The Eleventh Day

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, 10/2/01, authors’ collection; Duisberg: Tagespiel [Germany], 10/16/01).

24 “exceedingly”: Uwe Michaels Statement to Bundeskriminalamt, Hamburg, 10/2/01, authors’ collection;

25 own meals/?pots/?video/?risque: Chicago Tribune, 3/7/03;

26 blouse: Sunday Times (London), 1/26/02, LAT, 1/27/02;

27 “that person”: int. of Michaels Jr. by Hannah Cleaver;

28 “words”: Chicago Tribune, 1/27/02;

29 clashes: McDermott, 25–;

30 “a dear human”: Newsweek, 10/1/01 applied self/trips: transcript, int. Dittmar Machule, 10/18/01, Four Corners: A Mission to Die For, 10/18/01, www.abc.net.au;

31 Omar arrive/phony/returned: MFR 04016498, 1/13/04, LAT, 9/1/02, CR, 161;

32 aspired: CR, 161, Fouda & Fielding, 74;

33 “in love”: McDermott, 48;

34 “very funny”: int. Mounir Motassadeq;

35 “disgusting”/read Qur’an: eds. Der Spiegel, 197;

36 newcomer/father muezzin: McDermott, 55;

37 prayer tape: Corbin, 134;

38 “regular guy”: CR, 162;

39 “happy”: int. Mounir Motassadeq;

40 jokes: Miller & Stone, 263;

41 “dreamy”: McDermott, 54;

42 military: CR, 162;

43 marine engineering: McDermott, 53–;