Khalid al-Mihdhar
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| Khalid al-Mihdhar | |
|---|---|
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| Born | May 16, 1975 Mecca, Saudi Arabia |
| Died | September 11, 2001 Washington D.C., United States |
Khalid al-Mihdhar (Arabic: خالد المحضار, also transliterated Almihdhar) (May 16, 1975 – September 11, 2001) was one of five terrorists named by the FBI as hijackers of American Airlines flight 77, which was crashed into the Pentagon in the September 11, 2001 attacks. He was one of the six participants known as the organizers of the attacks. He has used the aliases Sannan al-Makki, Khalid bin Muhammad, Addallah al-Mihdhar, and Khalid Mohammad al-Saqaf. Like many of the supposed hijackers, there are persistent reports that he is still alive, although this has not been confirmed.
Al-Mihdhar was the first hijacker shown to have some connection to Osama bin Laden, when it was discovered that he had attended a meeting with a suspect in the USS Cole bombing who had been identified by the FBI as one of bin Laden's top security officials.
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[edit] An al-Qaida veteran
Born in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, he went with Nawaf al-Hazmi (another alleged 9/11 hijacker) to Bosnia in 1995 to join the Bosnian Muslims in their war against Bosnian Serbs.[1] Afterwards, both men returned to Afghanistan along with Nawaf's brother Salem, joined al-Qaeda, and fought against the Afghan Northern Alliance. According to al-Mihdhar's family, he fought with Chechnyan Muslims 1998.[2][3] He was the only hijacker known to have been married.[4]
On April 7, 1999, al-Mihdhar obtained a US visa through the US Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.[5] The 9/11 Commission Report says that al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar were two of the first four terrorists hand-picked by Osama bin Laden to participate in a United States terrorist operation using hijacked planes.[1] They were originally slated to be pilots, but since both proved to be poor students, other pilots were eventually found. In the fall of 1999, these four went to an elite training camp in Afghanistan, a sort of al-Qaeda boot camp called Mes Aynak.
Former Saudi Intelligence Minister Prince Turki al Faisal has revealed that al-Mihdhar and al-Hazmi were put on a Saudi terror watch list in late 1999. He also said that he revealed this to the CIA, saying "What we told them was these people were on our watch list from previous activities of al-Qaeda, in both the embassy bombings and attempts to smuggle arms into the kingdom in 1997." The CIA strongly denies having received any such warning.[6]
According to Director Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden, NSA had al-Mihdhar "in our sights" along with Nawef al-Hazmi as early as January 2000 - al-Hazmi as a known al-Qaeda associate a year earlier (Time July 23, 2003)
[edit] In the U.S.
[edit] 2000
The FBI and 9/11 Commission claim that Nawaf and al-Mihdhar first entered the United States in 2000, though the Washington Post, LA Times and others have claimed that they lived in the country beforehand. The dispute centres on whether they lived in the United States prior to their attending the January 5-8th Al Qaeda Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where it is believed key details of the attacks were arranged. Both were secretly videotaped at the meeting by Malaysian authorities who reported that al-Mihdhdar spoke at length with perpetrators of the USS Cole bombing, including Tawfiq bin Attash.
A week afterwards, on January 15, 2000, Nawaf and al-Mihdhar flew to Los Angeles, California from Bangkok, Thailand. They were identified by the CIA, but were not put on the terrorist watchlist that is shared with other agencies - though the agency claims they sent details on his travel documents to the FBI, the FBI disputes this.
Immediately after entering the country, Nawaf and al-Mihdhar met Omar al-Bayoumi in an airport restaurant. Al-Bayoumi claims he was merely being charitable in helping the two seemingly out-of-place Muslims to move to San Diego where he helped them find an apartment near his own, co-signed their lease, and gave them $1500 to help pay their rent. There, al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar studied aviation and English.
Al Midhar flew to Saudi Arabia June 10, 2001, where he organized "muscle" hijackers for 9/11 attacks, returning to U.S. on July 4, 2001.
After the attacks, Nawaf and al-Mihdar's neighbours told the media that the pair constantly played flight simulator games, owned no furniture and were frequently picked up by limousines in the middle of the night.[7]
In June of 2000, al-Mihdhar returned to Yemen against the wishes of al-Qaeda who wanted him to remain in the United States helping Nawaf adapt. According to the 9/11 Commission Report, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was so angered by this that he decided to remove al-Mihdhar from the 9/11 plot, but he was overruled by Osama bin Laden.
In September, Nawaf and al-Mihdhdar both moved into the house of FBI informant Abdussattar Shaikh, although he did not report the pair as suspicious.[8][9] Al-Mihdhar is believed to have left the apartment in early October, less than two weeks before the USS Cole Bombing. Nawaf continued living with Shaikh until December.
On October 12, The USS Cole was bombed by a small boat laden with explosives. After the bombing, Yemeni Prime Minister Abdul Karim al-Iryani would report that al-Mihdhar had been one of the key planners of the attack, and had been in the country at the time of the attack.
[edit] 2001
Al-Mihdhar returned to the U.S. on July 4, 2001, using the controversial Visa Express program to re-enter the country. His application indicated that he intended to live temporarily at a Marriott hotel in New York City.[10]
Al-Mihdhar, along with at least five other future hijackers, traveled to Las Vegas at least six times in the Summer of 2001. They reportedly drank alcohol, gambled, and paid strippers to perform lap dances for them.[11]
In August, al-Mihdhar moved to Laurel, Maryland.
On August 23, Israeli Mossad reportedly gave his name to the CIA as part of a list of 19 names they say are planning an attack in the near future. Only four of the names are known for certain - Nawaf, Atta, Marwan and al-Mihdhar.[12][13] On the same day, he is added to an INS watchlist, together with Nawaf to prevent entry into the U.S. The next day, both al-Mihdhar and Moqed tried to purchase flight tickets from the American Airlines online ticket-merchant, but had technical difficulties resolving their address and gave up.[14]
On August 28, the New York branch of the FBI requested a case be opened "to determine if al-Mihdhar is still in the United States", but were refused.
One FBI agent sent an e-mail saying, "Whatever has happened to this, someday someone will die, and. . . the public will not understand why we were not more effective and throwing every resource we had at certain 'problems.'"[15][16][17], and after the attacks would reportedly shout "This is the same Almihdhar we've been talking about for three months!"[18]
The FBI preliminary investigation requested al-Mihdhar's July Visa application from the INS, which indicated he intended to stay at a NYC Marriott. The FBI subsequently assigned an agent to check registrations at all local Marriotts, and on September 5 the agent reports that al-Mihdhar is not registered at any.[19] Five days later, one day before the attacks, the New York office requested that the Los Angeles FBI office check all local Sheraton Hotels, and began checking Lufthansa and United Airlines bookings since those were the two airlines used to enter the country.[20]
[edit] The attacks
Al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar purchased their 9/11 plane tickets on-line using a credit card with their real names. This raised no red flags, since the FAA had not been informed that the two were on a terrorist watchlist.[21][22]
On September 10, 2001, Hanjour, al-Mihdhar, and al-Hazmi checked into the Marriott Residence Inn in Herndon, Virginia where Saleh Ibn Abdul Rahman Hussayen, a prominent Saudi government official, was staying - although no evidence was ever uncovered that they had met, or knew of each other's presence.
On September 11, al-Mihdhar and four other hijackers boarded American Airlines flight 77. Al-Mihdhar was randomly selected for extra screening, but nothing suspicious was found in his bags. Some time after takeoff, the plane was hijacked, and was flown into the Pentagon at 9:37 am, killing 189 people.
[edit] Aftermath
After the attacks, reports began emerging saying that al-Mihdhar was still alive. On September 19, the FDIC distributed a "special alert" which listed al-Mihdhar as alive. The Justice Department later claimed this was a typo.[citation needed] On 23 September, 2001, the BBC reported that there were "suggestions" that al-Mihdhar might still have been alive.[23] Der Spiegel later investigated the claims of "living" hijackers by the BBC and discovered them to be cases of mistaken identities.[24] In 2002, Saudi Arabia stated that the names of the hijackers were in fact correct.[25]
A digital copy of Mihdhar's passport was recovered during a search of an al-Qaeda safehouse in Afghanistan, which held an 'indicator', implying that Mihdhar was a member of a known terrorist group.[26]
In 2005, Army Lt. Col. Kevin Shaffer and Congressman Curt Weldon alleged that the Defense Department data mining project Able Danger had kept al-Mihdhar, Mohammed Atta, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Marwan al-Shehhi all under surveillance as al-Qaeda agents.[citation needed]
[edit] External links and references
- The Final 9/11 Commission Report
- NY Times--THE INVESTIGATION: 2 Suspected Hijackers Were Sought by F.B.I. at Time of the Attacks
- LA Times--Search for Suspects Was on for Weeks
- Newsweek--FBI Links USS Cole Bombing and World Trade Center Attack
- ^ a b 9/11 Commission Report (2004).
- ^ http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/2002/cia061802.html
- ^ http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/2003/congressreportparta072403.html
- ^ http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Substitution_for_the_Testimony_of_KSM#Deployment_of_Nawaf_al-Hazmi_and_Khalid_al-Mihdar_to_the_U.S.
- ^ http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/2003/congressreportpartb072403.html
- ^ http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/10/18/saudis/index_np.html
- ^ http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101010924/wplot.html
- ^ http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2003/07/25/news/top_stories/7_25_035_34_23.txt
- ^ http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/2003/congressreportparta072403.html]
- ^ http://intelligence.senate.gov/0209hrg/020918/hill.pdf
- ^ http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/10/04/MN102970.DTL
- ^ http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/2002/diezeit100102.html
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/europe/2294487.stm
- ^ http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2002_hr/092602mueller.html
- ^ http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/2002/senatecommittee092002.html
- ^ http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/2002/senatecommittee092002b.html
- ^ http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70717F634540C728EDDA00894DA404482
- ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46461-2002Sep20.html
- ^ http://intelligence.senate.gov/0209hrg/020920/witness.htm
- ^ http://intelligence.senate.gov/0209hrg/020920/witness.htm
- ^ http://www.webcom.com/hrin/magazine/la-watchlist.html
- ^ http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/2002/senatecommittee092602.html
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/middle_east/1559151.stm
- ^ http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,265160-2,00.html
- ^ http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200202/06/eng20020206_90055.shtml
- ^ http://www.9-11commission.gov/staff_statements/911_TerrTrav_Ch2.pdf
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Mihdhar, Khalid al- |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | خالد المحضار (Arabic); Almihdhar, Khalid (alternate transliteration); Makki, Sannan al- (alias); Khalid bin Muhammad (alias); Mihdhar, Addallah al- (alias); Saqaf, Khalid Mohammad al- (alias) |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | 9/11 hijacker |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 16, 1975 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Mecca, Saudi Arabia |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 11, 2001 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Washington D.C., United States |
