WASHINGTON (AP) A Yemeni man who tried but failed repeatedly
to get into the United States was supposed to be the 20th hijacker
on Sept. 11, the FBI said. The man is now the focus of a worldwide
manhunt.
Ramzi Omar, also known as Ramsi Binalshibh, is believed to have
intended to be part of the hijacking team that commandeered United
Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in southwestern Pennsylvania.
But he was never able to enter the country, despite three
attempts by Mohamed Atta, the suspected ringleader of the 19
hijackers, to get Binalshibh into the country before Sept. 11, FBI
Director Robert Mueller told federal prosecutors Wednesday at a
briefing.
"We believe he was the 20th hijacker," Mueller said. The FBI
director said the teams that hijacked and crashed four commercial
airliners had five members each except the United flight that
crashed in a Pennsylvania field while on a flight path to
Washington.
Mueller's assertion about Binalshibh marks a change from earlier
suggestions by federal authorities that a man arrested in
Minnesota, Zacarias Moussaoui, may have been the 20th hijacker.
Justice Department and FBI officials refused comment on
Mueller's remarks.
A month ago, Vice President Dick Cheney said Moussaoui, who was
taken into custody the month before the hijackings, may have been
intended as part of the terrorist crew that commandeered Flight 93.
Mueller told prosecutors Wednesday there was no information on
the computer seized from Moussaoui that links him to the Sept. 11
attacks. That prompted officials to consider other suspects as the
20th hijacker, officials said.
At a security conference in Germany on Wednesday, FBI official
Michael Rolince said that "as an investigator I'm convinced there
were supposed to be five people on this plane. ... Whoever that
fifth person was is probably still alive.
"Clearly we are looking into the pool of people who crossed
paths with the hijackers" to find the 20th hijacker, said Rolince,
FBI section leader for international terrorism.
U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said
information recently obtained from Osama bin Laden operatives now
in custody has helped provide a clearer picture of the hijacking
plot and plans for follow-up attacks.
German authorities have issued international arrest warrants for
three suspected accomplices of the hijackers: Binalshibh; Said
Bahaji, a German national; and Zakariya Essabar of Morocco. All
three left Hamburg shortly before the Sept. 11 attacks.
Attorney General John Ashcroft has said the three had extensive
connections to Atta and Marwan Al-Shehhi, the suspected pilots of
the hijacked planes that crashed into the World Trade Center in New
York City, and Ziad Jarrah, suspected of flying the plane that
crashed in Pennsylvania.
In the closed-door meeting with prosecutors, Mueller offered
details about Moussaoui, saying that when the FBI searched his
computer, it contained information about "dispersal of chemicals"
as well as about crop-duster planes.
The discovery prompted the Bush administration to temporarily
ground crop-dusters as a precaution against a possible biochemical
terrorist attack.
Mueller also said the news media incorrectly have reported
Moussaoui's interest in learning to handle airplanes at a time when
he was taking flight training.
Mueller said Moussaoui wanted to learn how to take off and land,
but not fly.
"Newspapers have it the other way," Mueller noted.
Moussaoui was detained Aug. 17 on immigration charges after
officials at a flight school where he sought training grew
suspicious and called authorities. He is being held as a material
witness someone with possibly important information in the
probe of the terrorist attacks.
|