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to his trips, Jarrah made hundreds of phone calls to her and communicated fre-
quently by email.

Jarrah was supposed to be joined at FFTC by Ramzi Binalshibh, who even

sent the school a deposit. But Binalshibh could not obtain a U.S. visa. His first
applications in May and June 2000 were denied because he lacked established
ties in Germany ensuring his return from a trip to the United States. In Sep-
tember, he went home to Yemen to apply for a visa from there, but was denied
on grounds that he also lacked sufficient ties to Yemen. In October, he tried
one last time, in Berlin, applying for a student visa to attend "aviation language
school," but the prior denials were noted and this application was denied as
well, as incomplete.

Unable to participate directly in the operation, Binalshibh instead took on

the role of coordinating between KSM and the operatives in the United States.
Apart from sending a total of about $10,000 in wire transfers to Atta and Sheh-
hi during the summer of 2000, one of Binalshibh's first tasks in his new role as
plot coordinator was to assist another possible pilot, Zacarias Moussaoui.

In the fall of 2000, KSM had sent Moussaoui to Malaysia for flight training,

but Moussaoui did not find a school he liked. He worked instead on other ter-
rorist schemes, such as buying four tons of ammonium nitrate for bombs to be
planted on cargo planes flying to the United States.When KSM found out, he
recalled Moussaoui back to Pakistan and directed him to go to the United
States for flight training. In early October, Moussaoui went to London.When
Binalshibh visited London in December, he stayed at the same 16-room dor-
mitory where Moussaoui was still residing. From London, Moussaoui sent
inquiries to the Airman Flight School in Norman, Oklahoma.

Confronting training or travel problems with Hazmi, Mihdhar, Binalshibh,

and Moussaoui, al Qaeda was looking for another possible pilot candidate. A
new recruit with just the right background conveniently presented himself in
Afghanistan.

The Fourth Pilot: Hani Hanjour
Hani Hanjour, from Ta'if, Saudi Arabia, first came to the United States in 1991
to study at the Center for English as a Second Language at the University of
Arizona. He seems to have been a rigorously observant Muslim.According to
his older brother, Hani Hanjour went to Afghanistan for the first time in the
late 1980s, as a teenager, to participate in the jihad and, because the Soviets had
already withdrawn, worked for a relief agency there.

In 1996, Hanjour returned to the United States to pursue flight training,

after being rejected by a Saudi flight school. He checked out flight schools in
Florida, California, and Arizona; and he briefly started at a couple of them
before returning to Saudi Arabia. In 1997, he returned to Florida and then,
along with two friends, went back to Arizona and began his flight training there
in earnest. After about three months, Hanjour was able to obtain his private

THE ATTACK LOOMS

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