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on jets right away. Convinced that the two were either joking or dreaming, the
pilot responded that no such school existed. Other instructors who worked
with Hazmi and Mihdhar remember them as poor students who focused on
learning to control the aircraft in flight but took no interest in takeoffs or land-
ings. By the end of May 2000, Hazmi and Mihdhar had given up on learning
how to fly.
37
Mihdhar's mind seems to have been with his family back in Yemen, as evi-
denced by calls he made from the apartment telephone.When news of the birth
of his first child arrived, he could stand life in California no longer. In late May
and early June of 2000, he closed his bank account, transferred the car regis-
tration to Hazmi, and arranged his return to Yemen.According to KSM, Mih-
dhar was bored in San Diego and foresaw no problem in coming back to the
United States since he had not overstayed his visa. Hazmi and Mohdar Abdul-
lah accompanied him to Los Angeles on June 9. After visiting the King Fahd
mosque one last time with his friends, Mihdhar left the country the follow-
ing day.
38
KSM kept in fairly close touch with his operatives, using a variety of meth-
ods. When Bin Ladin called KSM back from Pakistan to Afghanistan in the
spring of 2000, KSM asked Khallad (whom we introduced in chapter 5) to
maintain email contact with Hazmi in the United States. Mihdhar's decision
to strand Hazmi in San Diego enraged KSM, who had not authorized the
departure and feared it would compromise the plan. KSM attempted to drop
Mihdhar from the planes operation and would have done so, he says, had he
not been overruled by Bin Ladin.
39
Following Mihdhar's departure, Hazmi grew lonely and worried that he
would have trouble managing by himself. He prayed with his housemate each
morning at 5:00
A
.
M
. and attended services at the Islamic Center. He borrowed
his housemate's computer for Internet access, following news coverage of fight-
ing in Chechnya and Bosnia.With his housemate's help, Hazmi also used the
Internet to search for a wife (after obtaining KSM's approval to marry). This
search did not succeed. Although he developed a close relationship with his
housemate, Hazmi preferred not to use the house telephone, continuing the
practice he and Mihdhar had adopted of going outside to make phone calls.
40
After Mihdhar left, other students moved into the house. One of these,
Yazeed al Salmi, stands out. In July 2000, Salmi purchased $4,000 in traveler's
checks at a bank in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. On September 5, Hazmi deposited
$1,900 of the traveler's checks into his bank account, after withdrawing the
same amount in cash. It is possible that Hazmi was simply cashing the traveler's
checks for a friend.We do not know; Salmi claims not to remember the trans-
action.After 9/11, Salmi reportedly confided to Mohdar Abdullah that he had
previously known terrorist pilot Hani Hanjour.After living in the same house
with Hazmi for about a month, Salmi moved to the La Mesa apartment shared
by Abdullah and others.
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