Mohamed Atta

Mohamed Atta (September 1, 1968 – September 11, 2001) was a known associate of al-Qaeda,^[1][2] and the leader of the 19 hijackers in the September 11 attacks. Atta was at the controls of American Airlines Flight 11 which was the first plane to strike the World Trade Center.

Atta was born in Egypt in 1968 in a small town in the Nile delta, but moved with his family to Cairo at age 10. He studied architecture at Cairo University, and went to Hamburg, Germany in 1992 to continue his studies. Atta enrolled in the urban planning at the Technical University of Hamburg-Harburg, where he remained a student until fall 1999. In Hamburg, Atta became involved with the Al-Quds Mosque. At some point, he met Marwan al-Shehhi, Ramzi Binalshibh, and Ziad Jarrah who all became part of the Hamburg Cell. Atta disappeared from Germany for periods of time, spending some time in Afghanistan, including several months in late 1999 and early 2000 when he met top Al-Qaeda leaders including Osama bin Laden. Atta and the others in the Hamburg Cell were recruited by Bin Laden and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed for the "planes operation" in the United States. Atta returned to Hamburg in February 2000, reported his passport stolen and obtained a clean passport.

In late March 2000, Atta began contacting flight schools in the United States, inquiring about training. Atta arrived together with Marwan al-Shehhi in June 2000. Both ended up in Florida at Huffman Aviation where they entered the Accelerated Pilot Program. Atta and al-Shehhi obtained instrument ratings in November 2000, and continued training on simulators and flight training. Beginning in May 2001, Atta assisted with the arrival of the muscle hijackers. In July 2001, Atta traveled to Spain where he met with Binalshibh to exchange information and discuss the plot. In August, Atta traveled on surveillance flights to determine details on how the attacks could be carried out.

In early September, Atta traveled to Maryland, where Hani Hanjour was. Atta then traveled to Boston, and on September 10, he traveled with Abdul al-Omari to Portland, Maine. On the morning of September 11, 2001, Atta and al-Omari flew on Colgan Air back to Boston, where they boarded American Airlines Flight 11. Fifteen minutes into the flight, the team of hijackers attacked and Atta took over control of the aircraft. During the hijacking, Atta made some announcements that were mistakenly transmitted to air traffic control. At 8:46 a.m., he crashed the Boeing 767 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

Aliases

Atta sometimes 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", "Muhammad al-Amir", and "Awad Al Sayad".^[3] In Germany, he registered his name as "Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta", and went by the name, "Mohamed el-Amir" at the Technical University of Hamburg-Harburg. In his will written in 1996, Atta gives his name as "Mohamed the son of Mohamed Elamir awad Elsayed."^[4] When he came to the United States, he used the name "Mohamed Atta." Atta also claimed different nationalities, sometimes Egyptian and other times told people that he was from the United Arab Emirates.^[5]

Early life

Atta was born on September 1, 1968 in Kafr el-Sheikh, located in Egypt's Nile delta region.^[5] His father, Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta, was a lawyer, educated in both sharia and civil law. His mother, Bouthayna Mohamed Mustapha Sheraqi, came from a wealthy farming and trading family and was also educated. Bouthayna and Mohamed married when she was 14, via an arranged marriage. The family had few relatives on the father's side and kept a distance from Bouthayna's family. In-laws characterized Atta's father "austere, strict, and private", and neighbors considered the family reclusive.^[6] Atta was the only son, but he had two older sisters who both well-educated and successful in their careers—one as a medical doctor and the other as a professor.^[7]

When Atta was ten, his family moved to the Cairo neighborhood of Abdeen, located near the center of the city. Atta's father continued to keep the family private, restricting Atta from socializing with other kids in the neighborhood. Instead, he spent most of his time at home studying, and performed well in his studies.^[8][9] In 1985, Atta entered Cairo University where was an engineering student. As one of the highest-scoring students, Atta was admitted into the very selective architecture program during his senior year. In addition to his regular courses, Atta studied English at the American University in Cairo.^[10] In 1990, Atta graduated with a degree in architecture.^[11] For several months after graduating, Atta worked at the Urban Development Center in Cairo, where he worked on architectural, planning, and building design.^[12] After he graduated, Atta also studied German at the Goethe Institute in Cairo.^[13] In 1990, Atta's family moved into a 11th floor apartment in Giza.^[11][14]

Germany

In 1992, Atta's father invited a German couple over for dinner while they were visiting Cairo. The German couple ran an exchange program between Germany and Egypt, and suggested that Atta should continue his studies in Germany. They offered him a temporary place to live at their house in the city. Mohamed Atta ended up in Germany two weeks later, in July 1992. There, he enrolled in the urban planning graduate program at the Technical University of Hamburg-Harburg.^[7] Atta initially stayed with the two high school teachers. When he arrived in Germany, Atta began adhering to a strict Islamic diet, frequented the mosque, and seldom socialized. His hosts found Atta frustrating due to his closed-mindedness and intensely introverted personality. After six months, they asked him to move out.^[15][16]

By spring 1993, Atta moved into Centrumshaus, a university apartment building, where he shared an apartment with two roommates. Atta continued living in the an apartment at Centrumshaus until 1998. During that time, he had two roommates who in the end were "so aggravated" with Atta, who almost never cleaned, seldom washed dishes, and such behavior. Atta would walk in and out of a room "without acknowledging anyone else in it". His roommates described Atta's personality as "complete, almost aggressive insularity".^[17]

At the Technical University of Hamburg-Harburg, Atta studied under guidance of the department chair, Dittmar Machule, who himself specialized in the Middle East.^[18] Atta was concerned about modern development and construction of high-rise buildings in Cairo and other ancient cities in the Middle East. He believed that the large, impersonal, and often ugly apartment blocks built in the 1960s and 1970s had ruined old neighborhoods, and took away privacy and dignity from people. Atta's own family moved into such an apartment block in 1990, which to him was "a shabby symbol of Egypt's haphazard attempts to modernize and its shameless embrace of the West."^[11] For his thesis, Atta focused his studies on the ancient city of Aleppo in Syria. He explored the history of Aleppo's urban landscapes and the general themes of the conflict between Arab civilization and modernity. Atta criticized how the modern skyscrapers and development projects in Aleppo were disrupting the fabric of that city by blocking community streets and altering the skyline.

In 1994, Atta was invited to Aleppo by his professor Dittmar Machule for a three-day archaeological visit.^[19] Atta ended up spending several weeks in Aleppo during August 1994, and visited again that December.^[20] While in Syria, he met Amal, a young Palestinian woman, who worked there in the planning bureau. Volker Hauth, who was traveling with Atta, described Amal as "attractive and self-confident. She observed the Muslim niceties, taking taxis to and from the office so as not to come into close physical contact with men on the buses. But, she was 'emancipated' and 'challenging'." They both appeared to be attracted to one another, but Atta regretfully explained to Hauth that, "she had a quite different orientation and that the emancipation of the young lady did not fit." This was the closest thing to romance for Atta.^[5] During the summer of 1995, Atta spent three months with co-students Volker Hauth and Ralph Bodenstein in Cairo, on a grant from the Carl Duisberg Society. They looked at the effects of redevelopment in the Islamic Cairo old quarter which the government wanted to develop for tourism. Atta remained in Cairo to stay with his family, after Hauth and Bodenstein returned to Germany.^[21][22]

While in Hamburg, Atta also held a number of jobs. Beginning in 1992, he worked part-time at Plankontor, an urban planning firm. Atta remained with the firm through the summer of 1997, when he was laid off. The firm's business had declined, and having bought a CAD system, "his draughtsmanship was not needed."^[23][24] Atta also worked at a cleaning firm, and buying and selling cars to earn extra money.^[25] After studying in Hamburg, Atta wanted to return to Cairo to work, but there were few job prospects, as his family did not have the "right connections".^[26][27] Atta was also concerned about actions of the Egyptian government in arresting political activists, and feared that he too would be a target due to his social and political beliefs.^[28]

After leaving Plankontor in the summer of 1997, Atta disappeared again and did not return until 1998. When he returned in spring 1998, he had grown a thick long beard, and "seemed more serious and aloof" to those who knew him.^[25] Atta phoned his graduate advisor in 1998, after a year of doing nothing for his dissertation. Atta told Machule that he had family problems at home and said, “Please understand, I don’t want to talk about this.” By spring 1999, Atta had completed his dissertation, and formally defended it in August 1999.^[29]

Fundamentalism

After coming to Hamburg, Atta became more religious, strictly avoiding pork, frequenting the mosque, and in other ways. Atta's friends in Germany described him as an intelligent man with religious beliefs who grew angry over the Western policy toward the Middle East, including the Oslo Accords and the Gulf War.^[30][31] MSNBC in its special "The Making of the Death Pilots" interviewed German friend Ralph Bodenstein who traveled, worked and talked a lot with Mohamed Atta. Bodenstein said, "He was most imbued [sic] actually about Israeli politics in the region and about U.S. protection of these Israeli politics in the region. And he was to a degree personally suffering from that." After spending the summer of 1995 in Egypt, he joined the Hajj in Mecca that fall. Before going to Egypt, he grew a beard, which is a sign of a devout Muslim, but was also seen as a political gesture.^[25] When Atta returned from Egypt in the winter of 1996, he had become more religious.

In Hamburg, Atta was drawn to Al-Quds Mosque, which adheres to a "harsh, uncompromisingly fundamentalist, and resoundingly militant" version of Sunni Islam.^[32] He developed acquaintances at Al Quds, some who came over to visit him at Centrumshaus. Atta also began teaching classes at Al Quds, as well as at a Turkish mosque near Harburg. Atta also formed a prayer group, which Ahmed Maklat and Mounir el-Motassadeq joined. Ramzi bin al-Shibh was also there teaching occasional classes, and became a good friend of Atta's.^[33] Mohammed Haydar Zammar, a German terrorist of Syrian origin, claims he met Atta at this time and recruited him into al-Qaeda.

On April 11, 1996, Atta signed his last will and testament at the mosque, officially declaring his Muslim beliefs and giving 18 instructions regarding his burial.^[10][4] This was the day that Israel attacked Lebanon in Operation Grapes of Wrath, which outraged Atta. Signing the will, "offering his life" was Atta's response.^[34] The instructions in his last will and testament reflect both Sunni funeral practices, along with some more puritanical demands from Wahhabism, including asking people not "to weep and cry" or show emotion. The will was signed by el-Motassadeq and a second individual at the mosque.^[35]

While in the urban planning program at Harburg, Atta disappeared from time to time, frequently for long periods. He told his adviser that he needed to attend to family problems in Cairo.^[36] At the 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. Terry McDermott explained in Perfect Soldiers that it is highly unusual and unlikely for someone, especially a young student, to go on Hajj again that soon. 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, which is a common tactic to erase evidence of travel to places such as Afghanistan.^[37]

By the summer of 1998, Atta was no longer eligible for university housing in Centrumshaus. He left that summer and moved into a nearby apartment in Wilhelmsburg, where he lived with Said Bahaji and Ramzi bin al Shibh. During the summer of 1998, Atta worked alongside al-Shehhi, Bin al Shibh, and Belfas, at a warehouse, packing computers in crates for shipping.^[38] The Hamburg group did not stay in Wilhelmsburg for long. The next winter, they moved into an apartment at Marienstrasse 54, near the university in Harburg.^[39]B It was here that the Hamburg Cell developed and acted more as a group.^[40] They met three or four times a week to discuss their anti-American feelings and to plot possible attacks. Many al-Qaeda members lived in this apartment at various times, including hijacker Marwan al-Shehhi, Zakariya Essabar, and others. In all, over a dozen men listed the apartment as their home address.^[29]

According to Bin al Shibh, Atta, al-Shehhi, Jarrah, Bahaji, and Bin al Shibh decided in late 1999 to Chechnya to fight against the Russians, but were convinced by Khalid al-Masri and Mohamedou Ould Slahi at the last minute to change their plans. They instead traveled to Afghanistan over a two-week period in late November. On November 29, 1999, Mohamed Atta boarded Turkish Airlines Flight TK1662 from Hamburg to Istanbul, where he changed to flight TK1056 to Karachi, Pakistan.^[2] When they arrived, they were identified by Al Qaeda leader Abu Hafs as suitable candidates for the "planes operation" plot. They were all well-educated, had experience living in western society, along with some English skills, and would be able to obtain visas.^[34] Even before Bin al Shibh had arrived, Atta, al-Shehhi, and Jarrah were sent to the House of Ghamdi near Bin Laden’s home in Kandahar, where he was waiting to meet them. Bin Laden asked them to pledge loyalty and commit to suicide missions, which Atta and the other three Hamburg men all accepted. Bin Laden sent them to see Mohammed Atef to get a general overview of the mission, then they were sent to Karachi to see Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to go over specifics.^[29]

A video surfaced in October 2006, which showed Bin Laden at Tarnak Farms on January 8, 2000, and showing Atta together with Ziad Jarrah reading their wills ten days later on January 18, 2000.^[2][41] On his return journey, Atta left Karachi on February 24, 2000 by flight TK1057 to Istanbul where he changed to flight TK1661 to Hamburg.^[2] Immediately after returning to Germany, Atta, al-Shehhi, and Jarrah reported their passports stolen, possibly to erase travel visas to Afghanistan.

German investigators said that they had evidence that Mohamed Atta trained at al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan from late 1999 to early 2000. The timing of the Afghanistan training was outlined on August 23, 2002 by a senior investigator. The investigator, Klaus Ulrich Kersten, director of Germany's federal anticrime agency, the Bundeskriminalamt, provided the first official confirmation that Atta and two other pilots had been in Afghanistan and the first dates of the training. Kersten said in an interview at the agency's headquarters in Wiesbaden, Germany, that Atta was in Afghanistan from late 1999 until early 2000.

In the United States

On March 22, 2000, while still in Germany, 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 professional 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)." Atta sent 50-60 similar e-mails to other flight training schools in the United States.^[42]

On May 17, Mohamed Atta applied for a U.S. visa. The next day, he received a five-year B-1/B-2 (tourist/business) visa from the U.S. embassy in Berlin. Because Atta had lived in Germany for approximately five years, along with his "strong record as a student", he was treated more leniently and not scrutinized.^[43] After obtaining his visa, Atta took a bus on June 2 from Germany to Prague where he stayed overnight before traveling on to the United States the next day. Binalshibh 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. Likewise, al-Shehhi traveled from a different location, in his case via Brussels.^[44][29]

Atta arrived on June 3, 2000 at Newark International Airport from Prague. That month, Atta and al-Shehhi stayed in hotels and rented rooms in New York City on a short-term basis. They continued to inquire about flight schools and personally visited some. On July 3, they visited the Airman Flight School in Norman, Oklahoma. Days later, al-Shehhi and Atta ended up in south Florida.^[12] Atta and al-Shehhi established accounts at SunTrust Bank, and received wire transfers from Ali Abdul Aziz Ali (Ammar al-Baluchi), Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's nephew in the United Arab Emirates. Over the summer of 2000, Atta and Shehhi received a total of $114,500 from Ali.^[44][12] On July 6, 2000, Atta and al-Shehhi enrolled at Huffman Aviation in Venice, Florida, where they entered the Accelerated Pilot Program, while Ziad Jarrah took flight training from a different school also based out of Venice.^[12] When Atta and al-Shehhi arrived in Florida, they initially stayed with Huffman Aviation's bookkeeper, Charles Voss, and his wife in a spare room of their house. After a week, Atta and Shehhi were asked to leave because they were sloppy and rude to Voss and especially to his wife. Atta and Shehhi then moved into a small house in Nokomis where they stayed for six months.^[45][46]

Atta began flight training on July 7, 2000 and continued training nearly every day. By the end of July 2000, both Atta and al-Shehhi did solo flights, and they earned private pilot certificates in September. At the end of September, Atta and al-Shehhi switched flight schools, enrolling at Jones Aviation in Sarasota. However, they had problems following instructions and were both very upset when they failed their Stage 1 exam at Jones Aviation. They inquired about multi-engine planes and told the instructor that "they wanted to move quickly, because they had a job waiting in their country upon completion of their training in the U.S." In mid-October, Atta and al-Shehhi returned to Huffman Aviation to continue training. In November 2000, Atta earned his instrument rating, and then a commercial pilot's license in December from the Federal Aviation Administration.^[12]

Atta continued with flight training, including solo flights and simulator time. On December 22, Atta and al-Shehhi applied to Eagle International for large jet and simulator training for DC-9 and Boeing 737-300 models. Atta and Marwan spent additional time at the end of December at the Opa-Locka Airport where they practiced on a Boeing 727 simulator, along with Boeing 767 simulator training from Pan Am International. As well, Atta purchased flight deck 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.^[12]

In early January 2001, Atta traveled to Spain to coordinate with Binalshibh. Atta arrived in Spain on January 4 and returned to the United States on January 10. Once back in the United States, Atta and Shehhi traveled to Lawrenceville, Georgia, where they spent time flying out of Briscoe Field. Atta and al-Shehhi also worked out at a fitness center in Decatur, Georgia, and they remained in the area on and off until early April 2001. Atta and Shehhi also made two visits to the Virginia Beach area in early 2001. On February 19, 2001, Atta and Shehhi went to Virginia Beach, where they withdrew $4,000 in cash from their bank account and opened a mail box. They left the next day and returned to Georgia. Both returned to Virginia Beach in early April to close the mail box, which was at the same time that Hani Hanjour and Nawaf al-Hazmi arrived in Virginia from Arizona. During this visit to Virginia, Atta and Shehhi withdrew another $8,000 from their bank account, which may have been provided to Hanjour.^[47][12]

On April 11, Atta and al-Shehhi returned to Florida and rented an apartment in Coral Springs, Florida. On April 19, Atta and Jarrah both join the 24 Hour Fitness gym in Coral Springs. In Florida, they assisted with the arrival of the muscle hijackers. On April 23, Atta was given a citation for not having a valid driver's license, and subsequently obtained one on May 2 at a DMV office in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida. On May 13, Atta and Shehhi rented another apartment in Hollywood, Florida.^[12]

On June 27, Atta flew from Fort Lauderdale to Boston, Massachusetts, where he spent a day, and then continued on to San Francisco for a short time, and from there to Las Vegas. On June 28, Atta arrived at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas to meet with the three other pilots. He rented a Chevrolet Malibu from an Alamo Rent A Car agency. It is not known where he stayed that night, but on the 29th he registered at the EconoLodge at 1150 South Las Vegas Boulevard. Here he presented an AAA membership for a discount, and paid cash for the $49.50/night room. During his trip to Las Vegas, he is thought to have used a video camera that he had rented from a Select Photo outlet back in Delray Beach, Florida.^[48]

Summer 2001 summit in Spain

Atta left again in July 2001 for Spain to meet with Binalshibh for the last time. On July 7, 2001, Atta flew on Swiss Air Flight 117 from Miami to Zurich, where he had a stopover.^[49] On July 8, Atta was recorded withdrawing 1700 Swiss francs from an ATM, and using his credit card to purchase two swiss army knives and some chocolate in an airport shop in Zurich.^[50] After the stopover in Zurich, he arrived in Madrid at 4:45 pm on Swiss Air Flight 656, and spent several hours at the airport. Then at 8:50 pm, he checked into the Hotel Diana Cazadora in Barajas, a town near the airport. That night and twice the next morning, he called Bashar Ahmad Ali Musleh, a Jordanian student in Hamburg who served as a liaison for Binalshibh.^[51]

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.^[51][52] He drove east out of Madrid towards the Mediterranean beach area of Tarragona. On the way, Atta stopped in Reus to pick up Ramzi Binalshibh at the airport. They drove to Cambrils, where they spent a night at the Hotel Monica.^[51] They checked out the next morning, and spent the next few days at an unknown location in Tarragona.^[51] 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. There, Atta and Binalshibh held a meeting to complete the planning of the attacks. Several clues have been found to link their stay in Spain to Syrian-born Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas (Abu Dahdah), and Amer el Azizi, a Moroccan in Spain. They may have helped arrange and host the meeting in Tarragona.^[53]

During the Spain meetings, Atta and Binalshibh had coordinated the details of the attacks. The 9/11 Commission obtained details about the meeting, based on interrogations of Binalshibh in the weeks after his arrest in September 2002. Binalshibh explained that he passed along instructions from Osama bin Laden, including his desire for the attacks to be carried out as soon as possible. Bin Laden was concerned about having so many operatives in the United States. Atta said that he needed five to six more weeks to work out details. Bin Laden also asked that other operatives not be informed of the specific data until the last minute. Atta and Binalshibh decided on the targets to be hit, ruling out a strike on a nuclear plant. They also discussed the personal difficulties Atta was having with fellow hijacker Ziad Jarrah. Binalshibh was worried that Jarrah might even abandon the plan. Atta also confirmed that all the muscle hijackers had arrived in the United States, without any problems. The 9/11 Commission Report speculated that the now-convicted terrorist conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui was being trained as a possible replacement for Jarrah.^[54] Yosri Fouda, who interviewed Binalshibh and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) before the arrest, believes that Said Bahaji and KSM may have also been present at the meeting. Spanish investigators have said that Marwan al-Shehhi and two others later joined the meeting. Binalshibh would not discuss this meeting with Fouda.^[55]

From July 13 to 16, Atta stayed at the Hotel Sant Jordi in Tarragona.^[51][52] After Binalshibh returned to Germany on July 16, 2001, Atta had three more days in Spain. He spent two nights in Salou at the beachside Casablanca Playa Hotel, then spent the last two nights at the Hotel Residencia Montsant.^[56] On July 19, Atta returned to the United States, flying on Delta Air Lines from Madrid to Fort Lauderdale, via Atlanta.^[52]

August 2001 final plans in U.S.

On July 22, 2001, Mohamed Atta rented a Mitsubishi Galant from Alamo Car Rental, putting 3,836 miles on the vehicle before returning it on July 26. On July 25, Atta dropped Ziad Jarrah off at Miami International Airport for a flight he had back to Germany. On July 26, Atta traveled via Continental Airlines to Newark, New Jersey and checked into the Kings Inn Hotel in Wayne, New Jersey and stayed there until July 30 when he took a flight from Newark back to Fort Lauderdale.^[12]

On August 4, Atta is believed to have been at Orlando International Airport waiting to pick up suspected "20th Hijacker" Mohamed al-Kahtani from Dubai, who ended up being held by immigration as "suspicious." This person (assuming it was Atta) used a payphone at the airport to phone a number "linked to al-Qaeda" after Kahtani was denied entry.^[57].

On August 6, Atta and al-Shehhi rented a 1995 white, four door Ford Escort from Warrick's Rent-A-Car, which was returned on August 13. On August 6, Atta booked a flight on spirit Airlines from Fort Lauderdale to Newark, leaving on August 7 and returning on August 9. The reservation was not used and canceled on August 9 with the reason "Family Medical Emergency". 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. Atta did not take the return flight. On August 7, Atta checked into the Wayne Inn in Wayne, New Jersey and checked out on August 9. The same day, he booked a one-way first class ticket via the Internet on American West Flight 244 from Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport to Las Vegas, Nevada.^[12] Atta traveled twice to Las Vegas on "surveillance flights" rehearsing how the 9/11 attacks would be carried out. Other hijackers traveled to Las Vegas at different times in the summer of 2001.

On August 23, Atta's driver license was revoked in absentia after he failed to show up in traffic court to answer the earlier citation for driving without a license. On the same day, Israeli Mossad reportedly gave his name to the CIA as part of a list of 19 names they said were planning an attack in the near future. Only four of the names are known for certain - Atta, al-Shehhi, al-Mihdar and al-Hazmi.^[58] On August 30 he was recorded purchasing a utility knife from a Wal-Mart store near the hotel where he stayed prior to 9/11.

U.S. investigators say that Atta sent a package via FedEx to one Mustafa Ahmed in the United Arab Emirates on September 4, and it was received four days later. On the 8th, Atta was also recorded sending Ahmed two wire payments, first for $2,860, and then for $5000. Over the next two days, Waleed al-Shehri and Marwan al-Shehhi would also both wire Ahmed several thousand dollars.

The attacks

Main article: American Airlines Flight 11

Security footage from Jet Tech gas station in Portland, Maine, showing Mohamed Atta and Abdulaziz al-Omari during the evening on September 10, 2001.

On September 10, Atta picked up al-Omari from the Milner Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts, and the two drove their rented Nissan to a Comfort Inn in Portland, Maine. They arrived at 5:43 p.m. and spent the night in room 232. While in Portland, they were seen making two ATM withdrawals, and stopping at Wal-Mart. FBI also reported that "two middle-eastern men" were seen in the parking lot of a Pizza Hut.

Early the next morning, Atta and al-Omari drove to the Portland International Jetport, and took the 6:00 a.m. Colgan Air (U.S. Airways Express) BE-1900C flight to Logan International Airport in Boston. Possibly this was done by the two men to clear airport security under less scrutiny in Maine than they would have faced at Logan Airport in Boston. In Portland, Mohamed Atta was selected by the Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS),^[59] which required his checked bags to undergo extra screening for explosives but involved no extra screening at the passenger security checkpoint.^[60]

The connection between the two flights at Logan Airport was within Terminal B, but the two gates were not connected within security. One must cross a parking garage before going through security once again. There are two separate concourses in Terminal B; the south concourse is mainly used by US Airways and the north one is mostly used by American Airlines. It was overlooked that there would still be security in Boston because of this distinct detail of the terminal's arrangement.

At 6:45 a.m., while at the Boston airport, Atta took a call from Marwan al-Shehhi, another hijacker. This call was apparently to confirm that the attacks were ready to begin. Atta checked in for American Airlines Flight 11, passed through security again, and boarded the flight. Atta was seated in first class, in seat 8D. At 7:59 a.m., the plane departed from Boston, carrying 81 passengers.

Fifteen minutes into the flight, the team of hijackers attacked. The aircraft stopped responding to air traffic control and began deviating from the planned route. At 8:18 a.m., flight attendants Betty Ong and Madeline Amy Sweeney began making phone calls to American Airlines to report what was happening. At 8:24:38 a.m., a voice believed to be Atta's was heard by air traffic controllers, saying: "We have some planes. Just stay quiet and you will be OK. We are returning to the airport. Nobody move, everything will be OK. If you try to make any moves you'll endanger yourself and the airplane. Just stay quiet...". The plane's transponder was turned off at 8:28 a.m..^[61] At 8:46 a.m., Atta crashed the Boeing 767 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. This was the first aircraft to hit the towers.

Because the flight from Portland to Boston had been delayed, his bags did not make it onto Flight 11. Atta's bags were later recovered in Logan International Airport, and they contained airline uniforms, flight manuals, and other items. The luggage included a copy of Atta's will, written in Arabic, which contained a list of instructions, such as "make an oath to die and renew your intentions", "you should feel complete tranquility, because the time between you and your marriage in heaven is very short", and "check your weapon before you leave and long before you leave. You must make your knife sharp and you must not discomfort your animal during the slaughter".

Mistaken identity

In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, names of the hijackers were released. There was some confusion regarding who Mohamed Atta was, and cases of mistaken identity. Initially, Mohamed Atta's identity was confused with that of a native Jordanian, Mahmoud Mahmoud Atta, who bombed a bus in 1986 on the Israeli-occupied West Bank, killing one and severely injuring three. Mahmoud 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. The Israeli Supreme Court later overturned his extradition and set him free; his whereabouts are unknown. He is 14 years older than Mohamed Atta. After the September 11 attacks, a general furor arose over the supposed failure of immigration authorities and the U.S. intelligence community to stop a known terrorist from entering the country under his true name. Eventually, The Boston Globe reported details from records at the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals detailing the detention and subsequent extradition of Mahmoud Mahmoud Atta from the U.S.

Newsweek reported that "U.S. military sources have given the FBI information that suggests five of the alleged hijackers of the planes used in Tuesday's terror attacks received training at secure U.S. military installations in the 1990s." Knight Ridder's news account was more specific which said Mohamed Atta had attended International Officers School at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. In addition, Abdulaziz Alomari had attended Aerospace Medical School at Brooks Air Force base in Texas, they reported, and Saeed Alghamdi had been to the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. "Officials stressed that the name matches may not necessarily mean the students were the hijackers because of discrepancies in ages in other personal data. Some of the FBI suspects had names similar to those used by foreign alumni of U.S. military courses," said the Air Force in a statement. "However, discrepancies in their biographical data, such as birth dates 20 years off, indicate we are probably not talking about the same people." The birth date of the Mohamed Atta who attended International Officers School at Maxwell Air Force Base has not been released and many have pointed to the failure of the Air Force to produce a separate birth date as proof of a match.

There were numerous reports in the media of Atta and al-Shehhi going to Shuckum's Oyster Pub and Seafood Grill, a sports bar in Hollywood, Florida, on September 8, 2001. Atta, al-Shehhi, and a third unidentified man reportedly drank heavily and played the Golden Tee '97 arcade game there.^[62] The bartender said "Atta drank vodka and orange juice, while Al-Shehhi preferred rum and cokes , five drinks apiece. They were wasted [visibly intoxicated]."^[63] Manager Tony Amos described, "The guy Mohamed was drunk, his voice was slurred and he had a thick accent." Bartender Patricia Idrissi said the men argued over the bill, and when she asked if there was a problem, "Mohamed said he worked for American Airlines and he could pay his bill."^[64] Atta said, "I have plenty of money. I'm a pilot." And he hauled a wad of $50 and $100 bills from his pocket, eventually leaving a $3 tip.^[63] However, Atta flew on on US Airways Flight 2719 to Baltimore on September 7 from Fort Lauderdale.^[65] On September 8, Atta was in Laurel, Maryland, where he went to a Safeway grocery store to wire $2850 to Mustafa Ahmed in Dubai, and sent another $5000 to Ahmed from a Giant Food store in Laurel on the same day.^[66][67] On September 9, Atta flew on to Boston.^[65]

Prague controversy

In the months following the September 11th attacks, officials at the Czech Interior Ministry asserted that Atta made a trip to Prague on April 8, 2001 to meet with an Iraqi intelligence agent named Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani. This piece of information was passed on to the FBI as "unevaluated raw intelligence".^[68]. Intelligence officials have concluded that such a meeting did not occur. A Pakistani businessman named Mohammed had come to Prague from Saudi Arabia on May 31, 2000, with this second Atta possibly contributing to confusion. The Egyptian Mohamed Atta came arrived at the Florenc bus terminal in Prague, from Germany, on June 2, 2000. He left Prague the next day, flying on Czech Airlines to Newark, New Jersey. 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. U.S. and Czech intelligence officials have since concluded that the person seen with al-Ani, was mistakenly identified as Atta, and the consensus of investigators has concluded that Atta never attended a meeting in Prague.^[69][70]

Family reaction

Mohamed Atta's father, Mohamed el-Emir Atta, a retired lawyer in Egypt, characterized this accusation in an interview as ridiculous, calling his son gentle and shy. The skeptic Atta has said that he suspects Israel's Mossad had a hand in framing his son, whom he said was a quiet boy uninvolved in politics, shy and devoted to studying architecture. In particular, some of these post 9/11 interviews have Atta's father saying that he openly criticized Atta for being too shy when he was a young teenager and accused Atta's mother for having made his son too shy. He also showed the media an image of his son, claiming that while there were similarities with the FBI released photos, they were clearly different people.^[71][72] The elder Mr. Atta also claims to have spoken with Mohamed by phone two days after the air crashes of the 11th. He held interviews with the German news magazine Bild am Sonntag in late 2002 claiming that his son is alive, and in hiding. It is widely believed that Mr. Atta fabricated his claims of speaking with his son after September 11, 2001 and that his son is alive, in denial of his son's role in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.^[73]

Martyrdom video

On October 1, 2006, The Sunday Times released a video it had obtained showing Mohamed Atta and Ziad Jarrah at a training camp in Afghanistan. The video is of high quality resolution and is unedited. However, "The tape has no soundtrack and a US source said lip readers had tried without success to decipher what was being said." The video is apparently a martyrdom message from the two 9/11 hijackers that was filmed on January 18, 2000. The video also shows bin Laden addressing his followers at a complex near Kandahar. Ramzi Binalshibh is also identified in the video. According to The Sunday Times, "American and German investigators have struggled to find evidence of Atta’s whereabouts in January 2000 after he disappeared from Hamburg. The hour-long tape places him in Afghanistan at a decisive moment in the development of the conspiracy when he was given operational command. Months later both he and Jarrah enrolled at flying schools in America."^[74][75]

Video

911 Hijackers Will videos

• Part 1 (Atta and Jarrah)
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5

Immigration inspection

January 2001

From the 9/11 Commission's Terror Travel Monograph:

May 2001

From the 9/11 Commission's Terror Travel Monograph:

Piloting skills

Huffman Aviation

When Atta arrived at Huffman Aviation in July 2000, he already had a private license and was there to do the "single, multi-engine commercial course and instrument rating". If one takes lessons each day, the courses can be completed in three to six months. Atta and al-Shehhi completed the courses in December 2000. They left with a "commercial, single, multi-engine IFR rating, up to a maximum of 12,000 lb airplane, that means small airplanes, they flew the Seneca II, that's a two engine, six seater airplane".^[76]

Atta's instructors and examiner describe Atta and al-Shehhi as "average students". Dekkers described "some problems in the beginning with Atta that he was not listening, so at the beginning he was certainly not a good student, he was not listening to the instructors, had an attitude he felt like he was standing above everybody here."^[76] In the first month, they had problems with Atta, in that he was "not nice, he was very very arrogant, he thought he was on top of everybody."^[77]

Dekkers described his "personal feeling" of Atta and al-Shehhi, "Atta was an asshole first class, and Al-Shehhi was a very nice, likeable person, he had fun, he was laughing, he took the jokes were talking about, this is a male environmental, so we talk about girls, planes but Atta was never socialising."^[76] Dekkers went on to say, "I tried to communicate with him. I found out from my people that he lived in Hamburg and he spoke German so one of the days that I saw him, I speak German myself, I'm a Dutch citizen, and I started in the morning telling him in German, "good morning, how are you, how do you like the coffee, are you happy here", and he looked at me with cold eyes, didn't react at all and walked away. That was one of my first meetings I had, or coffee break meetings, and I just didn't like the guy, I talked to him several occasions, the way he looked, the way he was, was to me like I don't like the guy. Sometimes you have that impression from when you meet people in the field and that was my first impression, no - did I have a an impression that he was a terrorist or to become terrorist? Of course not, because if that was the case as I have stated all over the world, I would kill him with my own bare hands, but he was just an asshole first class, he had an attitude towards everybody, towards the instructors, towards Charles Voss where he was staying for a week, and we didn't like the guy, but he was a customer, he was here to do a professional course, after the first month when he had problems with the instructors, the chief flight instructor took him separate, discussed the problems and we have said, if you do not listen to the instructors instruction, then you're out of here, we'll just kick you out and then he's he's changed, he listened to the instructions and and I still didn't like him but he is a customer and he paid the bills and there was nothing else that we could have know, could have seen that he was up to, what he did."^[76]

"He was a very arrogant person. He was very arrogant, his last name started with Atta and that that is probably attitude - it start for a bad attitude, he had a bad attitude and and we just didn't like him."[45] Atta "just a cold face and I wish we had a signal that what he was up to, I wish we had that, but unfortunately we didn't, I got 48 employees here and most of them have seen him and talked to him for a brief moment - nobody knew this and Al-Shehhi, he was a likeable, young people, 23 years old, had fun, was laughing, every day he had fun."^[76]

Anne Greaves was at Huffman taking lessons at the same time as Atta and al-Shehhi. She described, "Atta showed no sign of emotion throughout the six months she trained with him and at times appeared to be in a trance...I noticed his determination. He had a cold steeliness about him. Sadly, that did not tie in with love of aviation or anything like it. He was fixated on achieving something but without the pride and pleasure of doing something you enjoy."^[78]

Atta's flight instructor, Thierry Leklou, describes Atta as "not very patient with instructions. He was just mostly want to fly the airplane, maybe with no passion, and no patience, either."^[79]

• Rudi Dekkers, Huffman Aviation: I have checked today with the instructor and with the examiner who did the flight tests. And they [Atta and al-Shehhi] were average pilots, average pilots.^[80]
• Huffman's owner, Rudi Dekkers, told investigators there was no way the men [Atta and al-Shehhi] could fly Boeing jets after getting training at their small school, but he said the two had moved on to more sophisticated training elsewhere.^[81]

Simulator training

After leaving Huffman in December 2000, Atta and al-Shehhi obtained flight simulator training.^[79]

Their flight simulator instructor, Henry George describes, "What they wanted and what we gave them. They wanted an exposure to a jet aircraft. They came from flying a small airplane that flew maybe at 100 miles per hour. The aircraft that we were simulating was flying at 300 miles per hour. So it was a faster airplane, requires a little bit faster train of thought. My feeling is - you know, looking back, of course - is that it was just- they were doing a job. They were preparing to perform a job. They needed to prepare to- for that task, and they were simply doing it."^[79]

Regarding the ability of Atta, Al-Shehhi, and Jarrah, their instructors explained:

• "You can fly commercially, but they did not have this love of flying or the patience to make them a top gun or very good pilots, but reasonable enough to get their licenses." - Thierry Leklou, Atta and Al-Shehhi's instructor
• "First of all, we don't know exactly what he did when he was in the cockpit, but to crash an aircraft, you don't need any experience."
• "They were not going home to their wives or family. They knew they were going to kill themselves. You can do a lot more when you know you're going to kill yourself. Second, you drive a car, you have a driving license. Can you steer a big truck on a highway? Yes you can. Can you back it up? Can you park it backing up? You cannot."

See also

• Mohamed Atta - Documents
• Mohamed Atta - Timeline
• Shuckums
• Summer 2001 summit in Spain
• Able Danger

Notes

References

• Corbin, Jane (2003). Al-Qaeda: In Search of the Terror Network that Threatens the World. Nation Books. 
• Der Spiegel (2002). Inside 9-11: What Really Happened. Diane Pub Co. 
• Fouda, Yosri and Nick Fielding (2003). Masterminds of Terror. Arcade Publishing. 
• McDermott, Terry (2005). Perfect Soldiers. Harper. 

Further reading

• Lappin, Elena (August 29, 2002). "Portrait: Atta in Hamburg", Prospect. 
• "Atta's Odyssey", Time Magazine (September 30, 2001). 
• MacFarquhar, Neil (September 19, 2001). "Father Denies 'Gentle Son' Could Hijack Any Jetliner", The New York Times. 
• "Those Who Knew Atta Have Hard Time Believing He's a Terrorist", CNN (September 24, 2001).  - Atta grew up in Abdin, in central Cairo
• Allen, Heather (September 10, 2006). "'LOVER': Amanda Keller", Sarasota Herald Tribune.