Mohamed Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta (/t/ AT-ah; Arabic: [mmmd elmi wd essj.jed t]; September 1, 1968 September 11, 2001) was an Egyptian hijacker and the ringleader of the September 11 attacks in 2001 in which four United States airliners were commandeered with the intention of destroying specific civilian, military, and governmental targets. The 9/11 Commission Report speculated that the now-convicted terrorist conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui was being trained as a possible replacement for Jarrah. When they later returned to Huffman, Mr. Pursell said, they were reprimanded. Atta, an Egyptian, and Omari, a Saudi, held $2,400 first-class tickets to fly from Portland to Boston to Los Angeles. Atta's professor, Dittmar Machule, brought him along on an archaeological expedition to Aleppo in 1994. The night before, Atta went to Portland, Maine, a trip that has mystified terrorism experts for five years. [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. Mr. Kraus and Mr. Pursell said that the breakdown could have happened to any pilot on any airfield, but that the response by the two men was wrong. Dale Kraus, then the general manager at Huffman, recalled a telephone call that came within minutes of the incident in Miami from an irritated official in the flight tower. [66][67], Atta began flight training on July 6, 2000, and continued training nearly every day. That raises a larger issue, and that is: At any point did anybody in the U.S. knowingly help any of the 19 terrorists prepare for the attack? Al-Omari chose 8G and al-Suqami chose 10B in Business Class. Make sure you know all aspects of the plan well, and expect the response, or a . Bin al-Shibh would not discuss this meeting with Fouda. [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. 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 rented a Chevrolet Malibu from an Alamo Rent A Car agency. Unidentified sources from both Al-Qaeda and the United States confirmed The Times the video's authenticity. Published Nov 7, 2001. The incident joins the short but tantalizing list of near-miss encounters involving Mr. Atta. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Atta checked in for American Airlines Flight 11, passed through security again, and boarded the flight. The Web . United States and Czech intelligence officials have since concluded that the person seen with Ani was mistakenly identified as Atta, and the consensus of investigators is that Atta never attended a meeting in Prague. This call was apparently to confirm that the attacks were ready to begin. According to Bryant, Atta wanted to finance the purchase of a crop-duster. On June 28, Atta arrived at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas to meet with the three other pilots. 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. [39], On August 1, 1995, Atta returned to Egypt for three months of study. At this time, the pilots stopped responding to air traffic control, and the aircraft began deviating from the planned route. Other hijackers traveled to Las Vegas at different times in the summer of 2001. After six months, they asked him to leave.[20][21][22]. The investigator, Klaus Ulrich Kersten was the director of Germany's federal anticrime agency, the Bundeskriminalamt. Mohamed Atta accepted and was in Germany two weeks later, in July. In-laws characterized the father of Atta as "austere, strict, and private," and neighbors viewed the family as reclusive. "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. 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. 5:45 AM - Mohamed Atta and Abdul Aziz al-Omari, two of the intended hijackers, pass through security at the Portland International Jetport in Maine. In this series, Newsweek maps the road to 9/11 as it happened 20 years ago, day by day. Atta disappeared from Germany for periods of time, embarking on the hajj in 1995 but also meeting Osama bin Laden and other top al-Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan from late-1999 to early-2000. He insisted that she write his name as ATTA, that he originally was from Egypt but had moved to Afghanistan, that he was an engineer and that his dream was to go to a flight school. Just stay quiet." But she was also said to be 'emancipated' and 'challenging'. On August 6, Atta and Shehhi rented a white, four-door 1995 Ford Escort from Warrick's Rent-A-Car, which was returned on August 13. Flight controllers, according to airport records, guided the waiting passenger airliners around the stalled aircraft until it was towed away 35 minutes later. It had been overlooked that there would still be a security screen to pass in Boston because of this distinct detail of the terminal's arrangement. [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. Now, we are living in Germany since a while for study purposes. Even for those who couldn't believe what they were seeing, that signaled a terrorist plot, with the possibility of more attacks to follow. [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. Newsweek is reconstructing the road to 9/11 as it was constructed 20 years ago, day by day. Atta was directly responsible for the deaths of more than 1,600 people during the attacks. Mr. Pursell later posted a sign inside the flight school forbidding novice pilots from flying into Miami International. On July 7, 2001, Atta flew on Swissair Flight 117 from Miami to Zrich, where he had a stopover. Miami International is controlled, that is, the tower controls the movement of all airplanes on the airfield. 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. [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. In the first attack at 8.46am, American Airlines Flight 11, travelling from Boston to Los Angeles and piloted by plot leader Mohamed Atta, smashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Centre in . Atta and Amal appeared to be attracted to each other, but Atta soon decided that "she had a quite different orientation and that the emancipation of the young lady did not fit." Atta was seated in business class, in seat 8D. [87], The connection between the two flights at Logan International Airport was within Terminal B, but the two gates were not connected within security. 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. We hate America and all that it stands for. [12] Atta initially lived with two high school teachers; however, they eventually found his closed-mindedness and introverted personality to be too much for them. 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? Although the marriage never happened, Atta's father mentioned they liked each other.[18]. Footage shows the five hijackers who flew American Flight 77 into the Pentagon progressing through security checks at Washington's Dulles International Airport. Flesh or bone from 13 of the 19 Al Qaeda terrorists who flew passenger jets into . [75] Yosri Fouda, who interviewed bin al-Shibh and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) before the arrest, believes that Said Bahaji and KSM may have also been present at the meeting. 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. He is now with God. ''Any time the tower calls, they are not in the best of moods.''. Readers may recall the shaving custom from the media coverage of 9/11. 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. [83][84][85], Atta and al-Omari arrived early the next morning, at 5:40a.m., at the Portland International Jetport, where they left their rental car in the parking lot and boarded at 6:00a.m. Colgan Air (US Airways Express) BE-1900C flight to Logan International Airport in Boston. He was the only pilot who was married, to a German national of Turkish descent. [13][14] In 1985, Atta enrolled at Cairo University and focused his studies on engineering. 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. He seldom bathed, and they could not bear his "complete, almost aggressive insularity". On American Airlines Flight 11, Atta joined four other hijackers. 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? In this series, Newsweek maps the road to 9/11 as it happened 20 years ago, day by day. He harbored anger and resentment toward the U.S. for its policy in Islamic nations of the Middle East, with nothing inflaming his ire more than the Oslo Accords and the Gulf War in particular. Bin al-Shibh was worried that Jarrah might even abandon the plan. Mohamed Atta, right, and Abdulaziz al-Omari are seen passing through security at the Portland Jetport on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. Credit: Courtesy of Spectrum News Service It is a day no one . The Egyptian Mohamed Atta arrived at the Florenc bus terminal in Prague, from Germany, on June 2, 2000. 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.
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