Editing Mohamed Atta (section)

== Germany ==
[[File:Mohammed Atta Pekka Tanner TUHH.jpg|thumb|Mohamed Atta (left) as a student in Germany, May 1993]]
Atta graduated from Cairo University with marks insufficient for the graduate program. As his father insisted that he go abroad for [[Graduate school|graduate studies]], Atta, to this end, entered a German-language program at the [[Goethe-Institut]] in Cairo.{{Sfn|Fouda|Fielding|2003|p=78}} In 1992, his father overheard a German couple who were visiting Egypt's capital. The couple explained at dinner that they ran an exchange program and invited Atta to continue his studies in Germany; they also offered him room and board at their home in the city. Atta accepted and arrived in Germany two weeks later, in July.

In Germany, he enrolled in the [[urban planning]] graduate program at the [[Hamburg University of Technology]].<ref name="cloud" /> Atta initially lived with two high school teachers; however, they eventually found his closed-mindedness and introverted personality to be too much for them. Atta began adhering to the strictest [[Islamic dietary laws|Islamic diet]], frequenting the most conservative [[mosque]]s, socializing seldom, and acting disdainfully towards the couple's unmarried daughter who had a young child. After six months, they asked him to leave.<ref>{{cite news |title=9/11 haunts hijacker's sponsors; German couple talks of living with pilot Atta |work=Chicago Tribune |date=7 March 2003 |author=Swanson, Stevenson}}</ref><ref name="mcdermott-20020127">{{cite news |title= A Perfect Soldier; Mohamed Atta, whose hard gaze has stared from a billion television screens and newspaper pages, has become, for many, the face of evil incarnate |author=McDermott, Terry |work=Los Angeles Times |date=27 January 2002}}</ref>{{Sfn|McDermott|2005|pp=22–23}}

By early 1993, Atta had moved into university housing with two roommates, in Centrumshaus. He stayed there until 1998. During that period, his roommates grew annoyed with him. He seldom bathed, and they could not bear his "complete, almost aggressive insularity".{{Sfn|McDermott|2005|p=25}} He kept to himself to such an extent that he would often react to simple greetings with silence.

===Academic studies===
At the Hamburg University of Technology, Atta studied under the guidance of the department chair, Dittmar Machule, who specialized in the Middle East.{{Sfn|McDermott|2005|p=24}} Atta was averse to modern development. This included the construction of [[high-rise building]]s in Cairo and other ancient cities in the region. He believed that the drab and impersonal [[Tower block|apartment blocks]], built in the 60s and 70s, ruined the beauty of old neighborhoods and robbed their people of privacy and dignity. Atta's family moved into an apartment block in 1990; it was to him but "a shabby symbol of Egypt's haphazard attempts to modernize and its shameless embrace of the West."<ref name="newsweek" /> For his thesis, Atta concentrated on the ancient Syrian city of [[Aleppo]]. He researched the history of the urban landscape in relation to the general theme of conflict between Arab and modern civilization. He criticized how the newfangled skyscrapers and other modernizing projects disrupted the fabric of communities by blocking common streets and altering the [[skyline]].

Atta's professor, Dittmar Machule, brought him along on an archaeological expedition to Aleppo in 1994.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/atta/interviews/machule.htm |title=Interview with Professor Dittmar Machule |publisher=ABC (Australia) |date=18 October 2001 |access-date=1 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080618213410/http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/atta/interviews/machule.htm |archive-date=18 June 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The invitation had been for a three-day visit, but Atta ended up staying several weeks that August, only to visit Aleppo yet again that December.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/atta/maps/europe/default.htm |title=A Mission to Die For – Europe Map |publisher=ABC (Australia) |date=18 October 2001 |access-date=1 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080930145530/http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/atta/maps/europe/default.htm |archive-date=30 September 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> While in Syria, he met Amal, a young [[Palestinian people|Palestinian]] woman who worked for a planning bureau in the city. Volker Hauth, who was traveling with Atta, described Amal as "attractive and self-confident. She observed Muslim customs, taking taxis to and from the office so as not to come into close physical contact with men on buses. But she was also said to be 'emancipated' and 'challenging'. Atta and Amal appeared to be attracted to each other, but Atta soon decided that "she had a quite different orientation and that the emancipation of the young lady did not fit." His nascent infatuation with her, begrudgingly realised, was the closest thing Atta knew to romance.<ref name="hooper"/>

In mid-1995, he stayed for three months in Cairo, on a grant from the Carl Duisberg Society, along with fellow students Volker Hauth and Ralph Bodenstein. The academic team inquired into the effects of redevelopment in the [[Islamic Cairo]], the old quarter, which the government undertook to remodel for [[Tourism in Egypt|tourism]]. Atta stayed in Cairo awhile with his family after Hauth and Bodenstein flew back to Germany.{{Sfn|McDermott|2005|pp=29–31}}{{Sfn|Corbin|2003|p=122}}

While in Hamburg, Atta held several positions, including a part-time job at the urban planning firm Plankontor beginning in 1992. He was let go from the firm in 1997, however, because its business had declined and "his draughtsmanship was not needed" after it bought a [[computer-aided design|CAD]] system.<ref name="hooper"/>{{Sfn|McDermott|2005|p=47}} Among other odd jobs to supplement his income, Atta sometimes worked at a cleaning company and sometimes bought and sold cars.<ref name="Washpost">{{cite news |title=A Fanatic's Quiet Path to Terror; Rage Was Born in Egypt, Nurtured in Germany, Inflicted on U.S. |newspaper=The Washington Post|date=22 September 2001 |author=Finn, Peter}}</ref> Atta had harbored a desire to return to his native city ever since he finished his studies in Hamburg, but he was prevented by the dearth of job prospects in Cairo, his family lacking the "right connections" to avail the customary [[nepotism]].<ref name="cbs-20030305">{{cite news |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-mastermind/ |title=The Mastermind |date=5 March 2003 |publisher=CBS News |access-date=16 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080930153018/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/10/09/60II/main524947.shtml |archive-date=30 September 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="prospect">{{cite news |url=http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=5362 |title=Portrait: Atta in Hamburg |work=Prospect |date=29 August 2002 |author=Lappin, Elena |access-date=16 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080930205629/http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=5362 |archive-date=30 September 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref> Further, after the Egyptian government had imprisoned droves of [[Activism|political activists]], he knew better than to trust it not to target him too, with his social and political beliefs being such as they were.{{Sfn|Corbin|2003|p=123}}

===Religious zeal and Hamburg cell===
{{further|Hamburg cell}}
After coming to Hamburg in 1992, Atta grew more religiously fanatical and frequented the mosque with greater regularity.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/childhood-clues-to-what-makes-a-killer-748415.html |title=Childhood clues to what makes a killer |last=Buncombe |first=Andrew |work=The Independent |date=12 October 2001 |access-date=8 September 2010 |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100119084047/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/childhood-clues-to-what-makes-a-killer-748415.html |archive-date=19 January 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref> His friends in Germany described him as an intelligent man in whom religious convictions and political motives held equal sway. He harbored anger and resentment toward the U.S. for its policy in Islamic nations of the Middle East, with nothing inflaming his ire more than the [[Oslo Accords]] and the [[Gulf War]] in particular.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/atta/interviews/hauth.htm |title=Four Corners – Volker Hauth interview |publisher=ABC (Australia) |date=18 October 2001 |access-date=1 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080618181916/http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/atta/interviews/hauth.htm |archive-date=18 June 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/atta/interviews/bodenstein.htm |title=Four Corners – Ralph Bodenstein interview |publisher=ABC (Australia) |date=18 October 2001 |access-date=1 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080617121230/http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/atta/interviews/bodenstein.htm |archive-date=17 June 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> He was also angry and bitter at the elite in his native Egypt, who he believed hoarded power for themselves, as well as at the Egyptian government, that cracked down on the dissident [[Muslim Brotherhood]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/network/etc/script.html |title=Inside the Terror Network |work=Frontline |publisher=PBS |date=17 January 2002 |last=Loeterman |first=Ben |author2=Hedrick Smith |access-date=8 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110224023851/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/network/etc/script.html |archive-date=24 February 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref> Atta was [[Antisemitism|anti-Semitic]], believing that [[Jews]] controlled the world's media, financial, and political institutions from [[New York City]].{{sfn|Wright|2006|p=Chapter 18 ("Boom")}} These beliefs were even stronger during [[Operation Infinite Reach]], as he believed that [[Monica Lewinsky]] was a Jewish agent influencing American president [[Bill Clinton]] against aiding Palestine, which would later play a key role in creating the Hamburg cell.{{sfn|Wright|2006}}

On 1 August 1995, Atta returned to Egypt for three months of study.{{Sfn|Fouda|Fielding|2003|p=82}} Before this trip he grew out a beard to show himself as a devout Muslim and also to make a political gesture.<ref name="Washpost"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/atta/interviews/hauth.htm |title=Volker Hauth interview |date=18 October 2001 |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) |work=Four Corners |access-date=8 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100504181217/http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/atta/interviews/hauth.htm |archive-date=4 May 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Atta returned to Hamburg on 31 October 1995,{{Sfn|Fouda|Fielding|2003|p=82}} only to join the pilgrimage to [[Mecca]] shortly thereafter.<ref name="Washpost"/>

In Hamburg, Atta was intensely drawn to [[al-Quds Mosque]] which adhered to a "harsh, uncompromisingly [[Islamic fundamentalism|fundamentalist]], and resoundingly militant" version of [[Sunni Islam]].{{Sfn|McDermott|2005|pp=2–3}} He made acquaintances at al-Quds, some of whom visited him on occasion at Centrumshaus. He also began teaching classes both at Al-Quds and at a Turkish mosque near the [[Harburg, Hamburg|Harburg]] district. Atta also started and led a prayer group, which Ahmed Maklat and [[Mounir El Motassadeq]] joined. [[Ramzi bin al-Shibh]] was also there, teaching occasional classes, and became Atta's friend.{{Sfn|McDermott|2005|pp=34–37}}

On 11 April 1996, Atta signed his [[Will (law)|last will and testament]]<!-- it was apparently a "standardized" will from Al-Quds, according to Lawrence Wright//--> at the mosque, officially declaring his Muslim beliefs and giving 18 instructions regarding his burial.<ref name="will"/>{{Sfn|Fouda|Fielding|2003|p=77}} This was the same day that [[Israel]], much to Atta's fury, attacked [[Lebanon]] in [[Operation Grapes of Wrath]]; signing the will "offering his life" was his response.{{sfn|Wright|2006|p=Chapter 18 ("Boom")}} The instructions in his last will and testament reflect both [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] funeral practices along with some more puritanical demands from [[Salafism]], including asking people not "to weep and cry" and to generally refrain from showing emotion. The will was signed by el-Motassadeq and a second person at the mosque.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://old.911digitalarchive.org/crr/documents/1017.pdf |title=Will Gives a Window into Suspect's Mind |author=Finn, Peter and Charles Lane |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] and 9/11 Digital Archive |date=6 October 2001 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080228003140/http://old.911digitalarchive.org/crr/documents/1017.pdf |archive-date=28 February 2008}}</ref>

After leaving Plankontor in the summer of 1997, Atta disappeared again and did not return until 1998. He had made no progress on his thesis. Atta phoned his graduate advisor, Machule, and mentioned family problems at home, saying, "Please understand, I don't want to talk about this."<ref>{{cite news |title=In hindsight, more suspicion called for; Hamburg was early hotbed for plotters |work=Chicago Tribune |date=21 September 2001 |author=Sly, Liz}}</ref>{{Sfn|McDermott|2005|p=Chapter 5}} At the winter break in 1997,<!-- clarify time, Dec 1997-1998? //--> Atta left and did not return to Hamburg for three months. He said that he went on pilgrimage to [[Mecca]] again, just 18 months after his first time. This claim has been disputed; American journalist [[Terry McDermott (journalist)|Terry McDermott]] has argued that it is unusual for someone to go on pilgrimage so soon after the first time and to spend three months there (more than [[Hajj]] requires). When Atta returned, he claimed that his passport was lost and applied for a new one, which is a common tactic to erase evidence of travel to places such as [[Afghanistan]].{{Sfn|McDermott|2005|p=57}} When he returned in spring 1998, after disappearing for several months, he had grown a thick long beard, and "seemed more serious and aloof" than before to those who knew him.<ref name="Washpost"/>
[[File:Marienstraße 54.JPG|thumb|upright|The apartment Atta, Bahaji, and bin al-Shibh shared from 1998 until 2001 in Marienstrasse, [[Hamburg]], Germany]]
By mid-1998, Atta was no longer eligible for university housing in Centrumshaus. Atta, Bahaji and Ramzi moved into a Hamburgian apartment, which they supposedly named {{Transliteration|ar|bayt al-ansar}}.{{Sfn|Rapoport|2006|p=326}} By early 1999, Atta had completed his thesis, and formally defended it in August 1999.{{Sfn|McDermott|2005|p=Chapter 5}}

In mid-1998, Atta worked alongside Shehhi, bin al-Shibh, and Belfas, at a warehouse, packing computers in crates for shipping.{{Sfn|McDermott|2005|p=58}} The Hamburg group did not stay in Wilhelmsburg for long. The next winter, they moved into an apartment at Marienstrasse 54 in the [[Harburg, Hamburg|borough of Harburg]], near the [[Hamburg University of Technology]],{{Sfn|McDermott|2005|p=63}} at which they enrolled. It was here that the [[Hamburg cell]] developed and acted more as a group.<ref>{{cite news|author=Bernstein, Richard Bernstein |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/10/national/10PLOT.html?ei=5070&en=81b2bc66ebffd6b4&ex=1139374800 |title=On Path to the U.S. Skies, Plot Leader Met bin Laden |work=The New York Times |date=10 September 2002 |access-date=16 September 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090601202151/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/10/national/10PLOT.html?ei=5070&en=81b2bc66ebffd6b4&ex=1139374800 |archive-date=1 June 2009 }}</ref> They met three or four times a week to discuss their anti-American feelings and to plot possible attacks. Many [[al-Qaeda]] members lived in this apartment at various times, including hijacker [[Marwan al-Shehhi]], [[Zakariya Essabar]], and others.

In late 1999, Atta, Shehhi, Jarrah, Bahaji, and bin al-Shibh decided to travel to [[Chechnya]] to fight against the Russians, but were convinced by [[Khalid al-Masri]] and [[Mohamedou Ould Salahi]] at the last minute to change their plans. They instead traveled to [[Afghanistan]] over a two-week period in late November. On 29 November 1999, Mohamed Atta boarded [[Turkish Airlines]] Flight TK1662 from [[Hamburg]] to [[Istanbul]], where he changed to flight TK1056 to [[Karachi|Karachi, Pakistan]].<ref name="Yosri">{{cite news |last=Fouda |first=Yosri |date=1 October 2006 |title=Chilling message of the 9/11 plots |work=The Sunday Times |location=London |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article656440.ece |url-status=dead |access-date=24 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706181828/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article656440.ece |archive-date=6 July 2008}}</ref> After they arrived, they were selected by al-Qaeda leader [[Mohammed Atef]] as suitable candidates for the "planes operation" plot. They were all well-educated, had experience of living in western society, along with some English skills, and would be able to obtain visas.{{sfn|Wright|2006|p=Chapter 18 ("Boom")}} Even before bin al-Shibh had arrived, Atta, Shehhi, and Jarrah were sent to the House of Ghamdi near bin Laden's home in [[Kandahar]], where he was waiting to meet them. Bin Laden asked them to pledge loyalty and commit to suicide missions, which Atta and the other three Hamburg men all accepted. Bin Laden sent them to see Atef to get a general overview of the mission, and then they were sent to Karachi to see [[Khalid Sheikh Mohammed]] to go over specifics.{{Sfn|McDermott|2005|p=180}}{{additional citation needed|date=August 2023}}

German investigators said that they had evidence that Mohamed Atta trained at [[Afghan training camp|al-Qaeda camps]] in Afghanistan from late 1999 to early 2000. The timing of the Afghanistan training was outlined on 23 August 2002, by a senior investigator. The investigator, Klaus Ulrich Kersten, was the director of Germany's federal anticrime agency, the [[Federal Criminal Police Office (Germany)|Bundeskriminalamt]]. He provided the first official confirmation that Atta and two other pilots had been in Afghanistan, and he also provided the first dates of the training. Kersten said in an interview at the agency's headquarters in [[Wiesbaden]] that Atta was in Afghanistan from late 1999 until early 2000,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2213701.stm |title=Atta 'trained in Afghanistan' |publisher=BBC |date=24 August 2002 |access-date=7 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110812184933/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2213701.stm |archive-date=12 August 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/24/world/germans-lay-out-early-qaeda-ties-to-9-11-hijackers.html |title=Germans Lay Out Early Qaeda Ties to 9/11 Hijackers |last=Frantz |first=Douglas |author2=Desmond Butler |date=24 August 2002 |access-date=7 September 2010 |work=The New York Times |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140417113847/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/24/world/germans-lay-out-early-qaeda-ties-to-9-11-hijackers.html |archive-date=17 April 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref> and that there was evidence that Atta met with [[Osama bin Laden]] there.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/10/national/10PLOT.html?pagewanted=all |title=On Path to the U.S. Skies, Plot Leader Met bin Laden |last=Bernstein |first=Richard |date=10 September 2002 |work=The New York Times |access-date=7 September 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140417114220/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/10/national/10PLOT.html?pagewanted=all |archive-date=17 April 2014 }}</ref>

A video surfaced in October 2006. The first chapter of the video showed bin Laden at [[Tarnak Farms]] on 8 January 2000. The second chapter showed Atta and [[Ziad Jarrah]] reading their wills together ten days later on 18 January.<ref name="Yosri" /><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna15082633 |title=Video showing Atta, bin Laden is unearthed |author=Popkin, Jim |publisher=NBC News |date=1 October 2006 |access-date=28 January 2008}}</ref> On his return journey, Atta left Karachi on 24 February 2000, by flight TK1057 to [[Istanbul]] where he changed to flight TK1661 to Hamburg.<ref name="Yosri" /><ref>{{cite news |last=Bernstein |first=Richard |date=10 September 2002 |title=On Path to the U.S. Skies, Plot Leader Met bin Laden |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/10/national/10PLOT.html?ex=1221624000&en=30bc6f683535b59f&ei=5070 |url-status=dead |access-date=16 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417085506/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/10/national/10PLOT.html?ex=1221624000&en=30bc6f683535b59f&ei=5070 |archive-date=17 April 2009}}</ref> Immediately after returning to Germany, Atta, al-Shehhi, and Jarrah reported their passports stolen, possibly to discard travel visas to Afghanistan.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/network/etc/script.html |title=Inside the Terror Network |work=Frontline |publisher=PBS |date=17 January 2002 |access-date=16 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080930214837/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/network/etc/script.html |archive-date=30 September 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref>