For example, we were informed that two of the lead terrorists, Mohamed Atta and Abdulaziz Alomari, boarded a 6 a.m. flight from Portland, Me., to Boston's Logan International Airport. We have been shown surveillance videos of the hijackers at the Portland airport, yet I have never seen surveillance videos of the hijackers at Logan. A car Atta rented was found at Logan Airport. Arabic-language materials were found in the car.
It must be asked, however, how Atta left a rental car at Logan Airport in Boston when he supposedly flew there from Maine? The official 9/11 Commission story is that Atta rented a car at Logan Airport Alamo and drove to Maine on Sept. 10. He then flew down from Portland early Tuesday before connecting on Flight 11. Nevertheless, it seems odd that Atta would leave a rental car containing incriminating evidence at Logan Airport, rent another car in Boston to drive to Maine, and then fly back to Boston again.
Things become even more mysterious when we examine the strange story involving two other men, Adnan and Ameer Bukhari. Their names had been tied to a car found at the airport in Portland, Me. Adnan Bukhari's name reportedly appeared on the American Airlines Flight 11 manifest. A trail of evidence led investigators from one abandoned rental car in Portland to two houses in Vero Beach, Fla. One of the Vero Beach houses had been rented by the two Saudi Arabian brothers. Inside it were two pilot certificates in the names of both Bukharis. Early accounts indicated it was Adnan and Ameer Bukhari -- not Mohamed Atta -- who rented the car from Logan Airport Alamo and abandoned it at Portland. The Bukharis, it was initially reported, then flew to Boston.
Within hours of the attacks, it was supposed to be a lead pipe cinch that the Bukharis were hijackers on Flight 11, but a couple of basic facts ultimately exonerated them. Ameer Bukhari died in a plane crash in 2000 and Adnan Bukhari is still alive. It is odd that so much evidence initially pointed to the Bukharis. Moreover, how did Adnan Bukhari's name reportedly appear on Flight 11's manifest? This revised analysis resulted in the highly questionable scenario of Atta abandoning two rental cars in two airports.
We were told that Atta picked up Abdul Aziz Alomari at another hotel and then the two men rented their Nissan Altima from an Alamo car rental at Logan and drove to Portland, Me. Then they got on US Airways Flight 5930 at 6 a.m. Tuesday and headed back to Boston. It is a very odd course of events, indeed.
We know that the mysterious Mr. Atta was a party guy who snorted cocaine and frequented strip clubs; peculiar activities for a man who was supposed to have been a Muslim fundamentalist. The night before the 9/11 attacks, Atta bought pizza with a credit card and made ATM withdrawals. Why would anyone buy pizza with a credit card? Perhaps to memorialize his location.
Another odd fact is that of the original list of 9/11 hijackers, many were reported by the 9/11 Commission to still be alive.
We were also told that after the 9/11 tragedy, autopsies of victims were conducted, and bodily remains were returned to the next of kin. Am I the only one confused over the idea that there can be hijackers from that day who are still alive? Didn't they all die in the plane crashes?
I have never read whether autopsies were conducted on the hijackers. If the victims' bodies could be recovered, then I assume the hijackers' bodies could have been, as well.
I still want to know who these guys were. I cannot discount the possibility that the hijackers' remains were never recovered; I just never read news reports about it. Interestingly, though, we were told that Atta's passport flew out of his burning plane, and floated in pristine condition to the ground, where it was subsequently recovered by former New York City police commissioner and Bush/Guiliani apparatchik Bernie Kerek. As part of our national desire to honor 9/11 victims, it certainly would be nice to have this morass of questions answered, once and for all.
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