Face to Face With a Terrorist - Worker Recalls Atta Seeking Funds Before 9/11 (Cropduster!)

ABC News ^ | June 6, 2002

[Mitchell]

Why would Atta attempt to get a federal loan and act like a lunatic in front of her?

Maybe because he was a lunatic? Many a lunatic can't help but act like a lunatic, at least some of the time.

[Nogbad]

It is possible her story is not embellished.
More and more, Atta seems a character
straight out of Dostoyevsky
someone who enjoys presenting the aura of menace.
That's why I think the 09-11-01 letters were composed by Atta, himself.
("You die now", etc.)

The conversation she remembers
with slight alteration
easily could have come out of "The Devils"
with Stavrogin as interlocutor.

[okie01]

Kelley said Bryant declined to comment. ''She said she was told by authorities not to speak about it,'' Kelley said.

Thanks for the research. Bryant, then, is probably legit. But laying it on a little thick for the benefit of the klieg lights.

But I still wonder where ABC got the info on Zubaydah's testimony...

[Mitchell]

It is possible her story is not embellished. More and more, Atta seems a character... who enjoys presenting the aura of menace.

After I made my previous post, I started thinking the same thing as you. Atta has consistently been described by many people as an unpleasant, threatening individual.

That's why I think the 09-11-01 letters were composed by Atta, himself. ("You die now", etc.)

His name is in the letters to NBC News and the NY Post (the highlighted A-T-T-A that it looks like he may have gone over repeatedly with his pen, as a "signature").

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

People are asking the question "why" about this story. The more important question is "why now". Expect to see more stories like this until the November elections. After that, no more. Her story seems to make an indirect point that the media is now beating us with that if she knew all of this from one meeting, how much did other government officials know? Standard Democrat fare these days.

[caa26]

Atta was crazy, but he had to have some deal of control to pull off the whole plot. Most of the highjackers didn't even know they were on a suicide mission, it seems unlikely to me he would blab his intentions to a federal paper pusher.

[cynwoody]

This woman is obviously a bit short of a byte. If there is any truth to her account of Atta's blatant conduct, it's likely he correctly gauged her IQ and couldn't resist amusing himself by toying with her mind. Doubtless he found it fun to put down a mere woman and watch her take it! But how many times could he risk such behavior before underestimating somebody and blowing the mission?

On the other hand, it's known the terrorists were interested in crop dusters — either to spread anthrax or to use as kamikaze weapons. Check out this essay in Technology Review by Richard A. Muller, which explores the flying Molotov theory.

[spetznaz]

My point exactly! I find it hard to believe that guy could hide the real plans for the hijackings from most of his fellow men, and proceed to go to a federal facility and yak-yak it all to that lady! It just does not compute!

The only way it could happen is if Atta was a schizo, and everynow and then he becomes a raving idiot blabbing to everyone; and that at the same time she is so STUPID that she would keep quiet when a person made threatening remarks towards her and Washington DC.

I might accept her lack of intelligence, but i refuse to believe for one moment Atta would be so dumb as to reveal all to someone who could potentially ruin all his plans, and by doing so prevent him from getting his harem of virgins!

He had to keep it secret from everyone, including the majority of the hijackers/terrorists/kamikaze pilots. And these were people he had to trust, at least to the level of taking over the planes. And yet he did not tell most of them everything.

However he would have the temerity to go do this lady, and put himself, his cronies, and his 'mission' in jeopardy? It does not add up!

The only way this could have happened as the lady said it did was if Atta had some sort of subconscious wish to put the mission in jeopardy. Maybe he did not want to die, and the only way he could get out of it was to get arrested (since the alternative would be for him to refuse the mission, and die a horrible death at the hands of some MiddleEastern hitmen a few months later). That is the only scenario where the lady's assertions could be possible.

However i doubt that was the case since these ppl are completely brainwashed, and filled with so much zeal that they are virtual automatons for the terrorist demagogues!

Once this turns out to be a fake someone should tell that lady never again to waste peoples time, and federal resources, on some snipe hunt!

[VOA]

I might accept her lack of intelligence, but i refuse to believe for one moment Atta
would be so dumb as to reveal all to someone who could potentially ruin all his plans,
and by doing so prevent him from getting his harem of virgins!

The general "remote psychological autopsy" of The Talented Mr. Atta reveals
a pretty strange, screwed-up guy.

The first time I saw Atta's picture on television, I involuntarily said to myself
"I wonder if that is pre-op or post-op?"
With eyes that looked like they'd been subjected to too much eye-liner, he could easily
pass for some sort of transexual/transvestite in Hollywood.

I usually am not that harsh in evealuating people on their looks; surely I had been
simply driven by anger towards what this little sh-t of a monster and his buddies had done
to our country.

But as the days after 9-11 passed, it became clear that Mr. M. Atta WAS a walking
sexual-identity crisis.

Atta's father, an attorney, made a defense of his son...basically saying he had
tried to "toughen up" the boy. Thus his father couldn't believe that his somewhat
effeminsnt son could have possibly participated in the testosterone air-rage of 9-11.

Later it was revealed that Atta forbid women to (and I can't remember which) attend his
funeral service and/or visit his gravesite.

Atta is an intriging figure. I suspect that if an actor of even modest caliber plays
him in a film, it's Oscar nomination time.

And I won't be suprised if Atta, upon being ushered into Paradise, asked for 72 male
virgins.

I suspect that the Ag. Dept. lady maybe set him off and he just couldn't help himself.

[spetznaz]

Interesting assesment! And what is even more interesting is that you may very well be right!

[Mitchell]

Atta was crazy, but he had to have some deal of control to pull off the whole plot.

Agreed. But every so often his true nature might have emerged.

Most of the highjackers didn't even know they were on a suicide mission,

I know that this has been speculated, but we don't really know if the others knew or not.

it seems unlikely to me he would blab his intentions to a federal paper pusher.

That was my first reaction. But, if Atta did say these things, it wasn't in a way that got Bryant to report the threat even to the local police.

It also wouldn't be the only incident of this sort. Didn't Atta express strange questions about a chemical plant? And one of the hijackers (Alhaznawi) got treatment for what, in retrospect, seems to have been cutaneous anthrax. They really didn't cover t

[Mitchell]

Atta was crazy, but he had to have some deal of control to pull off the whole plot.

Agreed. But every so often his true nature might have emerged.

Most of the highjackers didn't even know they were on a suicide mission,

I know that this has been speculated, but we don't really know if the others knew or not.

it seems unlikely to me he would blab his intentions to a federal paper pusher.

That was my first reaction. But, if Atta did say these things, it wasn't in a way that got Bryant to report the threat even to the local police.

It also wouldn't be the only incident of this sort. Didn't Atta express strange questions about a chemical plant? And one of the hijackers (Alhaznawi) got treatment for what, in retrospect, seems to have been cutaneous anthrax.

They really didn't cover their tracks that meticulously. Unfortunately, it's only obvious in hindsight.

[Mitchell]

Sorry about the nearly duplicate post (minus a sentence and a half at the end). I'm not sure what caused that.

[muawiyah]

Embellishment? My word man! Have you never held an interview or a phone conversation with a member of the public who WANTS SOMETHING FROM THE GOVERNMENT?

I've lived many years without having a name tag up on my office, desk or cubicle for the simple reason that sometimes you get a walk-in who might want to kill you. Frequently they will tell you just that.

Mr. Atta's conversation with the SBA/USDA loan officer sounds very typical of the sort of thing that those folks run into every day. You would not believe how bad the public can be!

[aristeides]

"His look on his face became very bitter at that point," Bryant remembers. "I believe he said, 'How would America like it if another country destroyed that city and some of the monuments in it' like the cities in his country had been destroyed?"

Huh? What did he mean by this? Wasn't Atta Egyptian? Does this mean he considered Palestine part of his "country"? Or might it mean that Atta was really Palestinian?

[seamus]

Think of it: Why would Atta risk exposing himself through such actions? It just does not add up!

Exactly. With Osama and other wealthy Arabs bankrolling their murderous plots, they hardly needed to apply for a freepin' federal loan.

[Mitchell]

If you look at my later posts (41, 43, and 52, I think), you'll see that I agree that it's possible that she's not embellishing.

[muawiyah]

Yes, that was clear. I was just amplifying. The later research clearly indicates that this story was partly out there in November.

No doubt she will remember this for the rest of her life.

The only thing that's happened to her story since then is that she's put it in a coherent order and highlighted parts of the conversation that now make some sense.

The question is, was Mr. Atta going to take anthrax and spray it over South Florida or New York or Washington, or was he going to turn that plane into a flying bomb?

Or, maybe he was going to do both?

Regarding AlQeada financial responsibility, I would suppose somebody told him to just get a government loan to "help out". He tried. Didn't get it. Then he undertook a less expensive option. Some AlQeada paymaster simply refused to pay the bill for this "risky scheme", eh?!

[Attillathehon]

I seriously hope she is making most of this up. If she is an average government employee, yes, we are DOOMED.

Oh I believe it! Half of the people in this country can't tell you the name of our Vice President, much less the name of a Saudi Arabian terrorist. I also believe Atta would have boasted (perhaps not as much as she claims), because they are convinced we Americans are totally inept. They're only half right and it's gonna be up the the other half to keep their eyes open.

[nanny]

It does sounds plausible to me. He was talking with a female. In his culture, females are non-human and he just thought he could say what he wanted and she would do nothing. In this case he was correct.

Now I don't care how many times a day a person is threatened on the job, if a middle eastern man came in and made those statements, I believe the fog would lift enough for me to make a report on this. But then, I haven't been brainwashed with such 'tolerance' messages as the goverment employees have.

I do not think it is at all strange that he thought he could get a loan from the government. First, I do not believe being a non-citizen would prevent you from getting such a loan. I have no proof, but I truly believe our government does give loans to non-citizens and very-newly made citizens. There is no way, in this economy, they could afford to buy motels, convenience stores, etc. In fact, the local motel owner, who quickly told my son he was Hindu (after 9/11) said he got a low interest loan of 250,000 to purchase and refurbish the motel, from the US government.

Why wouldn't foreigners think we would give them money for this. I believe the word is out around the world, just show up in America and they will set you up for life.