911: Florida: terror's launching pad - Aldeilis (INT)aldeilis.net/terror/950.pdf · 2016. 10....

INTRODUCTION

Sunday, Sept. 1

Florida: Terror'slaunching pad

The 19 plotters andtheir day of terror

Remembering

Monday, Sept. 2

When tragedy meetscapitalism

'9/11 fatigue' isnatural, mental healthexperts say

Tuesday, Sept. 3

Coping as a kid

Eric Deggans: 9/11documentary askstroubling questionsabout religion

Sept. 11 photographexhibit opens

Wednesday, Sept. 4

Millions in newfunding don't guaranteesecurity

Donations to localcharities slow in monthsafter attacks

Sept. 11 donationsswamp charities

Bush to visit threeattack sites on 9/11

Thursday, Sept. 5

Attack anniversary isliving history lesson

Florida: terror's launching pad

Floridians who encountered the hijackers, many up close andpersonal, are left with haunting memories.

[Times photo: Chris Zuppa]Mohamed Atta, thought to be mastermind of the attacks, and Marwanal-Shehhi dined and drank at Shuckums Seafood Raw Bar & Grill in Hollywood.

By THOMAS C. TOBIN© St. Petersburg Timespublished September 1, 2002

911: Florida: terror's launching pad http://www.sptimes.com/2002/09/01/911/Florida__terror_s_lau.shtml

1 of 13 13.5.2014 21:06

FLORIDA: TERROR’SLAUNCHING PAD

Click for larger map

Trading fallbacksystem improved

Future of site stillbeset by debate

Friday, Sept. 6

Senate approvesplan to allow armedpilots

Dream job becomingdemoralizing

New plane doorswould withstand gunfire

What ever happenedto ... Those patrioticpaint jobs?

The other 911

Consolidated for thecause

Saturday, Sept. 7

In chaos, TIA towercontrolled 9/11 skies

Congress, N.Y.reaffirm solidarity

Traveling can benicer in roughercountries

For TIA workers,'normal' not what itused to be

Airlines don't seerelief over horizon

Terror only one blowto tourism

A year later, it's thehome fires that burnbrightly

Flying the flag

Sunday, Sept. 8

125 Cedar Street

The drama inSarasota

Cautious, yes, butstill traveling

As security

Five days before Labor Day last year, Maria Siscar-Simpson opened her door to twoskinny guys she had seen around her Delray Beach condo.

Just kids, she thought at first. But, judging by the rude forcewith which they pulled on her door, she corrected herself:Men.

They lived in the condo above hers. A rolled-up towel hadfallen from their balcony onto a roof outside her back window. They wanted to get itnow. They did not say please.

Ms. Simpson pulled the door back and shouted, "No!" If they needed a towel, she couldget them one.

They looked confused. She told them again in English, Spanish, Italian. They shoutedat her and pulled again, determined to get in.

Thank God for Eddie the maintenance man, Ms.Simpson, 54, thinks today. Her pre-Sept. 11 hero.

He shouted the men away.

The Aug. 28, 2001, incident would have beenforgotten by now had it not been for the mayhem thatunfolded two weeks later in New York City andWashington, D.C., and a field in Pennsylvania.

On that day, Sept. 11, Ahmad Al Haznawi andAhmed Alnami -- the "kids" who tried to bully pastMs. Simpson -- were pushing through a differentdoor. They stormed the cockpit of United AirlinesFlight 93 out of Newark.


2 of 13 13.5.2014 21:06

increases, fervor fades

Rising risks

Finding lessons inrubble of tragedy

Public loss, privategrief

Duty calls; he goes;they wait

Riled residents showtrue colors

Keeping her distance

Which way leads up?

For the record

45 Questions

A lexicon of terror,post-9/11

Before attacks, thiswas the news

Other events onSept. 11

Voice mail delivers,retains final words

Keeping us rolling

9.11

How we'll view it

Monday, Sept. 9

The residue of terror

Patriotism is morethan emotion

What ever happenedto . . .: Our religiousfervor?

The nightmaresreturn

Life has the right-of-way

Free to disagree

'Time has not healedthe pain'

Deputies to step uppatrol for anniversary

Security upgradesince 9/11 slow, steady

Enthusiasm forPHCC's security classes

The two were among 14 hijackers who moved about Florida for months withoutdetection before Sept. 11, some honing their flying skills at pilot schools, others joininggyms to bulk up and learn fighting tips, all of them plotting to the last detail a massmurder that would stand as one of history's most detestable acts.

Across the southern third of the state, from Venice to Hollywood and up the east coastto Delray Beach and Lantana, the men left mostly mundane impressions on the peoplethey encountered. Most were not worth a second thought until Sept. 12.

The second thoughts are what haunt Ms. Simpson almost a year later, causingsleeplessness, anxiety and an inability to watch or read Sept. 11 news reports. She alsocannot bury the notion that accomplices still may be out there.

"I sleep two, three hours a day; I didn't have that problem before," she said, reachingunder her glasses to wipe away a tear. "I want it to go away, but it won't go away."

As the anniversary of the attacks approaches this month, the remembrances ofFloridians like Ms. Simpson will be more complicated than those of the New Yorkersand Washingtonians who witnessed the terrorists' final act.

There, at the scenes of destruction, the date to remember is Sept. 11.

In Florida, however, it could be any number of dates -- perhaps July 1, 2000, whenMohamed Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi, two leaders of the plot, began flying lessons inVenice. Perhaps it should be Aug. 29, 2001, a year ago last week, when Atta and twoother hijackers purchased their Sept. 11 airline tickets on a computer at a Kinko's copystore in Hollywood.

And while the primary emotion up North may be raw hatred for the terrorists, it isdifferent for Floridians who saw them up close so shortly before the deed. Their horroris muddled by galling memories of well-dressed young men who paid their bills,carried briefcases and fooled everyone.

"They were just great customers," said Brad Warrick, the Pompano Beach businessman


3 of 13 13.5.2014 21:06

dissipates

Teachers untangleSept. 11 lessons

A bumpy year forbusiness

The man who wouldhave led Afghanistan

People who madethe headlines

Tuesday, Sept. 10

Multitude to gatherto wave U.S. flags

Pictures evokeprofound feelings

Attacks haven'tboosted sales of cellphones

Schools discoverways to reflect onattacks

Flags still wave, butsales fall from peak

Three fathers lost

Telemarketerseasing up on 9/11

Nuclear plant addssecurity layers toprevent terrorism

Cough, stress hinderemergency workers

Families of missingsit in limbo

Places of importanceafter the attacks

Wednesday, Sept. 11

Remembrance andrenewal

Flags Along theBayshore: TampaRemembers 9/11

Ways ofremembering

A piece of paper . ablue and white truck

Is America ready for

who rented cars to Atta and al-Shehhi. For years, Warrick has conducted a quick "gutcheck" of everyone who walks through his door, declining to rent to those who givehim a bad feeling.

"Didn't have it with these guys," he said.

[Times photos: Chris Zuppa]

HUBER DRUGS, DELRAY BEACH: Co-owner Gregg Chatterton had a run-in withMohamed Atta, who wanted something to treat burning, itching hands. Atta alsodemanded cough medicine for Marwan al-Shehhi.

At the Panther Motel in nearby Deerfield Beach, August is a time when many Arabscome to vacation, said innkeeper Richard Surma, who rented rooms to two groups ofthe hijackers in the weeks before the attacks. The last of them checked out Sept. 9.

"I'm looking so close, eye to eye. I see that they're young and talking, and they looklike they're trying to make it like students would be," he said. "And just two days laterthey're dead."

Even Ms. Simpson, despite her run-in with Al Haznawi and Alnami, remembers themat other moments around her complex when they somehow seemed softer than the stoicfaces she later identified in FBI mug shots.

"If I would have seen someone that hard looking," she said, "I would have run the other


4 of 13 13.5.2014 21:06

another attack?

Nation to honorvictims in silence

Poll: Compassionremains

The war so far

Terror update

Attack on Iraq wouldtest headquarters atMacDill

09-11-01Perspectives

Those who died inthe attacks

Myriad rescueagencies trust their linkwon't fail

Photo gallery

(This Flash galleryrequires the free FlashPlayer 5+.)

Thursday, Sept. 12

Emotional servicehonors those who diedselflessly

Elements of prideEcho of 9/11

empties airportA day full of tributes,

flags and questionsPrayer, fellowship

pull many throughagonizing anniversary

Tributes great andsmall

Children in achanged world pause toreflect

Citrus recalls 9/11with its heart

Marking theimponderable

Ministers assure thatGod was there thatsorrowful day

way."

As she viewed their pictures last week, it was the first time she had seen them sinceJanuary, when the FBI stopped in for one of many followup interviews.

"My, my, my, here we are," Ms. Simpson said, studying the dead men who still invadeher dreams.

"Creepy."

[Times photos:Chris Zuppa]

DELRAY BEACH RACQUET CLUB, DELRAYBEACH: Maria Siscar-Simpson, above right,recalls how Ahmad Al Haznawi and AhmedAlnami tried to barge into her condo, above,and retrieve a towel that had fallen to herbalcony. She refused to let them in, and amaintenance man eventually chased them off.She still has sleepless nights over the incident.

• • •

What is publicly known about the terrorists in Florida sounds substantial, yet it coversonly a fraction of the time they spent in the state.


5 of 13 13.5.2014 21:06

Chime recalls anation's losses

For law officers, daypasses quietly

Residents gather toheal, remember

In big and smallways, our communitypays tribute

Cities somberly markSept. 11

Patriotic displaygreets drivers

Day of grief, resolveAt county schools,

remembrance resoundsTravel lags on

attacks' anniversaryThey were usAmericans worldwide

cautious on anniversaryRadical Muslims

discuss 'positiveoutcomes' of Sept. 11

Amid grief, Bushgives warning

Court documents in the case of Zacarias Moussaoui, the alleged 20th hijacker, outlinehow the three main leaders in Florida -- Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi and ZiadJarrah -- arrived here in the summer of 2000. Interviews and media accounts fill manyof the gaps left by the FBI, which last week declined requests to update theinvestigation.

Atta, al-Shehhi and Jarrah had attended Technical University in Hamburg, Germany, inthe late 1990s. They had been roommates there, participating together in an Islamicstudent group that smited Western ways. Atta had signed a "will" in 1996, pledging todie in a "holy war" against the infidels.

The federal indictment against Moussaoui tells how more than $114,000 from theUnited Arab Emirates was funneled that summer to Atta and al-Shehhi throughSunTrust bank accounts in Florida. Much more would come later from the al-Qaidaterrorist network, according to investigators who put the cost of the operation at nearly$500,000.

The indictment says Atta and al-Shehhi took flying lessons from July to December atHuffman Aviation, a flight school in Venice.

Jarrah emerged that summer in Venice as well, taking piloting classes at a neighboringflight school.

When Atta and al-Shehhi got their commercial pilots licenses in December 2000,Florida was exhaling after the close election that put George W. Bush in the WhiteHouse.

A few days later, Atta and al-Shehhi moved over to Florida's east coast, in Opa-Locka,where each paid $1,500 cash for three hours in a Boeing 727 simulator.

In the spring and summer of 2001, eight additional hijackers arrived in the UnitedStates and settled in Florida. Nine opened SunTrust bank accounts. Three others arrivedin San Diego, rounding out the five-man team based in California.


6 of 13 13.5.2014 21:06

That spring and summer, the Florida contingent made itself at home in South Florida,renting apartments and condos, attending gyms, going to restaurants. They seemed toconcentrate heavily in Hollywood and Delray Beach.

The plot was well under way.

• • •

After a yearlong investigation, huge blocks of the terrorists' time remain a mystery tothe public.

How many Floridians unknowingly passed Atta and al-Shehhi as they scooted aroundin a 1996 white Ford Escort and a faded blue Chevy Corsica?

Both cars were rented to them by Warrick for about $120 a week. Both have since beensold at book value to a Pompano liquidator who wants to resell them to a museum, withproceeds going to the American Legion and the Florida Sheriff's Youth Ranch.

Another question: How did Atta and al-Shehhi travel as they left Venice?

Did they wind their way to the east coast across Route 80, slicing through the citrusgroves of LaBelle and the sugar cane fields of "America's Sweetest Town," Clewiston?Did they shoot through Alligator Alley instead?

Did they venture north to Tampa Bay? Did they really come to Florida and never visitDisney World?

How many people pulled up behind Jarrah at stop lights in Hollywood? That was himin the sporty Mitsubishi Eclipse, which he often shared with his sometime roommate,Al Haznawi.


7 of 13 13.5.2014 21:06

[Times photos: Chris Zuppa]

WARRICK’S RENT-A-CAR, POMPANO BEACH: Mohamed Atta and Marwanal-Shehhi rented cars here in August and September 2001. President BradWarrick, here with a customer, called Atta and al-Shehhi “great customers,” whogave him no reason to be suspicious.

Moving frequently in and out of apartments from Hollywood to Delray Beach, all ofthem would have had to make frequent trips up and down gritty Interstate 95 and U.S.1.

Untold numbers of Floridians were perhaps stuck in traffic with Atta, who also drove aused red Pontiac Grand Prix.

For those who did stumble across them and knew it, the encounters with Atta andal-Shehhi appear to be the most memorable.

"My hands," Atta grumbled rudely one day. "They're itching and they're burning."

Gregg Chatterton recites the words, using a slight Middle Eastern accent to imitate theserious, square-jawed Egyptian. The co-owner of an independent pharmacy alongAtlantic Avenue in downtown Delray Beach, Chatterton approached Atta and al-Shehhione afternoon in early August 2001 after they spent a suspiciously long time in the skincream aisle.

He asked what happened to make Atta's hands raw, but the patient was evasive. The


8 of 13 13.5.2014 21:06

pharmacist handed him a 1-ounce tube of Acid Mantle, priced at $5.49, to replenish thenatural acid content in his hands. Chatterton began walking away when Atta, who stood5 feet 8, slapped an intimidating hand against the druggist's chest. It stopped him cold.

"My friend," Atta barked, motioning to al-Shehhi. "He's got a cough."

The friendlier al-Shehhi planned a violent death in less than a month. He would be toldto praise Allah and hold out his chest as the plane hit the World Trade Center's southtower, creating the fireball that would land on every front page in the world. Until then,however, he wanted something that would get him through the night.

Chatterton gave him a bottle of Robitussin DM.

The incident ensured that he would remember the pair when the FBI came calling a fewweeks later. "When somebody touches you like that," he said of Atta, "you rememberthat customer."

By his count, Chatterton has told that story to reporters 112 times. It has given rise tothe theory that Atta irritated his hands while handling anthrax.

• • •

Atta's inflammation is only one of the hijacker puzzles that remain unresolved.

Rudi Dekkers, president of Huffman Aviation Venice, cannot understand why Atta andal-Shehhi took the trouble to get their commercial pilot licenses.

"You don't need a license to fly an airplane into a building," he said.

When the pair trained at Huffman in summer and fall of 2000, they seemed no differentthan scores of foreign students who flock to Florida flight schools every year, Dekkerssaid.

"I wish we could have seen something -- I wish," he said. "I do think every time when Isee them that I would like to kill them myself."


9 of 13 13.5.2014 21:06

Warrick, too, is stumped by the hijackers' ways. When al-Shehhi returned the rental carfor the last time Sept. 9, he asked that the charge be removed from Atta's credit cardand placed on his.

"If you're going on a suicide mission, who cares who pays for what?" he asked.

He wondered why they didn't just dump the car at the airport, and why Atta would beso attentive as to call from Venice when the maintenance service light went on.

It mirrored how most of the men dutifully reported their address changes to the FloridaDivision of Motor Vehicles.

Warrick said the FBI explained that the men kept their noses clean to the end, in casethe plot was aborted and they had to fade back into the South Florida landscape.

Perhaps the only slip was a traffic ticket Atta received April 26, 2001, in BrowardCounty. The system slipped as well by not putting him in jail when he missed his courtdate.

The FBI also had answers for Maria Siscar-Simpson, the Delray Beach woman whofended Al Haznawi and Alnami off at her door.

The men knocked three more times that day, but she never answered again.

Agents told her the towel on her roof probably contained clothing with somethingimportant to their mission, perhaps a confirmation number from the Sept. 11 airlinetickets they had purchased that day. They found evidence, she said, that the men hadlowered themselves on guy wires to retrieve the towel that evening.

In the two weeks before Labor Day last year, the 14 Florida-based hijackers startedmoving on.

From Aug. 26 to 29, 10 of them booked flights on three planes that, two weeks later,would knife into the World Trade Center and plunge to the earth in Pennsylvania. The


10 of 13 13.5.2014 21:06

San Diego contingent would take care of the Pentagon.

On Sept. 8, Atta, al-Shehhi and one other man enjoyed a final night out at Shuckums,an oyster bar on Hollywood's cosmopolitan Young Circle. Atta reportedly played videogames, sipped cranberry juice and munched on spicy chicken wings. Al-Shehhidowned five screwdrivers.

A month later, a radio station auctioned the right to sledgehammer the seats they used.

Some other famous terrorist sightings never panned out, including that of the managerat a Daytona Beach strip club, who told the world he heard three men spewinganti-American venom and predicting bloodshed the night of Sept. 10. When his storyseemed to change with each telling, law enforcement moved on.

A Punta Gorda restaurant owner swore that Atta had washed dishes in her kitchen. Itwas a "brief brush with evil," she told CNN. Later, the real dishwasher's wife andfriends came forth. He was Tunisian, they said, and still very much alive.

Among the last to leave Florida were Atta and al-Shehhi, who checked out of thePanther Motel in Deerfield Beach. Surma, the proprietor, had seen several of thehijackers come and go in the final weeks of their Florida sojourn.

Suspicious after they left behind flight manuals and maps of the eastern United States,Surma walked across State Road A1A on Sept. 13, when news of the Floridaconnection was spreading. There, sheriff's deputies were interrogating a Middle Easternman who pleaded with them: "In the name of Allah, I am innocent!"

They quickly uncovered evidence at the Panther, which meant that Surma had beenamong the last people to see the hijackers in Florida.

He cannot say how that affects him today.

"Sometimes it's better to be silent," he said last week, growing quiet and misty-eyed inthe welcome shade of a balcony. "Hard to explain."


11 of 13 13.5.2014 21:06

-- Times researcher Kitty Bennett contributed to this report.

[Times photos:Chris Zuppa]

Arab vacationers often rent rooms at the Panther Motel & Apartments in DeerfieldBeach in August. Innkeeper Richard Surma, left, said he thought the two groupsof hijackers were students.

Past 14 Days Go

Back to main page

Related coverage

Florida: Terror's launching pad:

The 19 plotters and their day of terrorRemembering


12 of 13 13.5.2014 21:06

911: Florida: terror's launching pad - Aldeilis (INT)aldeilis.net/terror/950.pdf · 2016. 10....

Documents

Transcript of 911: Florida: terror's launching pad - Aldeilis (INT)aldeilis.net/terror/950.pdf · 2016. 10....