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from San Diego but has denied having any contact with Hazmi or Hanjour in
Virginia.
74
At the Dar al Hijra mosque, Hazmi and Hanjour met a Jordanian named
Eyad al Rababah. Rababah says he had gone to the mosque to speak to the
imam, Aulaqi, about finding work. At the conclusion of services, which nor-
mally had 400 to 500 attendees, Rababah says he happened to meet Hazmi
and Hanjour.They were looking for an apartment; Rababah referred them to
a friend who had one to rent. Hazmi and Hanjour moved into the apartment,
which was in Alexandria.
75
Some FBI investigators doubt Rababah's story. Some agents suspect that
Aulaqi may have tasked Rababah to help Hazmi and Hanjour. We share that
suspicion, given the remarkable coincidence of Aulaqi's prior relationship with
Hazmi. As noted above, the Commission was unable to locate and interview
Aulaqi. Rababah has been deported to Jordan, having been convicted after 9/11
in a fraudulent driver's license scheme.
76
Rababah, who had lived in Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey, told
investigators that he had recommended Paterson, New Jersey, as a place with
an Arabic-speaking community where Hazmi and Hanjour might want to set-
tle.They asked for his help in getting them an apartment in Paterson. Rababah
tried without success. He says he then suggested that Hazmi and Hanjour travel
with him to Connecticut where they could look for a place to live.
77
On May 8, Rababah went to Hazmi and Hanjour's apartment to pick them
up for the trip to Connecticut.There he says he found them with new room-
mates--Ahmed al Ghamdi and Majed Moqed.These two men had been sent
to America to serve as muscle hijackers and had arrived at Dulles Airport on
May 2. Rababah drove Hanjour to Fairfield, Connecticut, followed by Hazmi,
who had Moqed and Ghamdi in his car. After a short stay in Connecticut,
where they apparently called area flight schools and real estate agents,
Rababah drove the four to Paterson to have dinner and show them around.
He says that they returned with him to Fairfield that night, and that he never
saw them again.
78
Within a few weeks, Hanjour, Hazmi, and several other operatives moved
to Paterson and rented a one-room apartment. When their landlord later
paid a visit, he found six men living there--Nawaf al Hazmi, now joined by
his younger brother Salem, Hanjour, Moqed, probably Ahmed al Ghamdi,
and Abdul Aziz al Omari; Hazmi's old friend Khalid al Mihdhar would soon
join them.
79
Atta and Shehhi had already returned to Florida. On April 11, they moved
into an apartment in Coral Springs.Atta stayed in Florida, awaiting the arrival
of the first muscle hijackers.
80
Shehhi, on the other hand, bought a ticket to Cairo and flew there from
Miami on April 18. We do not know much more about Shehhi's reason for
traveling to Egypt in April than we know about his January trip to Morocco.
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