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27 Rolince: “Staff Notes of Int. Michael Rolince, 6/9/04,” B70, T5, CF. The authors note that by an FBI account Caysan bin Don, the American Muslim who featured in an episode in January 2000—he was Bayoumi’s companion the day he and Bayoumi had their supposedly chance meeting with newly arrived Mihdhar and Hazmi—was in Portland on September 11. It is hard to imagine, though, why Atta could conceivably have needed to meet with bin Don just before 9/11. Other hypotheses to try to explain the Portland expedition include the suggestion (not dissimilar to Miles Kara’s) that Atta was worried lest the sight of as many as ten Arabs checking in at Boston for the two targeted flights to Los Angeles attract undue attention. The bottom line is that the trip remains unexplained. As the 9/11 Commission Report noted, “no physical, documentary, or analytical evidence” explains the Portland trip (location of bin Don: MFR 04018561, 11/20/03, MFR 04019254, 4/20/04, & see National Enquirer, 11/6/01; met bin Don: “Staff Notes of Int. Michael Rolince, 6/9/04,” B70, T5, CF; other hypotheses: AP, 10/4/01, NYT, 9/11/02; Commission: CR, 451n1).

28 ritual/“spiritual manual”: FBI report, “The 11 September Hijacker Cell Model,” Feb. 03, INTELWIRE. The “spiritual manual” and the ritual it called for is described at length on pp. 161–64;

29 “noticed large amounts”: MFR 04020636, 2/2/04, CF, “Hijackers Timeline [redacted],” 11/14/03, INTELWIRE. Similar evidence had been found at locations used by the terrorists involved in the bombings of the U.S. embassy in Kenya in 1998 and of the USS Cole in 2000 (New Yorker, 7/10 & 7/17/06);

30 “the mutual pledge”: see sources for Ch. 14;

31 “God willing”: Fouda & Fielding, 109, translation of Binalshibh audiotape by Naouar Bioud, authors’ collection;

32 green: e.g. Slate, 6/9/09, “The Prophet’s Mosque,” www.sacred-destinations.com.

33 When the news started: translation of Binalshibh audiotape by Naouar Bioud, in authors’ collection. The tape was obtained by reporter Yosri Fouda, and the material is used with his permission.

Part VII: UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

CHAPTER 30

1 Le Figaro story/picked up by press/According to report: Le Figaro, 10/21/01, Reuters, 11/14/01, NYT, 11/1/01, Guardian (U.K.), 11/1/01 int. Alexandra Richard.

2 medical tests: Rumors long circulated that bin Laden suffered from serious kidney disease requiring dialysis. His son Omar refuted that allegation in the 2009 memoir written with his mother, Najwa—both of whom had intimate contact with bin Laden until well into 2001. Omar conceded, however, that his father—along with others in the extended family—“had a tendency to suffer from kidney stones. Those stones caused immense pain until they had passed out of his body, but his kidneys were strong otherwise.” Interviewed by the Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir on November 8, 2001—the only post-9/11 newspaper interview—bin Laden himself said, “My kidneys are all right” (rumors: e.g. Gunaratna, 48, Eye Spy magazine, no. 57, 2008; Omar: bin Ladens & Sasson, 172; “all right”: ed. Lawrence, 144);

3 Callaway declined: Le Figaro, 10/21/01;

4 Koval denied: NYT, 11/1/01;

5 Mitchell told: int. Alexandra Richard & authors’ int. with Dubai source;

6 possible OBL did visit Dubai: In the November 2001 interview cited above, bin Laden said, “I did not go to Dubai last year.” The meeting with the CIA, of course, is not alleged to have happened the previous year—2000—but in July 2001 (ed. Lawrence, 144).

7 Chouet: int. & corr. Alain Chouet, 2009 & 2011, Chouet int. for Le Monde, 3/29/07, http://alain.chouet.free.fr. In the furor after initial publication of the story, a New York Times article suggested that the allegation of the Dubai meeting was planted by French intelligence “to suggest a continuing covert linkage between the CIA and bin Laden.” In her description of how the story developed, however, reporter Alexandra Richard made clear that she first learned of it from a private source she had long trusted—in Dubai. As described in