call was apparently to confirm that the attacks were ready to begin. On September 11 we'll live tweet the events of the day, minute by minute, starting at 4:45 a.m. EST, @RoadTo911. He rented a Chevrolet Malibu from an Alamo Rent A Car agency. So, did Mohammed Atta go to Portland because of security issues? ''Whatever came of that, I don't know,'' said Dan Pursell, who was then the chief instructor at Huffman Aviation in Venice, Fla., the flight school where Mr. Atta and Mr. Shehhi earned their pilot's licenses and had rented the Piper Cherokee that day. Statements entered at . [11] Atta was the only son; he had two older sisters who are both well-educated and successful in their careers one as a medical doctor and the other as a professor. According to Bryant, Atta wanted to finance the purchase of a crop-duster. And that may have been what he was doing. THE LAST NIGHT. In the end though, those international calls and Emails open a window to the falsehood of greater authority to intercept communications. But none of them were so flagged. This included the construction of high-rise buildings in Cairo and other ancient cities in the region. [65], According to official reports, Atta flew from Prague to Newark International Airport, arriving on June 3, 2000. [16], Atta continued with flight training that included solo flights and simulator time. . 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. [71] On July 8, Atta was recorded on surveillance video when he withdrew 1700 Swiss francs from an ATM. They drove to Cambrils, where they spent a night at the Hotel Monica. For Mohamed Atta, the meticulous and intensely disciplined figure who is believed to have helped organize the Sept. 11 attacks, mistakes did happen, or at least nearly did. Unable to restart the engine, the two men shut the plane down, flipped off the lights and, by one account, walked off. Atta, who piloted the first plane into the world trade center, flew to Las Vegas on June 28, rented a car, then spent . [42] He made acquaintances at al-Quds; some of whom visited him on occasion at Centrumshaus. And they then took action, eventually making their way into the cockpit, forcing the plane down. [45], After leaving Plankontor in the summer of 1997, Atta disappeared again and did not return until 1998. Here he presented an AAA membership for a discount, and paid cash for the $49.50/night room. The Mohamed Atta Files - NBC News 'Stay quiet and you'll be OK,' Atta told passengers - CNN The first chapter of the video showed bin Laden at Tarnak Farms on January 8, 2000. 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. [103] Shaffer largely based his allegations on the recollections of Navy Captain, Scott Phillpott,[104] who later recanted his recollection, telling investigators that he was "convinced that Atta was not on the chart that we had." The hour-long tape places him in Afghanistan at a decisive moment in the development of the conspiracy when he was given operational command. [74], On July 22, 2001, Atta rented a Mitsubishi Galant from Alamo Rent a Car, putting 3,836 miles (6,173km) on the vehicle before returning it on July 26. [3] Immediately after returning to Germany, Atta, al-Shehhi, and Jarrah reported their passports stolen, possibly to discard travel visas to Afghanistan. The two al-Shehri brothers selected seats 2A and 2B in first class. . "Nothing they said or did raised any suspicions at all," he told the commission's investigators. [76], During the meetings in Spain, Atta and bin al-Shibh had coordinated the details of the attacks. 122 in Coral Springs, Florida, for $840 per month,[68] and assisted with the arrival of the muscle hijackers. [59][60], From July 13 to 16, Atta stayed at the Hotel Sant Jordi in Tarragona. Ramzi bin al-Shibh is also identified in the video. 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. My name is Mohamed Atta. TERRORIST: Mohammed Atta's mum claims her son is still alive and in Guantanamo Bay . If any of the hijackers could not reach their intended targets, Atta said, they were to crash the plane.