friends during this period remember him as charismatic, intelligent, and per-
suasive, albeit intolerant of dissent.
described as a global Jewish movement centered in New York City that sup-
posedly controlled the financial world and the media, to polemics against gov-
ernments of the Arab world.To him, Saddam Hussein was an American stooge
set up to give Washington an excuse to intervene in the Middle East.Within
his circle,Atta advocated violent jihad. He reportedly asked one individual close
to the group if he was "ready to fight for [his] belief " and dismissed him as too
weak for jihad when the person declined. On a visit home to Egypt in 1998,
Atta met one of his college friends. According to this friend, Atta
had changed a great deal, had grown a beard, and had "obviously adopted fun-
damentalism" by that time.
Ramzi Binalshibh was born on May 1,1972,in Ghayl Bawazir,Yemen.There does
not seem to be anything remarkable about his family or early background.A friend
who knew Binalshibh in Yemen remembers him as "religious, but not too reli-
gious." From 1987 to 1995, Binalshibh worked as a clerk for the International
Bank of Yemen. He first attempted to leave Yemen in 1995, when he applied for
a U.S. visa. After his application was rejected, he went to Germany and applied
for asylum under the name Ramzi Omar, claiming to be a Sudanese citizen seek-
ing asylum.While his asylum petition was pending, Binalshibh lived in Hamburg
and associated with individuals from several mosques there. In 1997, after his
asylum application was denied, Binalshibh went home to Yemen but returned to
Germany shortly thereafter under his true name, this time registering as a student
in Hamburg. Binalshibh continually had academic problems, failing tests and cut-
ting classes; he was expelled from one school in September 1998.
shared extremist outlook. Like Atta, by the late 1990s Binalshibh was decrying
what he perceived to be a "Jewish world conspiracy." He proclaimed that the
highest duty of every Muslim was to pursue jihad, and that the highest honor
was to die during the jihad. Despite his rhetoric, however, Binalshibh presented
a more amiable figure than the austere Atta, and was known within the com-
munity as being sociable, extroverted, polite, and adventuresome.
rates named Marwan al Shehhi.