Organizers of the September 11, 2001 attacks
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The September 11, 2001 attacks were carried out by 19 hijackers, with planning and organization of the attacks involving numerous additional members of al-Qaeda.
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[edit] American Airlines Flight 11
Two flight attendants called the American Airlines reservation desk during the hijacking. Betty Ong reported that "the four hijackers had come from first-class seats: 2A, 2B, 9A, and 9B."[1] Flight attendant Amy Sweeney called a flight services manager at Logan Airport and described them as Middle Eastern.[1] She gave the staff the seat numbers and they pulled up the ticket and credit card info of the hijackers, identifying Mohamed Atta al-Sayed.[2] `
Mohamed Atta was heard speaking over the air traffic control system, broadcasting messages he intended for the passengers.[3]
| “ | We have some planes. Just stay quiet and you'll be okay. We are returning to the airport, nobody move. Everything will be okay. If you try to make any moves, you'll endanger yourself and the airplane. Just stay quiet.
Nobody move please. We are going back to the airport, don't try to make any stupid moves. |
” |
[edit] United Airlines Flight 175
A United mechanic was called by a flight attendant who stated the crew had been murdered and the plane hijacked.[4]
[edit] American Airlines Flight 77
Two hijackers, Hani Hanjour and Majed Moqed were identified by clerks as having bought single, first-class tickets for Flight 77 from Advance Travel Service in Totowa, NJ with $1,842.25 in cash.[1] Renee May, a flight attendant on Flight 77, used a cell phone to call her mother in Las Vegas. She said her flight was being hijacked by six individuals who had moved them to the rear of the plane.[5] Passenger Barbara Olson called her husband, Ted Olson, the solicitor general of the United States, stating the flight had been hijacked and the hijackers had knives and box cutters.[6] Two of the passengers had been on the FBI's terrorist-alert list: Khalid Almihdhar and Nawaf Alhazmi.
Forensic remains of the five hijackers were found at the Pentagon, along with remains of the victims.[7]
[edit] United Airlines Flight 93
Jeremy Glick stated that the hijackers were Arabic-looking, wearing red headbands, carrying knives.[8][9]
Hijacker Ziad Jarrah also mistakenly broadcast messages intended for passengers over the air traffic control system:
| “ | Keep remaining sitting. We have a bomb on board.
[...] Uh, this is the captain. Would like you all to remain seated. There is a bomb aboard and are going back to the airport, and to have our demands [unintelligible]. Please remain quiet.[10] |
” |
Jarrah is also heard on the cockpit voice recorder.[11] Forensic remains of all four hijackers were found at the crash site.[7]
[edit] Suspected hijackers
Minutes after the occurrence of the September 11, Terrorist attacks, the Federal Bureau of Investigation opened the largest FBI investigation in United States history, operation PENTTBOM. The suspects were identified within 72 hours because few made any attempt to disguise their names on flight and credit card records and they were among the few non-U.S. citizens and nearly the only passengers with Arabic names on their flights, enabling the FBI to identify their names and in many cases such details as dates of birth, known, and/or possible residences, visa status, and specific identification of the suspected pilots within hours.[12] On September 27, 2001 the FBI released photos of the 19 hijackers, along with information about many of their possible nationalities and aliases.[13] All the suspected hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Lebanon or Egypt.
The passport of Satam al Suqami was recovered near the World Trade Center site, reportedly a few blocks from where the World Trade Center's twin towers once stood. [14][15]; a passerby picked it up and gave it to a NYPD detective shortly before the World Trade Center towers collapsed. The passports of two other suspected hijackers, Ziad Jarrah and Saeed al Ghamdi, were recovered from the crash site of United Airlines flight 93 in Pennsylvania, and a fourth passport, that of Abdul Aziz al Omari was recovered from luggage that did not make it onto American Airlines Flight 11[16].
United Airlines Flight 175: Marwan al-Shehhi (from the United Arab Emirates), Fayez Banihammad (from the United Arab Emirates), Mohand al-Shehri (Saudi Arabian), Hamza al-Ghamdi (Saudi Arabian), Ahmed al-Ghamdi (Saudi Arabian). They were the only people with Arabic names on the flight.
American Airlines Flight 11: Mohamed Atta al Sayed (Egyptian), Waleed al-Shehri (Saudi Arabian), Wail al-Shehri (Saudi Arabian), Abdulaziz al-Omari (Saudi Arabian), Satam al-Suqami (Saudi Arabian). There was only one other passenger with an Arabic name who was ruled out as having any role.
United Airlines Flight 93: Ziad Jarrah (Lebanese), Ahmed al-Haznawi (Saudi Arabian), Ahmed al-Nami (Saudi Arabian), Saeed al-Ghamdi (Saudi Arabian). They were the only people with Arabic names on the flight.
American Airlines Flight 77: Hani Hanjour (Saudi Arabian), Khalid al-Mihdhar (Saudi Arabian), Majed Moqed (Saudi Arabian), Nawaf al-Hazmi (Saudi Arabian), Salem al-Hazmi (Saudi Arabian). There was one other passenger with an Arabic name who was ruled out as having any role.
[edit] Hijackers list compiled by FBI
According to the 9/11 Commission Report, 26 al-Qaeda terrorist conspirators sought to enter the United States to carry out a suicide mission. In the end, the FBI reported that there were 19 hijackers in all: five on three of the flights, and four on the fourth. On September 14th, three days after the attacks, the FBI announced the names of 19 persons.[12]
[edit] List of the hijackers
- Note: There have been variations in the spelling of the names of the alleged hijackers in differing accounts of the attacks. This is because there is no one correct way of transliterating from the Arabic alphabet to the Latin alphabet. In addition, Arabic names do not take the same form as English names, but can include several patronymics and descriptive nisba.
The hijackers aboard American Airlines Flight 11 (which crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center) were reported to be:
 Mohamed Atta (Egyptian), believed to have been the pilot |
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The hijackers aboard United Airlines Flight 175 (which crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center) were reported to be:
 Marwan al-Shehhi (from the United Arab Emirates), believed to have been the pilot |
 Fayez Banihammad (from the United Arab Emirates) |
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The hijackers aboard American Airlines Flight 77 (which crashed into the Pentagon) were reported to be:
 Hani Hanjour (Saudi Arabian), believed to have flown Flight 77 into the Pentagon |
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The hijackers aboard United Airlines Flight 93 (which crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania) were reported to be:
 Ziad Jarrah (Lebanese), believed to have crashed Flight 93 into the Pennsylvania countryside to prevent or end an assault by the passengers. |
 Ahmed al-Haznawi (Saudi Arabian) |
 Ahmed al-Nami (Saudi Arabian) |
 Saeed al-Ghamdi (Saudi Arabian) |
Ahmed al-Ghamdi, Saeed al-Ghamdi, Hamza al-Ghamdi, and Ahmad al-Haznawi came from three neighboring towns and belonged to the same tribe. Wail al-Shehri was Waleed al-Shehri's older brother. Salem al-Hazmi was a younger brother of Nawaf al-Hazmi.
[edit] The Hamburg cell and other conspirators
According to the 9/11 Commission Report, the terrorist attack itself was planned by Khalid Sheik Mohammed and approved by Osama bin Laden, with Mohammed personally choosing the hijackers, and bin Laden approving of the decision[citation needed]. Sheik Mohammed and Abu Zubaydah became the organizers of the plot. Investigators say that Mohammed Haydar Zammar acted as the "travel agent" to Afghanistan.
Three of the hijackers, along with Ramzi Binalshibh, Said Bahaji, and Zakariyah Essabar were members of the Hamburg cell. After Atta, al-Shehhi, and Jarrah left for the United States, Binalshibh provided money to the conspirators. Riduan Isamuddin, aka Hambali, met with two of the hijackers in Kuala Lumpur during the 2000 Kuala Lumpur al-Qaeda Summit. Hambali also gave money to alleged 20th hijacker Zacarias Moussaoui. The members of the cell fled Germany before the terrorist attacks.
Some of the money that financed the terrorist attack seems to have originated from Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mohammed Yousef Mohamed Alqusaidi, who may be Marwan al-Shehhi's brother. Another conspirator is Abu Abdul Rahman. Tawfiq bin Attash, also known as Khallad, assisted the hijackers in many ways, and unsuccessfully sought a visa to enter the United States and participate in the attacks.
Interviews with detained al Qaida members have identified ten hijacker candidates who did not participate in the attacks for various reasons. These people were identified as Mohamed Mani Ahmad al Kahtani, Khalid Saeed Ahmad al Zahrani, Ali Abd al Rahman al Faqasi al Ghamdi, Saeed al Baluchi, Qutaybah al Najdi, Zuhair al Thubaiti, Saeed Abdullah al-Ghamdi, Saud al Rashid, and Mushabib al Hamlan, and Abderraouf Jdey.[17]
[edit] Claims of stolen identity
Several reports, from shortly after the attacks, said that some of the men named as hijackers on 9/11 were alive, and had been victims of identity theft. These thefts were said to have occurred as long ago as 1995.
- BBC News - Hijack 'suspects' alive and well
- LA Times - FBI Chief Raises New Doubts Over Hijackers' Identities
- Islam Online - Saudi Suspects in U.S. Attacks Were Not in the U.S.
- CNN - Details of hijacking suspects released
- Spiegel Online - Mistaken identity rumors incorrect (See page 2, subtitle "THE ZOMBIE TERRORISTS")
[edit] See also
- 20th hijacker
- Operation Bojinka
- 2001 anthrax attacks
- Taliban
- War on Terrorism
- War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Glen Johnson (2001-09-23). Probe reconstructs horror, assumed attacks on planes. Boston Globe.
- ^ Calm Before the Crash. ABC News (2002-07-18).
- ^ ATC Report - American Airlines Flight 11. NTSB.
- ^ Boston.com / Fighting Terrorism
- ^ Investigating 9-11 -- The doomed flights. San Francisco Chronicle (2004-07-23).
- ^ Transcript: America's New War: Recovering From Tragedy (2001-09-14).
- ^ a b "Remains Of 9 Sept. 11 Hijackers Held", CBS News, 2002-08-17.
- ^ Flight 93: Forty lives, one destiny
- ^ Context of '(9:37 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Flight 93 Passenger Jeremy Glick Describes Hijackers, Bomb'
- ^ The 9/11 Commission Report, pp. 12, 29.
- ^ Cockpit Voice Recorder transcript. FindLaw.
- ^ a b FBI Announces List of 19 Hijackers, FBI, national Press Release September 14, 2001
- ^ The FBI releases 19 photographs of individuals believed to be the hijackers of the four airliners that crashed on September 11, 01FBI, national Press Release September 27, 2001
- ^ [http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2001/Sep-16-Sun-2001/news/17011253.html Las Vegas Review Journal], September 16, 2001.
- ^ BBC, September 16, 2001
- ^ National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
- ^ National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (2004). 9-11 Commission Report. Government Printing Office.
[edit] External links
- The Final 9/11 Commission Report
- Search the 9/11 Commission Report indexed by individual paragraphs, with clustered search results
- Network Map of how hijackers were connected to each other and color-coded by their flight.
- A Terrorist Profile Emerges That Confounds the Experts The New York Times 15-September-2001
- F.B.I. Documents Detail the Movements of 19 Men Believed to Be Hijackers The New York Times 15-September-2001 To be incorporated
- FLIGHT SCHOOL: Learning Where Suspects Studied Is 'Trickier Than It Sounds' The New York Times 15-September-2001 To be incorporated
- FBI Press Release, September 27, 2001.
- The Immigration and Naturalization Service's Contacts With Two September 11 Terrorists: A Review of the INS's Admissions of Mohammed Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi, its Processing of their Change of Status Applications, and its Efforts to Track Foreign Students in the United States U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General 20-May-2002 To be incorporated
- portal.telegraph.co.uk (UK report that not all of the "hijackers" were actually on the planes)
- Independent reporting of alleged hijacker claims with additional links
- Saudis Say Cash to Friend of Hijackers Was Charity, The New York Times, November 24, 2002 to be incorporated
- Evidence against the theories that some of the named hijackers are still alive.
- Saudis Arabia Admit Hijackers of Sept. 11 Attacks were Citizens
- The 9/11 Hijackers, 2005, Washington Post.
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