Mohamed Atta al-Sayed

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Mohamed Atta al-Sayed (Arabic: محمد عطا السيد) (September 1, 1968 – September 11, 2001) was named by the FBI as the suicide pilot of the first plane to crash into the World Trade Center during the September 11, 2001 attacks. He is now believed to have been the leader of the attacks. He has used several aliases and alternate spellings, including Mehan Atta, Mohammed Atta, Mohammad El Amir, Mohamed El Sayed, Muhammad Muhammad Al Amir Awag Al Sayyid Atta, and Muhammad Muhammad Al-Amir Awad Al Sayad. The will that he allegedly wrote in 1996 gives his name as "Mohamed Mohamed Elamir Awad Elsayed."

More is known about Mohamed 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.

1 Early history
2 Al-Qaeda involvement
3 In the United States
- 3.1 2000
- 3.2 2001
4 The attacks
5 Mistaken identity
6 Timeline of Mohamed Atta in America
- 6.1 Sources
7 External links and references

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Early history

Image:Atta-Uni.jpgAtta was born on September 1, 1968 in Kafr El Sheikh, a city in the Nile Delta in Egypt and also carried a Saudi passport. He grew up in Cairo, Egypt and graduated with a degree in architecture from Cairo University. He was apparently not particularly religious during this period. He then moved to Germany, where he was registered as a student of urban planning at the Technical University of Hamburg-Harburg in Hamburg from 1993 to 1999. There are other reports that Atta attended Valencia School of Medicine in Spain during this period, though these may be a case of mistaken identity. [1])

In Hamburg, Atta worked on a thesis exploring the history of Aleppo's urban landscapes. It explored 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. There were reports that he worked as a car salesman while studying, to help pay for tuition.[2]

In Germany, Atta was registered as a citizen of the United Arab Emirates. His German friends describe 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. 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. Ralph said, "He was most imbued 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."

The 9/11 Commission Report states that "In his interactions with other students [in Germany], Atta voiced virulently anti-Semitic and anti-American opinions, ranging from condemnations of what he described as a global Jewish movement centered in New York City that supposedly controlled the financial world and the media, to polemics against governments of the Arab world. To him, Saddam Hussein was an American stooge set up to give Washington an excuse to intervene in the Middle East," (p.161).

While in Germany, Atta became more and more religious, especially after a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1995. A German terrorist of Syrian origin, Mohammed Haydar Zammar, claims he met Atta at this time and recruited him into al-Qaeda. Atta started attending an Islamic prayer group at the university, and is thought to have recruited for fundamentalist causes there. Other students remember him making strident anti-American and anti-Semitic statements. That year he also made an unconditional loan of $25,000 to help Muharrem Acar start up a Turkish bakery.

In a visit home to Egypt in 1998, his former friends noticed that he had become much more of a religious fundamentalist than he had been before.

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Al-Qaeda involvement

On November 1, 1998, Atta moved into an apartment in Germany with the alleged terrorists Said Bahaji and Ramzi Binalshibh. The Hamburg cell was born at this apartment. [3] 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, hijacker Waleed al-Shehri, and others. In all, 29 men listed the apartment as their home address while Atta's name was on 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 Jarrah reported their passports stolen, possibly to erase travel visas to Afghanistan.

Atta and the other hijackers began to work on appearing normal, shaving their beards and avoiding known radicals. Starting in 2000, the CIA placed Atta under surveillance in Germany. He was trailed by CIA agents, and was observed buying large quantities of chemicals. [4][5][6] When he entered the United States in June 3, 2000 the CIA says its surveillance of Atta ended. It is unclear whether the FBI or some other intelligence agency monitored Atta's activities in the U.S.

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In the United States

While in the United States, Atta was reported as owning a red 1989 Pontiac [7]

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2000

In March 2000, while still in Germany, Atta contacted 31 different U.S. flight schools to discuss training to fly planes.

Atta traveled to Prague, stayed overnight, and then entered the U.S. on June 3. Atta and earlier arrived hijackers opened bank accounts and continue to check on flight schools.

In July, Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi enrolled at Huffman Aviation in Venice, Florida. Atta claimed to be of royal Saudi descent and presented Marwan as his bodyguard.

Both earned their instrument certificates from the FAA in November. On November 5th, Atta purchased flight deck videos for Boeing 747-200 and Boeing 757-200 models from Sporty's Pilot Shop in Ohio.

On December 11th, Atta purchased additional flight deck videos for Airbus A320 and Boeing 767-300ER models from the same store in Ohio. On December 21st, both Atta and Marwan are granted their pilot licenses. On the 26th or 27th, Atta and Marwan abandoned a Piper Cherokee that had stalled on the runway of Miami International Airport. On the 29th, Atta and Marwan went to the Opa-Locka Airport and practised on a Boeing 727 simulator.

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2001

Atta's cellphone was recorded phoning the Moroccan embassy in Washington on January 2nd, just before Marwan flew to the country. Atta flew to Spain, January 4, 2001 to coordinate with Binalshib, returning to the U.S. on January 10, 2001.

While in the United States he traveled to Decatur, Georgia for unknown reasons, where he and Marwan attended a health club. On February 19th, Atta and Marwan rented a postal box in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

On April 11th, Atta and Marwan rent an apartment in Coral Springs, Florida, and assist with the arrival of the "muscle" hijackers. On April 16th Atta is given a citation for not having a valid driver's license, so begins steps to get one.

Image:AttasFLDriversLic.jpgOn May 2nd, Atta received his driver's license from Lauderdale Lakes, Florida

On June 27th, Atta flew from Fort Lauderdale to Boston, where he spent a day, and then continued on to San Francisco for a short time, and from there to Las Vegas, Nevada. On June 28th, Atta arrives 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 this night, but on the 29th he registered at the EconoLodge at 1150 South Las Vegas Blvd. Here he presented an AAA membership for a discount, and pays cash for the $49.50/night. 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.[8]

Atta left again in July 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. On July 8th, Atta is recorded withdrawing 1000 Swiss francs from an [ATM]], and using his credit card to purchase two swiss army knives and some chocolate in Zurich, Switzerland. On July 9th Atta disembarked Iberia Airlines Flight 656 in Madrid Airport and registered with Iqbal Afzal Admat at a nearby hotel, and then rented a car to drive to Salou where he rented a room at the Hotel Sant Jordi, and is thought to have met with brothers Wail and Waleed al-Shehri.[9]

On August 4th, Atta was 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'. The person, assuming it was Atta, used a payphone at the airport to phone a number 'linked to al-Qaeda' after Kahtani was revoked.[10]. On August 23rd, 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.[11] On the same day, Israeli Mossad reportedly gives his name to the CIA as part of a list of 19 names they say are planning an attack in the near future. Only four of the names are known for certain - Nawaf, Atta, Marwan and al-Mihdhar.[12][13] On August 30th he was recorded purchasing a utility knife from an unknown source.

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

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. Some reportedly drank alcohol, gambled, and paid strippers to perform lap dances for them. [14]

Staff at Shuckum's Oyster Bar later claim that they recognised both Atta and Marwan, as two of the gentlemen who had been at the restaurant on either September 7th or 8th. While there are varying stories about Atta's activities, all sources indicate that Marwan drank rum and cokes while talking to the others.

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The attacks

Image:Atta atm.jpgOn 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 South Portland, Maine, where they arrived at 5:43pm and spent the night in room 232. It is unknown why they drove from Boston to Maine, only to catch a flight to Boston in the morning. It was initially reported that Adnan and Ameer Bukhari were the two hijackers who had rented and driven the car. The FBI also states that Atta made a credit-card purchase in Manhattan, New York on the 10th[15][16]Image:Atta in airport.jpg

The two spent their last night pursuing ordinary activities: making two ATM withdrawals, and a 20-minute stop at Wal-Mart. FBI reports specified that "two middle-eastern men" were seen in the parking lot of a Pizza Hut, but despite alluding to Atta and Marwan, does not explicitly say it was them.

In the morning of September 11, they drove to the Portland International Jetport, and took the 6am flight on Colgan Air (U.S. Airways Express) to Logan International Airport in Boston.

At Logan Airport, the pair boarded American Airlines Flight 11, where Atta was checked in under the abbreviation "Moham Atta", and was seated in 8D. At 6:45 a.m., while at the Boston airport, Mohamed 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 a.m., the plane departed from Boston, carrying 81 passengers. The plane's transponder was turned off at 8:28.[17]At 8:24:38, 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.." [18].

Atta is believed to have been the pilot of the plane when it crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center 23 minutes later at 8:47 a.m.

Because the flight from Portland to Boston had been delayed, his bags did not make it onto Flight 11. When later found by U.S. 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."

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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 Israel-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.

Image:AttasFather.jpgIn a video released by the U.S. government, Osama bin Laden points to Atta as the leader of the attacks (see videos of bin Laden). His father, Mohamed el-Amir Atta, a retired lawyer in Egypt, characterized this accusation in an interview as ridiculous, calling his son gentle and shy. He said that he suspects Mossad had a hand in framing his son, whom he said was a quiet boy uninvolved in politics, shy and devoted to studying architecture. He also showed media an image of his son, claiming that while there were similarities with the FBI released photos, they were clearly different people.[19] [20] The elder Mr. Atta also claims to have spoken with Mohamed by phone two days after the air crashes of the 11th, and continued to hold in interviews with the German news magazine Bild am Sonntag in late 2002 that his son was alive, in hiding. [21], [22]

In July 2005 Atta's father (interviewed by CNN) said the attacks in the United States and the July 7 attacks in London were the beginning of what would be a 50-year religious war, in which there would be many more fighters like his son. [23]

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Timeline of Mohamed Atta in America

While the July 2004 9/11 Commission reported that American intelligence agencies were unaware of Mr. Atta until the day of the attacks., commissioners later said they had met with a Naval Captain Scott Phillpott ten days before releasing the report, who informed them that Operation Able Danger had identified Atta as an Al-Qaeda agent in Brooklyn, NY, and had an overseas photograph of him listed on a chart of threats.

Army Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer and Congressman Curt Weldon later supported this claim, stating that Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi, Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi had been tracked in the U.S. as early as February 2000, but that Able Danger's warning was not heeded. Since then, the Pentagon has denied the claims, and the United States Senate is considering holding hearings to determine if the assertions are true, and if so how this intelligence failure occurred.[24]

June 5, 2000: Atta emails New Hampshire flight school.
June 19, 2000: Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi stay at short-term rental in New York City.
June 22, 2000: Atta visits New Jersey flight school.
July 2, 2000: Atta and Alshehhi visit the Airman Flight School in Norman, Oklahoma.
July, 2000: Atta and Alshehhi move to Venice, Florida and take pilot training classes at Huffman Aviation from July to December.
January 3, 2001: Atta flies from Tampa, Florida to Miami.[25]
January 4, 2001: Atta flies from Miami to Madrid, Spain.
January 10, 2001: Return flight from Madrid to Miami.
January 25, 2001: Atta and Alshehhi in Norcross and Decatur, Georgia.
January 31, 2001: Atta rents a plane in Lawrenceville, Georgia.
February 2001: Atta and Alshehhi rent a single-engine plane from a Gwinnett County, Georgia flight school.
March, 2001: Atta visits a small airport in Belle Glade, Florida and inquires about flying crop-duster planes.
April 3-4, 2001: Atta in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
May 13-June 13, 2001: Atta and Alshehhi live on Jackson Street in Hollywood, Florida.
Mid-June 2001: Atta and Alshehhi move into Tarra Gardens condo in Coral Springs, Florida.
Late June 2001: Atta returns to Boston from Las Vegas.
July 1, 2001: Atta flies from Boston to New York City.
Early July. 2001: Atta picks up travel tickets to Spain at travel agency in Paterson, New Jersey.
July 3, 2001: Atta flies from Newark to Fort Lauderdale.
July 7 or 8 or 9, 2001: Atta fly from Miami to Madrid, Spain via Zurich.[26][27] Reports claim final plans for the attacks are set.[28]
July 19, 2001: Return flight to America, Fort Lauderdale, Florida via Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport.
Late July, 2001: Atta flies to Newark, New Jersey to meet with other hijackers in the area.
July 30, 2001: Atta flies back from New Jersey to Florida.
Early August, 2001: Atta and Alshehhi were in Huber Drugs in Delray Beach,Florida looking for something to sooth Atta's burning hands.[29]
August 4, 2001: Atta drives to Orlando, Florida airport to meet arriving hijacker Mohamed al Kahtani. Kahtani is denied entry by US immigration officials and returns to Dubai.
August 7, 2001: Atta flies from Fort Lauderdale to Newark to meet with Nawaf al-Hazmi.
August 13, 2001: Atta flies first class with two other hijackers from New Jersey to Las Vegas on second surveillance flight and stays at same Econo Lodge.
August 14, 2001: Atta flies from Las Vegas to Houston, Texas.
August 16, 17, and 20, 2001: Atta rents a single-engined Piper Archer at Palm Beach County Park Airport in Lantana, Florida.[30][31]
August 23, 2001: Atta flies to Newark (from Florida?) and meets with Hazmi.
August 28, 2001: Atta flies from Baltimore to Fort Lauderdale.
August 29, 2001: Atta buys two tickets for American Airlines Flight 11 on September 11 over the Internet for himself and Abdulaziz Alomari on a computer at a Kinko's copy store in Hollywood, Florida. Two other hijackers accompanying Atta purchase their September 11, tickets here. A total of six hijackers purchased September 11 tickets from the computers at Kinko's.[32]
September 7, 2001: Atta and Marwan Alshehhi stay at a Holiday Inn close to Sarasota, Florida where President George Bush plans to visit an elementary school on September 11.
September 7, 2001: Atta and Alshehhi visit Shuckums, a sports bar in Hollywood, Florida.
September 8, 2001: Atta flies from Fort Lauderdale to Baltimore and meets with Flight 77 team of hijackers in Laurel, Maryland.
September 9, 2001: Atta flies from Baltimore to Boston.
September 10, 2001: Atta and Alomari drive from Boston to Portland, Maine.
September 10, 5:43 P.M. 2001: Atta and Alomari checked into the Comfort Inn, room 232, South Portland, Maine. [33]
September 10, 8:00 P.M.-9:00 P.M. 2001: The FBI says two Middle Eastern men were seen at Pizza Hut in South Portland, Maine, for approximately fifteen minutes.
September 10, 8:31 P.M. 2001: Atta and Alomari photographed by Key Bank drive-up ATM in South Portland, Maine.
September 10, 8:41 P.M. 2001: Atta and Alomari photographed by a Fast Green ATM located in the parking lot of UNO's restaurant, South Portland, Maine.
September 10, 9:15 P.M. 2001: Atta and Alomari were at Jetport Gas Station, South Portland, Maine.
September 10, 9:22 P.M. 2001: Atta was at Wal-Mart, Scarborough, Maine, for approximately twenty minutes.
September 11, 5:53 A.M. 2001: Atta and Alomari board a flight from Portland, Maine to Boston, Massachusetts.
September 11, 6:50 A.M. 2001: Atta and Alomari arrive on time at Boston's Logan Airport.
September 11, 7:45 A.M. 2001: Atta and Alomari board America Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767.
September 11, 7:59 A.M. 2001: Flight 11 takes off from Boston 14 minutes late.
September 11, 8:13 A.M. 2001: Flight 11 is hijacked 50 miles west of Boston by Atta and four other hijackers onboard.
September 11, 8:46 A.M. 2001: Mohamed Atta crashes Flight 11 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

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Sources

Paul Thompson, The Terror Timeline (ReganBooks,2004) ISBN 0060783389
Four Corners, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, broadcast November 12, 2001 [34]
The 9/11 Commission Report, (W.W. Norton & Company) ISBN 0393326713
FBI Press Release October 4, 2001.

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