How They Did It: An 'evil one' confesses, and boasts - Ramzi Muhammad Abdullah bin al-Shibh

National Review, Dec 23, 2002 by Joel Mowbray

Sitting on the floor of his Karachi apartment, Ramzi bin al-Shibh laid out in stunning detail the anatomy of the 9/11 attacks. As one of the masterminds of September 11, he had a lot to share. Talking this June with a reporter from al-Jazeera -- the Arab-language network of choice for Qaeda terrorists -- bin al-Shibh discussed everything from the "conquests and heroism of Islam" to America's support for Israel, in addition, of course, to the particulars of 9/11. What he did not know at this point was that his days in freedom were numbered.

Shortly after al-Jazeera announced the existence of the audiotaped interview and its broadcast date of September 12, 2002, a Pakistani SWAT team -- on the anniversary of 9/11 -- stormed bin al-Shibh's apartment, arresting him after a violent struggle. National Review has obtained a translation of the interview, courtesy of 9/11 Families United to Bankrupt Terrorism, the group suing, among others, the Saudi royal family.

In recent months, bin al-Shibh has emerged as a central figure in the September 11 plot. Most of the press attention has focused on how he was going to lead a fifth hijacking -- likely targeting the White House -- but could not secure a visa. (He applied for a visa in both Germany and his native Yemen, but not, unfortunately for him, in Saudi Arabia.) The ever-expanding dossier on him includes logistical and financial support for the 9/11 terrorists, and he is a major figure in several American and European trials of Qaeda operatives.

Ramzi bin al-Shibh was extremely close to Mohamed Atta, believed to be the ringleader of the 19 hijackers, and the "pilot" of the plane that was crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center. In 1998 and 1999, bin al-Shibh roomed with Atta in an apartment in Hamburg, where both also belonged to a Qaeda cell that included two of the other 9/11 "pilots," Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad al-Jarrah. Bin al-Shibh later served as Atta's point of contact in the months leading up to September 11. At that time, and in the year afterward, bin al-Shibh also worked closely with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who is thought to be the new operational leader of al-Qaeda and the man who dreamed up 9/11. (He was in the room with bin al-Shibh and the Jazeera reporter on that day in June.) Bin al-Shibh reverted to a managerial role only after spending many months preparing to be the "fifth pilot" on September 11.

The interview with Jazeera reporter Yosri Fouda -- who was blindfolded and made to switch cars repeatedly before reaching bin al-Shibh's apartment -- has been only cursorily covered in the American press. It deserves greater attention for what it reveals.

Once Atta, al-Shehhi, and al-Jarrah arrived in the United States (Hani Hanjour, believed to have piloted the plane that was crashed into the Pentagon, had been in the United States on and off since 1991), each was responsible for adopting a "cover" that would allow him to blend in. As Ramzi bin al-Shibh says, "Every brother would look at what suited him best in terms of cover, according to his age and educational standard, his physiognomy and the like, and he would consult with his brothers and exchange views with them, and the operation of adopting a security cover is in essence a process aimed at deceiving the security services generally and mystifying the people around him."

After the assumption of an American identity "came the phase of looking for aviation schools." Bin al-Shibh says that schools in the United States were chosen because "the prices in America were convenient and the weather was ideal, allowing for more flying hours, especially in the coastal states such as Florida, and besides, the term of study is not long." Bin al-Shibh, who paid a $2,200 deposit to a flight school in August 2000, would have joined his confreres -- if only he could have gotten a visa.

Upon completing flight school, "all the brother pilots . . . increase[d] the flight hours and master[ed] the art of flying in the simulators of big jumbo jets, such as [the] Boeing 747 and Boeing 767." The next step was to "study the security arrangements that are adopted at all the airports, and establish a comprehensive picture about the procedures at all the airports, such as the JFK Airport for instance, and also unravel the security loopholes that exist at these airports, find out the trips that depart and arrive at these airports, and the level of security at these airports." To learn the security protocols on the ground and in the air, several of the terrorists took flights from the East Coast to California. Bin al-Shibh claims that al-Shehhi (pilot of the flight that was crashed into the south tower of the World Trade Center) and al-Jarrah (pilot of Flight 93, which was crashed in Pennsylvania) were tailed by "American intelligence officers" as they were making these dry runs. If true, that would mean that two other 9/11 terrorists -- besides Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, who were both on the plane that was crashed into the Pentagon -- were under the FBI's watchful eye before September.