[Rollee]

He spent up to five hours at the airport, then checked into a hotel in Barajas, a town by the airport. Atta, an Egyptian, was accompanied by a 41-year-old man who registered under the name Iqbal Afzal Admat and showed an Irish passport. Hotel records indicate they made lengthy phone calls to Hamburg, Germany and Manchester, England.

I heard a rumor of suspicions that someone in the Irish government was issuing passports to terrorists. This is the first time that I have seen this in print. Do you have more information about the Irish connection?

[knighthawk]

I found something with google. It's from the The Ottawa Citizen (September 29, 2001):

"Mr. Mahfouz was also embroiled in a citizenship-for-sale scheme in Ireland, in which foreign millionaires were secretly courted to invest in Irish enterprises in exchange for coveted Irish passports and lucrative tax writeoffs. Mr. Mahfouz purchased 11 passports for Saudi and Pakistani nationals, but failed to make the promised investments."

http://www2.john-loftus.com/enron3.htm