The Twin Towers: 9: AM

W. J., 57, was talking on the phone in her office when: "I felt this jolt, like an earthquake, and then the building began to sway back and forth, back and forth. I'm from California, and I don't like earthquakes, so the first thing that crossed my mind was to get out of the building. But then, when I stepped outside my office, no one else seemed very concerned, and then, my phone rang.

It was my sister.

"There's a big hole in your building" she cried. "And there's smoke coming out of it."

I warned everybody else and we all headed out into the hall. There was thick black smoke everywhere, which really scared me. We quickly walked to the elevators, but one of the doors had blown off and smoke was billowing in from the elevator shaft.

I ran to the stairwell ad opened the door. There was no smoke, but there were people hurrying down. I could see that many of them were badly hurt. Some were burnt. Some were bloody. Some were talking on their cell phones as calm as can be.

By the time we reached the 60th floor, the entire stairwell was packed with people. I wanted to run, to get down as fast as I could, but I couldn't. By the time we got to the 26th floor, we had to form a single file line. Firemen were coming up, loaded down with gear. They looked so brave, but already so tired. My heart went out to them. I wanted to tell them to get out of the building. I was sure they were all going to die.

When we finally got to the lobby I was shocked. The elevators were blown out. The overhead sprinklers were on, and there was water and trash and shattered glass everywhere.

I just wanted to get out. Every ten feet or so there was someone standing, giving directions, pointing us this way, then that way. Watch your step. Walk here. Don't stop there. I wanted to run, but I did what they told me. It seemed like hours had already gone by.

Finally, I was outside in the sunshine, standing in front of the Millennium Hotel. I glanced at my watch. It had taken me an hour to get out.

I wanted to call my husband, but I had left my phone and handbag in my office. I didn't have any money and there was a long line in front of the pay phone. I lingered for a moment and then I just started walking away. Then I heard this terrible roar.

People started running and screaming: "It's coming down. It's coming down. It's coming down."

I turned and looked back, and all I could see was a huge cloud of smoke where the Twin Towers had stood just moments before.

The roar sounded like some titanic unearthly beast.. I kicked off my shoes and I ran. When I couldn't run anymore, I stopped and looked back and the entire block was gone. Everything was gone. I remembered the faces of those firemen, heading up the stairs with all the gear on their backs. The look on those faces, those brave faces. I knew they were all dead and I began to cry.

*****

Suicide bombers from the Middle East are typically young, impressionable, often highly religious, or living in dispair and hopeless poverty. Unlike the easily manipulated lost souls who volunteer for death in the Middle East, the 19 men who hijacked the four passenger jets in the September 11 attack on the USA, well educated, technically savvy professionals. A few were even physical fitness buffs who regularly worked out at the local gym.

Suicide bombers often know only that they will someday blow themselves up. They wait for instructions, and the instructions are simple and provided usually on the day before the attack is to be carried out.

By contrast, many of those belong to this group of terrorists had lived in teh United States for years and had basically blended in. They had also known the basics of what their mission entailed and had been receiving sophisticated and detailed training for years.

And whereas those who carry out suicide bombings are often under close supervision so that they are essentially under direct manipulative control, the men who carried out the sucide attacks against America did so essentially by very remote control well beyond the watchful eye of a supreme leader.

Even more remarkable. They kept their plans secret for years. "What happened on Sept. 11 has demolished a number of our presumptions about suicide attacks," says Brian Jenkins, a terrorism specialist with the Rand Corporation. "It's possible to get one person to make that commitment and carry it out. But as you add a second, a third, a fourth, that chance increases on the way to the mission that somebody is going to say, 'This is a bad idea.' "

In this case, 19 men remained committed to a "bad idea," and they carried it out with sophistication and military precision.

Mohamed Atta, 33, may not have been the supreme leader. Yet, he was centrally involved in possibly all phase of the attack. Atta was a religious man, which is a not uncommon characteristic of those who carry out suicide attacks. Yet, Atta differed from the stereotypical attacker in that he was older, 33, highly educated, technically skilled, he came from a well do do family, and in some respects could be considered "upwardly mobile."

It is also quite rate for an individual who plays such a central role in formulating a suicide mission, to actually take part in it; the exceptions being military engagements where soldiers and their leaders know they are facing certain death.

Atta considered himself to be a soldier. He knew he was facing certain death, and that his death would contribute to the death of thousands of innocement men and women. His was not a suicide brigade preparing to do battle with a well armed enemy, but with the unarmed and unsuspecting women and men of that "enemy." He would maim and kill thousands of innocent people who had never caused harm to him or the Arab peoples.

Before coming to the United States to set in motion the final phase of the deadliest attack ever experienced by the American people, he lived and trained with several of the other hijackers, including Marwan Al-Shehhi, Saeed Alghamdi, and in Hamburg Germany.

MOHAMED ATTA & MARWAN AL-SHEHHI

Mohamed Atta, 33, and Marwan Al-Shehhi, 23, and belonged to an elite group of "Islamic soldiers." They would soon become martyrs, and would kill themselves and thousands of others for their cause -- one founded on hate and a perversion of Islamic principles. Each would commandeer and pilot one of the four planes which were to strike at the heart of America..

In what was to be a 14 month odyssey that would lead to the death of thousands, Atta began the final stages of his training at the Technical University in the elegant port city of Hamburg, Germany.

Mohamed Atta tried to avoid drawing attention to himself, though he did have a penchant for black jeans and hanging out at Sharky's Billiard Bar.

His teachers described him as polite, diligent, intelligent, and very religious, perhaps fanatically so. He began making demands of University officials to make accomodations to meet his religious needs, and convinced them to establish a Islamic prayer room for himself and 20 others. It is believed that he used the prayer room to recruit other Arab students to his cause, including fellow hijackers, Marwan Al-Shehhi, Saeed Alghamdi, and Ziad Jarrahi.

Hamburg is home to about 80,000 Muslims of various nationalities and is considered a safe haven for Islamic extremist groups.

Moreover, many of these men also met together at the home of Atta and Alshehh, often staying late into the night.

According to the Kay Nehm, Germany's chief federal prosecutor, Atta in fact, organized a terrorist cell while in Hamburg, which included Islamic extremists directly associated with Osama bin Laden.

"These people were of Arabic background and lived in Hamburg and were Islamic fundamentalists. They formed a terrorist organization with the aim of launching spectacular attacks on the institutions of the United States."

On September 11, 2001, Atta would take the controls of American Airlines Flight 11, Al-Shehhi would pilot United Airlines Flight 175, and Ziad Jarrahi and his band of cutthroats would comandeer United Airlines Flight 93. Two of the jets would strike and destroy one of the two twins towers of the World Trade Center. The team headed by Ziad Jarrhi had a completely different target: The White House, home of the President of the United States.

In July, 2000, he and Marwan Al-Shehhi, journeyed from Germany to Florida. They told people they were "cousins." Like so many other foreign nationals from China, Korea, South America, Europe, and the Middle East, the Atta and his "cousin" signed up at Huffman Aviation International flight school in Venice, to receive flight training. They wanted to be pilots, they explained, and were hoping to fly corporate jets in the United Arab Emirates.

Both men paid $10,000 for four months of pilot training on small planes.

Later, Atta and Marwin began honing their aviation skills at another school, the SimCenter Inc. school near Miami, paying $1,500 each or a three hour course. There they received training on a flight simulator for a Boeing 727 jet.

A flight simulator is exactly what its name implies. It provides the student with a realistic flying experience over realistic terrain, including mountains, rivers, forests, and the World Trade Center. Once the door to the room housing the flight simulator is closed, whatever student do behind those closed doors, including practice runs at crashing into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, would be known only to themselves.

Henry George, an instructor, said Atta "got a good feel for maneuvering the airplane around, basically turning the airplane left and right, climbing and descending."

Atta was slowly acquiring the skills to maneuver a Boeing 727 into the heart of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.

Rudy Dekkers, Huffman's president and owner of Huffman Aviation, said the two men began attending flight school in July 2000. Huffman offers training in light, single-engine aircraft but not commercial jetliners. However, they only attended the school for about five months and never finished their training. The men explained they were leaving in order to take training elsewhere.

The next phase of the training was a final rehersal for a terrorist attack on the United States of America. In the few remaining weeks before the September 11 terrorist attack, the two "cousins" began fine tuning their flying skills. For $88.00 an hour they rented a single- engine plane, in order "to increase their flying hours.

"He said he was already a pilot and was not after another license," said Andrew Law, a flight instructor. "He said he was just practicing, showing his friend the airplane and what to expect." What they expected was to become martyrs. Want they wanted was to kill thousands of people.

A former employee at Huffman Aviation in Venice, Charlie Voss and his wife Drew, generously allowed the two foreign nationals to stay with them briefly while attending flight school at Huffman. They had told Charlie and Drew they had just arrived in the U.S. from Hamburg, Germany. "We are cousins," they said.

They were also rude and unpleasant. After a week of their insults and arrogant, condescening behavior, Drew Voss had had enough. "They were rude, selfish, unfriendly, and I kicked them out!"

Atta's and Alshehhi moved out and set up housekeeping in an apartment they rented in Coral Springs, which is near Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Although some of thier neighbors tried to make them feel welcome the two "cousins" were not very friendly and did not socialize.

The two men made it clear they did not particularly care for Americans. While attending the flight school they refused to socialize with the others, and kept a very low, but angry, profile.

"They seemed different, moody," said Richard Nyren, a student at the school. "You would never see them smile."

Another student, Azzan Ali, recalled that they often ranted about Israel, and were "very religious... bragged about their wealth," and were adverse to work or holding down a job. "We don't want to work."

As summed up by one of the flight instructors: "They didn't talk to anyone about anything at all. They were not very friendly. They made it clear they were not interested in making friends. If you tried to strike up a conversation, they would just stare at you, like you were some kinda insect. They often seemed angry and preocupied, like they had a lot on their minds."

What they had in mind was mass murder.

As related by Mark Mikarts, a Huffman flight instructor: "Atta was not a friendly person. He got into conflicts with a lot of guys here, including myself and another flight instructor. Atta and I got into an altercation once because I had warned him that what he was doing was dangerous. During our training flights he kep jerking the yoke back and pulling the nose of the plane up to a very dangerous angle, to the point where it would stall. Een though I reprimanded him for putting us in a dangerous situation, he did again and again. Again I reprimanded him and he got upset and demanded that the flight school give him another instructor. But within days he was having altercations with that instructor too."

Atta's and Alshehhi didn't just dislike Americans. They hated them. Atta and Alshehhi were drowning in hate, and sometimes drowned their hate in alcohol.

Although Islam forbids the drinking of alcohol, in the days before the hijaking and the attack on the Pentagon and the Twin Towers, Marwan Alshehhi and Mohamed Atta got drunk in a bar while a third member of their party apparently passed the time playing video games.

They liked to drink and would frequent various bars, nightclubs, and even strip clubs; establishments where they sometimes met with their coconspirators. They would drink together, get drunk, humiliate the ladies, and brag that they were pilots.

On the day after the hijacking, when shown a picture of Mohamed Atta to Gus Renny, owner of the Palm Beach bar, immediately recognized him and his drinking buddy.

"I told the FBI that those two of those guys were in here last week bragging they were Arab pilots - and they spent more than $1,000 in 45 minutes," said Gus. "They ordered several rounds of drinks and then some of our most expensive champagne - a bottle of Krug and a bottle of Perrier-Jouet."

In the days before the attack, the two men met a third man at Shuckums, a downtown restaurant in Hollywood, Florida. When the FBI showed manager Tony Amos photos and mug shots, he immediately recognized the two "cousins."

"They each consumed several drinks Friday night. They were getting drunker and drunker and louder and louder. One of them, the guy named Mohamed, his voice was so slurred and he had such a thick accent, it was difficult to understand what he was raving about. The only thing I remember is that he said he was a pilot."

They were nasty drunks. Loud and beliggerent, even arguing with the bartender Patricia Idrissi over the bill. Mohamed snarled at her and announced in a loud drunken voice that he "worked for American Airlines and made a lot of money." The two drunks and their friend finally paid their bill and drove away in Atta's 1989 red Pontiac.

Days later, FBI agents a 1989 red Pontiac that had been abandoned at Boston's Logan Airport. It was registered to Mohamed Atta.

******

FLORIDA: HIJACKER HEAVEN

Florida had become hijacker haven. An incredible number of hijackers and their associates had set up residence in Florida, under the supposed watchful eyes of the FBI.

Eighteen men on the FBI's watch list suspected of being potential terrorist threats to the United States and two of the hijackers, Hamza Alghamdi and Ahmed Alghamdi, lived in the general vicinity of Vero Beach, and eight of these men and the two of the hijackers shared a dormitory at Flight Safety International, a flight school in Vero Beach.

Two additional hijackers Waleed Alshehri and Saeed Alghamdi, and yet another man suspected of terrorist threat shared an address in Daytona Beach. Waleed Alshehri and his brother Wail also shared yet another address with a woman living in Hollywood, Florida who was also on the "watch list."

Yet another hijacker, Mohald Alshehri owned a luxurious condo at the private golf club Hamletin Delray Beach, Florida. Abdul Alomari, rented a $1,400-a-month pastel stucco house next door to another Saudi.

The children of these men played with the children of neighbors, they were invited over for slumber parties, and they played Nintendo together. They sent their children local schools, and in the morning these men would head off to pilot training classes at FlightSafety Academy. Although their wives were heavily robed and seldom allowed out of their homes, outwardly they lived the lives of an Arabic Ozzie and Harriet.

Another of the terrorist, Ahmed A. al-Ghamdi lived in Pensacola. His apartment was the center of considerable activity, especially late at night, with large number of Arab arriving for prolonged meetings.

According to Linda Green, a neighbor, ''People would come and knock on the doors late at night. We might see three or four, and they were always men. It was always in the evening. The traffic in and out, although it was sporadic, was constant every evening. They would go and knock, and then it would be a little while and someone would look out the window to see who it was, like they were being very cautious. Not your normal coming to the door and opening it.''

Marwan Al-Shehhi and Mohamed Atta had also made Florida their home base. In fact, 14 of the 19 hijackers called Florida home sweet home.

These men traveled widely throughout Florida, frequently met together in a variety of locations, drank together, worked out together, and plotted mass murder together. They left their "fingerprints" everywhere: airports, motels, and especially bars.

Gus Renny, owner of the Palm Beach bar, that Atta and another man "spent more than $1,000 in 45 minutes."

They also liked to travel, and frequently changed addresses. And wherever they went, most made it clear that they did not like Americans.

Three of the hijackers maintained a residence next door to sisters and Nicole and Rachel Diaz, in Del Ray Beach.

"I never once saw one of them smile. You'd get in the elevator and they wouldn't even acknowledge that you were in there with them," 12-year-old Nicole said.

"They would always be carrying medium-size bags with them," added Rachel, 14. "I never saw them without those bags. A lot of people here said they must be drug smugglers."

One of the few and notable exceptions to the mass concentration of hijackers in Florida may have been Ziad Jarrahi. The FBI turned up evidence that he had been living a somewhat Spartan existence in an $800-a-month apartment in Brooklyn.

Yet other evidence suggests that Ziad also moved to Florida and frequently met with Atta and the other terrorists.

Why Florida?

They may have chosen Florida for a number of reasons, including the warm weather and the chance to ogle decadent Western females as they pranced nearly naked in string bikinis on the famed white sand beaches. All that sand, it may have reminded them of their own desert kingdoms.

They may have also felt that they were less likely to stand out and draw attention in Florida, as compared, for example, to Vermont or South Dakota. Over 30,000 Muslims live in South Florida, the vast majority of whom are foreign-born. In fact, several of the hijackers had been living in Florida for years, including Mohald Alshehri who owned a luxurious condo at a private golf club Hamletin Delray Beach, Florida.

The dark skinned Arabs may have also felt they would be less conspicuous in Florida, the home of millions of dark skinned Latin peoples.

Also, as Florida attracts a flood of tourists year round, over 70 million in 2000, the fact that these men were jobless and without any obvious means of supporting themselves financially, but were nevertheless spending gobs of cash, would have gone virtually unnoticed. They would have easily blended in with the millions of other rich foreigners who come to the U.S. every year to stay, play and have fun. These men, however, were here to commit mass murder. It was probably precisely because their mission was murder that these men and their supporters and back up crews chose Florida. Florida has a unique status second only to California, as have an incredible concentration of flight schools offering aviation instruction. Florida boasts mover than 225 flying schools, including those sponsorded or offered at Florida's public airports.

Because Florida is number 2, they try harder and anyone who wants to learn how to fly a jet in order to commit mass murder can easily obtain flight training--no questions asked; other than: Show me the money. In Florida, training in aviation is a $1-billion-a-year industry.

And, as many as 30% of the students are foreigners

Florida was perfect.

"It's unlikely that these men would have stood out just because they come from another country," said Gary Kitely, executive director of the University Aviation Association. "Students from all over the world come to this country to learn how to fly."

The terrorists could move freely, could obtain the training they desired, and could frequently meet together to plot the murder of thousands of innocent people.

Many of these men already had training as pilots; though how many is unclear. For example, Abdulaziz Alomari told neighbors that he was a pilot and claimed to work for a subcontractor of Saudi Arabian Airlines. Alomari listed his address as Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, according to FAA records. He also listed his previous employer as Saudi Flight Ops, which handles maintenance for Saudi Arabian Airlines at Kennedy airport in New York.

Yet another hijacker was the son of a Saudi Arabian diplomat. He too claimed to have been a pilot working for a Saudia Arabian airlines.

In fact, 8 of those on the FBI's watch list including hijackers Hamza Alghamdi and Ahmed Alghamdi. Hamza and Ahmed shared a dormitory at Flight Safety International, a flight training school which is under contact with Saudi Arabian Airlines, the kingdom's national airline. Al Shehri in fact, received a four-year scholarship for flight training at the school, that had been granted by the Saudi Arabian government.

It has been suggested that some of the hijackers had stolen the identities of pilots employed in Saudi Arabia, and that most of the hijackers were not really Saudi citizens and were not pilots. Why they would bother to perpetrate such a hoax is unclear particularly in that many of these men were in fact pilots and knew how to fly a plane.

Of course, if their identities are real, this would suggest that the hijackers were recruited from the cream of Saudi society by Osama bin Laden, or some other terrorist group.

******

Although several of the hijackers, and dozens of their associates were on the FBIs "watch list," these merchants of mayhem frequently met together not only in private but in public.

They were fancy dressers, they spent a lot of cash, and they liked the fast life, spending a lot of time not only in bars, but strip clubs, throwing money at the strippers as they drank and partied.

A nude dancer at the Cheeta, remembered that Atta liked to throw $100.00 bills on the floor, and then order the girls to crawl on their knees.

One of their favorite watering holes was the 44th Aero Squadron, a bar located at the Venice airport in Florida. "Atta was a very big spebnder. He also carried a wad of $100 bills," said Keith Schortzmann, the owner, "enought to choke a horse."

They were living it up, because they did not have much longer to live.

Atta and Alshehhi would also frequently take a drive in Atta's red 1989 Pontiac and visit with four of their fellow hijackers who were living in Delray Beach: Fayez Ahmed, Ahmed Alghamdi, Hamza Alghamdi, and Mohald Alshehri belonged to the terrorist cell that would be captained by Marwan Al-Shehhi.

They likely repeatedly rehearsed their plans. Fayez Ahmed, Ahmed Alghamdi, Hamza Alghamdi, and Mohald Alshehri were to brandish knives and "bombs," incapacite the crew and then kill the pilots. Marwan Al-Shehhi would pilot United Airlines Flight 175 and crash it into the south Tower of the World Trade Center.

Atta, perhaps accompanied by Ziad Jarrahi, would also meet with Saeed Alghamdi, Ahmed Alhaznawi, and Ahmed Alnami. These men comprised the core membership of the terrorist battle group that were to be captained by Ziad Jarrahi. Their mission: United Airlines Flight 93 would be hijacked after leaving Ronald Reagan International Airport in Washington D.C., and would be slammed into the White House.

******

Not all the hijackers lived within easy commuting distance. Some were staying in Cambridge and Salem Massachussetts, and in Los Angeles and San Diego California. Others may have resided in Canada, as well as briefly in Arizona and Virginia.

Yet, it was necessary for them to intercommunicate.

The phone was not an option. Who knows who might be listening.

The U.S. mail was unreliable. Who knows who might open a letter.

The solution?

The Internet.

As August became September, and the designated day for the hijacking neared, the terrorists began a mass migration. Abdulaziz Alomari who had lived in a rented a home with his wife and four children moved out on September 3. However, although he sent his family back to Saudi Arabia, he had no plans to leave the country.

Atta headed to Canada. There final destination was to assemble at Ronald Regan International Airport, Boston's Logan Airport, and the Newark International Airport in New Jersey

Atta and Alshehhi had already made their way to Boston in Atta's red car. They parked it in the lot at Logan International Airport, and caught a flight to Canada, apprently making contact with a female agent that was living there. Next, they traveled to Maine in order to rendavoise with some of the other terrorists who were gathering there.

Others, however, had apparently already assembled near the targeted airports. Some of them, like Atta, even flew on the same commercial jets that days later they would hijack--preparing themselves by taking trial runs.

The conspirators, however, had to maintain communication.

Atta and some of his coconspirators headed to the nearest Internet Cafe, in this case, one located in Bangor, Maine. Owner Stephen Stimpson recalled that they asked to rent two computers. They said they needed to check their e-mails. They had a Hotmail.com e-mail account.

One of the men printed out his messages. Then he typed in is reply.

The two brothers, Waleed M. Alshehri and Wail Alshehri were also on the move. Like the others, Waleed M. Alshehri and Wail had an internet e-mail account. Their was with Net.Zero.

As they journeyed to their date with destiny, they would stop off at local libraries or rent motel rooms that provided internet access.

In early September, Waleed M. Alshehri and Wail stopped off at the public library in Delray Beach. They did not apply for a library card and they did not check out any books.

They wanted access to the internet. They had to check their messages. They said they got a lot of e-mails.

Katherine Hensman, the research librarian in Delray Beach, remembered the two men and after the suicide hijackings, she contacted the FBI.

They also checked into a local motel after being assured it offered internet access. They had to check their messages. They said they got a lot of e-mails.

A third man joined them an hour later. He too had to check his messages.

Paul Dragomir, who runs the Longshore motel, in Hollywood, Florida, remembered the men and also notified the FBI.

As recalled by Dragomir, the three men showed up with a lot of baggage and said they had to have 24-hour internet access, and they had to have it in their room. Dragomir said he would see what he could do.

Satisfied, the three men retired for some sun and fun on the beach. While they were gone a woman from Canada called and inquired about them.

When they returned a couple hours later, Dragomir told them he could not provide 24-hour Internet access in their room.

The men became enraged. angry.

"You don't understand. We're on a mission,'' they said.

According to the FBI, Mohald Alshehri was among the hijackers who seized United Airlines Flight 175, which crashed into the World Trade Center's south tower. Two other Alshehris, Waleed M. Alshehri and Wail Alshehri, were on Flight 11, which hit the north tower.

******

The World Trade Center, a symbol of America's technological and financial prowress and superiority, had been a terrorist target since 1993.

The 1993 plot to topple the World Trade Center failed because of insufficient explosive power.

The plan, probably first conceived in 1996, called for the a weapon with sufficient fire power to bring down the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Although possessing incredible explosive and killing power, a missile would be insufficient.

The perfect weapon would be a massive, fuel laden jet, such as a Boeing 767. The fuel tank of a Boeing holds 20,450 gallons of jet fuel. Although jet fuel is not as volatile as gasoline, it packs a massive punch. A single gallon can produce 125,000 BTUs of energy. A Boeing 767, weighing 351,000 pound, and fully loaded with jet fuel, would have the explosive power of a one-kiloton nuclear bomb!

The plan, therefore, required that the jets selected for hijacking, would have to be fully fueld, which meant, that the hijackers would have to commandeer Boeing jets sheduled for cross country flights. The jets would also have to be hijacked soon after take off, and would have to be departing from airports located close to their targets.

Mohamed Atta purchased a fuel consumption calculator and made the necessary calculations. Four different commercial airlines, all Boeing jets, would be hijacked soon afer takeoff from three different airports, all located close to the final targets.

The hijackers had also given considerable thought to the perfect day for a hijacking. They also checked and rechecked flight schedules to determine the optimal day for a hijacking.

Typically, most people traveling cross country do not chose Tuesdays to take their flights. Often these jets were less than half full. A commercial jet with just a few passangers would be easier to hijack by just a few men armed with knives and a fake bomb.

The choice was clear.

The hijackings would take place on a Tuesday.

September 11, 2001 fell on a Tuesday.

Atta and several of his men had begun casing Logan International Airport six to 12 months before launching their Kamikazi hijacking. They apparently took a number of test flights, and became familiar with airport security. Likewise, Ronald Reagan International Airport, and the airports in New Jersey and Portland, Maine, were cased by the hijackers, and test flights were made.

Lastly, they determined which specific flights would be hijacked. They began purchasing tickets for the individual members of each hijcking team in late August.

Using a Visa credit card, Atta purchased his final ticket for Flight 11, on August 28. Atta, being fond of the internet, bough his ticked from the American Airlines Web site, and used a frequent-flier number that he had established three days before. His was seat 8D

Another member of the Flight 11 hijacking team, paid cash for his ticket, and was to sit in 10B. Waleed al-Shehri and his brother, Wail purchased seats 2B and 2A.

Nothing but the best was desired by at least two of those who were to hijack United Airlines Flight 175. Using the internet, two of the men paid United Airlines nearly $2,000 each for one-way first-class seats, both of which were located close to the cockpit. Ghamdi paid $1,760 for a business-class Seat 9D. Hamza al-Ghamdi was to sit in Seat 9C. Both men were trained pilots, and would be sitting close to the cockpit. on through the Internet, The other three hijackers paid $1,600 and $1,760 for business-class seats.

The target for American Airlines Flight 77 was the Pentagon. Again, the internet was the choice method or purchasing ticks. Nawaf al-Hamzi booked his ticket through the Internet travel agency, Travelocity.

Khalid al-Mihdhar, also used the internet, and booked his reservation on the American Airlines Web site. However, Khalid al-Mihdhar did not use a credit card but drove to the Baltimore-Washington International Airport on September 5, and paid cash. His assigned seat was 12B. Majed Moqedalso paid for his ticket with cash in Baltimore, and sitting in seat 12A.

Of the four flights to be hijacked that day, the success of those whose targets were the Pentagon and the White House, were considered to be the last crucial. The plane to be commandeered by Ziad Jarrahi and his team, Flight 93 consisted of only 4 hijackers: Saeed Alghamdi, Ahmed Alhaznawi, and Ahmed Alnami--though it is possible that one additional hijacker had second thoughts and abandoned the mission at the last moment.

By contrast, the mission involving Flights 11 ad 175 appear to have been thought of as the most important. Three of the five hijackers on Flight 11 had flight training, and at least two of those on Flight 175 had been trained as pilots. Multiple pilots insured that if one or even two of their team were killed or injured, at least one of the remaining hijackers would be able to fullfill their mission.

They also took extra precautions to circumvent security at Logan Airport. For example, the plan called for Atta and Alomari to rent a car in Boston, drive to Portland, Maine, and then check in at the much smaller airport in Portland where security was believed to be especially lax during the early morning hours. From Portland they would catch a connecting flight to San Fracisco, Flight 11.

******

On the morning of September 11, the terrorists who assembled in Bangor and Portland left Maine and headed for Boston. Atta and Abdulaziz Alomari were in fact videotaped at the Portland Jetport boarding a 6 a.m. flight for Boston.

This was not their first trip from Portland to Boston.

On August 28, two weeks before Flight 11 hit the World Trade Center, Mohamed Atta had also bought a ticket for a connecting flight from Portland, Maine, to Boston, and a second ticket for a seat on American Airlines Flight 11. He was accompanied by Abdulaziz Alomari.

They had gone through a dress rehearsal, perhaps many of them, and were now ready for the final act.

Atta drove to Boston in his red 89 Pontiac and left it in the airport parking lot. He and Abdul Alomari then rented a car at the Logan Airport Alamo and drove to Maine Two other hijackers rented their vehicle, a white Mitsubishi, from the same Alamo franchise. On the day of the hijacking, these two men, accompanied by five others, would return to Logan International Airport and board their assigned planes. Although Mohamed Atta had already practiced this operation, on the morning of September 11, Atta was in such a hurry to leave, on the morning of the 11th, that forgot his luggage. Later FBI agents would discover a jet fuel consumption calculator, an instructional video on flying commerical jets, and a will, dated in 1996. Atta said he planned to kill himself so he would go to heaven as a martyr. They didn't drive. Instead two of the hijackers, Mohamed Atta and Abdulaziz Alomari, booked a flight departing Portland, Maine, and which had a connecting flight in Boston. The connecting flight was American Airlines Flight 11. That same morning, Flight 11 would slam into the north Tower of the World Trade Center. Some of the other terrorists, however, had been in Massachussets for days, having rented rooms in various cities located within easy driving distance to Boston's Logan International Airport. In fact, two of the hijackers, Ahmed Alghamdi and Saeed Alghamdi listed Massachusetts as their official residence, and had obtained Massachusetts driver's licenses. In the days before the attack, a rental car used by five of the hijackers, had been picked up by surveillance videos, driving in, then later, out of the airport, five different times. Atta's "cousin" Marwan Al-Shehhi, actually spent the night of the 10th at a Boston hotel: the Panther Motel Apartments. He too was in a hurry to leave. The FBI later discovered that in his haste, Marwan had left behind a stack of aeronautical maps of the East coast, and a box cutter.

******

On Tuesday evening of the terrorist attack on America, FBI agents began reviewing video from surveillance cameras at Boston's Logan's International Airport. One car in particular caught their attention. A Mitsubishi sedan rented from National Car Rentaland. Five men, all apparently of Arabic origin, exited the vehicle and left something very interesting behind. Flight manuals. Within minutes the FBI determined that two of the men were carrying passports from the United Arab Emirates, the tiny Arabian Gulf sheikdom known as a major banking and commerce center. One of the men was a trained pilot.

**********

"Steal girders groaned and giant slabs of broken concrete threatened to topple on top of us at any moment. Everywhere, body parts, a leg, an arm, bodies that had been so badly burned it was impossible to tell they were human. And still, there seemed to be people alive, buried beneath the rubble, broken and trapped and unable to get away from the searing heat and the fires."

"People were screaming. The air was hot and thick with dust...slivers of glass were still falling like daggers from the sky... twisted steel girders lay strewn among the ground, chunks of concrete lay helter-skelter among the ruins. Fires burned all around us...and victims, trapped beneath the rubble, were dialing 911 on their cell phones, desperately clinging to life and crying, begging for help."

"We tried to get to them but we were helpless... there was simply no way anyone could fight through the searing heat to reach those calling for help. The searing heat... the fires... everything was red hot... it must have been over 2,000 degrees. There was nothing we could do," cried one rescuer. "They were screaming, crying... but there was nothing we could do."

********

** Mohamed Atta, on American Airlines Flight 11

**Marwan Al-Shehhi, on United Airlines Flight 175

**Hani Hanjour, on American Airlines Flight 77

**Wail Alshehri, on Flight 11.

**Waleed M. Alshehri, on Flight 11.

**Abdul Alomari, on Flight 11.

**Ziad Jarrahi, on United Airlines Flight 93

**Khalid Al-Midhar, on Flight 77.

**Majed Moqed, on Flight 77.

**Nawaq Alhamzi, on Flight 77.

**Salem Alhamzi, on Flight 77.

**Satam Al Suqami, on Flight 11.

**Fayez Ahmed, on Flight 175.

**Ahmed Alghamdi, on Flight 175.

**Hamza Alghamdi, on Flight 175.

**Mohald Alshehri, on Flight 175.

**Saeed Alghamdi, on Flight 93.

**Ahmed Alhaznawi, on Flight 93.

**Ahmed Alnami, on Flight 93.

Two of them had been seen hanging round Logan, watching and examining for at least five days beforehand.

At least one target, the World Trade Centre, features in a software air simulator package for planes flying over New York, and it is easily available from computer stores.

They met up at hotels near the airports. At Boston, they chose the smart Westin and the Park Inn (there, police later found a car containing flight manuals and a book on how to fly a 767). At Newark, they went to the Airport Marriott.

At Boston, one group became involved in a minor altercation with the occupants of another car as they parked. Yet, in the same way that Atta had almost been thrown out of Shuckums bar near Miami the previous Friday, the parking dispute did not prove a problem.

That day, Atta had been drinking vodka and orange in the afternoon while Marwan nursed rum and Coke. There was a third man, so far unidentified. They were arguing among themselves, but this was America and they were speaking Arabic, so nobody listening in understood what was being said. Two Arabs having a load of drinks in the middle of the afternoon, ahead of the weekend, having a falling out? It happens.

Atta queried his $48 bill, for the 10 drinks for himself and Marwan, and things got nasty. When the manager, Tony Amos, came over to see what was wrong he produced a wad of $100 and $50 bills and paid. But not before cursing Amos: "You think I can't pay my bill? I'm a pilot for American Airlines. I can pay my fucking bill."

On AA11, stewardess Sara Low would have been thinking about preparing breakfast for passengers when Satam Al Suqami, Waleed al-Shehri, Wail Alsheri, Atta and Abdulaziz Alomari suddenly produced knives and took control.

On UA175, the scene was repeated. Some from the group including Marwan, Ahmed Alghamdi, Hamza Alghamdi, Fayez Ahmed and Mohald al- shehri attacked a stewardess, stabbing her. Peter Hanson called his father in Connecticut: "Something's wrong with the plane. Oh my God! They've stabbed the air hostess. I think the airplane is being hijacked." The line went dead. Soon, the plane crashed into the south tower.

On AA77, five passengers later identified as Khalid al-Midhar, Majed Moqed, Nawaq Alhamzi and his brother, Salem, and Hani Hanjour produced knives.They are thought to have attacked stewardesses to draw pilots, including AA77's Charles Burlingame, out of the cockpit. As soon as the pilots emerged, the hijackers are believed to have rushed in, taking the controls. The first thing that they did was switch off the alarm that would have alerted ground control of anything untoward.

Flight 93, Pennsylvania

Ziad Samir Jarrah spent a month recently in the Village apartments, a white bungalow-style building in Hollywood, according to an employee of the complex who gave her name only as Myrna. She could not remember the exact date. She said the man had numerous visitors, including men, women and children, none of whom seemed to speak English.

''He was young, he blended in nicely and tried to act like a professional,'' she said. ''What attracted my eye were the children.''

Florida state records show that he drove a sporty red Mitsubishi Eclipse, and pilot license records show that he had an expired license in Hamburg, Germany.

U.S. intelligence officials believe the 44-year-old bin Laden, who founded and funds the terrorist organization al-Qaeda, has more than 3,000 operatives in 34 countries.

About half of the suspects have distinctive tribal names from southwest Saudi Arabia, while two others bear Yemeni names. Bin Laden, who is thought to be in hiding in Afghanistan, is a Saudi national whose family comes from Yemen. Intelligence sources also linked some of the names to Egyptian Islamic Jihad, one of the most- feared terrorist groups in the world, with close connections to bin Laden and his al-Qaeda organisation.

In January this year Ayman al-Zawahiri, the head of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, was among the guests at the wedding of bin Laden's son, Muhammad, at a secret ceremony in Afghanistan.

Waleed M. Alshehri and Wail Alshehri, also known as Waleed Alshehri, are brothers, thought to be from Saudi Arabia and members of a clan that fought in Afghanistan during the 1980s. They are believed to have had intensive flight training in Florida. Being from Saudi Arabia and possibly having fought in the Afghan War, they would have a double link to bin Laden, who was born in the Gulf state but led troops in Afghanistan.

Peter Bergen, a terrorism expert, told CNN that many of the names were associated with Saudi tribes in the south of the country which had close links to Yemen.

Mr Bergen said: "Probably half the people on the list are Saudi and one third are Yemeni."

Bin Laden veterans returning to Saudi Arabia from Afghanistan had been talking before the attacks about some big action in the next couple of weeks, Mr Bergen's sources in the region had told him.

Saudi citizens are not required to get FBI clearance to obtain flight training in America.

Of the 19 names, at least two thirds had surnames associated with the south-west corner of Saudi Arabia or Yemen, which is where the bin Laden family originates.

The two suspected in the hijacking - Atta and Alomari - had stayed at the Comfort Inn in South Portland the night before the terrorist attack.

Police impounded a blue Nissan Altima in the Portland jetport parking garage and towed it to Maine State Police garage in Augusta to look for evidence. The car, rented from Alamo Rent A Car, had been driven to Portland by Atta and Alomari. The car had also been seen the previous day at the Comfort Inn.

Mohamed Atta, one of the hijackers on the American Airlines flight from Boston, drove a rental car to Portland with another hijacker, apparently on Monday. The pair then took a 5:45 a.m. US Airways flight Tuesday from Portland International Jetport to Boston's Logan International Airport. made their way from the Portland-to-Boston shuttle to American Airlines Flight 11 out of Logan bound for the West Coast.

The hunt for details of how the network of terrorists lived before Tuesday led to the Delray Racquet Club at 755 Dotterel Road. Ahmed Alnami and Saeed Alghamdi, both on the hijacker suspects list, lived on the fifth floor of Building 1, in a two-bedroom apartment numbered 1504.

Saeed Alghamdi has been linked to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, according to current and former U.S. officials.

Racquet Club residents said they were reclusive, unfriendly and always carried gym bags or duffel bags wherever they went, even to the pool. At times there were as many as seven Middle Easterners at the apartment, and neighbors heard strange ping-ping-ping noises from the apartment all night.

'Extraordinarily unfriendly'

"I thought they were laying down a floor," said Maria Sicar- Simpson, who lives right below 1504. "It was just about all night. I reported it to the condo association. It was like they were chipping away at something."

Stacy Warm said the men were "extraordinarily unfriendly."

"I rode the elevator with them 20 times and never ever did they said hi, even though I always did," Warm said. "There were at least four of them but my husband said he counted as many as seven. Sometimes an older guy would be seen with them.

"They wouldn't look at you in the eye. It was like you didn't even exist. I thought they were drug dealers. I thought about reporting them for that reason. When I heard about this, I thought, 'Oh my God, I could have turned them in.' "

U.S. officials also confirmed yesterday that Khalid Al-Midhar, identified as one of the hijackers aboard the flight that crashed into the Pentagon, was spotted on a surveillance videotape from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, speaking with a suspect in last year's bombing of the destroyer USS Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden. The tape is another piece of circumstantial evidence linking the Sept. 11 attacks to exiled Saudi militant Osama bin Laden, who is suspected of masterminding the Cole bombing.

In Portland, Maine, Vincent Meisner, an engineer for Honeywell International Inc., realized he had shared an early morning flight to Boston on Sept. 11 with hijackers Atta and Alomari. Meisner said the two did not appear to be traveling together. Meisner bumped one of them with his luggage, and when "I said, `Excuse me,' he just kind of hunkered down," Meisner recalled.

Alomari and Mohamed Atta, both believed to be pilots, boarded a flight at the Portland International Jetport and then made a connection in Boston for American Airlines Flight 11.

State officials said the men probably drove to Portland from Boston, where they had rented a car. Once in Maine, they spent the night at the Comfort Inn in South Portland before boarding the US Airways plane the next morning, said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Public Safety Department.

Abdulaziz Alomari, with a possible residence in Hollywood, Fla. The Miami Herald reported yesterday that Alomari had an arrest record for drunken driving.

Alshehri is believed to be the son of a former Saudi Arabian diplomat.

Last Friday night Atta, Al-Shehhi and a third man spent hours drinking and playing video games at Shuckums, a Hollywood, Fla., sports bar. Atta played video Trivial Pursuit and blackjack with great determination. "He looked nervous," manager Tony Amos said. "He kept putting dollars in and he was really focused."

Mohamed Atta, got a ticket in April for driving without a license, and failed to show up for his court hearing, but police never followed up on a bench warrant for his arrest. Other than that his only slip-up came a couple of years ago in Germany, when he failed to return three rented videos ("Ace Ventura," "Vampires" and "Storm of the Century") and the movie rental company turned to a collection agency.

Bin Laden has said of Westerners, "They violate our land and occupy it and steal the Muslims' possessions, and when faced by resistance, they call it terrorism."

A letter written by Atta, left in his luggage at Boston's Logan Airport, said he planned to kill himself so he could go to heaven as a martyr. It also contained a Saudi passport, an international driver's license, instructional videos for flying Boeing airliners and an Islamic prayer schedule. Some reports have said the letter was dated 1996, adding to the evidence that the operation was years in the planning. In 1996 Atta was in Hamburg, believed to be a major European center of operations for followers of bin Laden.

In Hamburg he lived with Marwan Al-Shehhi, 11 years his junior. Atta and Al-Shehhi would be largely inseparable for years to come -- until the day they boarded separate planes in Boston and hijacked them to New York City.

The chief federal prosecutor in Hamburg, Kay Nehm, said that Atta and Al-Shehhi had organized a terrorist cell in the city "with the aim of launching spectacular attacks on the institutions of the United States." Neighbors say the men hosted meetings late at night. Another man who lived in their apartment, they say, was Ziad Jarrahi, who was aboard the flight that crashed in Pennsylvania.

The conspirators apparently did their plotting face to face, in meetings late at night at rented homes.

The adult Alomaris didn't socialize much. A wave now and again. They spent time with another Muslim family -- clannish behavior that the American neighbors assumed was normal. Theirs was a nice home, rented for $1,400 a month.

The only problem with the Alomaris were the late-night meetings. Next-door neighbor Betty Egger said that as many as a dozen cars would be parked outside, some on her own lawn. It rattled her to see car headlights flashing through her windows at 2 in the morning.

Last Friday night Atta, Al-Shehhi and a third man spent hours drinking and playing video games at Shuckums, a Hollywood, Fla., sports bar. Atta played video Trivial Pursuit and blackjack with great determination. "He looked nervous," manager Tony Amos said. "He kept putting dollars in and he was really focused."

Al-Shehhi and the other man had about five drinks each, he said -- Captain Morgan rum and Coke, and Stolichnaya vodka and orange juice. At one point they argued. "There were a lot of hand gestures and Al- Shehhi was definitely upset," Amos said.

The bartender feared that Al-Shehhi might leave without paying his $48 tab. The manager intervened, asking if there was a problem. Al- Shehhi, glaring, pulled out a wad of cash and said: "There is no money issue. I am an airline pilot."

The terrorists appear to have put greatest emphasis on Flight 11. Multiple hijackers on that plane had flight training. They also went out of their way to bypass security at Logan Airport. Officials believe that Atta and Alomari rented a car in Boston, drove to Portland, Maine, and took a room Monday night at the Comfort Inn south of town. They then flew on a short flight Tuesday morning from Portland to Boston, changing to Flight 11. By going through security at the small airport in Portland -- at the groggy hour of 5:44 a.m. - - they avoided the tougher security checkpoint in Boston.

One of the hijackers took a seat in the fourth row. As Meisner passed to take the seat behind him, his luggage bumped the suspected hijacker's shoulder.

"Excuse me," Meisner said.

The man merely hunkered lower, putting his head down.

Meisner thought, "Well, he hasn't had his coffee yet, so I'll leave him alone."

When Atta and Alomari boarded Flight 11 in Boston they sat in the eighth row, across the aisle from David Angell, producer of the TV show "Frasier." Elsewhere on the plane were three more hijackers.

What's certain is that they had trained for this moment. They lacked the skills of real airline pilots, but they knew what they would see in the cockpit, what the console would look like, how it would feel to grab the control yoke of a jetliner. Atta and Al- Shehhi had spent most of their time on that flight simulator in Opa- locka working on one thing in particular: turning.

They didn't have to know how to land.

Asle had already reported [Ziad Jarrah] missing - just as she had 18 months ago when he disappeared for up to five weeks. And what she told the Jarrah family over the telephone then gave them their first suspicion that something was terribly wrong with their only son.

Jarrah was 26, born - according to his Lebanese identity documents - on 11 May 1975, a village boy from a wealthy family. His father is a civil servant in the Beirut department of social security, his mother a schoolteacher. Ziad Jarrah attended the Evangelical school in the Christian town of Zahle - about 12 miles from his home - and [Samir Jarrah] paid thousands to put his son through university. Ziad Jarrah travelled to Hamburg on a student visa four years ago, later attending the city's technical university. He went missing 18 months ago, just before setting off for the United States on his father's advice. "Whenever he asked for money, I would send it," Samir said. "He needed money - he had a home in Germany and a girlfriend to look after. He had to fund his studies."

There's just one small question. Jamal denied that Ziad Jarrah had ever visited Afghanistan. But when they heard from Asle that she feared he had gone there, the family contacted friends in Peshawar - on the Pakistani- Afghan frontier - and implored them to get Samir's son to leave. Untrue, says Samir. And he says it again. "My boy was just a normal person. He would never do this. Why, there may have been another `Ziad Jarrah' on the plane."

"He called just two days before the plane crashed to tell me he'd received the $2,000 [pounds 1,400] I'd sent him," Samir Jarrah said. Still recovering from open-heart surgery, he sat, half slumped, sick and traumatised, in a green plastic chair beneath the vines of his garden. "Ziad said it was for his aeronautical course. He had told me last year that he had a choice of courses - in France or in America - and it was me who told him to go to the States. But there are lots of Ziads. Maybe it wasn't him? He was a good, kind boy..." At which point Samir Jarrah leaned forward, brought his hands to his face and broke down in tears.

Jarrah family, all Sunni Muslims, "He drank alcohol, he had girlfriends. Only last August, his Turkish girlfriend Asle came to meet our family here because she wanted to meet her future in-laws. He wasn't able to come with her because he said he was too busy with his studies."

Too busy to bring his fiancee to meet his family? Busy doing what? And what was the $2,000 for? To continue studies at his Miami aeronautical school?

Asle had already reported Ziad Jarrah missing - just as she had 18 months ago when he disappeared for up to five weeks. And what she told the Jarrah family over the telephone then gave them their first suspicion that something was terribly wrong with their only son.

For according to a family friend, Asle told the Jarrahs that her fiance, who would visit her each weekend from his university in Hamburg, might have gone to Afghanistan.

Ziad Jarrah was a happy, secular youth, that he never showed any interest in religion and never visited the mosque for prayers, that he liked women even if he was at times reserved and shy.

Mohamad Atta, his friend - or fellow murderer - was also known to knock back five stiff drinks in an evening. If they were Osama bin Laden's boys, they didn't behave like it. Bin Laden would not let his men smoke cigarettes, and drinking alcohol would have led to banishment from the ranks of his Al Qa'ida movement.

He was only seven when the Israeli army surrounded him and tens of thousands of other Lebanese civilians in the siege of Beirut in 1982.

Five hijackers were on Flight 11. Sources identified them as Atta, Alomari, Waleed Alshehhi, Wail Alshehhi, and Satam Al Suqami. Mueller said there were also five hijackers on United Airlines Flight 175, the second Boeing 767 to hit the trade center. Sources identified them as Fayez Ahmed, Ahmed Alghamdi, Hamza Alghamdi, Marwan Alshehhi, and Mohaid Alshehhi.

Atta carried a Saudi passport, while two others, Waleed Alshehhi and Marwan Alshehhi, had been living in Saudi Arabia before they arrived in Florida last year to attend flight school, law enforcement and other sources said.

Two alleged associates of the hijackers, Adnan Bukhari and Amer Kamfar, attended flight schools in Florida and had the Saudi Arabian Airlines post office box in the Saudi city of Jeddah, listed as their home addresses on their commercial pilots' licenses.

There were four hijackers on each of the other jets that crashed Tuesday, one into the Pentagon, the other into the woods in Pennsylvania.

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