Hani hand cord

Hani hand cord

Hani Handschur ( Arabic هاني صالح حنجور, DMG Hānī Ṣāliḥ Ḥanǧūr , according to the English transcription Hani Saleh Hanjour ; * August 13, 1972 in Taif , Saudi Arabia ; † September 11, 2001 in Arlington , Virginia , USA ) was an Islamist terrorist . Handschur is considered to be one of the hijackers in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 . According to official information, he is said to have been the leader of a five-man terrorist cell that drove the American Airlines Boeing 757 to the US Department of Defense, the Pentagon , that day.

Stays and training as a pilot in the USA

According to the US Federal Police ( FBI ), Handschur is said to have led the plane that was piloted into the Pentagon. As one of the few terrorists of September 11th, he stayed in the United States for several years and had completed flight training.

1990 to 1997

According to a report in the New York Times on June 19, 2002, Handschur is said to have traveled to the United States for the first time in 1990 to visit one of his brothers in Tucson , Arizona . However, the first officially documented visit to the USA took place in 1991. His brother Abulrahman arranged for him to live in Tucson and helped him apply for an eight-week English course at the University of Arizona , which began on October 3, 1991 and Handschur stayed in Arizona until February 1992.

In contrast to the other terrorists involved in the attack, he was not part of the Hamburg cell , to which, for example, Mohammed Atta belonged, and was the only one who lived in the United States while the attacks were being planned. He spent the next five years with his family in Taif. Handschur decided to return to the USA in 1996 and asked his brother for support. At Abulrahman's request, family friends Susan and Adnan Khalil volunteered to host Handschur in Miramar , Florida . Handschur received his entry visa in March, returned to the United States on April 2, 1996, and stayed in Miramar for a month.

In April 1996, Handschur moved to a new host family in Oakland , California , where he began to improve his English intensively at Holy Names College . He attended a single course at a flight school, the Sierra Academy of Aeronautics , but dropped out prematurely because of the cost of $ 35,000. He left Oakland in September and moved to Phoenix , Arizona . There he took flying lessons at CRM Flight Cockpit Resource Management in Scottsdale . He left school after his visa extension was refused.

Handschur returned to the United States in November 1997 and lived in Phoenix with like-minded Bandar el Hazmi. At the end of the year he took flying lessons again, this time at the Arizona Aviation School .

1998

In January 1998 he got his pilot's license there. He moved out of the apartment he shared with Hazmi and lived in various apartments in Tempe , Mesa and Phoenix, Arizona.

An FBI informant, Aukai Collins, later claimed that he had notified the FBI of Handschur's activities back in 1998 and warned them about him. The FBI admits that it paid Collins to monitor the Islamic and Arab communities in Phoenix, but denies that it received any information about Handschur from him.

1999

In 1999, he traveled to Ontario , Canada and several times to Saudi Arabia for reasons unknown . It is believed that he tried to get a job as a pilot there after failing to find a job in America. He left New York City on April 28, and his whereabouts in the following weeks are unclear. However, withdrawals from his account suggested that he was returning to Arizona after two weeks. Also in April 1999, he received his commercial pilot license from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) .

2000

In September 2000, Hanjour returned to Oakland, where he continued his English studies. In the same year, on December 8, 2000, he flew to Cincinnati and later to San Diego to meet there with his future accomplice, Nawaf al-Hazmi .

2001

Handschur returned to San Diego in December 2000 and frequently visited Abdussattar Shaikh's house, where Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar also lived. Shortly afterwards, the three later assassins moved together to Falls Church in Virginia. Although Handschur received an acceptable level of proficiency from Holy Names College , he was reported to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) several times because of his poor command of English, which did not meet the requirements for a pilot's license . He did not pass an exam that would have been necessary for a takeover as a pilot, but started simulator courses for advanced users in February.

On May 2, two more roommates moved into the apartment: Majed Moqed and Ahmed al-Ghamdi , both of whom had only just arrived in the United States.

In San Diego, Handschur and al-Hazmi met with the Jordanian Eyad Alrababah, who was commissioned to find a new apartment for the men in Paterson , New Jersey , but could not offer them any. He suggested they tour a few apartments in Fairfield , Connecticut together . During the trip on May 8, they obtained information from several flight schools in the area. Alrababah stated that she had never seen the men again after this sightseeing tour.

Handschur rented a one-bedroom apartment in Paterson at the end of May. There he lived with at least one roommate and received frequent visits from the other assassins, including Mohammed Atta. Handschur rented three cars with al-Hazmi in June and signed the rental contracts with “Hani Saleh Hassan”. Shortly thereafter, he made the last phone call to his family, allegedly from a payphone in the United Arab Emirates , where he allegedly still worked.

Together with at least five other of the later hijackers, Handschur is said to have traveled to Las Vegas several times . They reportedly drank alcohol, played games and pursued other vices there.

Just over a month before the attacks, on August 1, 2001, Handschur was stopped by the police for speeding at what would later be the scene of the attack in Arlington, and was fined $ 70. That same month, Handschur and Moqed bought the tickets for their eventual death flight at the Advance Travel Service in Totowa , New Jersey . Handschur spoke very poor English and most of the conversations were conducted by Moqed. Handschur requested a seat in the front row of the aircraft. The two assassins are said to have paid the flight price of 1842.25 US dollars in cash.

On September 10, 2001, Hani Handschur checked into the Marriott Residence Inn Hotel in Herndon , Virginia with al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar . At the same time, Saleh Ibn Abdul Rahman Hussayen , a senior Saudi government official, was also there; However, it is still not clear whether all those involved knew of the presence of the other or whether there was contact.

The attack

On September 11, 2001 at 7:20 am local time, Hani Handschur and four other hijackers checked in for American Airlines Flight 77 in the direction of Los Angeles at Dulles International Airport in Washington, DC . Despite various reports that the hijackers did not have tickets, they were included in the airline's lists. In the airport surveillance video that was later published, Handschur appears to be the only terrorist to go through the metal detector without triggering it. There was debate over whether the video actually showed handcuffs, as the man on the video has a beard, even though all the other assassins had their beards removed the night before.

The plane took off from Gate D26 at 8:20 a.m., ten minutes late. The last proper communication by radio between the tower and the aircraft crew took place at 8:50 a.m. After taking control of the plane, the hijackers programmed the autopilot on a route to Washington, DC, so that the plane left its normal route at 8:54 a.m. and turned around. One passenger, Barbara Olson , reported by phone to her husband, Solicitor General Theodore Olson , that the plane had been hijacked and that the attackers were armed with knives and cutters.

At 9:37 a.m., the plane crashed into the west facade of the Pentagon, killing 64 people on board. Another 125 people in the Pentagon also lost their lives. After the rescue, all victims could be identified by DNA comparisons. The human remains of the kidnappers were handed over to the FBI; they could not be explicitly assigned due to a lack of DNA reference samples.

The names of the terrorists were first published in the FBI's first report on September 14, 2001. Handschur's name did not initially appear on the list, it was later corrected.

Web links

 Wikinews: Hani Handschur  - in the news

• Site of the 9/11 Commission (English)
• Spiegel Online, Dossier: Facts on September 11th

Individual evidence

1. ↑ According to a press release from the FBI National Press Office ( January 4, 2006 memento in the Internet Archive ) dated September 27, 2001.
2. ^ For Agent in Phoenix, the Cause of Many Frustrations Extended to His Own Office , The New York Times. June 19, 2002. Archived from the original on March 14, 2006 Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved January 4, 2009.  
3. ^ Statement for the Record - FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III . Joint Intelligence Committee Inquiry. September 26, 2002. Retrieved January 2, 2011.
4. ↑ Staff Monograph on 9/11 and Terrorist Travel (PDF; 4.4 MB) 9/11 Commission. 2004. Retrieved January 2, 2011.
5. ↑ Chen, David W .: Man Traveled Across US In His Quest to Be a Pilot , The New York Times. September 18, 2001. 
6. ↑ 11.9 AND TERRORIST TRAVEL - Staff Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States; Pages 8 and 36
7. ^ The 9/11 Commission Report , p. 230
8. ^ San Francisco Chronicle: Agents of terror leave their mark on Sin City / Las Vegas workers recall the men they can't forget. Retrieved January 4, 2009
9. ^ Boston Globe: Planes Reconstruction - AA77 Retrieved January 4, 2009
10. ↑ 911Myths: Official manifesto Accessed January 4, 2009
11. ↑ 911Myths: The Passengers.Retrieved January 4, 2009
12. ↑ Staff Monograph on the "Four Flights and Civil Aviation Security" (PDF) National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. September 2005. Archived from the original on March 9, 2011. Retrieved on August 14, 2008.
13. ^ Joseph A. Gregor: ATC Report American Airlines Flight 77 (PDF) National Transportation Safety Board. December 21, 2001. Archived from the original on June 4, 2011. Retrieved June 1, 2008.
14. ↑ John O'Callaghan, Bower, Daniel: Study of Autopilot, Navigation Equipment, and Fuel Consumption Activity Based on United Airlines Flight 93 and American Airlines Flight 77 Digital Flight Data Recorder Information (PDF) National Transportation Safety Board. February 13, 2002. Archived from the original on May 11, 2011. Retrieved June 1, 2008.
15. ↑ ^{a b} 9/11 Commission Report (PDF; 7.6 MB) National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. S. pp. 1-13. 2004. Retrieved September 30, 2008.
16. ↑ Glen Johnson: Probe reconstructs horror, calculated attacks on planes . In: The Boston Globe , November 23, 2001. Retrieved June 1, 2008. 
17. ↑ American Airlines Flight 77 FDR Report (PDF) National Transportation Safety Board. January 31, 2002. Archived from the original on April 9, 2008. Retrieved June 2, 2008.
18. ↑ Remains Of 9 Sept. 11 Hijackers Held , CBS News. August 17, 2002. Retrieved September 30, 2008. 
19. ↑ Edson, SM, et al .: Naming the Dead - Confronting the Realities of Rapid Identification of Degraded Skeletal Remains Archived from the original on July 20, 2006. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF) In: Forensic Science Review . 16 (1), January 2004. Retrieved September 30, 2008.