Ziad Jarrah
Encyclopedia
Ziad Samir Jarrah (May 11, 1975 – September 11, 2001) was one of the masterminds of the September 11 attacks who served as the hijacker-pilot of United Airlines Flight 93
, crashing the plane into a field in a rural area near Shanksville
—after a passenger uprising—as part of the coordinated attacks.
After a wealthy and secular
upbringing, Jarrah moved to Germany in 1996. He became involved in the planning of the September 11 attacks while attending TUHH in the late 1990s, meeting Mohamed Atta
, Marwan al-Shehhi
and Ramzi bin al-Shibh, forming in 1998 what is now known as the Hamburg cell
. Jarrah was recruited by Osama bin Laden
for the attacks in 1999. Unique among the hijackers, he was close to his family and girlfriend.
Jarrah arrived in the United States in June 2000, he trained at Florida Flight Training Center from June 2000 to January 2001, after relocating to Florida from New Jersey.
On September 7, 2001, Jarrah flew from Fort Lauderdale
to Newark
. On September 11, Jarrah boarded United 93
, and he is believed to have taken over as the pilot of the aircraft
along with his team of hijackers, which included Saeed al-Ghamdi
, Ahmed al-Nami
and Ahmed al-Haznawi
who together made an unsuccessful attempt to crash the plane into the U.S. Capitol
or the White House
.
, Lebanon
, to a wealthy family. His parents were nominally Muslim
Sunnis
, although they lived a secular
lifestyle. When he was seven years old, Israel invaded southern Lebanon
, a fact he referred to later in life. His parents sent him to a Catholic school
in Beirut
, La Sagesse, where he volunteered at a camp for disabled children and helped run an anti-drug program. Later on, he served a nearby church helping orphaned children there. His academic success to this point was mediocre, and his parents arranged for private tutors in mathematics
, physics
and chemistry
.
He remained close to his family; he was apparently the only 9/11 hijacker to have close family ties, including with his uncle Assem Jarrah, whose work permit would later be found in the wreckage with Ziad’s passport. Stasi archives show that Assem Jarrah was a long-time Stasi
collaborator, who had ties to Abu Nidal group. He reportedly worked for both Stasi and Libya
n intelligence.
Months before the September 11 attacks, Assem Jarrah left Germany, saying he would retire in Lebanon.
In his childhood, he had always wanted to fly planes, but his family discouraged this. “I stopped him from being a pilot,” his father told the Wall Street Journal a week after the attacks. “I only have one son and I was afraid that he would crash.”
From 1995 to 1996, while Ziad Jarrah was still living in Lebanon, according to his family, somebody of the same name rented an apartment in Brooklyn
, New York
. The landlords claimed it was the same Ziad Jarrah as in the FBI photographs.
In the spring of 1996, Jarrah moved to Germany
with his cousin Salim. They were there to take a certificate
course in German
at the University of Greifswald required of foreigners studying in Germany who do not speak the language. While sharing an apartment with his cousin, he reportedly attended disco
s and beach parties, and his attendance at the mosque
fell off. He met Aysel Şengün, a Turkish
woman studying dentistry
, and the two became good friends. They dated on and off for the remainder of his life, and lived together briefly, which vexed his more religious friends.
In 1997, Jarrah left Greifswald and instead began studying aerospace engineering
at the Fachhochschule
(University of Applied Sciences
) in Hamburg
, while working at a Volkswagen
paint shop in nearby Wolfsburg
. While in Hamburg, he rented an apartment from Rosemarie Canel, who would paint a portrait of him that he would bring back as a gift for his mother that December.
The 9/11 Commission Report states that Jarrah was a member of the Hamburg cell
, along with Mohamed Atta
and the others. He did not live with any of the others, however, and can be confirmed to only have met with any of them in Hamburg on a single occasion: that of Said Bahaji
’s wedding at the al-Quds Mosque. The closeness of his connections with the others is not known.
, Marwan al-Shehhi
, Said Bahaji
, and Ramzi bin al-Shibh decided to travel to Chechnya
to fight Russia
n soldiers. Khalid al-Masri
and Mohamedou Ould Slahi
convinced them at the last minute to travel instead to Afghanistan
to meet with Osama bin Laden
and train for terrorist attacks. They were told they were on a highly secret mission, and were instructed to return to Germany after the operation and enroll in flight school. In October 1999, Ziad Jarrah was filmed at Said Bahaji
’s wedding with other 9/11 hijackers, including Marwan al-Shehhi
.
In 2006, a video surfaced showing Jarrah, still bearded, reading his will in January 2000 along with Mohamed Atta
. Not long after this, Jarrah shaved his beard and began to act in a more secular way, according to Şengün. Many of the future hijackers attempted to hide their radicalism and blend in with the population. Jarrah reported his passport
stolen in February 2000 and received a duplicate, just as hijackers Atta and Shehhi had done the previous month.
Jarrah dropped out of the Fachhochschule
and began looking at flight schools. He claimed that this was to fulfill his childhood dream of being a pilot. After looking in several countries, he decided that none of the flight schools in Europe were adequate. At the advice of a childhood friend, he prepared to move to the United States.
Jarrah apparently entered the United States on seven separate occasions, more than any other hijacker. On May 25, 2000, he applied for and received a five-year US B-1/B-2
(tourist/business) visa
in Berlin. On June 27, 2000, he went to the U.S. for the first time, arriving at Newark International Airport
. He then traveled to Florida
, where he enrolled full-time at the Florida Flight Training Center in Venice
. Jarrah did not apply for a change in his status, from a tourist visa to a student visa, thus violating his immigration status.
Jarrah was enrolled in flight school for six months, from June 2000 to January 15, 2001. At the flight school, many of his classmates remember him fondly, describing him as kind and trustworthy, and remember him drinking beer occasionally. Jarrah was unique among the hijackers in that he did not live with any other hijackers, but rather lived with a German student named Thorsten Biermann. Biermann did not observe Jarrah acting particularly religiously or overtly politically. Jarrah occasionally flew back to Germany to visit his Turkish-German girlfriend, and called or e-mailed her nearly every day.
Jarrah had obtained his license to fly small planes in August 2000, and began training to fly large jets late that year. He flew to Beirut
to visit his family, and then to Germany to visit his girlfriend, Şengün. He brought her back to the United States for a ten-day visit, and she even attended a flight school session with him. In late January 2001, he again flew to Beirut
to visit his father who was ill and then visited his girlfriend, Şengün, in Germany, and returned to the United States once again in late February. His behavior was markedly different from the other hijackers, who broke off all familial and romantic relations.
On his way back to the U.S., he passed through the UAE
, according to that country’s officials, where he was initially reported as having been interviewed by authorities on January 30, 2001, at the request of the CIA
.
He allegedly admitted to having been to Afghanistan and Pakistan
, although the CIA has since denied the claim and the 9/11 Commission report does not mention it. The Florida flight school where Jarrah had been studying also said he was in school there until January 15, 2001.
On May 6, Jarrah registered for a two-month membership at the US1 Fitness Center, a gym in Dania Beach, Florida
—he would later renew his membership for two more months, and eventually had lessons in close-quarters combat with Bert Rodriguez. It is believed that sometime in that month Ahmed al-Haznawi
, who arrived on June 8, moved in with Jarrah. Jarrah rented a new apartment in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea
after both men gave the landlord photocopies of their German passports, which he later turned over to the FBI.
On June 25, Jarrah took Haznawi to Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
, on the advice of his landlord, Charles Lisa. Haznawi was treated by Dr. Christos Tsonas, who gave him antibiotics for a small gash on his left calf. While he told staff that he had bumped into a suitcase, the media briefly reported it as a sign of cutaneous anthrax
, hoping to show a link to the 2001 anthrax attacks
, although the FBI later addressed the rumors, stating "Exhaustive testing did not support that anthrax was present anywhere the hijackers had been."
In mid July 2001, some of the hijackers and members of the Hamburg cell gathered near Salou
, Spain
, for a period of a few days up to a couple of weeks. There seemed to be tension between Jarrah and Atta about the plot in its late stages. Atta had complained to Binalshibh about his difficulty in getting through to Jarrah and his fear that Jarrah may withdraw from the plot completely. On July 25, Jarrah flew to Germany on a one-way ticket and again met with his girlfriend, the last time she saw him. Later, he met with Binalshibh who convinced Jarrah to go through with the operation. Jarrah arrived back in the United States on August 5, though other sources indicate that he took his pilot’s test on August 2, having missed his sister’s wedding to do so. On August 27, he checked into a Laurel, Maryland
, motel, only a mile away from the Valencia where four other hijackers were staying. On September 7, 2001, all four of Flight 93 hijackers flew from Fort Lauderdale
to Newark International Airport
aboard Spirit Airlines
.
On September 9, in the early morning, Jarrah was pulled over for speeding in Maryland and received a ticket. Jarrah phoned his parents later that day, mentioning that he had received the money order they'd sent five days earlier. He told them he intended to see them on September 22 for his cousin's wedding.
On September 10, Jarrah spent the last evening of his life writing a letter to his girlfriend Aysel Senguen, the woman with whom he had made marriage plans. This letter is widely interpreted as a suicide note
. The letter did not reach Senguen; she had entered witness protection shortly after the attacks and her apartment was unattended. The letter was returned to the United States by the postal services, where it was discovered and delivered to the FBI.
The note contained the phrases "I did what I was supposed to do" and "You ought to be very proud, because it is an honor and you will see the result(s) and everybody will be happy".
According to one source, Jarrah had set up a large mock cockpit
made of cardboard boxes in his apartment just before the attacks.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, Jarrah, Saeed al-Ghamdi
, Ahmed al-Nami
and Ahmed al-Haznawi
boarded United Airlines Flight 93
in Newark International Airport
at gate A17 without incident, and sat in a first-class seat near the cockpit. Due to the flight's delay, the plane took off at 8:41 am, five minutes before American Airlines Flight 11
crashed into the World Trade Center
. The pilot and crew were notified of the first two hijackings that day, and were told to be on the alert. Within minutes, around 9:10 am, Flight 93 was hijacked as well.
The 9/11 Commission
stated that Jarrah was the pilot. The flight transcript might indicate that Saeed al-Ghamdi
, who also trained in flight simulators, could have been the pilot or a co-pilot. Two of the hijackers are heard calling the pilot "Saeed".
The pilot's voice was heard by air traffic control
telling passengers to remain seated. At 9:39 a.m., the pilot announced, "This is the captain. Would like you all to remain seated. There is a bomb on board and are going back to the airport, and to have our demands [unintelligible]. Please remain quiet." over the radio.
At least two of the cellphone calls made by passengers indicate that all the hijackers they saw were wearing red bandannas, and indicated that one of the men, believed to be either Ahmed al-Haznawi or Ahmed al-Nami, had a box tied around his torso, and claimed there was a bomb inside. Passengers on the plane learned the fates of the other hijacked planes through telephone calls; some decided to act, fearing their plane, too, would be used as a missile. A passenger uprising foiled the terrorists' plans, but failed to save the plane. According to the August 8, 2003, analysis of the plane's cockpit recording
by the United States
investigators, a group of passengers tried to break into the cockpit. To knock them off balance, the pilot rolled the plane to the left and right. When this failed, he then pitched the nose forward and back. The passengers persisted, using a service trolley as a battering ram to break through the cockpit door. Finally, the pilot was told by a fellow hijacker to crash rather than cede control of the plane. In response, he turned the plane upside down and put it into a dive. United 93 crashed, at 580 miles per hour (933 km/h), into a reclaimed strip mine at the edge of the woods near Shanksville, Pennsylvania
, at 10:03:11, 125 miles (200 km) from Washington, D.C. All aboard died.
After September 11, Jarrah's girlfriend, Şengün, filed a missing person report in Bochum
. Jarrah became a suspect as FBI agents found a "Ziad Jarrahi" in the flight manifest (the additional i at the end a possible misspelling).
Shortly after the September 11 attacks, family and friends claimed that Jarrah did not exhibit the same “smoldering political resentments” or “cultural conservatism” as Mohamed Atta. He was not raised with a background of religious conviction and did not hold to an obviously conservative lifestyle. Personnel at the flight school Jarrah attended described him as “a normal person.” Jarrah called his family two days, and his girlfriend Aysel Sengün three hours, before boarding United 93; Sengün described the conversation as “pleasant” and “normal.” She also claimed that he never mentioned any names of the other hijackers. In his call two days before the attack, Jarrah told his family he would be coming home for a cousin’s wedding. “It makes no sense,” his uncle Jamal claimed. “He said he had even bought a new suit for the occasion.” Jarrah’s family in Lebanon
claimed in September 2001 that he was an innocent passenger on the plane. His uncle, Jamal Jarrah, is currently a deputy in the Lebanese parliament, and a member of the Future Movement, a pro-Western political party led by Saad Hariri
.
On October 23, 2001, John Ashcroft
claimed that Jarrah had shared a Hamburg apartment with Mohamed Atta
and Marwan al-Shehhi
, though German
authorities that same day told the Los Angeles Times
that they had no evidence that any of Jarrah’s three apartments in Hamburg had been connected with the other hijackers. One high-ranking German police official stated, “The only information we have connecting the three Hamburg suspects is the FBI’s assertion that there is a connection.” In October 2006, however, a video surfaced showing Atta and Jarrah together in Afghanistan, clearly connecting Jarrah to the members of the Hamburg cell. Jarrah also appears in a wedding video with other hijackers at a mosque in Hamburg.
The 9/11 Commission
concluded without qualification that Jarrah was a hijacker on the plane when it crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
In October 2006, an al-Qaeda
video was released showing Jarrah and Mohamed Atta recording their wills in January 2000 in Osama Bin Laden
’s Tarnak Farms
base near Kandahar
.
United Airlines Flight 93
United Airlines Flight 93 was United Airlines' scheduled morning transcontinental flight across the United States from Newark International Airport in Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco International Airport in California. On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, the Boeing 757–222 aircraft operating the...
, crashing the plane into a field in a rural area near Shanksville
Stonycreek Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania
Stonycreek Township is a township in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,221 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
—after a passenger uprising—as part of the coordinated attacks.
After a wealthy and secular
Secularism
Secularism is the principle of separation between government institutions and the persons mandated to represent the State from religious institutions and religious dignitaries...
upbringing, Jarrah moved to Germany in 1996. He became involved in the planning of the September 11 attacks while attending TUHH in the late 1990s, meeting Mohamed Atta
Mohamed Atta
Mohamed Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta was one of the masterminds and the ringleader of the September 11 attacks who served as the hijacker-pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, crashing the plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the coordinated attacks.Born in 1968...
, Marwan al-Shehhi
Marwan al-Shehhi
Marwan Yousef Mohamed Rashid Lekrab al-Shehhi was the hijacker-pilot of United Airlines Flight 175, crashing the plane into the South Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the September 11 attacks....
and Ramzi bin al-Shibh, forming in 1998 what is now known as the Hamburg cell
Hamburg cell
The Hamburg cell was, according to U.S. and German intelligence agencies, a group of radical Islamists based in Hamburg, Germany that included students who eventually came to be key operatives in the 9/11 attacks...
. Jarrah was recruited by Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
for the attacks in 1999. Unique among the hijackers, he was close to his family and girlfriend.
Jarrah arrived in the United States in June 2000, he trained at Florida Flight Training Center from June 2000 to January 2001, after relocating to Florida from New Jersey.
On September 7, 2001, Jarrah flew from Fort Lauderdale
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Fort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, on the Atlantic coast. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,521. It is a principal city of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010...
to Newark
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
. On September 11, Jarrah boarded United 93
United Airlines Flight 93
United Airlines Flight 93 was United Airlines' scheduled morning transcontinental flight across the United States from Newark International Airport in Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco International Airport in California. On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, the Boeing 757–222 aircraft operating the...
, and he is believed to have taken over as the pilot of the aircraft
Aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...
along with his team of hijackers, which included Saeed al-Ghamdi
Saeed al-Ghamdi
Saeed Abdallah Ali Sulayman al-Ghamdi was one of four hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93 as part of the September 11 attacks....
, Ahmed al-Nami
Ahmed al-Nami
A former law student and muezzin, Ahmed bin Abdullah al-Nami was one of four hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93 as part of the September 11 attacks.Born in Saudi Arabia, Nami had served as a muezzin and was a college student...
and Ahmed al-Haznawi
Ahmed al-Haznawi
Ahmed Ibrahim al-Haznawi was one of four hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93 as part of the September 11 attacks....
who together made an unsuccessful attempt to crash the plane into the U.S. Capitol
United States Capitol
The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall...
or the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
.
Spelling of his name
There are many variations on his name, including "Ziad Jarrah Jarrat", "Ziad Jarrahi", "Ziad Samir al-Jarrah", and "Ziyad Samir Jarrah".Early life
Jarrah was born in MazraaMazraa
-Locations / Places:Lebanon*Mazraa, a town in Lebanon*Mazraat el Chouf, a town and area in Chouf, Lebanon*Mazraa, a commercial district in Beirut, Lebanon*Mazraat Al Toufah, a village in Zgharta District, Lebanon*Mazraat el-Btadiniye, a village in South Lebanon...
, Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, to a wealthy family. His parents were nominally Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
Sunnis
Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam. Sunni Muslims are referred to in Arabic as ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah wa āl-Ǧamāʿah or ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah for short; in English, they are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis or Sunnites....
, although they lived a secular
Secularism
Secularism is the principle of separation between government institutions and the persons mandated to represent the State from religious institutions and religious dignitaries...
lifestyle. When he was seven years old, Israel invaded southern Lebanon
1982 Lebanon War
The 1982 Lebanon War , , called Operation Peace for Galilee by Israel, and later known in Israel as the Lebanon War and First Lebanon War, began on 6 June 1982, when the Israel Defense Forces invaded southern Lebanon...
, a fact he referred to later in life. His parents sent him to a Catholic school
Catholic school
Catholic schools are maintained parochial schools or education ministries of the Catholic Church. the Church operates the world's largest non-governmental school system...
in Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
, La Sagesse, where he volunteered at a camp for disabled children and helped run an anti-drug program. Later on, he served a nearby church helping orphaned children there. His academic success to this point was mediocre, and his parents arranged for private tutors in mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
and chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
.
He remained close to his family; he was apparently the only 9/11 hijacker to have close family ties, including with his uncle Assem Jarrah, whose work permit would later be found in the wreckage with Ziad’s passport. Stasi archives show that Assem Jarrah was a long-time Stasi
Stasi
The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security (German: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), commonly known as the Stasi (abbreviation , literally State Security), was the official state security service of East Germany. The MfS was headquartered...
collaborator, who had ties to Abu Nidal group. He reportedly worked for both Stasi and Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
n intelligence.
Months before the September 11 attacks, Assem Jarrah left Germany, saying he would retire in Lebanon.
In his childhood, he had always wanted to fly planes, but his family discouraged this. “I stopped him from being a pilot,” his father told the Wall Street Journal a week after the attacks. “I only have one son and I was afraid that he would crash.”
From 1995 to 1996, while Ziad Jarrah was still living in Lebanon, according to his family, somebody of the same name rented an apartment in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. The landlords claimed it was the same Ziad Jarrah as in the FBI photographs.
In the spring of 1996, Jarrah moved to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
with his cousin Salim. They were there to take a certificate
Academic certificate
An academic certificate is a document that certifies that a person has received specific education or has passed a test or series of tests.In many countries, certificate is a qualification attained in secondary education. For instance, students in the Republic of Ireland sit the Junior Certificate...
course in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
at the University of Greifswald required of foreigners studying in Germany who do not speak the language. While sharing an apartment with his cousin, he reportedly attended disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
s and beach parties, and his attendance at the mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
fell off. He met Aysel Şengün, a Turkish
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
woman studying dentistry
Dentistry
Dentistry is the branch of medicine that is involved in the study, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases, disorders and conditions of the oral cavity, maxillofacial area and the adjacent and associated structures and their impact on the human body. Dentistry is widely considered...
, and the two became good friends. They dated on and off for the remainder of his life, and lived together briefly, which vexed his more religious friends.
In 1997, Jarrah left Greifswald and instead began studying aerospace engineering
Aerospace engineering
Aerospace engineering is the primary branch of engineering concerned with the design, construction and science of aircraft and spacecraft. It is divided into two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering...
at the Fachhochschule
Fachhochschule
A Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences is a German type of tertiary education institution, sometimes specialized in certain topical areas . Fachhochschulen were founded in Germany and later adopted by Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Greece...
(University of Applied Sciences
Vocational university
A vocational university is an institution of higher education and sometimes research, which provides both tertiary and sometimes quaternary education and grants academic degrees at all levels in a variety of subjects...
) in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, while working at a Volkswagen
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
paint shop in nearby Wolfsburg
Wolfsburg
Wolfsburg is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located on the River Aller northeast of Braunschweig , and is mainly notable as the headquarters of Volkswagen AG...
. While in Hamburg, he rented an apartment from Rosemarie Canel, who would paint a portrait of him that he would bring back as a gift for his mother that December.
The 9/11 Commission Report states that Jarrah was a member of the Hamburg cell
Hamburg cell
The Hamburg cell was, according to U.S. and German intelligence agencies, a group of radical Islamists based in Hamburg, Germany that included students who eventually came to be key operatives in the 9/11 attacks...
, along with Mohamed Atta
Mohamed Atta
Mohamed Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta was one of the masterminds and the ringleader of the September 11 attacks who served as the hijacker-pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, crashing the plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the coordinated attacks.Born in 1968...
and the others. He did not live with any of the others, however, and can be confirmed to only have met with any of them in Hamburg on a single occasion: that of Said Bahaji
Said Bahaji
Said Bahaji was an alleged member of the Hamburg cell that provided money to the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks.-History:He is a German citizen, and was born to a Moroccan father and a German mother in 1975. The family moved to Morocco when he was nine years old. He came to Hamburg in...
’s wedding at the al-Quds Mosque. The closeness of his connections with the others is not known.
Training in Afghanistan
In late 1999, Jarrah, Mohamed AttaMohamed Atta
Mohamed Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta was one of the masterminds and the ringleader of the September 11 attacks who served as the hijacker-pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, crashing the plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the coordinated attacks.Born in 1968...
, Marwan al-Shehhi
Marwan al-Shehhi
Marwan Yousef Mohamed Rashid Lekrab al-Shehhi was the hijacker-pilot of United Airlines Flight 175, crashing the plane into the South Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the September 11 attacks....
, Said Bahaji
Said Bahaji
Said Bahaji was an alleged member of the Hamburg cell that provided money to the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks.-History:He is a German citizen, and was born to a Moroccan father and a German mother in 1975. The family moved to Morocco when he was nine years old. He came to Hamburg in...
, and Ramzi bin al-Shibh decided to travel to Chechnya
Chechnya
The Chechen Republic , commonly referred to as Chechnya , also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, sometimes referred to as Ichkeria , is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the southeastern part of Europe in the Northern Caucasus mountains. The capital of the republic is the city of Grozny...
to fight Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n soldiers. Khalid al-Masri
Khalid al-Masri
Khalid al-Masri is the name of a person alleged to have approached two 9/11 hijackers on a train in Germany and suggested that they contact an alleged al Qaeda operative in Duisburg....
and Mohamedou Ould Slahi
Mohamedou Ould Slahi
Mohamedou Ould Slahi or Salahi is a Mauritanian who has been detained at Guantánamo Bay detention camp since August 4, 2002...
convinced them at the last minute to travel instead to Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
to meet with Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
and train for terrorist attacks. They were told they were on a highly secret mission, and were instructed to return to Germany after the operation and enroll in flight school. In October 1999, Ziad Jarrah was filmed at Said Bahaji
Said Bahaji
Said Bahaji was an alleged member of the Hamburg cell that provided money to the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks.-History:He is a German citizen, and was born to a Moroccan father and a German mother in 1975. The family moved to Morocco when he was nine years old. He came to Hamburg in...
’s wedding with other 9/11 hijackers, including Marwan al-Shehhi
Marwan al-Shehhi
Marwan Yousef Mohamed Rashid Lekrab al-Shehhi was the hijacker-pilot of United Airlines Flight 175, crashing the plane into the South Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the September 11 attacks....
.
In 2006, a video surfaced showing Jarrah, still bearded, reading his will in January 2000 along with Mohamed Atta
Mohamed Atta
Mohamed Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta was one of the masterminds and the ringleader of the September 11 attacks who served as the hijacker-pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, crashing the plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the coordinated attacks.Born in 1968...
. Not long after this, Jarrah shaved his beard and began to act in a more secular way, according to Şengün. Many of the future hijackers attempted to hide their radicalism and blend in with the population. Jarrah reported his passport
Passport
A passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth....
stolen in February 2000 and received a duplicate, just as hijackers Atta and Shehhi had done the previous month.
Jarrah dropped out of the Fachhochschule
Fachhochschule
A Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences is a German type of tertiary education institution, sometimes specialized in certain topical areas . Fachhochschulen were founded in Germany and later adopted by Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Greece...
and began looking at flight schools. He claimed that this was to fulfill his childhood dream of being a pilot. After looking in several countries, he decided that none of the flight schools in Europe were adequate. At the advice of a childhood friend, he prepared to move to the United States.
In the United States
(tourist/business) visa
B-1/B-2 Visa
A B visa is one of a category of visas issued by the United States government to foreign citizens seeking entry for a temporary period. The two types of B visa are the B-1 visa, issued to those seeking entry for business purposes, and the B-2 visa, issued to those seeking entry for tourism or other...
in Berlin. On June 27, 2000, he went to the U.S. for the first time, arriving at Newark International Airport
Newark Liberty International Airport
Newark Liberty International Airport , first named Newark Metropolitan Airport and later Newark International Airport, is an international airport within the city limits of both Newark and Elizabeth, New Jersey, United States...
. He then traveled to Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, where he enrolled full-time at the Florida Flight Training Center in Venice
Venice, Florida
Venice is a city in Sarasota County, Florida, United States. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2007 estimates, the city had a population of 21,015. It is noted for its large snowbird population. Its newspaper is the Venice Gondolier Sun...
. Jarrah did not apply for a change in his status, from a tourist visa to a student visa, thus violating his immigration status.
Jarrah was enrolled in flight school for six months, from June 2000 to January 15, 2001. At the flight school, many of his classmates remember him fondly, describing him as kind and trustworthy, and remember him drinking beer occasionally. Jarrah was unique among the hijackers in that he did not live with any other hijackers, but rather lived with a German student named Thorsten Biermann. Biermann did not observe Jarrah acting particularly religiously or overtly politically. Jarrah occasionally flew back to Germany to visit his Turkish-German girlfriend, and called or e-mailed her nearly every day.
Jarrah had obtained his license to fly small planes in August 2000, and began training to fly large jets late that year. He flew to Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
to visit his family, and then to Germany to visit his girlfriend, Şengün. He brought her back to the United States for a ten-day visit, and she even attended a flight school session with him. In late January 2001, he again flew to Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
to visit his father who was ill and then visited his girlfriend, Şengün, in Germany, and returned to the United States once again in late February. His behavior was markedly different from the other hijackers, who broke off all familial and romantic relations.
On his way back to the U.S., he passed through the UAE
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...
, according to that country’s officials, where he was initially reported as having been interviewed by authorities on January 30, 2001, at the request of the CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
.
He allegedly admitted to having been to Afghanistan and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, although the CIA has since denied the claim and the 9/11 Commission report does not mention it. The Florida flight school where Jarrah had been studying also said he was in school there until January 15, 2001.
On May 6, Jarrah registered for a two-month membership at the US1 Fitness Center, a gym in Dania Beach, Florida
Dania Beach, Florida
Dania Beach is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 29,639. It is part of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010 census. Dania Beach is the location of one of the largest jai alai frontons in...
—he would later renew his membership for two more months, and eventually had lessons in close-quarters combat with Bert Rodriguez. It is believed that sometime in that month Ahmed al-Haznawi
Ahmed al-Haznawi
Ahmed Ibrahim al-Haznawi was one of four hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93 as part of the September 11 attacks....
, who arrived on June 8, moved in with Jarrah. Jarrah rented a new apartment in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea
Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Florida
Lauderdale-by-the-Sea is a town in Broward County, Florida, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 6,056. It is part of the Miami–Fort Lauderdale–Pompano Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010 census.-Geography:Lauderdale-by-the-Sea is...
after both men gave the landlord photocopies of their German passports, which he later turned over to the FBI.
On June 25, Jarrah took Haznawi to Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Fort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, on the Atlantic coast. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,521. It is a principal city of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010...
, on the advice of his landlord, Charles Lisa. Haznawi was treated by Dr. Christos Tsonas, who gave him antibiotics for a small gash on his left calf. While he told staff that he had bumped into a suitcase, the media briefly reported it as a sign of cutaneous anthrax
Anthrax
Anthrax is an acute disease caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Most forms of the disease are lethal, and it affects both humans and other animals...
, hoping to show a link to the 2001 anthrax attacks
2001 anthrax attacks
The 2001 anthrax attacks in the United States, also known as Amerithrax from its Federal Bureau of Investigation case name, occurred over the course of several weeks beginning on Tuesday, September 18, 2001, one week after the September 11 attacks. Letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to...
, although the FBI later addressed the rumors, stating "Exhaustive testing did not support that anthrax was present anywhere the hijackers had been."
In mid July 2001, some of the hijackers and members of the Hamburg cell gathered near Salou
Salou
Salou is a municipality of the comarca of Tarragonès, in the province of Tarragona, in Catalonia, Spain. The city is approximately 10km from Tarragona and Reus on the Costa Daurada and 112km from Barcelona...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, for a period of a few days up to a couple of weeks. There seemed to be tension between Jarrah and Atta about the plot in its late stages. Atta had complained to Binalshibh about his difficulty in getting through to Jarrah and his fear that Jarrah may withdraw from the plot completely. On July 25, Jarrah flew to Germany on a one-way ticket and again met with his girlfriend, the last time she saw him. Later, he met with Binalshibh who convinced Jarrah to go through with the operation. Jarrah arrived back in the United States on August 5, though other sources indicate that he took his pilot’s test on August 2, having missed his sister’s wedding to do so. On August 27, he checked into a Laurel, Maryland
Laurel, Maryland
Laurel is a city in northern Prince George's County, Anne Arundel County, and Howard County, Maryland, United States, located midway between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. Incorporated in 1870, the city maintains a historic district including its Main Street...
, motel, only a mile away from the Valencia where four other hijackers were staying. On September 7, 2001, all four of Flight 93 hijackers flew from Fort Lauderdale
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Fort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, on the Atlantic coast. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,521. It is a principal city of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010...
to Newark International Airport
Newark Liberty International Airport
Newark Liberty International Airport , first named Newark Metropolitan Airport and later Newark International Airport, is an international airport within the city limits of both Newark and Elizabeth, New Jersey, United States...
aboard Spirit Airlines
Spirit Airlines
Spirit Airlines is a United States ultra low-cost carrier operating scheduled flights throughout the Americas. The airline is headquartered in Miramar, Florida, in the Miami metropolitan area. Spirit currently maintains a base in Fort Lauderdale, Florida...
.
On September 9, in the early morning, Jarrah was pulled over for speeding in Maryland and received a ticket. Jarrah phoned his parents later that day, mentioning that he had received the money order they'd sent five days earlier. He told them he intended to see them on September 22 for his cousin's wedding.
On September 10, Jarrah spent the last evening of his life writing a letter to his girlfriend Aysel Senguen, the woman with whom he had made marriage plans. This letter is widely interpreted as a suicide note
Suicide note
A suicide note or death note is a message that states the author has died by suicide, and left to be discovered and read in anticipation of suicide....
. The letter did not reach Senguen; she had entered witness protection shortly after the attacks and her apartment was unattended. The letter was returned to the United States by the postal services, where it was discovered and delivered to the FBI.
The note contained the phrases "I did what I was supposed to do" and "You ought to be very proud, because it is an honor and you will see the result(s) and everybody will be happy".
According to one source, Jarrah had set up a large mock cockpit
Cockpit
A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft, from which a pilot controls the aircraft. Most modern cockpits are enclosed, except on some small aircraft, and cockpits on large airliners are also physically separated from the cabin...
made of cardboard boxes in his apartment just before the attacks.
Attacks
On the morning of September 11, 2001, Jarrah, Saeed al-Ghamdi
Saeed al-Ghamdi
Saeed Abdallah Ali Sulayman al-Ghamdi was one of four hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93 as part of the September 11 attacks....
, Ahmed al-Nami
Ahmed al-Nami
A former law student and muezzin, Ahmed bin Abdullah al-Nami was one of four hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93 as part of the September 11 attacks.Born in Saudi Arabia, Nami had served as a muezzin and was a college student...
and Ahmed al-Haznawi
Ahmed al-Haznawi
Ahmed Ibrahim al-Haznawi was one of four hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93 as part of the September 11 attacks....
boarded United Airlines Flight 93
United Airlines Flight 93
United Airlines Flight 93 was United Airlines' scheduled morning transcontinental flight across the United States from Newark International Airport in Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco International Airport in California. On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, the Boeing 757–222 aircraft operating the...
in Newark International Airport
Newark Liberty International Airport
Newark Liberty International Airport , first named Newark Metropolitan Airport and later Newark International Airport, is an international airport within the city limits of both Newark and Elizabeth, New Jersey, United States...
at gate A17 without incident, and sat in a first-class seat near the cockpit. Due to the flight's delay, the plane took off at 8:41 am, five minutes before American Airlines Flight 11
American Airlines Flight 11
American Airlines Flight 11 was American Airlines' daily scheduled morning transcontinental flight from Logan International Airport, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Los Angeles International Airport, in Los Angeles, California...
crashed into the World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
. The pilot and crew were notified of the first two hijackings that day, and were told to be on the alert. Within minutes, around 9:10 am, Flight 93 was hijacked as well.
The 9/11 Commission
9/11 Commission
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, was set up on November 27, 2002, "to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 attacks", including preparedness for and the immediate response to...
stated that Jarrah was the pilot. The flight transcript might indicate that Saeed al-Ghamdi
Saeed al-Ghamdi
Saeed Abdallah Ali Sulayman al-Ghamdi was one of four hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93 as part of the September 11 attacks....
, who also trained in flight simulators, could have been the pilot or a co-pilot. Two of the hijackers are heard calling the pilot "Saeed".
The pilot's voice was heard by air traffic control
Air traffic control
Air traffic control is a service provided by ground-based controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and in the air. The primary purpose of ATC systems worldwide is to separate aircraft to prevent collisions, to organize and expedite the flow of traffic, and to provide information and other...
telling passengers to remain seated. At 9:39 a.m., the pilot announced, "This is the captain. Would like you all to remain seated. There is a bomb on board and are going back to the airport, and to have our demands [unintelligible]. Please remain quiet." over the radio.
At least two of the cellphone calls made by passengers indicate that all the hijackers they saw were wearing red bandannas, and indicated that one of the men, believed to be either Ahmed al-Haznawi or Ahmed al-Nami, had a box tied around his torso, and claimed there was a bomb inside. Passengers on the plane learned the fates of the other hijacked planes through telephone calls; some decided to act, fearing their plane, too, would be used as a missile. A passenger uprising foiled the terrorists' plans, but failed to save the plane. According to the August 8, 2003, analysis of the plane's cockpit recording
Flight data recorder
A flight data recorder is an electronic device employed to record any instructions sent to any electronic systems on an aircraft. It is a device used to record specific aircraft performance parameters...
by the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
investigators, a group of passengers tried to break into the cockpit. To knock them off balance, the pilot rolled the plane to the left and right. When this failed, he then pitched the nose forward and back. The passengers persisted, using a service trolley as a battering ram to break through the cockpit door. Finally, the pilot was told by a fellow hijacker to crash rather than cede control of the plane. In response, he turned the plane upside down and put it into a dive. United 93 crashed, at 580 miles per hour (933 km/h), into a reclaimed strip mine at the edge of the woods near Shanksville, Pennsylvania
Shanksville, Pennsylvania
Shanksville is a borough in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, United States, with a population of 245, as of the 2000 census. It is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area and is approximately 60 miles southeast from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
, at 10:03:11, 125 miles (200 km) from Washington, D.C. All aboard died.
After September 11, Jarrah's girlfriend, Şengün, filed a missing person report in Bochum
Bochum
Bochum is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, western Germany. It is located in the Ruhr area and is surrounded by the cities of Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Herne, Castrop-Rauxel, Dortmund, Witten and Hattingen.-History:...
. Jarrah became a suspect as FBI agents found a "Ziad Jarrahi" in the flight manifest (the additional i at the end a possible misspelling).
Mistaken identity claims
There have been claims that Jarrah was not a hijacker or that he was not present on the plane and his identity was stolen. It has been pointed out that his behavior deviated from the profile presented by the other hijackers and that the passengers reported three and not four hijackers. However, the October 2006 emergence of a “martyrdom” video shot on January 18, 2000, along with Mohamed Atta has cast heavy doubt on such claims.Shortly after the September 11 attacks, family and friends claimed that Jarrah did not exhibit the same “smoldering political resentments” or “cultural conservatism” as Mohamed Atta. He was not raised with a background of religious conviction and did not hold to an obviously conservative lifestyle. Personnel at the flight school Jarrah attended described him as “a normal person.” Jarrah called his family two days, and his girlfriend Aysel Sengün three hours, before boarding United 93; Sengün described the conversation as “pleasant” and “normal.” She also claimed that he never mentioned any names of the other hijackers. In his call two days before the attack, Jarrah told his family he would be coming home for a cousin’s wedding. “It makes no sense,” his uncle Jamal claimed. “He said he had even bought a new suit for the occasion.” Jarrah’s family in Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
claimed in September 2001 that he was an innocent passenger on the plane. His uncle, Jamal Jarrah, is currently a deputy in the Lebanese parliament, and a member of the Future Movement, a pro-Western political party led by Saad Hariri
Saad Hariri
Saad-eddine Rafiq Al-Hariri is a Saudi-Lebanese billionaire who served as the Prime Minister of Lebanon from 2009 until 2011. He is the second son of Rafiq Hariri, the former Lebanese Prime Minister who was assassinated in 2005...
.
On October 23, 2001, John Ashcroft
John Ashcroft
John David Ashcroft is a United States politician who served as the 79th United States Attorney General, from 2001 until 2005, appointed by President George W. Bush. Ashcroft previously served as the 50th Governor of Missouri and a U.S...
claimed that Jarrah had shared a Hamburg apartment with Mohamed Atta
Mohamed Atta
Mohamed Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta was one of the masterminds and the ringleader of the September 11 attacks who served as the hijacker-pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, crashing the plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the coordinated attacks.Born in 1968...
and Marwan al-Shehhi
Marwan al-Shehhi
Marwan Yousef Mohamed Rashid Lekrab al-Shehhi was the hijacker-pilot of United Airlines Flight 175, crashing the plane into the South Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the September 11 attacks....
, though German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
authorities that same day told the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
that they had no evidence that any of Jarrah’s three apartments in Hamburg had been connected with the other hijackers. One high-ranking German police official stated, “The only information we have connecting the three Hamburg suspects is the FBI’s assertion that there is a connection.” In October 2006, however, a video surfaced showing Atta and Jarrah together in Afghanistan, clearly connecting Jarrah to the members of the Hamburg cell. Jarrah also appears in a wedding video with other hijackers at a mosque in Hamburg.
The 9/11 Commission
9/11 Commission
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, was set up on November 27, 2002, "to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 attacks", including preparedness for and the immediate response to...
concluded without qualification that Jarrah was a hijacker on the plane when it crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
In October 2006, an al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
video was released showing Jarrah and Mohamed Atta recording their wills in January 2000 in Osama Bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
’s Tarnak Farms
Tarnak Farms
Tarnak Farms refers to a former Afghan training camp near Kandahar.The camp is very near the Kandahar airport.The Al-Qaeda camp is alleged to have offered training constructing bombs, using poisons, urban warfare, and assassination...
base near Kandahar
Kandahar
Kandahar is the second largest city in Afghanistan, with a population of about 512,200 as of 2011. It is the capital of Kandahar Province, located in the south of the country at about 1,005 m above sea level...
.