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Hamburg cell

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Hijackers Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi, and Ziad Jarrah all spent time in Hamburg, where they were students and part of the Hamburg cell that was involved in the 9/11 plot.

Contents

Key members

  • Mohamed Atta was very religious, but not fanatically so. He came to Germany in Fall 1992, to study urban planning at the Harburg Technical Institute.[1] While in Germany, he was drawn to Al Quds Mosque in Hamburg, which adheres to a "harsh, uncompromisingly fundamentalist, and resoundingly militant" version of Sunni Islam.[2] He is known to have come training Al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan in 1999 and 2000.[3]
  • Ramzi Binalshibh, citizen of Yemen, came to Germany with a visa in 1997. There, he met Mohamed Atta, the leader of the Hamburg cell, at a mosque.[4] For two years, Atta and Binalshibh were roommates in Germany.[4] In late 1999, Binalshibh traveled to Kandahar in Afghanistan, where he received training at Al Qaeda camps, and met others involved in planning the 9/11 attacks.[4] Original plans for the 9/11 attacks called for Binalshibh to be one of the hijacker pilots, along with Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi, and Ziad Jarrah. From Hamburg, Germany, Binalshibh applied to take flight training in the United States. At that time, he also applied to Aviation Language Services, which provides language training for student pilots.[5] Binalshibh applied for an entry visa to the United States, four times, and was refused each time. He made visa applications in Germany on May 17, 2000, and again in June, on September 16th, and October 25, 2000.[6][5] According to the 9/11 Commission, this refusal of a visa was out of general concern by U.S. officials that people from Yemen would illegally overstay their visit and seek work in the United States. His friend, Zakariyah Essabar, was also denied visas. After he failed to enter the United States, Binalshibh took on more of a "coordinator" role in the plot, and a link between Atta in the United States and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in Afghanistan.[7][8]
  • Marwan al-Shehhi came to Bonn, Germany in 1996, on scholarship from the UAE Army to study marine engineering.[9] Al-Shehhi met Atta in 1997, and in 1998, he moved to Hamburg to join Atta and Binalshibh.[10] As the son of a religiously trained father, al-Shehhi was very religious, well-educated in Islam, and adhered to a strict form of Islam.[11] However, he had a friendlier, more humorous personality than Atta, who was very serious and more reclusive.[12]
  • Ziad Jarrah came from Lebanon to Germany in April 1996, where he enrolled in a junior college in Greifswald. There, he met his girlfriend, Aysel Senguen. By late 1996, Jarrah began turning radical. In September 1997, he transferred to the Technical University of Hamburg in September 1997, to study aircraft engineering.

Afghanistan

During his winter break in 1997, Atta left and did not return to Hamburg for three months. He said that he went on Hajj again -- just 18 months after his first Hajj. That is highly unusual and unlikely for someone, especially a young student, to go that soon again. And, three months is an exceptionally long time, much longer than what Hajj requires. When Atta returned, he claimed that his passport was lost and got a new one -- a common tactic to erase evidence of travel to places such as Afghanistan.[13]

Ramzi Binalshibh disappeared from Hamburg in the summer of 1997, and again in for a while during the winter of 1998.[13] Marwan al-Shehhi disappeared from Hamburg in the fall of 1997 and early winter. There is no evidence of his whereabouts, such as cash withdrawals or credit card transactions from September 3 to December 1997, though he withdrew $5,000 in cash before he left.[13] Atta disappeared again in the summer of 1997, and did not return until 1998.[14]

Return to Hamburg

When he returned, he had grown a thick long beard, and "seemed more serious and aloof" to those who knew him.[15] Upon his return, Atta and other members of the Hamburg cell acted more as a group.[16]

By the summer of 1998, Atta was no longer eligible for university housing, where he had lived at Centrumshaus. He left that summer and moved into an apartment nearby with friends, in Wilhelmsburg. He lived there with Ramzi Binalshibh and Marwan al-Shehhi.[17] That summer (of 1998), Ziad Jarrah worked at Volkswagen plant in Wolfsberg, in the paint shop, as did Mounir El Motassadeq and Zakariya Essabar. Atta, Binalshibh, al-Shehhi, and Belfas all worked at a warehouse, packing computers in crates for shipping.[16]

1999

The group did not stay in Wilhelmsburg for long; The next winter, they moved into an apartment at Marienstrasse 54, near the university in Harburg. Men moved in and out frequently; Al-Shehhi left after a month, and took his own apartment nearby. Said Bahaji replaced al-Shehhi as a tenant at Marienstrasse.[18]

In 1999, this group decided to go to Chechnya to fight. While still in Germany, they met Khalid al Masri who put the group in contact with Abu Musab in Duisburg, Germany. Abu Musab turned out to be Mohamedou Ould Slahi, an important al-Qaeda operative. Slahi advised them that it would be difficult to get into Chechnya and advised them instead to go to Afghanistan for training first. In late 1999, the Hamburg group met with Bin Laden, and pledged loyalty to him. They agreed to undertake a highly secret mission, and were told to go enroll in flight training. Atta was selected by Bin Laden to lead the group. Bin Laden met with Atta several more times for additional instructions.

The selection of hijackers was entirely a decision made by Bin Laden, along with Mohamed Atef. The hijackers had not yet met with Khalid Sheikh Mohamed. At the time, the hijacking team also included Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, who were selected in early 1999 by Osama bin Laden.[19] Both had previous mujahadeen experience, and had fought in Bosnia.

Atta, al-Shehhi, and Jarrah all obtained new passports, claiming the old ones were lost, before applying for U.S. visas. Atta, Jarrah, and Binalshibh returned to Hamburg, early in 2000, while al-Shehhi went back to the United Arab Emirates to get a new passport and U.S. visa. Once back in Germany, they made efforts to appear less radical -- distanced themselves from others and stopped attending extremist mosques, changed their appearance and behavior, and Jarrah was behaving more the way he did when he first met Senguen.

Flight training

In March 2000, Mohamed Atta contacted the Academy of Lakeland in Florida, via e-mail, inquiring about flight training, "Dear sir, we are a small group of young men from different Arab countries. Now we are living in Germany since a while for study purposes. We would like to start training for the career of airline professsional pilots. 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)." He sent 50-60 similar e-mails to other flight training schools in the United States.[5]

On May 18, 2000, Atta applied for and received a U.S. visa.[5] After obtaining his visa, Atta travelled to Prague before going to the United States. Atta, along with Marwan al-Shehhi arrived in Venice, Florida, and visited Huffman Aviation to "check out the facility." They explained that "they came from a flight school in the area, they were not happy and they were looking for another flight school".[20] By December, Atta and al-Shehhi left Huffman Aviation, and on December 21, Atta received a pilot license.[21]

Other members

Other notable members included:

Gebäude SBS 95 und das Audimax I, Technische Universität Hamburg-Harburg (TUHH)
Gebäude SBS 95 und das Audimax I, Technische Universität Hamburg-Harburg (TUHH)

Associates/friends

  • Shahid Nickels - a German convert to Islam, at one point a friend
  • Yassir (Yasser) Boughlal - at one point was a friend
  • Mohammed bin Nasser Belfas - ran radical Islam study groups, which Mohamed Atta attended.
  • Abdelghani Mzoudi
  • Mohammed Haydar Zammar

Places

Technische Universität Hamburg-Harburg (TUHH)

In Fall 1992, Atta registered as a student at the Technical University of Hamburg. In the mid-1990s, other members of the Hamburg cell also became students there.

Mosques

Al Quds

Al Quds Mosque in Hamburg, Germany is where Mohamed Atta and other members of the Hamburg cell spent large amounts of time. The mosque, which opened in 1993 and founded by Aziz el Alaoui Sossey, occupies a three-story building near the Hauptbahnhof rail station in a red-light district of Hamburg.[22][23] Under leadership of Iman Mohammed al Fizazi, the mosque preached a radical version of Islam.[23] Other leaders at the mosque have included Sheik Azid al Kirani.[23] The prayer room for men is carpeted, located on the first floor, and can accommodate up to 400.[23]

Other Mosques

  • Al Muhadjirin

Other places

  • Attawhid bookstore - sold jihadist literature and videos in a back room

Binalshibh and Atta met at Al Quds Mosque, which Jarrah also began attending regularly in 1997.[24]

Why Germany?

Germany may have been attractive place because it is among the most liberal, if not the most liberal in Europe. There is no tuition at the universities, and students are allowed to stay in university regardless of how hard working or not, and for however long it takes to complete.[22]

Hamburg has a large Muslim population, with 130,000 Muslims or approximately 8 percent of the city's population.[22]

References

  1. ↑ Bergen, Peter L. (2001). Holy War Inc.. Simon & Schuster, p. 37. 
  2. ↑ McDermott, Terry (2005). Perfect Soldiers. Harper, p. 2-3. 
  3. ↑ Atta 'trained in Afghanistan', BBC News, August 24, 2002.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Ramzi Binalshibh: al-Qaeda suspect, BBC, September 14, 2002
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Zacarias Moussauoi v. the United States, trial testimony on March 7, 2006.
  6. ↑ Indictment of Zacarias Moussaoui, with supporting conspirators, Ramzi bin al-Shibh and Mustafa al-Hawsawi. Filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
  7. ↑ "Al-Jazeera reporter speaks on terrorist plans", Lateline / ABC (Australia) (September 30, 2002). 
  8. ↑ "The Mastermind". CBS News (March 5, 2003).
  9. ↑ McDermott, Terry (2005). Perfect Soldiers. Harper Collins, p. 53. 
  10. ↑ 9/11 Commission Report, Chapter 5, p. 162
  11. ↑ McDermott, Terry (2005). Perfect Soldiers. Harper Collins, p. 54-55. 
  12. ↑ McDermott, Terry (2005). Perfect Soldiers. Harper Collins, p. 54. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 McDermott, Terry (2005). Perfect Soldiers. Harper, p. 57. 
  14. ↑ Finn, Peter (September 22, 2001). "A Fanatic's Quiet Path to Terror; Rage Was Born in Egypt, Nurtured in Germany, Inflicted on U.S.", The Washington Post. 
  15. ↑ Finn, Peter (September 22, 2001). "A Fanatic's Quiet Path to Terror; Rage Was Born in Egypt, Nurtured in Germany, Inflicted on U.S.", The Washington Post. 
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 McDermott, Terry (2005). Perfect Soldiers. Harper, p. 58. 
  17. ↑ McDermott, Terry (2005). Perfect Soldiers. Harper, p. 58-63. 
  18. ↑ McDermott, Terry (2005). Perfect Soldiers. Harper, p. 63. 
  19. ↑ National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. "Chapter 5", 9/11 Commission Report. 
  20. ↑ "Rudi Dekkers Interview". A Mission to Die For / ABC (Australia) (October 21, 2001).
  21. ↑ Cloud, John (September 30, 2001). "Atta's Odyssey", Time. 
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 "Al Qaeda in Germany". PBS, Online NewsHour (October 25, 2002).
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 23.3 Finn, Peter (September 11, 2002). "Hamburg's Cauldron of Terror", The Washington Post. 
  24. ↑ "Chapter 5", 9/11 Commission Report. 

Further reading

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