The 9/11 File/CASE 03/2000 – 2001

The plot

The 19 hijackers

Who they were, how they got in, and whether some are “still alive”

9/11 Commission staff statement on terrorist entry and travel; contemporary document, not the final identity directory.
U.S. government publication · Source & image context ↗

RECORD / AT A GLANCE

Identities documented; “alive” claims false

The 19 identities rest on passenger manifests, visa and entry records, flight-school records, surveillance video and DNA from the crash sites. The early “alive” reports were cases of shared names or wrong photographs, which the BBC itself later explained.

THE EVENTS / THE INVESTIGATION / THE STORY

The chronology.

READ THE FILE

Evidence & assessment.

01

Who they were

Pilots from Hamburg, and muscle mostly from Saudi Arabia.

↗02

The nineteen, flight by flight

Who boarded which plane, and which of them a screening system flagged that morning.

↗03

How they got in

Thirty-three of 34 attempts succeeded.

↗04

“Some of the hijackers are still alive”

The September 2001 BBC story and what became of it.

↗

Open an article for its evidence, labeled AI assessment and numbered sources. Read the complete static edition ↗

WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT THIS FILE

The claims, rated.

5 claims people make about this file, each rated documented, partly true, disputed, unproven or false. Think a rating is wrong? Use Dispute or Support, or join the Discussion.

DOCUMENTED Al Qaeda, the plot & the hijackers

“Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudis.”

The four pilots were from Egypt, the UAE, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia; the muscle hijackers were mostly young Saudis.

Who says it: 9/11 Commission.

The evidence in this file ↗ · On the full claims board ↗

DOCUMENTED Al Qaeda, the plot & the hijackers

“The hijackers entered the U.S. almost every time they tried.”

Commission staff found they got in 33 of 34 times, some on doctored passports and flawed visa forms.

Who says it: 9/11 Commission staff.

The evidence in this file ↗ · On the full claims board ↗

DOCUMENTED Al Qaeda, the plot & the hijackers

“A flight school got Atta’s visa approval six months after the attack.”

In March 2002 a Venice, Florida, school received the paperwork approving Atta’s and Shehhi’s student status. The inspector general blamed a routine backlog.

Who says it: Justice Department inspector general.

The evidence in this file ↗ · On the full claims board ↗

DOCUMENTED Al Qaeda, the plot & the hijackers

“A would-be hijacker was turned away at the airport.”

Mohamed al-Kahtani, picked by bin Laden for the operation, was refused entry by an immigration inspector.

Who says it: 9/11 Commission staff.

The evidence in this file ↗ · On the full claims board ↗

FALSE Al Qaeda, the plot & the hijackers

“Several of the hijackers are still alive.”

The living men named in 2001 were different people with the same names or wrongly used photographs. The 19 were identified by seats, video, calls and remains.

Who says it: BBC report of 23 Sept 2001, still widely quoted.

The evidence in this file ↗ · On the full claims board ↗

All 162 rated claims ↗

OPEN THE RECORD

Sources & limits.

Numbered citations in each article identify the relevant sources. These records have different purposes and evidentiary weight.

  1. 9/11 Commission Report, chapter 5: Al Qaeda Aims at the American Homeland ↗

    KSM’s planes operation, the selection of the hijackers, financing, and the finding of no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior officials individually funded al Qaeda.

  2. 9/11 Commission Report, chapter 7: The Attack Looms ↗

    The hijackers in San Diego and Florida, Bayoumi and Thumairy, Atta’s alleged Prague trip, transit through Iran, flight schools and the final preparations.

  3. FBI press release, 27 September 2001: photographs of the 19 individuals believed to be the hijackers ↗

    The FBI’s photographs, with the note that “attempts to confirm the true identities of these individuals are still under way.”

  4. 9/11 Commission staff monograph: 9/11 and Terrorist Travel ↗

    How the hijackers got visas and entered the United States, with passport and border records.

  5. 9/11 Commission Report, chapter 1: “We Have Some Planes” ↗

    The minute-by-minute account of the four flights and of the FAA and NORAD response, including the 10:03:11 crash time of United 93 and when the shootdown order reached the pilots.

  6. 9/11 and Terrorist Travel, chapter 2: A chronology of the hijackers’ entries ↗

    Entry-by-entry record: the hijackers got into the United States 33 of the 34 times they tried.

  7. 9/11 and Terrorist Travel, chapter 5: Analysis of hijacker travel documents ↗

    Details of the passports and visa applications, including fraud indicators.

  8. DOJ Inspector General, May 2005: INS processing of student visas for Atta and Shehhi ↗

    Why flight-school approvals for two dead hijackers arrived in March 2002.

  9. BBC News, 23 September 2001: Hijack ‘suspects’ alive and well ↗

    The early report that several men named by the FBI were alive. Blocks scripted fetches; confirmed by search.

  10. U.S. District Court (E.D. Va.): United States v. Moussaoui, prosecution trial exhibits ↗

    The 2006 trial exhibits, including the cockpit voice recording transcript and the phone-call records from the four flights.

  11. BBC editors’ blog, 27 October 2006: “9/11 conspiracy theory,” by Steve Herrmann ↗

    The BBC on its 2001 “alive” story: confusion over common names, a changed archive caption, and the FBI’s confidence in the 19. Blocks scripted fetches; confirmed by search.

  12. Los Angeles Times, 21 September 2001: FBI chief raises new doubts over hijackers’ identities (Internet Archive copy) ↗

    Robert Mueller says some hijackers may have used stolen identities. Confirmed by search.

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