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Survivor reveals how Hamburg terror cell planned 9/11

Special to World Tribune.com
GEOSTRATEGY-DIRECT.COM
Monday, September 9, 2002

Motassadeq
When other members of his cell traveled to America, Motassadeq was ordered to return to Hamburg and assimilate into non-Muslim society.

Mounir El Motassadeq
  • Age: 28
  • Organization:Al Qaida
  • Where recruited:Technical University in Hamburg
  • Born: Morocco.
  • Whereabouts: Hamburg, Germany
        Mounir El Motassadeq is believed to be the only person arrested in Germany who was part of a plot that had targeted the World Trade Center as early as April 2000. The rest of the gang was either killed on Sept. 11, 2001 or escaped.
        El Motassadeq was born in Morocco in 1974 to a family with means. He studied in local schools and in 1993 made his way to Germany and joined thousands of North African immigrants who sought education and jobs. El Motassadeq quickly found a job in a restaurant, but did not feel comfortable in Germany. His command of the language was poor; he felt awkward in German society. Instead, he sought the company of his North African compatriots.
        He found this companionship when he enrolled in the Technical University in Hamburg in 1995 and studied electrical engineering. El Motassadeq met Islamic fundamentalists at the university, many of them from Egypt and Tunisia who had fled their homeland amid a crackdown by their regimes against the opposition. Germany was willing, even eager, to provide these young men with asylum and opportunity.
        At university, the slightly-built El Motassadeq met Mohammed Atta. Atta was five years older than El Motassadeq and already an articulate spokesman of jihad, or Islamic holy war against the West and its values.
    A man walks past the home of Mounir El Motassadeq Wednesday in Hamburg, Germany, shortly after authorities announced the arrest of the 27-year-old Moroccan.

        But there were others at Hamburg that turned El Motassadeq's head around. One was Marwan Al Shehhi. Another was Ziad Jarrah. They shared an apartment and discussed the tenets of jihad, their hatred of Jews and the United States, their support for Nazis and the need for Muslims to fight the infidels. At a certain point, El Motassadeq was convinced. Along with his fellow Muslim students, he flew to Afghanistan for terrorist training in Al Qaida camps. They met with Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Zawahiri. When they returned they became Al Qaida's cell in Hamburg.
        German authorities said the newly-formed seven-member cell traveled around Europe and to the United States, often returning back to Hamburg to take tests, complete university courses and even take a class trip to a local nuclear plant. Cell members attended flight schools for pilot training, shared intelligence and logistics with Al Qaida cells in London, Rome and other locations and prepared for a major Al Qaida attack against the West.
        El Motassadeq was regarded as the logistics expert. His job was to find a target and determine its feasibility. One potential site for an Al Qaida attack was the Hamburg airport. El Motassadeq worked as a cleaner at the busy airport and had access to both aircraft and secure areas.
        From 1996 to 1998, El Motassadeq, who easily obtained security clearance, studied the Hamburg airport. But Atta, who appeared to be the leader of the Al Qaida cell, vetoed Hamburg as a target. By 1999, his orders were to target the United States.
        As a result, El Motassadeq invested his efforts for a suicide air attack that involved the hijacking of airliners. El Motassadeq was the financial expert. He paid salaries to the suicide pilots from Al Qaida bank transfers, sent the agents to flight schools in Florida and prepared the logistics for the eventual attack.
        But the cell could not decide where in the United States Al Qaida would attack. Several targets were discussed but in the end Al Qaida terrorist leaders in Afghanistan decided they wanted another crack at the World Trade Center. Islamic fundamentalists had tried to destroy the Twin Towers in 1993, but were unsuccessful.

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