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By Root 1757 0

that only two of four men originally selected to be pilot hijackers were able to obtain U.S. visas. The two who had no visas, it was then hoped, would explode planes in midair over Asia at the same time their accomplices were hitting targets in the United States. Thinking it too difficult to synchronize the operation, bin Laden would later cancel the Asia part of the operation (KSM SUBST);

82 “military committee”: Fouda & Fielding, 158;

83 two years: KSM SUBST;

84 “planes operation”: CR, 154;

85 Omar disillusioned: bin Ladens & Sasson, 201, 212–, 218–, 248–;

86 “I have heard”: ibid., 254;

87 “gigantic”: ibid., 277.

88 Noonan/“History”: Forbes, 11/30/98.

CHAPTER 24

1 “The mighty”/curbed: bin Ladens & Sasson, 244, Bergen, OBL I Know, 321, 455n20;

2 candidates/two parts/too complicated: KSM SUBST;

3 Yemenis’ visas/in vain: Staff Report, “9/11 and Terrorist Travel,” CO, 13–. The Yemenis were Walid bin Attash—also known as Khallad—who had lost a leg on the Afghan battlefield, and Abu Bara al-Tai’zi, on whom there appears to be scant information. Bin Laden had known Attash in Saudi Arabia. He was to play a role at later points in the story (KSM SUBST, CR 155–) two Saudis/aged 24/23: National Drug Intelligence Center for the FBI, “265D-NY-280350, TWINBOM-PENTTBOM, Biographical Report,” 11/26/01, authors’ collection, Blair Oakley to Janice Kephart, 3/23/04, “Hijacker Primary Documents—AA77,” B50, T5, CF;

4 friends: Testimony of George Tenet, 6/18/02, JI, Bamford, Shadow Factory, 9;

5 well-to-do/married Yemeni/veterans: ibid., 9, Staff Statement 16, CO, Report, JI, 131, Wright, 309–. Mihdhar’s relations by marriage were the Hada family in Yemen’s capital, Sana’a—their connection to terrorism will be reported later. The future 9/11 conspirator to whom Mihdhar was linked by marriage was Ramzi Binalshibh, one of the Germany-based accomplices (marriage: Bamford, Shadow Factory, 7–, McDermott, 183 & see AP, 12/23/07; Binalshibh: WP, 9/11/02);

6 “Jihad Ali”/Inspired: KSM SUBST, Testimony of Stephen Gaudin, U.S. v. Usama Bin Laden et al.; Saudi visas easy: Staff Report, “9/11 and Terrorist Travel,” CO, 14–, 116–;

7 had sworn: JI, Report, 131–, Testimony of George Tenet, JI, 6/18/02;

8 “I swear”/“hijrah”: KSM SUBST. In its literal sense, the word hijrah or hegira refers to the Prophet’s move from Mecca to what is now Medina in A.D. 622—the first year of the Muslim era. It has thus come to be synonymous with migration. In the context used here it appears to denote a spiritual “migration” or transformation of the self (corr. Hans Kippenberg, 2010);

9 “the joys”/“My father”: bin Ladens & Sasson, 262–;

10 candidates in Gulf: KSM SUBST;

11 Italy: McDermott, 209, 299n65. The source cited on the reported KSM visit to Italy is a senior Italian investigator;

12 Germany: Leading U.S. news sources have cited “intelligence reports” indicating that KSM visited Hamburg in 1999. “We have indications from various sources,” Walter Wellinghausen, a senior official of the Hamburg Interior Ministry, told The New York Times, “that [KSM] was in Hamburg for a period, but we have not been able to definitively verify this” (Newsweek, 9/9/02, NYT, 11/4/02, WP, 9/11/02).

13 Atta: Texas Service Center, 911 Terrorist Review, “Hijacker Primary Documents—AA11,” B51, T5, CF, McDermott, 10;

14 friends: int. Mounir Motassadeq;

15 1992/​architecture/​Cairo: McDermott, 18–;

16 father divorced: Timeline Pertaining to Hijackers in Florida, “Timelines 9/11, 2 of 2,” B20, T7, CF;

17 “never stopped”: NYT, 10/10/01;

18 mother’s lap: Sunday Times (London), 1/6/02;

19 “child feelings”: Frontline: “Inside the Terror Network,” 1/17/02, www.pbs.org;

20 insect/“brainless”: Time, 9/30/01;

21 cardiologist/professor: McDermott, 14;

22 did all right/arranged meeting: ibid., 19.

23 flew to Germany: Atta had done a course in German at Cairo’s Goethe Institute. In Germany, he was at some stage sponsored by the Carl Duisberg Gesellschaft, which assists young professionals from many foreign countries (Goethe: Uwe Michaels statement to Bundeskriminalamt, Hamburg,