Anthony Summers - The Eleventh Day

9/11 Commission senior counsel Dieter Snell asserted in a 2004 memo that Benomrane’s information appeared to be of “uniquely significant value” to understanding the facts behind the 9/11 attacks. Benomrane had by then been deported from the United States, however, and the Commission never did interview him. Journalist Judith Miller reported in 2007 that Los Angeles Police Department detectives were convinced that “Benomrane and al-Thumairy were militants in the al Qaeda support network and that Benomrane’s passengers were, in fact, the two hijackers” (license: e.g. MFR 04018787, 4/19/04, MFR 04018782, 4/21/04; Thumairy: CR, 515n14, Line of Inquiry: Qualid Moncef Benomrane, B36, T1A, CF; sons of sick father: int. Qualid Benomrane, FBI 302, 265A-LA-228901, 4/6/02; Thumairy denied: MFR 04019362, 2/23/04; “deceptive”: Dieter Snell et al. to Philip Zelikow, 2/25/04, Summary of Interview Conducted in Saudi Arabia, ARC Identifier no. 2610841, CF; “uniquely”: Dieter Snell to Pat O’Brien, 1/16/04, “Benomrane Folder,” B37, T1A, CF; deported/never interviewed: CR, 515n14; LAPD convinced: Judith Miller, “On the Front Line in the War on Terrorism,” Summer 07,

www.city-journal.org

).

15 photographs:CR, 515n14;

16 “barely”/“instructed”:KSM SUBST;

17 address in CA:CR, 150, 514n4, Guardian (U.K.), 11/12/06, Telegraph (U.K.), 11/7/06;

18 CIA concluded:CR, 514n4;

19 “possibly” Long Beach:CR, 157, 514n7;

20 language schools LA:CR, 216;

21 San Diego directories:KSM SUBST;

22 “idea”:ibid.;

23 Bayoumi 42:DHS Document Request 3, “Doc Requests, Entire Contents,” T5, B9, CF;

24 rental application: San Diego Union-Tribune , 10/25/01;

25 Bayoumi employee/mosque, etc.:ibid., FBI IG;

26 “ghost”:CR, 515n18, Don/trip to LA/​consulate/​restaurant:MFR of int. Omar al Bayoumi, 10/16–17/003, “Staff Delegation International Trip, Tab 1,” T1A, MFR 04017552, 9/29/03, & MFR 04019254, 4/20/04, CF, FBI 302 of int. Caysan bin Don, 10/8/01, INTELWIRE, CR, 217–, 515n15, 17. Bin Don has also used the name Isamu Dyson. His birth name was Clayton Morgan (CR, 435);

27 newspaper:McDermott, 189;

28 “description”/sought out/apartment:MFR of int. Bayoumi, MFR 04016481, 1/12/04, National Drug Enforcement Center for the FBI, “265D-NY-280350, TWINBOM-PENTTBOM, Biographical Report,” 11/26/01, authors’ collection;

29 pure chance:MFR 04019254, 4/20/04, MFR 04016231, 11/18/03, CF;

30 “to pick up”:Report, JI, 173;

31 contacts imam:Dieter Snell, et al., to Philip Zelikow, “Summary of Interviews in Saudi Arabia,” 2/25/04, MFR, CF;

32 cell phone:MFR, 040175541A, 11/17/03, CF, CR, 516n26;

33 jihad material/salary:Report, JI, 174;

34 distinguishing mark:CR, 516n19;

35 “We do not”:CR 218;

36 “very suspicious”:int. Eleanor Hill.

37 “We firmly”: Newsweek , 8/3/03. As noted earlier in this chapter, KSM has denied that there were helpers in place in the U.S. He also specifically denied that he had ever heard of Bayoumi (CR, 516n19, CBS News, 8/3/03);

38 Aulaqi 29/imam:FBI Memo, “Ansar Nasser Aulaqi, IT-UBL,” 9/26/01, INTELWIRE;

39 four calls:MFR 04017541A, 11/17/03 & MFR 04017531, 11/17/03, CF, “Hijackers Timeline [redacted],” 11/14/03, INTELWIRE, CR, 221, 517n33;

40 attended mosque:CR, 517n33, MFR 04017542, 11/18/03, CF;

41 “closed-door”:Report, JI, 178, NYT , 5/8/10, Jamie Reno, “Public Enemy #1,” www.sandiegomagazine.com;

42 Hazmi respected/spoke:MFR of [name redacted], 4/23/04, CF—since reported to have been Abdussattar Shaikh;

43 “very calm”:FBI Memo, “Ansar Nasser Aulaqi, IT-UBL,” 9/26/01, INTELWIRE;

44 “spiritual advisor”:Report, JI, 27.

45 Aulaqi relocated/no contact:The record seems contradictory on this. The Commission Report quoted Aulaqi as denying having had contact in Virginia with Hazmi or his companion at that point, future fellow hijacker Hani Hanjour. A May 2004 Commission memo, however, states that Aulaqi “admits contact with the hijackers” at both the Virginia and San Diego mosques. (CR, 229–, MFR 04019202, 5/6/04).

46 had investigated/​“procurement”:CR, 517n33;

47 “potentially”:CR, 221;

48 prison: WP , 2/27/08;

49 terrorist attacks:(Fort Hood shooting/bomb on Detroit-bound plane/Times Square car bomb) Christian Science Monitor , 5/19/10, Fox News, 10/20/10, CNN, 1/7/10, Guardian (U.K.), 10/31/10, MSNBC, 11/1/10;

50 Harman: Christian Science Monitor , 5/19/10;

51 KSM suggested:KSM SUBST;

52 passes Zoo/SeaWorld: LAT , 9/1/02;

53 bank accounts/car/ID:FBI IG, Staff Report, Monograph on Terrorist Financing,” CO, MFR.

54 driver’s licenses/phone directory:CR, 539n85, Lance, Triple Cross , 349. The two terrorists moved in May 2000 to the home of a man named Abdussattar Shaikh, and—though Mihdhar left that summer—Hazmi stayed until December. Shaikh, the subject of controversy not least because he was an FBI informant, will be covered in the notes for Ch. 33 (CR, 220, 516n28, MFR of [name redacted], 4/23/04, CF, www.scribd.com, Nawaf al-Hazmi timeline, “Hijacker Primary Documents,” B50, T5, CF, Graham with Nussbaum, Shaikh refs., Shenon, 53–);

55 sociable/​“brooding”:Corbin, 174—, Newsweek , 6/10/02;

56 soccer/​“psychotic”:CR 220, MFR 04017531, 11/17/03, CF;

57 “You’ll know”: Newsweek , 6/10/02;

58 phone calls/computer/Yahoo:“Hijackers Timeline [redacted],” 11/14/03, INTELWIRE, Bamford, Shadow Factory , 25;

59 KSM told:KSM SUBST;

60 Hazmi enrolled/Mihdhar not start:ibid., Staff Statement 16, CO, CR, 221, 517n30, 36, FBI 302 of int. Omer Bakarbashat, 9/17/01, INTELWIRE;

61 flight school/few lessons:CR, 221–, 517n36;

62 praying:Corbin, 174;

63 “They just”/“Dumb”: Newsweek , 6/10/02;

64 flying not for them: WP , 9/30/01.

65 dropped out/flew back:KSM SUBST, CR, 220. Though Mihdhar supposedly went home to rejoin his family, he also went on to travel to Malaysia, Afghanistan, and Saudi Arabia. FBI director Mueller suggested to Congress’s Joint Inquiry that his role may have included helping to organize the so-called muscle hijackers. (CR, 222, Statement of Robert Mueller, JI, 9/26/02).

66 overruled/progressive:KSM SUBST.

67 shed clothing/beards:CR, 167, FBI report, “The 11 September Hijacker Cell Model,” 2/03, INTELWIRE.

68 31 emails/“We are”/“lost”/new passports:Testimony of George Tenet, 6/18/02, JI, CR, 168, 497n108, Transcript of Jury Trial, U.S. v. Zacarias Moussaoui , 3/7/06. Atta had entered a lottery for a U.S. visa as early as October the previous year, perhaps a further indication that he knew something of the bin Laden plan before heading to Afghanistan in November. He applied for and got a visa in the regular way, however, only in May 2000 (MFR 04019351, 12/10–11/03, Staff Report, “9/11 and Terrorist Travel,” CO, 15–).