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Mohammed Atta |
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 This photograph of Mohammed Atta was released by the FBI in the days following the attack. September 1 is the 244th day of the year (245th in leap years). There are 121 days remaining. Events
..... Click the link for more information. , 1968 Years: 1965 1966 1967 - 1968 - 1969 1970 1971 Decades: 1930s 1940s 1950s - 1960s - 1970s 1980s 1990s Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century 1968 in aviation 1968 in film 1968 in literature 1968 in music 1968 in science 1968 in sports 1968 in television 1968 in Canada ..... Click the link for more information. - September 11 September 11 is the 254th day of the year (255th in leap years). There are 111 days remaining. It is usually the first day of the Coptic calendar (in the period 1900 to 2099 A.D.). The terms "September 11" and "9/11" have been widely used in the Western media as a shorthand for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and The Pentagon in the United States. ..... Click the link for more information. , 2001 2001 is a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar), and also:
Years: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
is the principal investigative arm of the United States Department of
Justice (DOJ). Title 28, United States Code (U.S. Code), Section 533,
which authorizes the Attorney General to "appoint officials to
detect... crimes against the United States," and other federal statutes
give the FBI the authority and responsibility to investigate specific
crimes. At present, the FBI has investigative jurisdiction over
violations of more than 200 categories of federal crimes. The Ten Most
Wanted List has been used since the 1930s to notify the public of
wanted fugitives. This
American Airlines morning flight from Logan Airport near Boston,
Massachusetts to Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles,
(LAX) took off at 8:02 EDT on September 11 2001. The plane is believed
to have been hijacked at 8:14. At around that time, when the plane
stopped responding to queries from air traffic control, the FAA
believed the plane had been hijacked. By 8:25, there was no doubt. A
world trade center puts together under one roof all the services
associated with global commerce, a kind of shopping mall providing
networking access between corporations and governments. A WTC address
gives a business prime and continuous access and exposure to all the
services, organizations and individuals essential for success in world
trade. "A World Trade Center in any city is a business shopping center,
complementing and supporting the existing services of private and
government agencies", explains World Trade Center Association (WTCA)
President, Guy F. Tozzoli. The September 11, 2001 attacks were a series of coordinated terrorist suicide attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001. Members of the al-Qaeda terrorist group used hijacked aircraft to crash into the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. The attacks were the first highly lethal attack
by a foreign force on the mainland U.S. since 1814. With a death toll
of nearly 3,000, the attacks exceeded the toll of approximately 2,400
dead following the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
The primary targets were civilians and conventional military forces
were not used. (More is known about Mohammed Atta than any of the other 9/11 hijackers. However there are reports that seem to contradict others, indicating that he was in two places at the same time. Some reports may be unreliable, and it is possible that more than one person used Atta's identity at various times.)
Early history
Atta was born September 1 September 1 is the 244th day of the year (245th in leap years). There are 121 days remaining. Egypt (Arabic: مصر, romanized Mişr or Maşr,
in Egyptian dialect) is the most populous nation of northeastern
Africa. It covers about 1,020,000 km². Although it includes the Sinai
Peninsula, which is considered part of Southwest Asia, the rest of the
country is in North Africa. The main area of habitation is along the
Nile river (about 40,000 km²). Large areas of land are part of the
Sahara Desert and sparsely inhabited. The country is famous for its
ancient civilization and some of the world's most stunning ancient
monuments, including Khufu's pyramid, Karnak temple and the Valley of
the Kings. Today, Egypt is widely considered the main political and
cultural center of the Arab world. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
is a country on the Arabic Peninsula. It borders Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait,
Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, with Persian Gulf to
its north-east. المملكة العربيّة السّعوديّة Cairo (Arabic, القاهرة, romanized, al-Qāhirah)
is the capital city of Egypt and has an estimated metropolitan area
population of 16-20 million. It is the largest city in both Africa and
the Middle East and is currently the eleventh most populous city in the
world. While al-Qāhirah is the official name of the city, in local speech it is typically called simply by the name of the country, Mişr (Arabic, مصر) pronounced, however, Maşr in the local dialect. Architecture
is the art and science of designing buildings. A wider definition would
include within its scope the design of the total built environment,
from the macrolevel of town planning, urban design, and landscape
architecture to the microlevel of furniture and product design.
Architecture, equally importantly, also refers to the product of such a
design. Hamburg is Germany's second largest city (after Berlin) and its principal port. The official name Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg
recalls its membership in the mediaeval Hanseatic League and the fact
that Hamburg is a city state and one of Germany's sixteen Bundesländer. The
state and administrative city cover 750 km² with 1.8 million
inhabitants, while another 750,000 live in neighbouring urban areas.
The Greater Hamburg Metropolitan Region (Metropolregion Hamburg)
including nearby districts of Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony
covers 18,100 km² with a population of 4 million. Years: 1999 is a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar), and was designated the International Year of Older Persons. Years:
In Hamburg Atta worked on a thesis exploring the history of Aleppo Aleppo (حلب Arabic Ḥalab; חלב Tiberian Hebrew Ḥālāḇ:
both names mean "fresh milk") is a city and province in northern Syria.
The city has a population of around 1.7 million (1999), making it the
second largest city in the country after Damascus. It is one of the
oldest cities in the region, known to antiquity as Khalpe and to the
Greeks as Beroea, and occupies a strategic trading point midway between
the sea and the Euphrates; initially, it was built on a small group of
hills in a wide fertile valley on both sides of the river Quweiq. The
province or governate extends around the city for over 16,000 km² and
has around 3.7 million inhabitants. The word skyscraper
was originally a nickname for a tall mast on a sailing ship. Today the
word is used exclusively to refer to a tall habitable building, usually
higher than 152 metres (500 feet). Skyscrapers are also sometimes
referred to as a highrise, generally the word highrise is used when
referring to a skyscraper which is primarily used as residential
building. Until the 19th century, buildings of over six stories
were rare. It was impractical to have people walk up so many flights of
stairs. Also, water pressure could only provide running water to about
50 feet (15 m).
In Germany, Atta was registered as a citizen of the United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates
is an oil-rich desert country situated in the south-east of the Arabian
Peninsula in Southwest Asia, comprising seven emirates: Abu Dhabi,
Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm al-Qaiwain.
Before 1971, they were known as the Trucial States, in reference of a nineteenth-century truce between the British and some Arab sheikhs. It neighbours Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The UAE is also a part of the Middle East. The Gulf War
was a conflict between Iraq and a coalition force of 34 nations led by
the United States. The war started with the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in
August 1990. The result of the war was a decisive victory for the
coalition forces, which drove Iraqi forces out of Kuwait with minimal
coalition deaths. The main battles were aerial and ground combat within
Iraq, Kuwait, and bordering areas of Saudi Arabia. The war did not
expand outside of the immediate Iraq/Kuwait/Saudi border region,
although Iraq fired missiles on Israeli cities.
While in Germany, Mohammed Atta became more and more religious, especially after a pilgrimage to Mecca Mecca or Makkah (in full: Makkah al-Mukkaramah;
Arabic مكة المكرمة) is a city in the Hijaz region of western Saudi
Arabia. It is revered as the holiest site of the Islamic religion, and
a pilgrimage to it is required of all Muslims who can afford the trip. In the 1980s the government of Saudi Arabia changed the official transliteration of the city's name from Mecca, as it had been known to Westerners for centuries, to Makkah. See below for the reasons. Years:
Al-Qaida involvementOn November 1, 1998, Atta moved into an apartment in Germany with terrorists Said Bahaji and Ramzi Binalshibh. The Hamburg cell was born at this apartment.http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/la-012702atta.story[http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/10/national/10PLOT.html?ex=1090987200&en=00e7941222956576&ei=5070] They met three or four times a week to discuss their anti-American feelings and plot possible attacks. Many al-Qaida members lived in this apartment at various times, including hijacker Marwan al-Shehhi, Zakariya Essabar, hijacker Waleed al-Shehri, and others. In all, 29 men listed the apartment as their home address while Atta's name was the lease. The 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed visited the apartment repeatedly. In late 1999, Atta, al-Shehhi, Jarrah, Bahaji, and Binalshibh decided to travel 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 to meet with Osama bin Laden and train for terrorist attacks. In addition, Atta was trained in passport alteration. Immediately afterwards, Atta, al-Shehhi, and Jerrah reported their passports stolen, possibly to erase travel visas to Afghanistan. Atta is then reported to have been living in the Philippines, but is also reported to be living back in Germany. He may have traveled often between locations, or there may be some confusion between two different people. Some have speculated that another person was using Atta's passport in the Philippines at this time.http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-worldtrade-suspectprofiles.story Atta and the other hijackers began to work at appearing normal, shaving their beards and avoiding known radicals. Starting in 2000, the CIA put Atta under surveillance in Germany. He was trailed by CIA agents, and was observed buying large quantities of chemicals.http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/2001/afp092201.html[http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/2001/focus092401.html]http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/2001/berlinerzeitung092401.html When Atta entered the United States in June, the CIA says its surveillance of Atta ended. It is unclear whether the FBI monitored Atta's activities in the U.S.
In the United StatesIn March, while still in Germany, Atta contacted 31 different U.S. flight schools to discuss training to fly planes. Upon entering the U.S. on June 3, 2000, Atta and other hijackers opened at least 35 bank accounts with fake social security numbers, but none of the accounts were checked by the banks. In July, Atta enrolled at Huffman Aviation International in Venice, Florida. He was always accompanied by Marwan al-Shehhi, a hijacker of United Airlines flight 175; Atta claimed to be of royal Saudi descent and presented al-Shehhi as his bodyguard. Both earned their instrument certificates from the FAA in November, and received their licenses the next month. In December of 2000, Atta went to the Miami area to practice on a Boeing 727 simulator. He returned to Germany to coordinate with Binalshib, returning on January 10, 2001. He traveled to Georgia for unknown reasons, and then moved into an apartment in Coral Springs, Florida. He assisted with the arrival of the "muscle" hijackers in April. In May, he began to take "surveillance flights", rehearsing how the 9/11 attacks would be carried out. Atta left again in May 2001 for Spain to meet with Binalshibh for the last time. They coordinated the details of the attacks, but did not reach a firm agreement on all the targets or the date. They did decide that the World Trade Center would be hit, and they ruled 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. The 9/11 Commission Report speculates that Zacarias Moussaoui was being trained as a possible replacement for Jarrah. US investigators claim that Atta sent a package to Mustafa Ahmed in the United Arab Emirates on September 4. Mustafa Ahmed is central to the funding of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden's terror organization. Atta, along with at least five other future hijackers, traveled to Las Vegas at least six times in the Summer of 2001. They reportedly drank alcohol, gambled, and paid strippers to perform lap dances for them.http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/10/04/MN102970.DTL In the week before the attack, Atta was seen drinking and playing video games in a Florida sports bar. He also apparently visited each of the hijacking teams to ensure that everything was in place for the hijackings.
The attacks
 Mohammed
Atta (blue shirt) and Abdulaziz al-Omari boarding a Colgan Air/US
Airways Express flight from this airport to Boston on the morning of
9/11. Note that this is a non-hijacked flight. Atta spent the day before the attack with another hijacker, Abdulaziz al-Omari, in South Portland and Scarborough, Maine. In the morning of September 11, they drove to the Portland International Jetport (PWM), flew on Colgan Air (US Airways Express) to Logan International Airport in Boston and boarded American Airlines Flight 11. At 6:45 am, while at the Boston airport, Mohammed Atta took a call from Marwan al-Shehhi, another hijacker. This call was apparently to confirm the attacks were ready to begin. At 7:59, the plane departed from Boston, carrying 81 passengers. At 8:24, a voice believed to be Atta's said, "Nobody move. Everything will be OK. If you try to make any moves, you'll endanger yourself and the airplane. Just stay quiet." Atta is believed to have been the pilot of the plane when it crashed into the World Trade Center. Because the flight from Portland to Boston had been delayed, his bags did not make it onto Flight 11. When later found by US authorities, they contained airline uniforms, flight manuals and a four-page document in Arabic, copies of which were also found with the terrorists of the other three planes. It contains 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", "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". The writer of this document is now believed to have been Abdulaziz al-Omari.
Mistaken identityInitially, Mohammed Atta's identity was confused with that of a native Jordanian, Mahmoud Mahmoud Atta, who bombed a bus in 1986 on the Israel-controlled West Bank, killing one and severely injuring three. Mahmoud Mahmoud Atta, a naturalized US 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 invalidated his extradition and set him free; his whereabouts are unknown. He is 14 years older than Mohammed Atta. After the September 11 attacks, a general furor arose over the supposed failure of immigration authorities and the US intelligence community to stop a known terrorist from entering the country under his true name. Eventually, the Boston Globe factually reported details from records at the US Circuit Court of Appeals detailing the detention and subsequent extradition of Mahmoud Mahmoud Atta from the US. It is believed that Atta was a ringleader among the hijackers. In a video released by the US government, Osama bin Laden points to Atta as the leader of the attacks (see videos of bin Laden). Atta's father, a retired lawyer in Egypt, characterized this accusation in an interview as ridiculous, calling his son gentle and shy.
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