Wail al-Shehri
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Wail al-Shehri
Wail M. al-Shehri (born: July 31, 1973[1]) was a hijacker on American Airlines Flight 11.
Wail and Waleed al-Shehri were from Khamis Mushayt in the Asir region in Saudi Arabia. Wail was born in Annams, and grew up in the Um Saraar neighborhood in Khamis Mushayet. Wail came from a military family, with several of their brothers joining the Saudi military. His uncle is also thought to have been a major in the army and director of logistics. Their father worked as a car dealer. On weekends, the family spent time together at the Red Sea. The family strictly adhered to the Wahabi school of Islam, in which elements of modernity are forbidden. The family did not have satellite television, internet, nor music, and did not have contact with girls.[2] Some of Wail's elder brothers had visited the United States and spoke English, but Wail knew little English.[3]
During high school and college, Wail was highly religious, and attended Al-Seqley Mosque. He also frequented government-supported religious camps in Saudi Arabia. At this time and region in Saudi Arabia, there were strong religious feelings. Bin Laden also had family roots in the area, and youths idolized him, "Bin Laden was able to recruit a lot of high-school dropouts. These people love Bin Laden to death. They didn't have a goal in life and he gave them a goal." They were ready to fight jihad for him." Wail's (and Waleed) father, Mohamed Al-Shehri had even been friends with Mohamed Bin Laden (Osama's father).[4]
Wail graduated from Abha teacher’s college in 1999. After college, al-Shehri worked as an elementary school physical education teacher at the Khamis Mushayat airbase. Five months into the job, he was forced to take leave from job because of mental illness. Rather than conventional therapy, Wail sought consultation with Muslim clerics, and hoped that a visit to Medina would help. The treatment was to be verses from the Quran read by their sheikh. He traveled to Medina together with his younger brother, Waleed. They were spotted in Medina, though had other plans for the longer-term, that they wanted to travel to Chechnya for jihad and martyrdom.[3]
The Shehri brothers, along with Ahmed al-Nami and Saeed al-Ghamdi, were all from the same area in Saudi Arabia. In Spring 2000, Wail went to Al-Seqley mosque, along with some of the other to-be hijackers. They all swore an oath to commit themselves to jihad at the mosque which the al-Shehri family had built as the local mosque.[2][5] Wail's father lost contact with the sons after they went to Medina to seek help for Waleed's chronic depression and mental illness. After going to Medina, they only called home once and were vague about when they would return. From Medina, the brothers appear to have traveled to Afghanistan.[6]
Timeline
2000
In March 2000, he left for Pakistan with his brother Waleed, as well as Ahmed al-Nami. From Pakistan, they went on to Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, he followed the standard path, spending time in Khaldan camp and then al-Farooq camp in Kandahar. Details on how the "muscle" hijackers were selected are vague. During 2000, they appear to be selected by senior Al-Qaeda leaders from the thousands of recruits at training camps in Afghanistan. The most capable and motivated volunteers were at al-Farooq. Saudi citizens were good candidates, since it would be easy for them to obtain visas to travel to the United States. In Kandahar, there were guesthouses run specifically for the Saudi volunteers.[6] In December, he returned to Saudi Arabia from Afghanistan.[4]
2001
On June 8, 2001, Wail al-Shehri arrived together with Ahmed al-Haznawi in Miami, via London, from Dubai.[7] Both Saudis were admitted as tourists for six months by the same primary inspector.[8] Wail opened a bank account at SunTrust Bank in Florida on June 18, with a deposite of $8,000.[9] On July 3, Wail al-Shehri acquired a Florida identification card.[8]
On August 26, Wail and Waleed al-Shehri made reservations on Flight 11. On September 10, Wail stayed at Park Inn in Newton, Massachusetts, with Waleed M. al-Shehri and Satam M. A. al-Suqami. They possibly left a discarded sheet of instructions on how to fly a transcontinental jetliner in their hotel room. (Hijackers also previously stayed at three other Boston-area hotels - Milner Hotel in Beacon Hill, the Days Hotel in Brighton, and the Charles Hotel in Harvard Square) The three men checked into the Park Inn on Sept. 5 and reportedly called a prostitute to tryst with them there. Abdul Aziz al-Omari, may have also spent a night at the Park Inn before leaving for Portland, Maine, with conspiracy mastermind Mohamed Atta on Sept. 10.[10]
Still alive?
After the 9/11 attacks, his father denied that his son Wail had a degree in aeronautics, as some media reports were saying. "My son Wail was 25 years old and had a BA in physical education from the Abha Teacher’s College,” said Alshehri. “He was mentally ill and had gone to numerous clerics for assistance in overcoming this instability. He had asked the school, where he taught, for a 6-month leave to go to Madinah."[11]
Mohamed Al-Shehri of Khamis Mushayt in Saudi Arabia dreaded having to believe that Wail and Waleed were involved in the 9/11 plot, "If that turns out to be the truth, then I'll never, never accept it from them. I'll never forgive them for that," Mr. Al-Shehri says of his sons."[12]
Arab News went on to report that Wail and his brother, Waleed, "disappeared in December of the previous year and have not been heard from since. According to sources close to the family, both sons became very religious nine months prior to their disappearance and had spoken often of joining the Mujahedeen in Chechnya. They were hoping for martyrdom."[13]
References
- ↑ CIA Testimony
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Sennott, Charles M.. "Before oath to jihad, drifting and boredom", The Boston Globe, March 3, 2002.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "The Highway of Death". Sunday Times, January 27, 2002
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Profiles of 9/11 Saudi Hijackers Revealed. Saudi Information Agency (September 11, 2002).
- ↑ Sageman, Marc (2004). Understanding Terror Networks. University of Pennsylvania Press, pp. 50.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Burke, Jason (2004). Al-Qaeda: The True Story of Radical Islam. I.B.Tauris, pp. 247-248.
- ↑ http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report_Notes.htm
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Staff Monograph on 9/11 and Terrorist Travel. 9/11 Commission (2004).
- ↑ KSM Charge Sheet
- ↑ Noonan, Erica. "9/11 Reminder, Park Inn, Now Being Demolished", The Boston Globe, February 17, 2005.
- ↑ Ba-Isa, Molouk Y. and Saud Al-Towaim. "Another Saudi ‘hijacker’ turns up in Tunis", Arab News, October 1, 2001.
- ↑ Murray, Frank J.. "Killers in the cockpit: Who and why? Acts of 19 men shook civilized world to core", The Washington Times, September 10, 2002.
- ↑ Ba-Isa, Molouk Y. and Saud Al-Towaim. "Another Saudi ‘hijacker’ turns up in Tunis", Arab News, October 1, 2001.
External links
- Sennott, Charles M.. "Before oath to jihad, drifting and boredom", Boston Globe, March 3, 2002.