Editing Abdulaziz al-Omari (section)

=== Planning ===

==== Early 2001 ====
al-Omari eventually became involved in the planning for the September 11 attacks on the United States, an idea formulated by [[Osama bin Laden]]. The attacks involved hijacking commercial airplanes and crashing them into buildings; al-Omari would hijack [[American Airlines Flight 11]], which would crash into the [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]] in New York City.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Maine's connection to 9/11 endures |url=https://spectrumlocalnews.com/me/maine/news/2021/09/08/maine-connection-to-9-11-endures |access-date=2024-04-28 |website=spectrumlocalnews.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-04-25 |title=September 11 attacks {{!}} History, Summary, Location, Timeline, Casualties, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/September-11-attacks |access-date=2024-04-28 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> At the time of the hijacking, al-Omari was 22.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Woodard |first=Colin |date=2021-09-05 |title=20 years later, they're haunted by their encounters with 9/11 hijackers |url=https://www.pressherald.com/2021/09/05/20-years-later-theyre-haunted-by-their-encounters-with-9-11-hijackers/ |access-date=2024-04-28 |website=Press Herald}}</ref> In the autumn of 2001, after the attacks, [[Al Jazeera Media Network|al Jazeera]] television broadcast a tape they claim was made by him. The speaker made a farewell suicide video. In it he read, "I am writing this with my full conscience and I am writing this in expectation of the end, which is near... God praise everybody who trained and helped me, namely the leader [[Sheikh]] Osama bin Laden."<ref name="Unger2004">{{cite book |last1=Unger |first1=Craig |author-link=Craig Unger |url=http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/House-of-Bush-House-of-Saud/Craig-Unger/9780743266239 |title=House of Bush, House of Saud |date=19 March 2004 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=9780743266239 |page=230 |access-date=10 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160810193434/http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/House-of-Bush-House-of-Saud/Craig-Unger/9780743266239 |archive-date=10 August 2016}}</ref>

A person with al-Omari's name visited the Philippines twice in February 2001.<ref name=":9">{{Cite web |date=2001-09-20 |title=Piecing together the shadowy lives of the hijackers |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1341136/Piecing-together-the-shadowy-lives-of-the-hijackers.html |access-date=2024-09-11 |website=The Telegraph |language=en}}</ref> al-Omari and hijacker [[Salem al-Hazmi]] entered the United States through a [[Dubai]] flight on June 29, 2001, landing in New York City.<ref>{{cite web |title=Statement of Robert S. Mueller: Joint Investigation Into September 11: (published September 26, 2002) |url=http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2002_hr/092602mueller.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120103193507/http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2002_hr/092602mueller.html |archive-date=2012-01-03 |access-date=2012-01-06 |publisher=Fas.org}}</ref> al-Omari had used the controversial Visa Express program to gain entry.<ref name=":0" /> The two were probably picked up by Salem's brother, [[Nawaf al-Hazmi]], on the 30th; this is assumed because of a recorded traffic accident by Nawaf on [[George Washington Bridge]] that day.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |date=2004-06-16 |title=9/11 commission staff statement No. 16 |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna5224099 |access-date=2024-06-21 |website=NBC News |language=en}}</ref> al-Omari likely stayed with several other hijackers in [[Paterson, New Jersey]] (where he rented a mailbox<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Kelly |first=Mike |title=9/11 hijackers were 'hiding in plain sight' before the 2001 attacks. How did they do it? |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/09/08/9-11-hijackers-lived-plain-sight-northern-new-jersey/5755110001/ |access-date=2024-04-28 |website=USA TODAY |language=en-US}}</ref>), before moving to his own place in [[Vero Beach, Florida]] with his wife and three children.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":9" /> On his rental agreement form for that house, al-Omari gave two license-plates authorized to park in his space, one of which was registered to [[Mohamed Atta]],<ref name="PATERSON">[http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/atta/resources/documents/fbiaffidavit11.htm FBI Affidavit: Page 11] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070318141730/http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/atta/resources/documents/fbiaffidavit11.htm|date=2007-03-18}} ABC</ref> the attacks' mastermind.<ref name=":0" />

al-Omari attended the FlightSafety academy in Vero Beach with fellow hijackers [[Mohand al-Shehri]] and [[Saeed al-Ghamdi]].<ref name=":9" /> He also obtained a fake United States ID card from All Services Plus in [[Passaic County, New Jersey]], which was in the business of selling fake documents; another was given to [[Khalid al-Mihdhar]].<ref>{{cite news |author=Miller, Jonathan |date=2003-03-08 |title=A Plea Deal, Then Freedom, in Terror Case Where Prosecutors Kept Evidence a Secret |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/08/nyregion/a-plea-deal-then-freedom-in-terror-case-where-prosecutors-kept-evidence-a-secret.html?pagewanted=all |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612165109/https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/08/nyregion/a-plea-deal-then-freedom-in-terror-case-where-prosecutors-kept-evidence-a-secret.html?pagewanted=all |archive-date=2018-06-12 |access-date=2008-09-29 |newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref> The employee who gave them the IDs claimed he had no idea they were "anything more [than ordinary] customers".<ref name=":4" /> Atta bought tickets for Flight 11 for himself and al-Omari on August 28. On September 6, al-Omari and fellow hijacker [[Satam al-Suqami]] flew from Florida to Boston to stay at the Park Inn Hotel.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |title=While America Slept: The True Story of 9/11 |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/ten-years-ago-today-countdown-911/story?id=14191671 |access-date=2024-06-21 |website=ABC News |language=en}}</ref>

==== September 10 ====
On September 10, 2001, Atta picked up al-Omari from the Park Inn Hotel, and the two drove to [[South Portland, Maine|South Portland]], Maine, in [[Mohamed Atta's Nissan|a rented Nissan Altima]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":8">{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2023-09-11 |title=A Chilling Look Back 22 Years Later: Tracing the Path of the 9/11 Hijackers Through Maine |url=https://wblm.com/tracing-the-path-of-the-911-hijackers-through-maine/ |access-date=2024-06-21 |website=102.9 WBLM |language=en}}</ref> Some sources state there is no evidence as to why they went to Portland,<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> whereas [[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] says it was a last-minute decision by Atta to stagger the Flight 11 hijackers' entrances into [[Logan International Airport]] on the 11th.<ref name=":7" /> Multiple people have claimed to see Atta and other hijackers in Portland that summer, but the FBI has found no evidence of this.<ref name=":1" /> On the 10th, Atta and al-Omari purchased a room (233) at the town's [[Comfort Inn]]. They did not ask for a [[wake-up call]]. Their luggage included a folding knife, "a [[videocassette]] [about] a [[Boeing 757]] flight simulator, pepper spray, Atta’s will, [and Atta's] handwritten instructions to his 18 fellow hijackers"; American Airlines Flight 11 was a [[Boeing 767]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> 
{{Multiple images
| image1            = Abdulaziz Alomari in ATM.jpg
| caption1          = al-Omari (foreground) and Atta (background) at an ATM in South Portland, Maine at 8:41 p.m. on September 10, 2001
| image2            = Atta in airport.jpg
| caption2          = al-Omari (center) and Atta (right) at Portland International Jetport on the morning of September 11
| direction         = vertical
| total_width       = 240
}}
They stayed in their hotel room for two hours, until 8 p.m., when al-Omari made a four-minute phone call from a nearby [[Pizza Hut]]'s [[Payphone|pay phone]] to a phone belonging to [[Marwan al-Shehhi]], who would hijack [[United Airlines Flight 175]]. Five minutes later, at a restaurant named Pizzeria Uno, the two withdrew $80 from an ATM. They then drove back to the Pizza Hut, where a second pay phone call was placed at 8:50. They decided to go to Walmart, but got lost and went to a gas station to ask for directions. In a video recorded at the gas station, Atta has a piece of paper in his hand and shows it to al-Omari, and then they leave. At the Walmart, the two purchased a six-[[volt]] [[Power inverter|battery converter]] for an unknown reason. Staff of the Walmart said that weeks earlier, Atta had bought a [[box cutter]] there, but this is uncorroborated. The two then returned to the Comfort Inn, where they stayed for hours.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />