Wail al-Shehri
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| Wail al-Shehri | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | Unknown Asir, Saudi Arabia |
| Died | September 11, 2001 New York City, United States |
Wail al-Shehri (وائل الشهري, also transliterated Alshehri) was named by the FBI as one of the hijackers of American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston to Los Angeles that crashed into the World Trade Center as part of the September 11, 2001 attacks. His brother, Waleed al-Shehri, is also a suspected 9/11 hijacker.
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[edit] History
Although Wail used the birthdate of September 1, 1968, his father later claimed that he was only 26-years old at the time of the attack.[1] A local teacher, Wail reportedly took leave of his position to seek treatment for a mental symptom that had caused him grief, telling his father that he intended to seek aid from a religious healer in Medina. Waleed, who was then studying to become a teacher himself, accompanied him.
Afterwards, they both disappeared for a time, saying they were going to Chechnya to defend Muslims there. This has not been confirmed.[2] The brothers ended up at the Al Farouq training camp in Afghanistan, where they met Ahmed al-Nami and Saeed Alghamdi. The four reportedly pledged themselves to Jihad in the spring of 2000, in a ceremony presided over by Wail, who had dubbed himself Abu Mossaeb al-Janubi after one of Mohammad's companions.[3]
In mid-November, 2000, the 9/11 Commission believes that three of the future muscle hijackers, Wail al Shehri, Waleed al Shehri, and Ahmed al-Nami, all of whom had obtained their U.S. visas in late October, traveled in a group from Saudi Arabia to Beirut and then onward to Iran where they could travel through to Afghanistan without getting their passports stamped. This probably followed their return to Saudi Arabia to get "clean" passports. An associate of a senior Hezbollah operative is thought to have been on the same flight, although this may have been a coincidence.
Some time in late 2000, Wail traveled to the United Arab Emirates, where he purchased traveler's cheques presumed to have been paid for by Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi. Five other hijackers also passed through the UAE and purchased traveler's cheques, including Majed Moqed, Saeed Alghamdi, Hamza Alghamdi, Ahmed al-Haznawi and Ahmed al-Nami.
In March of 2001, Wail al-Shehri was filmed in a farewell video that was later aired on al Jazeera. In the video, many future 9/11 hijackers swear to become martyrs and declare their hatred of America, although no details of the plot are revealed. Al-Shehri does not speak in the film, but is seen studying maps and flight manuals.[4]
On June 8, 2001, al-Shehri entered the United States in Miami, Florida with fellow al-Qaida member Ahmed al-Haznawi. He moved into a hotel room at the Homing Inn in Boynton Beach, which he shared with his brother Waleed, and Satam al-Suqami. Both al-Suqami and Wail used this hotel as their address when they received Florida drivers' licenses on July 3.
On July 16, both Wail and Waleed were staying at a hotel in Salou, Spain where they were visited by Mohammad Atta[5]
According to librarian Kathleen Hensmen, Wail and Waleed al-Shehri used the Internet access at Delray Beach Public Library in August of 2001, where they may have been looking at information on crop dusting; they reportedly left the library with a third Middle Eastern man thought to be Marwan al-Shehhi, whom Hensmen claims asked her for the name of a local restaurant.
Although there are conflicting reports whether he had a pilot certificate, he was considered one of the "muscle" hijackers, who were not expected to act as pilots. CIA director George Tenet later said that they "probably were told little more than that they were headed for a suicide mission inside the United States."[6][7]
[edit] The Attack
Waleed and Wail are thought to have been the first two to reach Boston, having spent September 5-10th in room 432 of the Park Inn in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts (a suburb of Boston, also referenced as Newton, MA.). This hotel was then the subject of an FBI search following the attacks.[8]
On September 11, 2001, three of the Flight 11 team Satam al-Suqami, Wail and Waleed were all selected by Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS) and had their checked baggage inspected in Boston, while Mohammad Atta had been selected in Portland earlier.In Portland, Mohamed Atta was selected by CAPPS,[9] One of the five Globe Aviation security-screeners on-duty later reported that either Wail or Waleed had been using a crutch when they passed through security - and that the crutch had been X-rayed as per regulations.[10] This crutch may have been used as a weapon.
Once aboard Flight 11, Wail sat in seat 2A next to Waleed, who was occupying 2B. Once the hijacking began, the brothers are suspected of having stabbed two flight attendants. Initial reports suggested that Wail may have actually been the pilot of the flight, but these were soon dismissed in favour of Mohammed Atta, the ringleader of the attacks.
[edit] Aftermath
The FBI reported that they had seized cell phone records for Wail's phone shortly after the attacks.
Men named Wail and Waleed were both reported to have been found alive and well, by the BBC later in 2001. They were reportedly the sons of a Saudi diplomat stationed in Bombay. Wail claims he did attend Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Delray Beach, Florida - but was the victim of mistaken identity, since he used that training to secure his current position with a Moroccan airline company. Saudi Arabia has confirmed his story, and suggested he was the victim of identity theft. Much of the BBC information regarding "alive" hijackers was incorrect, according to the same sources used by BBC. These include various sources from Saudi Arabia.
However, the al-Shehri's father says he hadn't heard from his sons in ten months prior to September 2001.[11] An ABC News story in March 2002 repeated this, and during a report entitled "A Saudi Apology" for Dateline NBC on August 25, 2002, NBC's reporter John Hockenberry traveled to 'Asir, where he interviewed the third brother Salah who agreed that his two brothers were dead and claimed they had been "brainwashed".
He appeared in a video released on September 7, 2006, that showed the planning of the attacks.[12]
[edit] References
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20020929001039/www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=9424&ArY=2001&ArM=9&ArD=17
- ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A19549-2001Sep24
- ^ http://www.boston.com/news/packages/underattack/news/driving_a_wedge/part1_side.shtml
- ^ http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/2002/financialtimes091102.html
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20030415011752/http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/news/WABC_092701_njconnection.html
- ^ http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/2002/cia061802.html
- ^ http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/10/09/eveningnews/main525012.shtml
- ^ http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/09/14/national/main311268.shtml?CMP=ILC-SearchStories
- ^ The Aviation Security System and the 9/11 Attacks - Staff Statement No. 3. 9/11 Commission.
- ^ http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/2001/bostonglobe101001b.html (The Boston Globe, Oct 10-01)
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20020929001039/www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=9424&ArY=2001&ArM=9&ArD=17
- ^ http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/09/07/alqaeda.911/index.html
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Shehri, Wail al- |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | وائل الشهري (Arabic); Alshehri, Wail (alternate transliteration); Janubi, Abu Mossaeb al- (alias) |
| 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 |
