Potential 20th hijacker turned away at Orlando airport prior to 9/11

The Associated Press ^ | 1/20/04 | By CURT ANDERSON

[freeperfromnj]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Saudi man who was prevented from entering the United States a few weeks before the Sept. 11 terror attacks may have been the plot's intended 20th hijacker, federal officials say.

The man, identified only as al-Qahtani, was turned away by a U.S. immigration agent at Orlando International Airport in late August 2001, according to two senior law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity Tuesday.

[cripplecreek]

ive thought about that alot since then. we really dont know that the intent may have been to bring down twenty airlines.

[Diogenesis]

I hope that the agent was promoted.
and the system that let the terrorist(s) go free was completely fixed.

Hmmmm.....

[jpl]

The original 9/11 strategy in the earliest days of the planning actually called for ten total planes to be simultaneously hijacked: five on the east coast and five on the west coast. The west coast hijackings were ultimately scrapped because of the logistical difficulty involved of coordinating a bicoastal simultaneous attack.

[afraidfortherepublic]

dMy understanding (confirmed by several FReepers here) is that when the attachs happened and all of the planes in US territory were grounded that there were several Middle Eastern pilots riding in the cockpits of other flights on courtesy passes (as employees of foreign airlines).

My understanding is that these people left the airports when the planes were grounded and just faded into oblivion. Has anyone looked for these people? If they were on the planes on courtesy passes didn't they have to provide a name to board? If there are no "pilots" by those names, doesn't someone from the FAA think that that is a little suspicious?

[boomop1]

I don't know how the morons at Logan can sleep at night.

[hedgie]

First I've ever heard that Atta visited Orlando airport. That guy was all over the place. There is so much we still don't know or haven't been told...

[GOPrincess]

I have been wondering too about the pilots who were rumored to be on jumpseats who "disappeared" when the planes were grounded. I would like to know if that is true or an urban legend -- and if true I wish we could know more about the details.

[Guillermo]

Will the ACLU/CAIR types now say his Civil Rights were violated when a "xenophobic" US refused to grant him entry?

[piasa]

The original 9/11 strategy in the earliest days of the planning actually called for ten total planes to be simultaneously hijacked: five on the east coast and five on the west coast. The west coast hijackings were ultimately scrapped because of the logistical difficulty involved of coordinating a bicoastal simultaneous attack.

According to one captured terrorist, anyway.