Abdulaziz al-Omari
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| Abdul Aziz al-Omari | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | Unknown Asir, Saudi Arabia |
| Died | September 11, 2001 New York City, United States |
Abdulaziz al-Omari (Arabic:عبدالعزيزالعمري, also transliterated Abdul Aziz Alomari) was named by the FBI as one of the hijackers of the first plane which was crashed into the World Trade Center in the September 11, 2001 attacks.
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[edit] History
Little is known about al-Omari's life, and it is unclear whether some information refers to al-Omari or another person by that name. He has used birth dates of December 24, 1972 and May 28, 1979. He came from Asir Province, a poor region in southwestern Saudi Arabia that borders Yemen. According to a 2003 CIA report, he had graduated with honours from high school, attained a degree from the Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud University, was married, and had a daughter.
He is alleged to have often served as an imam at his mosque in Saudi Arabia and is believed by American Authorities to have been a student of a radical Saudi cleric named Sulayman al Alwan, whose mosque is located in Al Qasim.
According to Tawfiq bin Attash, al-Omari was one of a group of future hijackers who provided security at Kandahar airport after their basic training at an al-Qaeda camp. During the 2000 Al Qaeda Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, American authorities claim that immigration records show that a person named Abdulaziz al-Omari was visiting the country, although they say they are not sure that this was the same person.
In the spring of 2001, al Jazeera television broadcast a tape they claim was made by a person they claim was al-Omari. The speaker made a farewell suicide video. In it, he reads "I am writing this with my full conscience and I am writing this in expectation of the end, which is near. . . God praise everybody who trained and helped me, namely the leader Sheikh Osama bin Laden."
According to FBI director Robert Mueller and the 9/11 Commission, al-Omari entered the United States through a London or Dubai flight on May 28 with Hamza al-Ghamdi and Mohand al-Shehri.
On June 29, 2001, al-Omari travelled to the U.S. for the first time, landing in New York. He had used the controversial Visa Express program to gain entry. He apparently stayed with several other hijackers in Paterson, New Jersey, before moving to his own place at 4032 57th Terrace, Vero Beach Florida. On his rental agreement form for that house, Omari gave two license-plates authorized to park in his space, one of which was registered to Atta.[1] Al-Omari occasionally trained on simulators at the FlightSafety Academy in Vero Beach, Florida together with Mohand al-Shehri and Saeed Al-Ghamdi.
[edit] The Attack
On September 10, Mohamed Atta al Sayed picked up Omari from the Milner Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts, and the two drove their rented Nissan to a Comfort Inn in South Portland, Maine, where they spent the night in room 232 for unknown reasons, although it was within sight of Portland International Jetport. It was initially reported that Adnan and Ameer Bukhari were the two hijackers who had rented and driven the car.[2]
The two spent their last night pursuing ordinary activities: making an ATM withdrawal, a shared meal at Pizza Hut, and a 20-minute stop at Wal-Mart.
In the early morning hours of September 11, they boarded a commuter flight to Boston to connect to American Airlines Flight 11. Al-Omari's luggage never made the connection onto Flight 11, which resulted in his passport and belongings being found after the attacks. On Flight 11, al-Omari helped hijack the plane, and assisted Mohamed Atta in crashing it into the World Trade Center part of an attack that killed thousands of people.
[edit] Aftermath
Controversy over al-Omari's identity erupted shortly after the attacks. At first, the FBI had named Abdul Rahman al-Omari, a pilot for Saudi Arabian Airlines, as the pilot of Flight 11. It was quickly shown that this person was still alive, and the FBI issued an apology. It was also quickly determined that Mohammed Atta was the pilot among the hijackers. The FBI then named Abdulaziz al-Omari as a hijacker.
A man with the same name as those given by the FBI turned up alive in Saudi Arabia, saying that he had studied at the University of Denver and his passport was stolen there in 1995. The name, origin, birth date, and occupation were released by the FBI, but the picture was not of him. "I couldn't believe it when the FBI put me on their list", he said. "They gave my name and my date of birth, but I am not a suicide bomber. I am here. I am alive. I have no idea how to fly a plane. I had nothing to do with this."[3] This individual was not the same person as the hijacker whose identity was later confirmed by Saudi government interviews with his family, according to the 9/11 Commission Report.
[edit] References
- ^ FBI Affidavit: Page 11 ABC
- ^ Two Brothers among Hijackers: CNN Report People's Daily
- ^ [1][2]? The New York Times
[edit] External links
- The Final 9/11 Commission Report
- portal.telegraph.co.uk (Article which reports that an al-Omari was not involved with the terrorist attacks)
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Omari, Abdulaziz al- |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | عبدالعزيزالعمري (Arabic); Alomari, Abdulaziz (alternate transliteration); Alomari, Abdul Aziz (alternate transliteration); Omari, Abdul Aziz al- (alternate transliteration) |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | 9/11 hijacker |
| DATE OF BIRTH | unknown |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Asir, Saudi Arabia |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 11, 2001 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | New York City, United States |
