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Government documents and
newspaper clippings best tell the story of the two San
Diego based hijackers
Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Midhar and their intimate
relationship with a former San Diego State Professor
Abdussattar Shaikh, who happened to be a longtime FBI
undercover asset. All of the following are direct
quotations, no explanation required. |

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Nephew of Saudi FAA
Chief Lived With, Funded 9.11 hijacker in San
Diego
Uncle adamantly opposed a 1999
attempt to fire his employee, a Saudi spy who Feds say ‘set up the
San Diego cell’
Roommates lived together at home
of longtime FBI Counterterrorism Informant
FBI Informant's Handler admits he
investigated hijackers before 9.11, but investigation was
killed
The Mad Cow Morning News
October 14, 2004-Venice,FL.
Due to
the fact the United States government has failed to convict -- or
even prosecute -- a single person for any crime relating to the 9/11
plot, one might assume that these terrorists lived in
self-contained bubbles. They did not. Rather they lived at places
like the home of a veteran FBI confidential informant who
specialized in counter-terrorism and whose FBI handler was
investigating the 9/11 hijackers.
Hmmm...
And shockingly it would seem, the public
has already been made privy to this damning information by such
insiders as Sen. Bob Graham.
But how much can you trust the former
Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and the life-long
friend of Porter
Goss to tell give you the real deal?
As expected, Bobby only mentioned 10% of
the horror. Read on for the remainder.
The San Diego Union-Tribune:
Shaikh, a retired educator and Muslim leader,
invited them [the hijackers, al-Hazmi and al-Midhar] to share
his five-bedroom Lemon Grove house…
Newsweek:
Shaikh
also happens to be a "tested" undercover "asset" who had been
working closely with the FBI office in San Diego on
terrorism cases.
Institute for Public Affairs, September 29, 2003:
Abdussattar Shaikh… was a long-time undercover FBI
counterterrorism informant in regular contact with… the
bureau's San Diego office.
Congressional Joint Inquiry into 911:
During
the post 9-11 investigation “the FBI concedes that the
hijackers may have known the informant [Shaikh] months earlier
than the informant admitted.”
Congressional Joint Inquiry into 911:
The
informant also acknowledged that al-Hazmi had contacts
with at least four individuals the informant knew were of
interest to the FBI and about whom the informant had
previously reported to the FBI.
Congressional Joint Inquiry into 911:
The
informant has made numerous inconsistent statements to the
FBI during the course of interviews after September 11, 2001… the
FBI has acknowledged that there are 'significant
inconsistencies' in the informant’s statements about these
contacts.
San
Jose Mercury News September 29, 2001:
Next
door neighbor [of Shaikh] Deborah Fortner said she is sure
that Atta visited Shaikh's home during the time the two suspected
hijackers Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almihdhar lived there… "He
definitely was here," said Fortner, pointing to Atta's picture,
which appeared along with the other 18 suspected hijackers in
Friday's San Diego Union-Tribune. "His eyes you cannot
mistake them."
Two
other neighbors of Shaikh, who lives on a cul-de-sac in suburban
Lemon Grove, also said Friday that they told the FBI nearly two
weeks ago that they recognized Atta as having visited Shaik's
home.
Dennis and Marna Adair said they didn't know Atta's
name and had not yet seen his photo in news accounts when they first
picked him out from the photographs shown to them by FBI agents
who interviewed Shaikh and his neighbors repeatedly in the days
immediately after the terrorist attacks.
"It
was a week ago last Monday [Sept 17, 2001]," said Marna Adair. When
agents showed her several pictures, she said, "I told them, 'That
one definitely,' " she said pointing to Atta's
photo…
neighbors… said they saw him [Atta] often enough that
they would exchange greetings. And they recalled that he was
friendly and more outgoing than many of the Muslim men who stayed
with Shaikh.
The
houses of Shaikh, Fortner and the Adairs are clustered close
together around a small private drive that extends off a residential
street in the working-class suburb of Lemon Grove.
Fortner and the Adairs said they have spoken
repeatedly with FBI agents in the last three weeks about their
recollections…
In
explaining why they went public, the neighbors also said they have
been frustrated with Shaikh and what they perceive as his
unwillingness to be more forthcoming with them and the
media.
911
Commission Report Notes:
Although Hazmi's housemate [Shaikh] claims that the
"Hani" whom Hazmi introduced him [on Dec 8, 2000] to is not the same
person pictured in Hanjour's photograph, we have little doubt that
the housemate did in fact see Hanjour on the day he and Hazmi left
San Diego.
Congressional Joint Inquiry into 911:
Administration and the FBI have objected to the
[Congressional] Joint Inquiry’s request to interview the
informant… Known information relies solely on FBI documents.
The
Washington Post:
[In
Shaihk’s case] the FBI has deviated from its typical secrecy to
issue a statement that he is not a suspect.
SD
Union Tribune:
[Senator] Graham [head of the Senate Intelligence
Committee] also discusses at length the congressional investigators'
unsuccessful attempts to question the FBI informant, identified as
Abdussattar Shaikh, a retired professor and community leader from
Lemon Grove. 
FBI
officials would not deliver a congressional subpoena to Shaikh…
The FBI also failed to give Shaikh, whom Graham said had been
relocated by the FBI, a list of written questions from the
investigators until he had hired a prominent attorney with ties
to the Justice Department. The attorney demanded immunity from
prosecution for Shaikh, which the congressional intelligence
committees refused to grant, so the questions went unanswered.
FBI Agent Steven Butler
Institute for Public Affairs, September
29, 2003:
Abdussattar Shaikh… was… in regular contact with a
terrorism case officer in the bureau's San Diego office.
The
San Diego Union-Tribune:
He
[Shaikh] said he met FBI Agent Steve Butler – whom sources have
identified as Shaikh's "handler" – about eight years ago.
The
New York Times:
Several officials said the F.B.I… would not
authorize the agent who was his contact to testify…
U.S.
News & World Report December 9, 2002:
Government officials
told U.S. News that Butler disclosed that he had been
monitoring a flow of Saudi Arabian money that wound up in the hands
of two of the 9/11 hijackers. The two men had rented a
room from a man Butler had used as a confidential
informant, the sources say. According to officials
familiar with his account, Butler said that he had alerted
his superiors about the money flows but the warning went
nowhere. "Butler is claiming ... that people [in the FBI]
didn't follow up," says a congressional source. Adds another: "He
saw a pattern, a trail, and he told his supervisors, but it ended
there."
Saudi Agent Omar
al-Bayoumi
Newsweek:
Almihdhar and Alhazmi later rented a room from another
friend of al-Bayoumi's, Abdussattar Shaikh…
The
Los Angeles Times:
Shaikh
has acknowledged to the newspaper that Al Bayoumi was a
friend.
The
Telegraph July 22, 2003:
Bayoumi had a meeting at the Saudi Consulate in Los
Angeles in January 2000 and then went straight to a restaurant where
he met al-Mindhar and al-Hamzi, whom he accompanied back to San
Diego. He later arranged for the men to move into a flat next to his
home, paid their rent for the first two months and threw a welcoming
party for them. Sources have said Baymoumi also helped them open a
bank account and enlisted a friend to help them obtain social
security cards and contact flight schools in Florida to arrange
flying lessons.
Newsweek:
In
January 2000, al-Bayoumi had a meeting at the Saudi Consulate in Los
Angeles—and then went directly to a restaurant where he met future
hijackers Khalid Almihdhar and Nawaf Alhazmi, whom he took back with
him to San Diego. (Al-Bayoumi later arranged for the men to get an
apartment next to his and fronted them their first two months
rent.)… A 28-page section of the report dealing with the Saudis and
other foreign governments will be deleted. “They are protecting a
foreign government,” charged Sen. Bob Graham, who oversaw the
inquiry.
SD
Tribune:
In
January 2000, al-Bayoumi had a closed-door meeting at the Saudi
consulate in Los Angeles and then went to a restaurant where he
picked up Alhazmi and Almihdhar and brought them to San
Diego.
The
San Diego Union-Tribune:
Al-Bayoumi [is] whom federal investigators have
identified as the front man who prepared the way for the hijackers
in San Diego…
The
San Diego Union-Tribune:
Law
enforcement and community sources in San Diego said money was
funneled here to Al-Bayoumi from Saudi Arabian sources and used to
finance the hijackers. "Al-Bayoumi came here, set everything up
financially, set up the San Diego cell and set up the mosque," said
a federal investigator who asked to remain anonymous to protect his
job.
The
Wall Street Journal:
The
FBI first opened a counterterrorism investigation on Mr. Bayoumi in
September 1998 and discovered he was in contact with several other
people under scrutiny… Following a search of Mr. Bayoumi's residence
at one point, the FBI concluded that "he is providing guidance to
young Muslims and some of his writings can be interpreted as
jihadist."
Newsweek:
[A]
former top FBI official who helped oversee the al-Bayoumi
investigation [stated]… “We firmly believed that he had knowledge
[of the 9/11 plot]”
The
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:
Omar
al-Bayoumi now is living in Saudi Arabia. With no reason being
stated, the FBI closed its investigation on him.
Knight
Ridder:
Graham
wrote that the staff of the congressional inquiry concluded that two
Saudis in the San Diego area, Omar al-Bayoumi and Osama Bassan, who
gave significant financial support to two hijackers, were working
for the Saudi government.
Sun
Sentinel:
But
Graham said the commission's findings were based on an interview
with al-Bayoumi in Saudi Arabia with Saudi Arabian officials
present. ``He had no motivation to speak truthfully as to his
role,'' he said.
911
Commission Report Notes:
Another possible source of suspicion is his [Bayoumi’s]
passport, which contains a cachet that intelligence investigators
associate with possible adherence to al Qaeda. It is a marking that
can be obtained by especially devout Muslims.
911
Commission Report Notes:
The
rental application states that Hazmi and Mihdhar resided in
Bayoumi's apartment from January 15 to February 2, 2000, but Bayoumi
denies it, and we have found no reason to dispute his
denial.
San
Diego Union Tribune, September 8, 2004:
Al-Bayoumi helped the future hijackers get settled in San
Diego and, [Senator] Graham said, his income from Saudi sources rose
significantly during their stay in the area.
" . .
. That increase came from two sources, a Saudi government contractor
and a member of the Saudi royal family. From these two sources,
al-Bayoumi was funneled in excess of $40,000 above his usual
salary – somewhere between one-sixth and one-twelfth the
estimated total amount needed to fund the September 11 attacks,"
Graham wrote.
Wall
Street Journal, August 11, 2003:
For
seven years, the finance department of a Saudi Civil Aviation
Presidency project called Air Navigation Systems Support
employed Mr. Bayoumi. The project is managed by Dallah Avco
Aviation, a unit of the giant Dallah Al-Baraka business group, which
for five of the seven years was reimbursed by the government agency
for Mr. Bayoumi's salary. During the five-year period, Mr. Bayoumi
was considered a Saudi civil servant.
Sept.
11 figure Omar Bayoumi is shown by documents to have been
hired for an aviation project by order of the Saudi
government.
The
newly reviewed documents are on letterhead from Dallah Avco and
Saudi government…
The
ANSS project was based in Saudi Arabia, but in August 1994,
Mr. Bayoumi showed up in California and began taking English classes
at San Diego State University's College of Extended Studies,
in its American Language Institute.
The
Journal of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security International
2003 Summer:
Saudi
authorities… admit that Dallah Avco Aviation, a branch of the
Dallah al-Baraka Group, a gigantic banking and business
conglomerate, manages the Air Navigation Systems Support project on
which al-Bayoumi worked. The head of the Dallah al-Baraka Group
is Saleh Abdullah Kamel, whose name appears in the
"Golden Chain," a roster seized by Bosnian authorities in
Sarajevo in March 2002 listing Saudi donors to bin
Laden and his associates. Kamel is named as a supplier of
funds to Adil Abdeljalil Batterjee, founder of the Benevolence
International Foundation, designated a terror-financing entity by
the Treasury Department.

Federal News Service October 22, 2003:
The
Golden Chain list of wealthy Saudi sponsors is an internal Al- Qaida
document seized by the Bosnian police during searches in the offices
of Benevolence International Foundation in Sarajevo in March 2002.
Our team was granted access to this document, among others,
following an order of the Supreme Court of Bosnia Herzegovina
ordering the US government to release this maternal.
The
Golden Chain lists the top 20 Saudi financial sponsors of AI- Qaida.
It includes 6 bankers and 12 businessmen, among which there are 2
former ministers.
According to our estimates, their cumulative corporate
net worth totals more than $85 billion dollars, or 42% of the Saudi
annual GNP and equivalent to the annual GNP of Venezuela.
They
include former leading Saudi banker Khalid Bin Mahfouz, businessman
Saleh Abdullah Kamel, the Bin Laden family, and several
bankers representing the three largest Saudi banks (National
Commercial Bank, Riyadh Bank and Al Rajhi Bank).
al-Salmi family (Uncle Mohammed and Nephew
Yazeed)
Wall
Street Journal, August 11, 2003:
"When
Mr. Al-Bayoumi arrived in August [1994 in San Diego], his placement
tests showed that he was not ready to ... enroll in SDSU courses,"
Linda Lawton, a college official, wrote in a Dec. 6, 1994, letter to
Mohammed Ahmed al-Salmi, director general of the Presidency of
Civil Aviation... Mr. Bayoumi's work… started in June
1995… at the direction of the aviation authority…
In
1999, the records show, Dallah Avco sought to end Mr. Bayoumi's
annual contracts. "The company is not willing to renew
the period for another year and we wish this to be known," a
Dallah official wrote to Mr. Salmi of the aviation authority. Mr.
[Mohammed Ahmed] Salmi responded, in a letter marked "extremely
urgent," that the government wanted Mr. Bayoumi's contract renewed
"as quickly as possible."
The
following year, Mr. Bayoumi's contract lapsed again and
civil-service rules required him to return to Saudi Arabia to
keep his job. Instead of returning, he took a two-year leave
from his government-paid job, according to the records, and
Dallah Avco agreed to request to hire him directly and to
continue paying his salary, which the company did.
911
Commission Report Notes:
[Yazeed al-]Salmi arrived in San Diego on August 7, 2000,
and three days later moved into the house [Shaikh’s] where Hazmi
resided. Omar al Bayoumi -- who reported (at least nominally) to
Salmi's uncle at the Saudi Civil Aviation ministry -- found this
accommodation for Salmi…
911
Commission Report:
After
Mihdhar left [but while Hazmi was still at Shaikh’s house in
mid-2001], other students moved into the house [of Shaikh].
One of these, Yazeed al Salmi, stands out. In July 2000,
Salmi purchased $4,000 in traveler's checks at a bank in Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia. On September 5, Hazmi deposited $1,900 of the
traveler's checks into his bank account, after
withdrawing the same amount in cash.
Washington Post:
Yazeed
Al-Salmi… shared a car insurance policy with Alhazmi...
911
Commission Report:
After
9/11, Salmi reportedly confided to Mohdar Abdullah that he had
previously known terrorist pilot Hani Hanjour.
911 Commission Report
Notes:
For
Salmi's possible link to Hanjour, see FBI report of investigation,
interview of Abdullah, July 23, 2002. We made efforts with the
assistance of the FBI to interview Salmi, but without success.
The FBI interviewed Salmi on its own in June 2004 but failed to ask
about his reported childhood ties to Hanjour. FBI report of
investigation interview of Yazeed al Salmi, June 14,
2004.
911
Commission Report Notes:
Prior to September 11, both he and Yazeed al Salmi
suddenly became intent on proceeding with their planned
marriages. One witness quotes Salmi as commenting after the
9/11 attacks,"I knew they were going to do something, that is why I
got married."
Sam’s Star Mart (Texaco Station) Business
Owner & Manager
911
Commission Report Notes:
The
owner of the gas station, Osama Mustafa, and the manager of
the station, Iyad Kreiwesh, have both been the subject of FBI
counterterrorism investigations.
Congressional Joint Inquiry into 911:
The
business owner [Mustafa], a Palestinian by birth and a U.S. citizen,
owns a number of businesses in the San Diego area, including the
business where al-Hazmi worked for several weeks. A number of the
hijackers’ associates, including [classified] and [classified], also
worked at this business [Texaco station]. FBI records show that
both al-Mihdhar and al-Hazmi spent time socializing at the
business.
Before
September 11, the business owner was in contact with an individual
who told the FBI after September 11 that he was al-Hazmi’s best
friend and that the individual had contact with an FBI informant
[Shaikh] who also had contacts with the hijackers.
The
FBI also learned that the business owner had been associating with
other persons with possible ties to the hijackers, including
Osama Bassnan, and it received reports that the business
owner cheered upon learning of the September 11
attacks.
The
FBI conducted several investigations of the business owner prior to
September 11. The first was opened in August 1991 upon receipt of
reports from the San Diego Police Department that, during a
traffic stop, he had stated that the United States needed
another Pan Am 103 attack and that he could be the one to carry it
out. The business owner also said that all Americans should
be killed for what they did to Iraqis. During the investigation,
the FBI developed information that the business owner was associated
with members of the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of
Palestine (PFLP), a known terrorist organization, in San
Diego and Chicago. In 1994, San Diego police also received an
anonymous call stating that the business owner was a PFLP
member. The FBI received information in 1994 that he had
threatened to kill a former Israeli intelligence officer who resided
in San Diego. The business owner informed the Israeli that he
was a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization and that the
orders to kill him had come from the PLO. The FBI closed its
investigation of the business owner, but reopened it in 1997 when
it received information tying him to a possible terrorist plot based
in North Carolina. In February 2001, a stockbroker called the
FBI to say that the business owner had closed his account,
explaining that he was sending the money to freedom fighters in
Afghanistan. During its post-September 11 investigation, the
FBI discovered that the business owner was associating with Osama
Bassnan and [classified], two other possible hijacker associates
in San Diego.
Congressional Joint Inquiry into 911:
[In
2000, al-Hazmi briefly worked at a San Diego business. The manager
of the business, told the FBI that he hired al-Hazmi after receiving
a call from “mutual friends” at the Saranac Street Mosque. In
January 2000, before al-Hazmi’s employment at the business, the FBI
Los Angeles field office initiated a counterterrorism investigation
of the business manager after a person whom the FBI was surveilling
entered the business manager’s car in a mosque parking lot. That
person was [ ], the brother of a known Bin Ladin operative [ ]. The
business manager was under FBI investigation when he hired
al-Hazmi]. [The FBI agent handling the business manager’s
investigation interviewed him by phone. The business manager told
the agent that he did not want to meet in person because it would be
a strain to travel to Los Angeles. The business manager informed the
agent that he had lived in San Diego for two and a half years and
did not want to give his home address. The business manager said
that he worked at the local business. The agent concluded that the
business
manager did not pose a threat to national security, and
the investigation was closed in December 2000].
Newsweek August 4, 2003, U.S. Edition
In
January 2000, FBI agents tailing a suspected Qaeda operative in San
Diego thought they'd gotten a break. Their target was spotted
chatting with the manager of Sam's Star Mart, a local
Texaco station. The agents later called the manager, hoping he
would tell them about the conversation, and maybe point them toward
other suspicious characters. But the man wanted nothing to do with
them. "It would be a strain" to come in for an interview, he told
them, and refused to give the agents his home address. Faced with a
reluctant witness, the agents called it a day and dropped the
matter. Looking back, maybe that wasn't the best call. Had the G-men
hung in just a little longer, they might have run across one of the
manager's recent hires at the Star Mart: Nawaf Alhazmi
911
Commission Report Notes:
Moreover, as of August 2001, Iyad Kreiwesh and other
employees at the Texaco station where Hazmi had worked suddenly
were anticipating attention from law enforcement authorities in
the near future. Finally, according to an uncorroborated witness
account, early on the morning of September 10, Abdullah, Osama
Awadallah, Omar Bakarbashat, and others behaved suspiciously at the
gas station. According to the witness, after the group met,
Awadallah said "it is finally going to happen" as the others
celebrated by giving each other high fives.
Mohdar Abdullah

The San Diego Union-Tribune:
Abdallah told investigators that another man, Omar
Al-Bayoumi... introduced him to the three men who later became
hijackers.
The Los Angeles Times:
In
2001, several friends of Abdullah and the hijackers told The Times
that Omar Albayoumi, another Saudi, drove the two hijackers from Los
Angeles to San Diego around mid-January 2000.
The
San Diego Union-Tribune:
In
fact, Abdullah did drive future hijackers Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid
al-Midhar to San Diego after their arrival in January
2000...
The
San Diego Union-Tribune:
[Abdallah] regularly dined and prayed with three San
Diego-linked hijackers and helped them obtain Social Security cards,
driver's licenses, flight school information and rides from Los
Angeles International Airport, according to court records… It is the
first public record to detail Abdallah's relationships with
hijackers Nawaf Alhazmi, Khalid al-Midhar… Abdallah "had provided
substantial assistance to the hijackers as they acclimated
themselves in the United States in planning the Sept. 11th attacks,"
the document said.
The
[court] document [according to court records made public on May 7,
2002] also mentions for the first time a spiral notebook seized from
Abdallah's car a week after the terrorist attacks. The notebook
contains references to "hijacking," "mass killings" and "burning
flesh falling from the sky," the document said...
"While
being processed at the FBI office, defendant made several
spontaneous statements, not in response to any questioning,
referencing the hatred in his heart for the United States
government, and that the United States brought 'this' (Sept. 11)
on themselves," the document said…
The
document said FBI agents who interviewed Abdallah believed he was
lying to them, in part because he agreed to take the
lie-detector test and then failed to show up. Abdallah was told
in advance that he would be asked "if he had any participation
or knowledge of any terrorist attacks or future attacks," the
document said.
"The
defendant continuously made body movements, or gestures that gave
the interviewing agents the impression that he knew more than he was
telling, and that he was concealing information.
SD
Tribune May 8, 2002:
Abdallah… went to the United Airlines ticket counter with
them [hijackers Midhar and Hazmi] once to try to exchange the return
portion of their Bangkok and Malaysia [Malaysia, the location of the
infamous meeting which was monitored by the CIA in Jan 2000] flight,
among other things, the document said.
The
Washington Post December 29, 2001:
Mohdar
Abdallah… was an assistant manager at the Texaco station where
Alhazmi briefly worked
911
Commission Report Notes:
Hazmi…
may have telephoned his former San Diego companion, Mohdar
Abdullah, in late August [2001]. Several bits of evidence
indicate that others in Abdullah's circle may have received word
that something big would soon happen. As noted earlier, Abdullah's
behavior reportedly changed noticeably.
Omar Bakarbashat
Copley
News Service May 26, 2004:
Abdullah, 26, and Bakarbashat, 31, both college students,
were arrested immediately after the attacks and taken to New York to
testify before a federal grand jury. They were held under the
material witness statute. They eventually were returned to San Diego
and charged with immigration crimes. By the time they pleaded
guilty, they already had served their six-month
sentences.
Bakarbashat admitted that he created phony immigration
documents and a Social Security card on his computer. He said his
money was gone and he needed to find a job…
Bakarbashat gave up his fight and was deported to Yemen
after two years and two months in custody. Hamud said Bakarbashat
spent "a couple days in a Yemeni jail" and was "subjected to
interrogation by Yemeni authorities" until his parents were able to
secure his release. He now lives in Saudi Arabia, [his
attorney Randall] Hamud said.
The
San Francisco Chronicle September 20, 2001:
Authorities believe that Bakarbashat may have had
firsthand knowledge that a terrorist plot was brewing after
spending time with at least two of the hijackers who crashed
American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon.
"I
think he knew what was going to happen," a federal source said
on the condition of anonymity. "He probably didn't know when. All
the people who are being arrested are potential conspirators and
potential witnesses. It's at a preliminary stage. They'll decide
later whether he is going to be a witness or a
defendant."…
Hani
Hanjour, Khalid Al-Midhar and Nawaq Alhamzi were identified as three
of the men who took over American Flight 77 and flew it into the
Pentagon on Sept. 11. It is unclear whether Bakarbashat knew the men
before they moved to California.
Bakarbashat may have roomed with two of the men and given
them money, the source said. Bakarbashat was traced through
financial records, the official said, and he helped the men hone
their English skills and taught them how to use a
computer.
Copley
News Service September 20, 2001:
A man
suspected of financially helping three San Diego-based
terrorists was identified Wednesday as Omer Bakarbashat…
"He
lived with (the hijackers), helped them learn English and pointed
them in the right direction," said a law enforcement
officer…
Sources said Bakarbashat has financial ties to the
hijackers and could face other charges eventually…
The
federal sources declined to give details about the financial status
of Bakarbashat, who on the surface would seem to have little chance
of bankrolling terrorists. The sources suggested he had
connections to wealth, but would not elaborate…
911
Commission Report Notes:
Bakarbashat apparently had downloaded stridently
anti-American Web pages to his computer's hard drive…
Osama Awadallah
New York Law Journal November
14, 2003:
A
search of the car Al-Hazmi abandoned at Dulles Airport in Virginia
produced a piece of paper with the notation, "Osama 589-5316."
Federal agents tracked this number to a San Diego address at which
the defendant, Osama Awadallah, had lived approximately eighteen
months earlier…
Copley
News Service September 26, 2001:
Detainees Bakarbashat, Awadallah and Al-Salmi lived at
the Southridge Apartments on Saranac Street in La Mesa at various
times over last few years, with various roommates.
New
York Law Journal November 14, 2003:
The
search of Awadallah's home produced several computer-generated
photographs of Osama bin Laden; the searches of his cars produced
two videotapes on Bosnia…
911
Commission Report:
Moreover, as of August 2001, Iyad Kreiwesh and other
employees at the Texaco station where Hazmi had worked suddenly
were anticipating attention from law enforcement authorities in
the near future. Finally, according to an uncorroborated witness
account, early on the morning of September 10, Abdullah, Osama
Awadallah, Omar Bakarbashat, and others behaved suspiciously at the
gas station. According to the witness, after the group met,
Awadallah said "it is finally going to happen" as the others
celebrated by giving each other high fives.
Osama Bassnan
Newsweek December 2, 2002, U.S. Edition:
Basnan also befriended the two hijackers,
Almihdhar and Alhazmi. After the terrorist attacks, Basnan, who
was known as a vocal Qaeda sympathizer, "celebrated the heroes of
September 11" and talked about "what a wonderful, glorious day it
had been," according to a law-enforcement official.
Congressional Joint Inquiry into 911:
Bassnan was a close associate of al-Bayoumi,…
Bassnan also had close ties to a number of other persons
connected to the hijackers…
Bassnan lived in the apartment complex in San Diego
across the street from al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar…
The
FBI… had been made aware of him on several occasions. In May 1992,
the State Department provided the FBI with a box of documents
recovered from an abandoned car. The documents were in Arabic, and
one, a newsletter to supporters of the Eritrean Islamic Jihad (EIJ)
Movement, provided updates on the EIJ’s council and was marked
“confidential.” The box contained letters addressed to
Bassnan that discussed plans to import used cars to the United
States. The FBI opened a counterterrorism inquiry on the EIJ, but,
having failed to develop information that would predicate further
investigation, closed the investigation in December 1992. In 1993,
the FBI received reports that Bassnan had hosted a party for the
“Blind Sheikh” [implicated in the 1993 WTC bombing] in Washington,
D.C. in 1992. However, the FBI did not open an investigation.
The Intelligence Community had information connecting Bin Ladin
to the EIJ as of 1996. In addition, FBI documents note that a
high-level member of the EIJ was on Bin Ladin’s Shura Council. A May
2000 FBI document indicates that FBI Headquarters personnel were not
handling EIJ matters due to resource constraints. After September
11, the FBI developed information clearly indicating that Bassnan
is an extremist and a Bin Ladin supporter…
The
FBI also learned that the business owner [Osama Mustafa] had been
associating with other persons with possible ties to the hijackers,
including Osama Bassnan
Knight
Ridder Tribune Sept. 7, 2004:
Citing
CIA analyses, Graham said the two Saudis, Omar al Bayoumi and Osama
Bassnan, were Saudi agents.
Newsweek December 2, 2002, U.S. Edition:
About
two months after al-Bayoumi began aiding Alhazmi and Almihdhar,
NEWSWEEK has learned, al-Bayoumi's wife began receiving regular
stipends, often monthly and usually around $2,000, totaling tens of
thousands of dollars. The money came in the form of cashier's
checks, purchased from Washington's Riggs Bank by Princess Haifa
bint Faisal, the daughter of the late King Faisal and wife of Prince
Bandar, the Saudi envoy who is a prominent Washington figure and
personal friend of the Bush family. The checks were sent to a woman
named Majeda Ibrahin Dweikat, who in turn signed over many of them
to al-Bayoumi's wife (and her friend), Manal Ahmed Bagader…
Dwei-kat's husband, Osama Basnan, had first pleaded to
the Saudi Embassy for help in 1998, saying that he needed money to
treat his wife's thyroid condition. At the time, Prince Bandar
wrote Basnan a $15,000 check. The monthly payments to his wife,
Majeda, began in January 1999 and ended only last
summer...
After
al-Bayoumi left San Diego in July 2001, the cashier's checks
purchased by Princess Haifa continued to flow to Majeda Dweikat, who
in turn signed many of them over to her husband, Osama
[Basnan]…
Wife Dweikat appears to have been at least a minor
scamster. She was convicted of marriage fraud to obtain immigration
papers and pleaded guilty--along with al-Bayoumi's wife, Manal--to
shoplifting in April 2001. The checks from Princess Haifa stopped
when Basnan was arrested for visa fraud last August…
Osama
Basnan showed up in Houston last April [2001] when Saudi Crown
Prince Abdullah came to town with a vast entourage en route to
President George W. Bush's ranch. According to informed sources,
Basnan met with a high Saudi prince who has responsibilities
for intelligence matters [Prince Turki al-Faisal is head of
Saudi Intelligence] and is known to bring suitcases full of cash
into the United States--a practice not unheard-of among the Saudi
elite. A Houston police report obtained by NEWSWEEK shows that
Basnan complained he had been robbed of his Saudi passport and $400.
It is dated April 25, the same week the crown prince was in
town.
United
Press International September 5, 2001:
The
disastrous head of Saudi intelligence, Prince Turki
al-Faisal... has a dangerous soft spot for the Taliban and is
seen by American and British intelligence as too close to the
notorious Osama bin-Laden for comfort, let his anti-Western
biases show in the way he ran the investigations into the bombing
campaign against Westerners in the kingdom. The prince sought to
present the bombings as a Mafia-style war between corrupt British
and other Western merchants of illicit alcohol, despite considerable
evidence that fundamentalists were involved, some of them with
alleged connections to Prince Turki's own organization. Wiser
councils have now prevailed, thanks to discreet American pressure.
Prince Turki has been sacked by King Fahd, and replaced
Prince Nawaf bin-Abdul Aziz.
BBC
Worldwide Monitoring, September 4, 2001, Tuesday:
Text
of report by London-based newspaper Al-Sharq al-Awsat on 1
September
Jedda
- Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd Bin-Abd-al-Aziz has
issued a royal decree appointing Prince Nawwaf Bin-Abd-al-Aziz as
head of the Saudi intelligence service with the rank of minister
and relieving Prince Turki al-Faysal of the post at his own
request.
The
royal decree said that based on the presentation made by Crown
Prince Abdallah Bin-Abd-al-Aziz, deputy prime minister and commander
of the National Guard, Prince Turki al-Faysal has been relieved of
his post at his own request, and Prince Nawwaf Bin-Abd-al-Aziz
has been appointed in his place.
Prince
Nawwaf Bin-Abd-al-Aziz is the third Saudi intelligence chief since
the service was set up in the mid-sixties. The late Kamal Adham was
the first head of intelligence, then Prince Turki al-Faysal took
charge of the service in 1977. It is worth noting that Prince
Nawwaf has in the past assumed the finance and national economy
portfolios and also headed the Royal Court…
As for
Prince Turki al-Faysal, he was born in 1947 and was appointed as
head of the intelligence service on 6 September 1977 with the rank
of minister.
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