The terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 were originally planned to create twice as much destruction as they did and involve 10 planes for suicide hijackings, head-Sept. 11 planner Khalid Shaikh Mohammed told U.S. investigators last week.
Mohammed said that when he first began plotting the attacks with bin Laden in 1996, the original plan involved hijacking five airliners on both coasts of the U.S.
Police1 notes that this report underscores the length of planning which went into the 9/11 attacks, and the continued need for law enforcement to consider much longer time horizons when addressing terrorist treats.
Attacks planned for several years from now are possibly currently in the planning stages .
Mohammed said that, in its latter stages, the plan called for as many as 22 terrorists and four planes in a first wave attack. A second wave of suicide hijackings was to follow, possibly originating in Southeast Asia.
Mohammed was captured on Mar. 1 in Pakistan.
Mohammed’s interrogations revealed the planning and training of operatives was extraordinarily meticulous, including how to blend into American society, read telephone yellow pages, and research airline schedules.
According to Mohammed, Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi -- who were on the plane that was flown into the Pentagon -- were the two key operatives. He claims he did not arrange for anyone on U.S. soil to assist hijackers Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi.
Mohammed said he communicated with al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar while they were in the U.S. by using Internet chat software.
Mohammed said the hijacking teams were originally made up of members from different countries where al-Qaeda had recruited, but that bin Laden chose to use a group of young Saudi men because they could more easily get into the U.S.
Mohammed said bin Laden offered him four operatives -- al-Mihdhar and al-Hazmi, as well as two Yemeni men. “All four only knew that they had volunteered for a martyrdom operation involving planes.”
By 1999, the four original operatives traveled to Afghanistan to begin training. The focus was on specialized commando training.
The first major change to the plans occurred in 1999 when the two Yemeni operatives could not get U.S. visas.
Police1 notes al Qaeda tactics are always changing and are likely to focus increasingly on recruiting people who wouldn’t fit the traditional profile of a terrorist, and possibly even longer horizons for planning attacks due to depleted operational resources and heightened U.S. counter-terrorism activity.
Source: AP; Police1
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