Portland
International Airport
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Question:
There is cogent trail of evidence linking Mohamed Atta
to the aerial attack on the World Trade Center. Where
does Atta's trail end?
Answer
The trail ends at 5:58 AM on September 11th at Portland
International Airport in Maine. He is photographed by
a security camera there with an unidentified man using
an identity that was reported stolen six years earlier
in Denver by Abdulaziz
Alomari.
The chronology: On August 28, 2001, Atta booked a ticket
in Flight 11 over the Internet. On about September 10th
he proceeded to Boston, met the unidentified man using
the "Alomari" credentials, rented a Nissan
Altima car. They then drove to Portland, Maine, where
at 5:43 PM, they checked into the Comfort Inn. That
evening, ATTA was photographed by security cameras wearing
a half dark, half light colored shirt with light colored
slacks at a ATM machine, a Wal-Mart and a gas station.
On September 11th, on 5:33 am, they checked out of the
Comfort Inn, and, 7 minutes later, parked the rental
car at the airport. At 5:43 am, they were at the US
Airway desk, which services the Colgan Air flights between
Portland and Boston, where Atta checked a bag containing
his will, videos of the interiors of Boeing airliners
and a flight computer. At 5:45 am, he walked past the
airport security camera, which is the last time he was
seen.
The Colgan commuter plane departed for Boston at 6
am. No one aboard the plane recalled seeing Atta. None
of the security cameras at Logan Airport photographed
Atta. The first-class ticket that Atta had purchased
on American Airlines Flight 11 was used to board the
plane, and a ticket agent reportedly recalled questioning
an Arab man, who claimed not to speak English but there
was no visual identification of that passenger.
After Flight 11 crashed, the bag Atta left in Portland
was retrieved by the FBI. Since no trace of Atta was
found, the claim by Atta's father that he had spoken
to Atta after the crash was discounted as erroneous,
and the FBI theorized that Atta, after going to Portland
for unknown reasons, had returned to Boston to commit
suicide aboard flight 11.
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