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FBI Denies Mix-Up Of 9/11
Terrorists
Prison Planet
Posted June 11, 2003
| FBI Director Mueller acknowledged
in 2002 there was no “legal proof to prove the identities of the
hijackers.” Yet the bureau insists it correctly has identified them.
FBI Director Mueller
acknowledged in 2002 there was no “legal proof to prove the identities
of the hijackers.” Yet the bureau insists it correctly has identified
them.
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Nearly 48 hours after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the names of the
hijackers flashed across TV screens for the world to see. Based on
intelligence information gained from interviews, witnesses,
flight-manifest logs and passports found at some of the crash debris
sites, the FBI claimed it correctly had identified all 18 hijackers. A
short time later the number was amended to 19. A few days later the
names were followed with photos of the men blamed for the terrorism
that claimed nearly 3,000 lives in New York City, Washington and
Pennsylvania. Incredibly fast intelligence work - some of the
information coming from the National Ground Intelligence Center in
Charlottesville, Va. - enabled investigators to tie the attack to Osama
bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.
While there is no doubt the hijackings were the work of al-Qaeda,
questions remain about whether some of the hijackers actually were the
men the FBI identified. Last year that doubt crept into the highest
levels of law enforcement after a series of sensational news reports
aired by the BBC, ABC and CNN, along with several British newspapers,
cast suspicion on whether the FBI got it right. The reports suggested
at least six of the men the FBI claimed were hijackers on the planes
were in fact alive. They didn't survive the crashes, of course, but
never boarded the planes.
The six claimed they were victims of identify theft. They were
"outraged" to be identified as terrorists, they told the Telegraph of
London. In fact, one of the men claimed he never had been to the United
States, while another is a Saudi Airlines pilot who said he was in a
flight-training course in Tunisia at the time of the attacks.
The stunning news prompted FBI Director Robert Mueller to admit that
some of the hijackers may have stolen identities of innocent citizens.
In September 2002, Mueller told CNN twice that there is "no legal proof
to prove the identities of the suicidal hijackers." After that
admission a strange thing happened - nothing. No follow-up stories. No
follow-up questions. There was dead silence and the story disappeared.
It was almost as if no one wanted to know what had happened. In fact,
the FBI didn't bother to change the names, backgrounds or photographs
of the alleged 19 hijackers. It didn't even deny the news reports
suggesting that the names and identities of at least six of the
hijackers may be unknown. Mueller just left the door open.
Until now. Now the FBI is sticking with its original story - regardless
of whether photographs displayed of the suspected Sept. 11 terrorists
were of people who never boarded those planes and are very much alive.
FBI spokesman Bill Carter simply brushes off as false the charges from
news reports that the FBI misidentified some of the Sept. 11
terrorists. Carter says they got the names right and it doesn't matter
whether the identities were stolen. This comes as a complete about-face
from Mueller's comment that there might be some question about the
names of the Sept. 11 terrorists because they might have been operating
under stolen identities.
What does the FBI director think now? Mueller no longer is commenting
on the charges. However, Carter insists the FBI got it right. End of
story.
"There has been no change in thought about the identities of those who
boarded those planes," Carter tells Insight. "It's like saying my name
is John Smith. There are a lot of people with the name of John Smith,
but they're not the same person."
What about Mueller's comments last year? "He might have told Congress
[about the identity theft], but we have done a thorough investigation
and we are confident," Carter says.
How can the FBI be sure that the 19 men it "identified" are indeed the
hijackers? "Through extensive investigation," Carter insists. "We
checked the flight manifests, their whereabouts in this country, and we
interviewed witnesses who identified the hijackers."
But the series of stories last year prompted the Senate Select
Committee on Intelligence to investigate the claims, according to Paul
Anderson, spokesman for Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.), who was chairman of
the committee. Anderson says the committee apparently found nothing to
dispute the FBI identification of the 19 named individuals.
But confusion remains, particularly for those who claim their names and
backgrounds have been attached to a photo of a dead terrorist. The
photo might be correct, they say, but the identification is not. The
Saudi Arabian Embassy insists that some innocents have been maligned by
a rush to identify the Sept. 11 perpetrators.
The six Saudis in question are:
Abdul Aziz al-Omari was identified as one of the
hijackers and the pilot who crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into
the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Another man with the same
name is an electrical engineer in Saudi Arabia. He lived in Denver
after earning a degree from the University of Colorado in 1993.
Coincidence? Consider this oddity. ABC News has reported that his
Denver apartment was broken into and his passport and other documents
stolen in 1995. In September 2001 he told the Telegraph, "I couldn't
believe it when the FBI put me on their list. 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."
More disturbing is that the FBI accidentally may have fused two names
to create one identity, because another man, Abdul Rahman al-Omari, who
has a different birth date, is the person pictured by the FBI, but he
still is a pilot for Saudi Arabian Airlines. After his photograph was
released, he walked into the U.S. Embassy in Jedda and demanded to know
why he was being reported as a dead hijacker.
Salem al-Hamzi was identified as one of the
suspected hijackers on American Flight 77, the plane that was crashed
into the Pentagon. Another man who has the same name works for the
Saudi Royal Commission in Yanbu.
Saeed al-Ghamdi reportedly was one of the
alleged hijackers on United Airlines Flight 93, the plane that crashed
in Pennsylvania. He and another hijacker were said to have been in
control of the plane when it was destroyed. A Saudi Arabian pilot has
the same name.
Ahmed al-Nami was identified as a hijacker on
United Flight 93. He also may have been in control of the plane when it
crashed. A Saudi Arabian pilot with the same name is alive in Riyadh.
Wail al-Shehri was identified as one of the
suspected hijackers on American Flight 11. He reportedly was in control
of the plane when it crashed. Another Saudi man who is a pilot has the
same name, and his father is a Saudi diplomat in Bombay. His picture
was displayed by the FBI as the "terrorist" al-Shehri who crashed the
plane. The al-Shehri who is alive had resided in Daytona Beach, Fla.,
where he enrolled in flight training at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical
University. He currently works for a Moroccan airline. Last year the
Associated Press reported that al-Shehri had spoken to the U.S. Embassy
in Morocco. His photograph having been released and repeatedly shown
around the world is evidence the man in the FBI photograph still is
alive, the Saudi Embassy explains.
Waleed M. al-Shehri, a name used by another
suspected hijacker on American Flight 11, reportedly is the brother of
Wail al-Shehri. The odd coincidence is that the other son of the
diplomat father is named Waleed M. This prompted the BBC to report in
2001 that, "Another of the men named by the FBI as a hijacker in the
suicide attacks on Washington and New York has turned up alive and
well."
The Saudi Embassy has said it believes that bin Laden's plan was to
have the United States blame Saudi Arabia for the attacks. Embassy
officials say that, based on the amount of hate mail they have received
in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, that scheme has worked.
Timothy W. Maier is a writer for Insight.
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