[16] When Atta and Shehhi arrived in Florida, they initially stayed with Huffman's bookkeeper and his wife in a spare room of their house. [37] Atta was anti-Semitic, believing that Jews controlled the world's media, financial, and political institutions from New York City. [55], A video surfaced in October 2006. We hate America and all that it stands for. ''They were more concerned about being reimbursed for their rental car,'' he recalled. [8] He then worked for several months at the Urban Development Center in Cairo, where he joined various building projects and dispatched diverse architectural tasks. He believed that the drab and impersonal apartment blocks, built in the 60s and 70s, ruined the beauty of old neighborhoods and robbed their people of privacy and dignity. The two had arrived in the United States from Saudi Arabia in April 2001 and joined Atta's team. [52], German investigators said that they had evidence that Mohamed Atta trained at al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan from late 1999 to early 2000. The two al-Shehri brothers selected seats 2A and 2B in first class. He provided the first official confirmation that Atta and two other pilots had been in Afghanistan, and he also provided the first dates of the training. [16][60] On July 6, 2000, Atta, Jarrah and Shehhi enrolled at Huffman Aviation in Venice, where they entered the Accelerated Pilot Program. Unidentified sources from both Al-Qaeda and the United States confirmed The Times the video's authenticity. Practicing for his assignment, Ziad Jarrah took a check ride at Airborne Systems Flight School in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, on August 17. ''Any time the tower calls, they are not in the best of moods.''. 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. Atta phoned his graduate advisor, Machule, and mentioned family problems at home, saying, "Please understand, I don't want to talk about this. Something is not right. His mother, 79, at the time denied her son's involvement in the attacks and that she feels he is in Afghanistan. The plane is piloted by plot leader Mohamed Atta. [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. 3", "Ticket agent recalls anger in Atta's eyes", "9/11 victim calmly describes hijack on haunting tape", https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-jun-18-na-introflight18-story.html, "102 Minutes: Last Words at the Trade Center; Fighting to Live as the Towers Die", "TWO YEARS LATER: THE 91ST FLOOR; The Line Between Life and Death, Still Indelible", "FBI affidavit: Flight attendant made call to report hijacking", "A Case of Mistaken Identity: Mohammad Atta Not Linked to Bus Bombing", "2nd Witness Arrested; 25 Held for Questioning", "A Tale of Two 'Attas': How spurious Czech intelligence muddied the 9/11 probe", "Four in 9/11 Plot Are Called Tied to Qaeda in '00", "Officer Says 2 Others Are Source of His Atta Claims", "Hijackers Were Not Identified Before 9/11, Investigation Says", "Exclusive: Witnesses in Defense Dept. It is only Jarrah's connection to Bin al-Shibh and others that would have connected him to any plot, including his attendance at the al Quds mosque in Hamburg. [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. They had problems following instructions and were both very upset when they failed their Stage 1 exam at Jones Aviation. . American Airlines Flight 11 was hijacked by five al Qaeda terrorists led by Mohamed Atta and was deliberately crashed into the North Tower (on the right) of the World Trade Center at 8:46am local . On July 25, Atta dropped Ziad Jarrah off at Miami International Airport for a flight back to Germany. ", The other possibility is that Atta went to Portland for a final meeting with an unknown supporter. "[111], In 2021, on the 20th anniversary of the attacks, Atta's mother was interviewed by a Spanish newspaper. He also said he assumed that they had taxied the plane back to the hangar; he was not aware, he said, that they apparently abandoned the plane and walked away. He failed to show up for court and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest. Mohamed Atta's Story. On April 3, Atta and Shehhi rented a postal box in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The hijacking began 15 minutes into the flight at around 8:14 a.m., when beverage service would be starting. [58], On May 17, Atta applied for a United States visa. 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. [34] His friends in Germany described him as an intelligent man in whom religious convictions and political motives held equal sway. Follow the Newsweek live tweet of September 11, 2001 (based upon the new book On That Day) starting at 4:45 a.m. EST @Roadto911. Other hijackers traveled to Las Vegas at different times in the summer of 2001. He shopped for flights from Washington Dulles International Airport to Los Angeles and from Boston to Los Angeles, all departing around 8:00 a.m. on the morning of September 11. Days later, Shehhi, Jarrah and Atta ended up in Venice, Florida. He would soon post a note forbidding pilots from flying into Miami International. "[113] In turn, political scientist Robert Pape has claimed that Atta was motivated by his commitment to the political cause, that he was psychologically normal, and that he was "not readily characterized as depressed, not unable to enjoy life, not detached from friends and society. This piece of information was passed on to the FBI as "unevaluated raw intelligence". The will was signed by el-Motassadeq and a second person at the mosque. [30][41] Atta returned to Hamburg on October 31, 1995,[40] only to join the pilgrimage to Mecca shortly thereafter. The timing of the Afghanistan training was outlined on August 23, 2002, by a senior investigator. [31][32] Further, after the Egyptian government had imprisoned droves of political activists, he knew better than to trust it not to target him too, with his social and political beliefs being such as they were. Many al-Qaeda members lived in this apartment at various times, including hijacker Marwan al-Shehhi, Zakariya Essabar, and others. But she was also said to be 'emancipated' and 'challenging'. Ong provided information about lack of communication with the cockpit, lack of access to the cockpit, and passenger injuries. 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. On August 7, Atta checked into the Wayne Inn in Wayne, New Jersey and checked out on August 9. The men who planned and carried out the Sept. 11 suicide hijackings staked out the White House before deciding that their targets should be the Pentagon, the World Trade Center and the U.S . The 9/11 Commission obtained details about the meeting, based on interrogations of bin al-Shibh in the weeks after his arrest in September 2002. On Oct. 6, 2021, a new episode of the "Your Mom's House" podcast was released . On September 11 we'll live tweet the events of the day, minute by minute, starting at 4:45 a.m. EST, @RoadTo911. After he graduated in 1990 with an architecture degree,[15] he joined the Engineers Syndicate, an organization under the control of the Muslim Brotherhood. On April 11, Atta and Shehhi rented an apartment at 10001 Atlantic Blvd, Apt. Thirty minutes later, Marwan al-Shehhi hit the South Tower. [76], During the meetings in Spain, Atta and bin al-Shibh had coordinated the details of the attacks. The family had few relatives on the father's side and kept their distance from Bouthayna's family. ", "Staff Report "We Have Some Planes": The Four Flights a Chronology", National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, "The Aviation Security System and the 9/11 Attacks Staff Statement No. Wail al Shehri (28), Saudi Arabia - Elementary school teacher (brother of Waleed) Waleed al Shehri (22), Saudi Arabia - Student. [77] On July 19, Atta returned to the United States, flying on Delta Air Lines from Madrid to Fort Lauderdale, via Atlanta. On December 29 and 30, Atta and Marwan went to the Opa-locka Airport where they practiced on a Boeing 727 simulator, and they obtained Boeing 767 simulator training from Pan Am International on December 31. On August 26, Saudi brothers Waleed and Wail al-Shehri also purchased tickets for the same flight. He lived in Hamburg in the 1990's and is now believed to have trained at an Al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan in 1999. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Twelve minutes later, at 8:46:40a.m., Atta crashed the plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. . [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. One former flight instructor said a Federal Aviation Administration official placed an angry call on Dec. 27, threatening to investigate the maintenance record of the plane as well as the two pilots. [35][36] He was also angry and bitter at the elite in his native Egypt, who he believed hoarded power for themselves, as well as at the Egyptian government, that cracked down on the dissident Muslim Brotherhood. Atta's professor, Dittmar Machule, brought him along on an archaeological expedition to Aleppo in 1994. Likewise, Shehhi traveled from a different location, in his case via Brussels. [8] In his will, written in 1996, Atta gives his name as "Mohamed the son of Mohamed Elamir awad Elsayed". Al-Omari chose 8G and al-Suqami chose 10B in Business Class. Follow the Newsweek live tweet of September 11, 2001 (based upon the new book On That Day) starting at 4:45 a.m. EST @Roadto911. During the meeting, Atta and bin al-Shibh also decided on the targets to be hit, ruling out a strike on a nuclear plant. [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. They checked out the next morning, and spent the next few days at an unknown location in Tarragona. [115], Mohamed Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta, Mohamed Atta's first announcement, heard by ATC at 08:23, Mohamed Atta's second announcement at 08:33, sfn error: no target: CITEREFWright2006 (. Atta was directly responsible for the deaths of more than 1,600 people during the attacks. Months later both he and Jarrah enrolled at flying schools in America. Mr. Pursell later posted a sign inside the flight school forbidding novice pilots from flying into Miami International. They may have helped arrange and host the meeting in Tarragona. 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. [15][17], Atta also got engaged to a woman lined up by his father and her family in Cairo, at late 1999, after coming back from Germany the same year. There was some confusion regarding who Mohamed Atta was, and cases of mistaken identity. Atta's family moved into an apartment block in 1990; it was to him but "a shabby symbol of Egypt's haphazard attempts to modernize and its shameless embrace of the West. Once Atta's commuter flight landed in Boston, phone records show he took a call from another 9/11 hijacker, Marwan Al-Shehi. The next winter, they moved into an apartment at Marienstrasse 54 in the borough of Harburg, near the Hamburg University of Technology,[50] at which they enrolled. Mohamed Atta accepted and was in Germany two weeks later, in July. My name is Mohamed Atta. [66][67], Atta began flight training on July 6, 2000, and continued training nearly every day. He was the hijacker-pilot of American Airlines Flight 11 which he crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the coordinated attacks. of 20-25 sons of Mohamed bin Laden, who had 52-54 children in total.2 Originally an immigrant from Yemen, Muhamed bin Laden, by befriending the royal family, had established a major construction company and had amassed a fortune of some 2-3 billion dollars by the time of his death in a 1967 plane crash. [73][74] After bin al-Shibh returned to Germany on July 16, 2001, Atta had three more days in Spain. Drumhiller said it could have been "to make the final arrangements, to sort of close out everything they were doing to wrap up their time in the states.". Ringleader Mohammed Atta and at least four of the other 19 hijackers made six visits to Las Vegas between late May and mid-August of 2001. Spanish investigators have said that Marwan al-Shehhi and two others later joined the meeting. Air traffic controller Danielle O'Brien was at the Dulles Tower outside Washington, D.C., that morning. 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. that best enable air traffic controllers to follow a plane's path. Undated photos of suspected hijackers of United Airlines flight #93 that crashed in rural Pennsylvania, released by the FBI September 27, 2001 in Washington, DC. Here's some background information about the 19 hijackers of September 11, 2001.. Timeline September 11, 2001 - Nineteen men hijack four commercial airlines loaded with fuel for cross country . He was the only pilot who was married, to a German national of Turkish descent. The report suggests that incident was an inconvenience but did not result in major delays. He had made no progress on his thesis. Atta took control of the plane and crashed it into the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 8:46a.m.[6] The crash led to the collapse of the skyscraper and the deaths of more than 1,600 people. The third hijacked plane, American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757 that took off from Dulles Airport . He said he wanted to visit the World Trade Center and asked Bryant about the security there. [19] In 1992, his father had overheard a German couple who were visiting Egypt's capital. TERRORIST: Mohammed Atta's mum claims her son is still alive and in Guantanamo Bay . Bin Laden was concerned about having so many operatives in the United States. 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. [59] After obtaining his visa, Atta took a bus on June 2 from Hamburg to Prague where he stayed overnight before traveling on to the United States the next day. Atta returned to Hamburg in February 2000, and began inquiring about flight training in the United States. Protection against purely domestic hijackers primarily was lodged with check-in personnel at the airport counter, then with security screeners, and finally with attendants at the gate. Just stay quiet." 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? It was Atta who took control of the first hijacked aircraft, American Airlines Flight 11, and told passengers, "Nobody move, everything will be OK. In the spring of 2000, Atta entered the United States and enrolled in an aviation school in Venice, Fla. On Sept. 10, 2001, Atta picked up another 9/11 terrorist, Abdul-Azzia Al-Omari, at the Milner Hotel in Boston. Mohammed Atta, (born September 1, 1968, Kafr al-Shaykh, Egyptdied September 11, 2001, New York, New York, U.S.), Egyptian militant Islamist and al-Qaeda operative who helped plot and lead the September 11 attacks. But more likely it is that the origination of his flight in Newark, delayed on the ground for 40 minutes, that made his flight more vulnerable. During his time in the United States, Jarrah left five times to visit his wife in Germany and he constantly communicated with her, both over the phone and in email. Atta stayed in Cairo awhile with his family after Hauth and Bodenstein flew back to Germany. He said that he went on pilgrimage to Mecca again, just 18 months after his first time. 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. An employee at Huffman confirmed that the flight school did send the agency the plane's maintenance records. [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. the suspected ringleader of the Sept. 11 hijackings and the pilot of the first plane to crash into the World Trade Center, was a homosexual. Mohamed Atta, 33, Egypt Atta was quickly identified as the ringleader of the 9/11 attacks. On August 6, Atta booked a flight on Spirit Airlines from Fort Lauderdale to Newark, leaving on August 7 and returning on August 9. He was therefore treated favorably and not scrutinized. [8][29] Among other odd jobs to supplement his income, Atta sometimes worked at a cleaning company and sometimes bought and sold cars. On American Airlines Flight 11, Atta joined four other hijackers. September 9, 2021 at 12:30 p.m. EDT. The Israeli Supreme Court later overturned his extradition and set him free. 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 . 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. The 33-year-old grew up in a strict household in Egypt where he was made to study hard. Atta flew Flight 11 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. 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. Officials at Signature did not respond to several telephone requests to find out whether anyone at the company remembered Mr. Atta or Mr. Shehhi. Nepal plane crash victim shared tragic online post moments before 68 passengers died. 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. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, mastermind of the 9/11 plot says they began talking about the "planes operation" in 1995. ''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. [16] Also in 1990, Atta's family moved into the eleventh floor of an apartment building in the Egyptian city of Giza. On the morning of September 11, Atta boarded American Airlines Flight 11, which he and his team then hijacked. Usually in these types of things you have your initial plan and you have a fallback plan. [71] On July 8, Atta was recorded on surveillance video when he withdrew 1700 Swiss francs from an ATM. Mr. Kraus noted that the two men had been trained on smaller, ''uncontrolled'' airports that operate without flight towers. His nascent infatuation with her, begrudgingly realised, was the closest thing Atta knew to romance. [86] In Portland, Mohamed Atta was selected by the Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS), which required his checked bags to undergo extra screening for explosives but involved no extra screening at the passenger security checkpoint. [39], On August 1, 1995, Atta returned to Egypt for three months of study. But none of them were so flagged. [3] After they arrived, they were selected by Al Qaeda leader Mohammed Atef as suitable candidates for the "planes operation" plot. 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. "Nothing they said or did raised any suspicions at all," he told the commission's investigators. One of Atta's bags did not make it onto Flight 11, leaving . Lip readers have failed to decipher it. Bin al-Shibh 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. At 8:25 . The 9/11 Commission Report speculated that the now-convicted terrorist conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui was being trained as a possible replacement for Jarrah. In-laws characterized the father of Atta as "austere, strict, and private," and neighbors viewed the family as reclusive. The date for the planes operation is set. The crash and fire kill 59 on the plane and 125 on the . Each day a new story will be published here. Born and raised in Egypt, Atta studied architecture at Cairo University, graduating in 1990, and continued his studies in Germany at the Hamburg University of Technology. Bin Laden also asked that other operatives not be informed of the specific data until the last minute. Mr. Pursell, meanwhile, had already gotten a cellphone call from Mr. Atta and Mr. Shehhi. 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? [10] His father, Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta, was a lawyer, educated in both sharia and civil law. One theory suggests that Mohamed Atta and the other pilots who led the hijacking teams were here planning the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. A secret police intelligence report . [23] He kept to himself to such an extent that he would often react to simple greetings with silence. The Egyptian Mohamed Atta arrived at the Florenc bus terminal in Prague, from Germany, on June 2, 2000. [59][60], From July 13 to 16, Atta stayed at the Hotel Sant Jordi in Tarragona. Statements entered at . [27][28], While in Hamburg, Atta held several positions, such as one part-time job at Plankontor, as well as another at an urban planning firm, beginning in 1992. In mid-1998, Atta worked alongside Shehhi, bin al-Shibh, and Belfas, at a warehouse, packing computers in crates for shipping. [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 FBI also reported that "two middle-eastern men" were seen in the parking lot of a Pizza Hut, where Atta is known to have eaten that day. Each day a new story will be published here. Even for those who couldn't believe what they were seeing, that signaled a terrorist plot, with the possibility of more attacks to follow. They also discussed the personal difficulties Atta was having with fellow hijacker Ziad Jarrah. American Airlines Flight 11: Mohamed Atta, Egypt (33) - Tactical leader of 9/11 plot and pilot. He led the team of hijackers who took control of American Airlines flight 11 and flew it into the north tower of New York City's World Trade Center. Realizing they were facing a suicide mission, flight 93 passengers fought for control of the plane. Just stay quiet, and you'll be okay. [8], Atta was born on September 1, 1968, in Kafr el-Sheikh, located in the Nile Delta region of Egypt (then a part of the United Arab Republic). Beginning in May 2001, Atta assisted with the arrival of the muscle hijackers, and in July he traveled to Spain to meet with bin al-Shibh to finalize the plot. "[1][95], In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the names of the hijackers were released. This included the construction of high-rise buildings in Cairo and other ancient cities in the region. [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. Atta also started and led a prayer group, which Ahmed Maklat and Mounir El Motassadeq joined. 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. While in the United States he traveled to Lawrenceville, Georgia, where he and Shehhi visited an LA Fitness Health Club. His mother, Bouthayna Mohamed Mustapha Sheraqi, came from a wealthy farming and trading family and was also educated. Dekkers has written a book, "Guilty By Association," about his experience with Mohamed Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi, the two hijackers whose act of terrorism left nearly 3,000 people dead. We are going back to the airport. 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. [16] Atta traveled twice to Las Vegas on "surveillance flights" rehearsing how the 9/11 attacks would be carried out. Bin al-Shibh would not discuss this meeting with Fouda. [72] After the stopover in Zrich, he arrived in Madrid at 4:45pm on Swissair Flight 656, and spent several hours at the airport. On the morning of 9/11, Atta and Al-Omari drove to Portland International Jetport and boarded a 6 a.m. commuter flight to Boston's Logan International Airport. He spoke again seconds after that first transmission, still unaware that his voice was being heard on the ground: "Nobody move, everything will be OK. Don't try to make any stupid moves." If you try to make any moves, you'll endanger yourself and the airplane.". [3] Immediately after returning to Germany, Atta, al-Shehhi, and Jarrah reported their passports stolen, possibly to discard travel visas to Afghanistan. The investigator, Klaus Ulrich Kersten was the director of Germany's federal anticrime agency, the Bundeskriminalamt. He researched the history of the urban landscape in relation to the general theme of conflict between Arab and modern civilization. [1][2][3][4][5] Having just turned 33 at the time of the attacks, he was the oldest of the 19 hijackers who took part in the mission. On September 11 we'll live tweet the events of the day, minute by minute, starting at 4:45 a.m. EST, @RoadTo911. ''I told them to forget it. He left Prague the next day, flying on Czech Airlines to Newark, New Jersey, U.S. Atta and the other Hamburg cell members were recruited by bin Laden and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed for a "planes operation" in the United States. "He said he was an engineer and he wanted to build a chemical . [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. Investigators believe the call was to confirm the attacks were ready to begin. Atta graduated from Cairo University with marks insufficient for the graduate program. He . [73], 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.
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