- Saeed al-Ghamdi
Infobox Person
name = Saeed al-Ghamdi
image_size = 150px
birth_date = Birth date|1979|11|21
birth_name = Saeed al-Ghamdi (in Arabic: سعيد الغامدي)
birth_place = flagicon|SAUal Bahah Province ,Saudi Arabia
death_date = death date and age|2001|9|11|1979|11|21
death_place = flagicon|USA Shanksville,Pennsylvania ,United States Saeed al-Ghamdi (Arabic: سعيد الغامدي) was named by the FBI as one of the hijackers of
United Airlines Flight 93 as part of theSeptember 11 attacks . The FBI listed his other aliases as Abdul Rahman Saed Alghamdi; Ali S Alghamdi; Al- Gamdi; Saad M.S. Al Ghamdi; Sadda Al Ghamdi; Saheed Al-Ghamdi; and Seed Al Ghamdi.History
Al-Ghamdi was from the
al Bahah province ofSaudi Arabia , an isolated and underdeveloped area, and shared the same tribal affiliation with fellow hijackersAhmed al-Ghamdi ,Hamza al-Ghamdi , andAhmed al-Haznawi . This group is noted as being some of the more religiously observant of the hijackers. He did not have a college degree. He may have been in contact with other future hijackers as early as 1999. Al Ghamdi spent time inal Qasim province, Saudi Arabia where he transferred to college but soon dropped out and ceased contact with his family. While there, he probably associated with the radical Saudi cleric named Sulayman al Alwan as several other future hijackers did.Saeed headed to
Chechnya to participate in the conflict against theRussia ns. At this time, Chechen fighters were turning away additional foreigners, many of whom ended up inal-Qaeda camps inAfghanistan to train and await entry to Chechnya. Saeed ended up at theAl Farouq training camp , where he metAhmed al-Nami , and the brothers Wail andWaleed al-Shehri . The four reportedly pledge themselves toJihad in the Spring of 2000, in a ceremony presided over by Wail - who had dubbed himself "Abu Mossaeb al-Janubi" after one ofMuhammad 's companions. [ [http://www.boston.com/news/packages/underattack/news/driving_a_wedge/part1_side.shtml Before oath to jihad, drifting and boredom] , Boston Globe, Charles M. Sennott, Globe Staff, 3/3/2002]Saeed was known to
Tawfiq bin Attash who is thought to have convinced him to become a martyr. Saeed was at that time working as a security guard at Kandahar airport along withWaleed al-Shehri .Some time late in 2000, Saeed traveled to theUnited Arab Emirates , where he purchasedtraveler's cheques presumed to have been paid for byMustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi . Five other hijackers also passed through the UAE and purchased travellers cheques, includingMajed Moqed ,Wail al-Shehri ,Hamza Alghamdi ,Ahmed al-Haznawi andAhmed al-Nami .On
November 13 2000 , another Saeed al-Ghamdi tried to obtain a Visa to enter the United States, but was declined. Although the9/11 Commission makes mention of him, there is no evidence he was associated with the hijackers.In March 2001, Saeed was filmed in a farewell video that was later aired on
al-Jazeera . In the video, many future 9/11 hijackers swear to become martyrs, although no details of the plot are revealed. Saeed referred to America as "the enemy", and is seen studying maps and flight manuals. [ [http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/2002/financialtimes091102.html Cooperative Research] ]In the U.S.
Saeed arrived in the U.S. in June 2001 through a controversial immigration procedure called
Visa Express . He shared an apartment withAhmed al-Nami in Delray Beach, Florida. Oddly, he listed the Naval Air Station inPensacola, Florida as his permanent address on his driver's license. He was one of 9 hijackers to open aSunTrust bank account with a cash deposit around June 2001. Saeed occasionally trained on simulators at theFlightSafety Aviation School inVero Beach, Florida together withMohand al-Shehri andAbdulaziz al-Omari .According to
al-Jazeera reporterYosri Fouda 's documentary "Top Secret: The Road to September 11", three weeks prior to the attacks Saeed is believed to have used the name 'Abdul Rahman' to send a message toRamzi Binalshibh (who was posing as a girlfriend) online, in which he wrote "The first semester commences in three weeks. Two high schools and two universities. ... This summer will surely be hot ...19 certificates for private education and four exams. Regards to the professor. Goodbye." This was said to be a reference to two military targets and two civilian, nineteen hijackers, four planes, and Allah (the professor). [ [http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/09/12/alqaeda.911.claim/index.html Al-Jazeera offers accounts of 9/11 planning] , CNN, September 12, 2002 Posted: 10:42 PM EDT (0242 GMT)]On
September 7 all four of Flight 93 hijackers flew fromFort Lauderdale toNewark International Airport aboardSpirit Airlines . Jarrah and al-Haznawi both received their one-way tickets onSeptember 5 . [ [http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2002_hr/092602mueller.html STATEMENT FOR THE RECORD, FBI DIRECTOR ROBERT S. MUELLER III, JOINT INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE INQUIRY] , September 26, 2002]The attack
On the morning of
September 11 ,2001 , al-Ghamdi boardedUnited Airlines Flight 93 without incident. Due to the flight's delay, the pilot and crew were notified of the previous hijackings that day, and were told to be on the alert. Within minutes, Flight 93 was hijacked as well.At least two of the cellphone calls made by passengers indicate that all the hijackers they saw were wearing red bandanas. The calls also indicated that one of the men had tied a box around his torso, and claimed there was a bomb inside - it is not known which hijacker this was.
According to the [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Flight_93_Cockpit_Transcript Cockpit transcript released later] , it appeared Saeed may have been at the controls of the flight when it crashed, although the 9/11 commission asserts that
Ziad Jarrah was the pilot.Passengers on the plane heard through phone calls the fates of the other hijacked planes. A passenger uprising resulted in the plane crashing into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing everyone aboard.
Mistaken identity
On
23 September 2001 , before the FBI had released the pictures of the hijackers, theBBC andThe Daily Telegraph reported that a Saudi Airlines pilot named Saeed al-Ghamdi was furious that a name on the hijacker's list released by the FBI matched his own. CNN also mistakingly showed a picture of the "living" Al-Ghamdi as the hijacker. The man claimed CNN likely got his picture from a Flight Safety flying school in Florida he attended. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1559151.stm Hijack 'suspects' alive and well] , BBC News, Sunday, 23 September, 2001, 12:30 GMT 13:30 UK] [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/09/23/widen23.xml Revealed: the men with stolen identities] , The Telegraph, By David Harrison,(Filed: 23/09/2001)]Der Spiegel later investigated the claims of "living" hijackers by the BBC and discovered them to be cases of mistaken identities. [ [http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,265160-2,00.html Panoply of the Absurd (2)] , Spiegel Online, September 8, 2003]According to immigration records in the
Philippines , someone named Saeed al-Ghamdi visited that country on at least 15 occasions in 2001, entering as a tourist. The last visit ended onAugust 6 . This may have been a different person with the same name, as no other information is available. It is also possible that the same Saeed al-Ghamdi visited the Philippines during this period. Fact|date=February 2007In June 2005 the Saudi government released a list (see
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ) of 36 wanted (and alive) terrorists, one of whom was Salih Sa'id Al Batih al-Ghamdi. 9/11 conspiracy theorists quickly confused him with the hijacker Saeed al-Ghamdi. [ [http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=613 Saudi Arabia issues New list of wanted ”terrorist” suspects, Asharq Al-Awsat Exclusive: Al Qaeda"s in Saudi Arabia"s new leader is a Moroccan National] , Asharq Al-Awsat, 29/06/2005]References
External links
* [http://www.gpoaccess.gov/911/index.html The Final 9/11 Commission Report]
* http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1559151.stmPersondata
NAME=Ghamdi, Saeed al-
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=سعيد الغامدي (Arabic); Alghamdi, Saeed (alternate transliteration); Alghamdi, Said (alternate transliteration); Alghamdi, Abdul Rahman Saed (alias); Alghamdi, Ali S (alias); Ghamdi, Saad M.S. Al (alternate form); Ghamdi, Sadda Al (alternate form); Ghamdi, Saheed Al- (alternate form); Ghamdi, Seed Al (alternate form)
SHORT DESCRIPTION=9/11 hijacker
DATE OF BIRTH=
PLACE OF BIRTH=al Bahah Province ,Saudi Arabia
DATE OF DEATH=September 11 ,2001
PLACE OF DEATH=nearShanksville ,Pennsylvania ,United States
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