Source: Hijackers Scouted Navy Targets
— -- Source: 9/11 Hijackers Scouted Navy Targets
S A N D I E G O, Calif., Aug. 21 —
The presence of Sept. 11 hijackers and other al Qaeda operatives in San Diego has led investigators to believe the operatives were sent to scout the Navy's largest West Coast port, according to a federal law enforcement source.
Investigators believe Sept. 11 hijackers Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almihdhar, who arrived in California in January 2000, most likely were assigned to identify San Diego-based Navy ships to attack, said the federal official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
In October 2000, al Qaeda attacked the Navy warship USS Cole in Yemen.
Alhazmi and Almihdhar were aboard American Airlines Flight 77 when it crashed into the Pentagon, but fears about al Qaeda agents remain in the area.
In a recent interview, Gov. Gray Davis said "the FBI has shared with us the probability of at least a couple cells active in California."
San Diego is home to two nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and five nuclear-powered submarines, as well as the headquarters of the SEALs, the Navy's special operations force. A signature feature of the region is the two-mile bridge that links San Diego to Coronado.
The city served as a base for a "high number of hijackers and associates who lived, worked and studied" in the area, James Nagel, a special agent with the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, has said in court documents.
In May, the FBI began checking with dive shops in the city and around the country to see if al Qaeda operatives had been taking scuba training. Special operations Navy divers and San Diego Harbor police started training in July to spot potential terrorist threats in the port, and the U.S. Coast Guard has asked recreational boaters to look for and report any suspicious activity.
John Iannarelli, an FBI spokesman in San Diego, said his agency is investigating the extent of the hijackers' support network in or near the city. He would provide no further details.
Last month, authorities in Spain seized videos of the Golden Gate Bridge, Disneyland and Universal Studios from suspected al Qaeda terrorists.
An al Qaeda training manual recovered by police in England lays out the organization's missions. Topping the list is gathering information about "the enemy, the land, the installations." No. 6 is "blasting and destroying the places of amusement, immorality and sin," and No. 8 is "blasting and destroying bridges leading into and out of the cities."
Just days before their Jan. 15, 2000, arrival in the United States, Alhazmi and Almihdhar traveled to Malaysia to meet with an al Qaeda lieutenant named Tawfiq Attash Khallad, labeled the mastermind of the USS Cole attack. Those who attended the meeting scouted potential targets, the law enforcement source said.
Investigators in San Diego have divulged little of what they've learned about Almihdhar and Alhazmi. The pair attended a local mosque, worked at a gas station and took a few flight lessons. Almihdhar flew home to Saudi Arabia, but returned in the summer. By the end of 2000, they were gone.
After the Sept. 11 attacks, authorities questioned anyone who met with them and rounded up a handful of Middle Eastern men as material witnesses, three of whom were charged with crimes unrelated to terrorism.
— The Associated Press
Government to Investigate WTC Collapse
W A S H I N G T O N, Aug. 21 —
Hoping to make skyscrapers stronger, federal officials were to launch a two-year, $16 million investigation of the World Trade Center collapse on Sept. 11.
But the probe by the National Institute of Standards and Technology could be hampered by the Senate's failure to pass legislation that would give federal building investigators subpoena power and other tools. The National Construction Safety Act, sponsored by Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y., passed the House in July but has stalled in the Senate Commerce Committee.
In the aftermath of the trade center collapse, investigators struggled to gain access to the site and to key documents, like blueprints.
The NIST probe set to get under way Wednesday is designed to be broader and more detailed than a study conducted by the American Society of Civil Engineers and funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. That study, concluded in May, determined that the 110-story twin towers could have survived the impact of the hijacked 767s but fell victim to the ensuing fire that lit office furniture and paper ablaze. That intense fire caused the buildings' steel columns to soften and buckle.
NIST Director Arden Bement has said the relationship between fire and structural collapses will be a major focus of the probe and the investigation "could lead to major changes in both U.S. building and fire codes and in engineering practice."
Fluffy fireproofing sprayed onto the trade center's steel beams was jarred loose when the jetliners slammed into the trade center, the FEMA study found. NIST investigators will look at ways to keep the fireproofing intact.
Investigators are also interested in 7 World Trade Center, which is believed to have sustained little structural damage. It collapsed due to fire alone, the first fireproofed steel structure to do so.
NIST will also examine ways to harden exit stairways to make them less vulnerable to severe impact and plans to space those stairways out so one blow might not render them all impassable. Such designs might have allowed more occupants to have escaped from the floors above where the planes hit.
Glenn Corbett, assistant professor of fire science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, called NIST's undertaking "a landmark event."
"This is going to be the most extensive building disaster investigation ever performed," Corbett said. "The size of the disaster dictates that it has to be."
But he said he was worried that without subpoena power the investigation could be limited.
Corbett and others were critical of the ASCE probe, saying it was too narrow in scope. He and others also complained that officials lost a crucial opportunity to examine most of the trade center's steel beams for clues, allowing them instead to be recycled.
Some of the remaining steel beams are already at NIST's Gaithersburg, Md., headquarters to be examined as part of the new probe.
— The Associated Press
Widow's Book Sheds New Light on Last Moments of Flight 93
P R I N C E T O N, N.J., Aug. 21 —
The last moments aboard Flight 93 were ablur of action and counteraction, according to a passenger's widow:Hijackers tried to cut off oxygen inside the plane while passengersand crew armed with pots of boiling water and a food cart tried tooverpower them.
The account of the final moments of the ill-fated flight isincluded in a new book by Lisa Beamer, whose husband is creditedwith leading the charge against the hijackers on Sept. 11. The bookwas released Tuesday.
Beamer bases her account on what she heard from the plane'scockpit recorder and conversations passengers had with friends andloved ones on the ground.
Beamer said she could picture what had happened:
"Big men move quickly up a narrow aisle, accompanied perhaps bya flight attendant or two carrying coffeepots, spilling boilingwater on themselves as they run," writes Beamer, whose husbandTodd died in the crash. "A food cart is used to ram the enemy."
Todd Beamer, a 32-year-old account manager for Oracle Corp.,gained national attention when a cell phone operator reported thathe said, "Let's roll!" during a rushed call before passengers arebelieved to have fought back.
It is believed the hijackers were trying to fly the plane toWashington, possibly to crash into the White House or the Capitol.Forty-four people were killed when the plane crashed inShanksville, Pa.
Lisa Beamer says in Let's Roll! Ordinary People, ExtraordinaryCourage that the plane's cockpit recorder reveals that flightattendants may also have thrown dishes to fend off the terrorists.
"The cockpit voice recorder contains sounds of dishesshattering and other objects being hurled. The hijackers are heardscreaming at each other to hold the cockpit door.
"Someone cries out in English, 'Let's get them!' One of thehijackers frantically attempts to cut off oxygen in order to quellpassengers' fight. Another of the terrorists tells his cohorts,'Take it easy.' Pounding sounds on the cockpit door... a malepassenger shouts... More screaming! The plane begins to dive. Thehijackers shout, 'Allah akbar!"'
Prosecutors and other law enforcement officials have not madethe cockpit recording public, saying it could still be used asevidence. They also have never publicly confirmed whether theybelieve the passengers did in fact manage to thwart the hijackersor whether the plane crashed into a field for some other reason.
Last month, a book by New York Times reporter Jere Longman gavesome details about what happened in the plane before it crashed,including speculation that the passengers might have used a foodcart to ram the hijackers.
Beamer also writes about the media attention she received in theaftermath of Sept. 11, including being singled out in a speech tothe nation by President Bush.
She also chronicles her life with her husband, including howthey met in college.
"From our first date, it was clear to me that Todd was a guywho had clear focus on life," she wrote. "Iadmired that he had a strong work ethic and a direction in life inwhich he wanted to go."
Beamer's book is not unusual for a widow trying to establish alegacy for fallen husband, say Michael Vorenberg, assistantprofessor of history at Brown University.
However, unlike widows memorializing soldiers of war, Vorenbergsaid, Beamer is writing about a private citizen before a war.
"Beamer's husband was a citizen who saved fellow Americans'lives at the expense of his own before a war had been declared,"Vorenberg said. "That makes Beamer an unconditional war widow."
The book's release coincided with the launch of the Todd BeamerFoundation's Web site. The foundation, founded by Lisa Beamer andTodd's close friend, Doug MacMillan, has been established to helpchildren facing family trauma.
Visitors to the Web site can buy Beamer's book or T-shirts andother items emblazoned with the words "Let's roll!"
"This foundation and Lisa's book are just trying to preservethe legacy of Todd Beamer," MacMillan said. ---
— The Associated Press
Groups to Pay Mental Health Costs for Those Affected By 9/11
N E W Y O R K, Aug. 21 —
People directly affected by the Sept. 11 attacks who are suffering from long-term mental health problems will be able to have their treatments paid for by the American Red Cross and the September 11th Fund.
Psychotherapy, hospital care, medications and drug and alcoholdependency programs will be paid for up to a certain limit, thegroups said. The program begins this week and will cover peopleliving in different parts of the world.
"We know that many people affected by Sept. 11 will need someform of counseling and that many of them will not realize it formonths or even for years," Joshua Gotbaum, chief executive of theSeptember 11th Fund, told The New York Times in today's editions."We felt we had to design a program which would pay for therapywherever the victims were and whenever they realized they neededit."
About 150,000 families are eligible, including family members ofthe victims, those injured in the attacks, displaced or evacuatedresidents and children in Lower Manhattan.
The September 11th Fund will pay for psychotherapy andmedications up to $3,000 a person, while the American Red Crosswill cover up to 24 psychotherapy sessions, $500 for psychiatricmedications and up to 30 days of mental health-related hospitalcare, the Times reported.
The September 11th Fund was formed the day of the attacks andprovides assistance, counseling and other services to thoseaffected by the attacks.
— The Associated Press