Abdulaziz al-Omari
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Abdulaziz al-Omari(Arabic:عبدالعزيزالعمري, also transliterated Abdul Aziz Alomari) was named by the FBI as one of the hijackers of the first plane which was crashed into the World Trade Center in the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Little is known about al-Omari's life, and it is unclear whether some information refers to al-Omari or another person by that name. He has used birth dates of December 24, 1972 and May 28, 1979. He came from Asir Province, a poor region in southwestern Saudi Arabia that borders Yemen. According to the 9/11 Commission report, he graduated with honors from high school, had attained a degree from the Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, was married, and had a daughter. He is said to have often served as an imam at his mosque in Saudi Arabia and is believed to have been a student of a radical Saudi cleric named Sulayman al Alwan, whose mosque is located in al Qassim Province. According to Tawfiq bin Attash, al-Omari was one of a group of future hijackers who provided security at Khandahar airport after their basic training at an al-Qaida camp. During the 2000 Al Qaeda Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, immigration records show that a person named Abdulaziz al-Omari was visiting the country, but it is unknown whether this was a related person or not.
In the spring of 2001, al-Omari made a farewell video that was later shown on al Jazeera. In it, he reads "I am writing this with my full conscience and I am writing this in expectation of the end, which is near. . . God praise everybody who trained and helped me, namely the leader Sheik Osama bin Laden."[1] (http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/2002/ap090902.html)[2] (http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/2002/wpost091102.html)
On June 29, 2001, al-Omari travelled to the U.S. for the first time, landing in New York. He had used the controversial Visa Express program to gain entry.[3] (http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/2002/senatecommittee092002.html) He apparently stayed with several other hijackers in Paterson, New Jersey.
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Only two photographs are known to exist of him in the U.S. One was taken at an ATM the day before the attacks. The other was taken by an airport security camera on the morning of 9/11.
On September 10, Mohamed Atta al Sayed picked up Omari at a Boston hotel, and the two drove to Portland, Maine, for unknown reasons. In the early morning hours of September 11, they boarded a commuter flight to Boston to connect to American Airlines Flight 11. The two spent their last night pursuing ordinary activities: making ATM withdrawals, eating pizza, and shopping at a convenience store.
On September 11, 2001, al-Omari helped hijack flight 11, and assisted Mohamed Atta al Sayed in crashing the plane into the World Trade Center in an attack that killed thousands of people.
Mistaken identity
Controversy over al-Omari's identity erupted shortly after the attacks. At first, the FBI had named Abdul Rahman al-Omari, a pilot for Saudi Arabian Airlines, as the pilot of Flight 11. It was quickly shown that this person was still alive, and the FBI issued an apology. It was also quickly determined that Mohamed Atta was the pilot among the hijackers. The FBI then named Abdulaziz al-Omari as a hijacker.
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A man with the same name as those given by the FBI turned up alive in Saudi Arabia, saying that he had studied at the University of Denver and his passport was stolen there in 1995. The name, origin, birth date, and occupation were released by the FBI, but the picture was not of him. "I couldn't believe it when the FBI put me on their list", he said. "They gave my name and my date of birth, but I am not a suicide bomber. I am here. I am alive. I have no idea how to fly a plane. I had nothing to do with this." [4] (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F2071FF63D5F0C758DDDA00894D9404482)[5] (http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=94438)[6] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1559151.stm) This individual was not the same person as the hijacker whose identity was later confirmed by Saudi government interviews with his family, according to the 9/11 Commission Report.
External links
- The Final 9/11 Commission Report (http://www.gpoaccess.gov/911/index.html)
- portal.telegraph.co.uk (http://www.portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/09/23/widen23.xml) (Article which reports that an al-Omari was not involved with the terrorist attacks)