The Third Cell

by Anthony D'Egidio

  Howard quickly turned on the mobile police scanner he had mounted in his SUV. Everything we heard about is coming true. The United States us under a terrorist attack and this is going to change everything. I should have left the scanner on but all the chatter was about President Bush being in Sarasota, Florida. The last thing I want to hear is anything this president is doing. I can’t believe the American public actually voted for a man of such limited mental capacity. It’s a good thing for our cause that stupidity runs so deep in America.

  Howard listened intently to the chatter and simultaneously turned on the radio to hear any news broadcasts.

  The scanner was virtually alive with news of a plane hitting the World Trade Center.

  9/11 Timeline:

  The majority of the following timeline and text is derived from United States Government Reports on the 9/11 attacks. “The Full 9/11 Commission Report and the Report Of The Joint Inquiry Into The Terrorist Attacks Of September 11, 2001 – By The House Permanent Select Committee On Intelligence And The Senate Select Committee On Intelligence.”

  6:00 A.M.: Mohamed Atta al Sayed and Abdulaziz Al-Omari boarded a US Airways flight at Portland International Airport. Although Atta was selected for computerized prescreening, this didn’t hinder his boarding, for it only required that he be on the plane prior to the checked baggage being loaded. The uneventful flight landed at Boston’s Logan Airport at 6:45 A.M.

  At Logan Airport, Atta and Al-Omari were joined by Satam al Suqami, Wail al-Shehri and Waleed al-Shehri.

  7:40 A.M.: The men completed all security checks and boarded American Airlines Flight 11 bound for Los Angeles. Atta, Alomair and Suqami took seats in business class while Wail and Waleed Shehri were seated in First Class. The flight left the gate at 7:40 A.M.

  Marwan al-Shehhi, Fayez Banihammad, Mohand al-Shehri, Ahmed al-Ghamdi and Hamza al-Ghamdi checked in at United Airlines Flight 175, also bound for Los Angeles. Although a couple of the men had trouble answering routine security questions, they were cleared by the ticket agent and boarded the plane, which was scheduled to depart at 8:00 A.M.

  At Dulles Airport in Virginia, another five men boarded American Flight 77 bound for Los Angeles. They were: Khalid al-Mihdhar, Majed Moqed, Hani Hanjour and two brothers, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Salem al-Hazmi. One of the Hazmi brothers was selected for additional security screening because he lacked a photo I.D., but the only consequence of the screening was that their luggage was kept off the plane until they had boarded. Majed Moqed and Khalid al-Mihdhar boarded the flight and were seated in coach. Hani Hanjour and the Hazmi brothers were seated in First Class.

  8:00 A.M.: United Flight 93 was designated to fly from Newark Airport to Los Angeles. Four men of Arab descent were aboard the plane and seated in first class. They were Saeed al-Ghamdi, Ahmed al-Nami, Ahmad al-Haznawi and Ziad Jarrah.

  Previously on August 4, 2001, Jose Melendez-Perez, an alert Orlando, Florida Border Guard, turned away Mohamed al-Kahtani, who was later suspected of being the missing hijacker aboard United Flight 93. Mohamed al-Kahtani was later captured in Afghanistan and was sent as an enemy combatant to the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay.

  The morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, a total of nineteen men were aboard four transcontinental flights. They had defeated all the security layers that America’s civil aviation security system then had in place to prevent a hijacking, which was based upon the flawed assumption that a weapon or bomb of some kind would be smuggled aboard a plane.

  A commercial jet with 11,400 gallons of aviation fuel would constitute the makings of a fuel-air explosive, also called a high-impulse thermobaric weapon. This is a condition where a mist of fuel mixed with the oxygen in the air would have the effect of a vapor cloud explosion, which produces more explosive energy for its size than conventional explosives. No one in law enforcement within the United States had contemplated that this many airplanes could be hijacked at one time and used as guided missiles, even though they had been previously been warned that such an attack had creditable evidence.

  Beginning in 1998 and continuing into the summer of 2001, the United States intelligence agencies received a modest, but relatively steady stream of information that indicated the possibility of terrorist attacks within the United States.

  In April 2000, the Intelligence Community obtained viable data regarding an alleged Bin Laden plot to hijack a Boeing 747. The source, a walk-in to the FBI’s Newark office, claimed that he had learned hijacking techniques and received arms training in a Pakistani camp. He also claimed that he was to meet five or six persons in the United States. Some of these persons would be pilots who had been instructed to take over a plane, fly to Afghanistan, or, if they couldn’t make it there, blow the plane up. No one in the FBI took his information seriously.

  American Airlines Flight 11

  8:14 A.M.: All attempts by flight controllers to contact American Airlines Flight 11 were not acknowledged. Aboard the plane, two of the hijackers attacked and stabbed two fight attendants and then gained entry into the cockpit. The only hijacker capable of flying the plane was Mohamed Atta. The hijackers sprayed the first class cabin with an aerosol irritant to subdue any passengers, announcing they had a bomb on board. Flight attendant Betty Ong via an AT&T phone contacted American Airlines Southeast Reservations Office in Cary, North Carolina and reported the plane as hijacked. Despite the grave danger she was in by making the phone call, she stayed on the phone for twenty-five minutes calmly relaying information about events aboard the plane. Almost simultaneously, another flight attendant, Amy Sweeney, was able to contact American Flight Services Office in Boston and also reported the hijacking and that a passenger had been injured.

  8:25 A.M.: It become apparent to Boston flight controllers and American Airlines that Flight 11 had been hijacked. Betty Ong stayed in contact throughout the flight relaying information. She reported several times that the plane was flying erratically.

  8:44 A.M.: Betty Ong frantically reported, “We are flying low. We are flying very, very low. We are flying way too low.” Seconds later she said, “Oh my God we are way too low.” The phone call ended.

  8:46:40 A.M.: Precisely at that moment, American Airlines Flight 11, with 10,000 gallons of jet fuel, crashed between the 93rd and 98th floors of the North Tower, killing all eighty-one passengers, the eleven crewmembers and the terrorists.

  The impact destroyed everything in its path, trapping people on the upper floors. The jet fuel plummeted down the elevator shafts and ignited, blowing off the doors of the elevators, burning and killing people who were in the lobby. It would later be reported that that thirteen hundred sixty six people trapped at and above the 93rd floor were killed.

  United Flight 175

  8:14 A.M.: United Flight 175 departed Boston just after American Airlines Flight 11 had been hijacked 8:42 A.M.: United 175 flight crew completed their report on a suspicious transmission overheard from another plane. This would be United 175 flight crew’s last communication with the ground.

  8:52 A.M.: A male flight attendant called a United Airlines office in San Francisco. The flight attendant reported that the flight had been hijacked and both pilots had been killed, a flight attendant had been stabbed and the hijackers were probably flying the plane. The call lasted about two minutes.

  Simultaneously in Easton, Connecticut, a man named Lee Hanson received a phone call from his son Peter, a passenger on United 175. His son told him: “I think they’ve taken over the cockpit. An attendant has been stabbed and someone else up front may have been killed. The plane is making strange moves. Call United Airlines and tell them it’s Flight 175, Boston to L.A.”

  9:00 A.M.: Lee Hanson received a second call from his son Peter. “It’s getting bad, Dad. A stewardess was stabbed. They seem to have knives and Mace. They said they have a bomb. It’s getting very bad on the plane. Passengers are throwing up and getting sick. The plane is making jerky movements. I don’t think the pilot is flying the plane. I think we are going down.
I think they intend to go to Chicago or someplace and fly into a building. Don’t worry, Dad. If it happens, it’ll be very fast. My God, my God.”

  9:03:11 A.M.: As millions watched on television, United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower of the World Trade Center. The crash killed all sixty-five passengers and crewmembers. An estimated total of six hundred people in the South Tower were trapped and killed.

  American Airlines Flight 77

  8:20 A.M.: American Airlines Flight 77 departed from Washington Dulles for Los Angeles and was airborne.

  8:51 A.M.: Flight 77 transmitted its last routine radio communication. The hijackers were reported by a passenger to have box cutters. Finally, a passenger reported that the pilot of the hijacked plane had made an announcement.

  8:54 A.M.: Flight 77 deviated from its assigned course, turning south. Two minutes later the transponder was turned off and even primary radar contact with the aircraft was lost. The Indianapolis Air Traffic Control Center repeatedly tried and failed to contact the aircraft. American Airlines dispatchers also tried without success.

  Barbara Olson placed a call to her husband Ted Olson, the Solicitor General of the United States. She reported that the flight had been hijacked and the hijackers had knives and box cutters. She further indicated that the hijackers were not aware of her phone call and that they had put all the passengers in the back of the plane. About a minute into the conversation, the call was cut off. Solicitor General Olson tried unsuccessfully to reach Attorney General John Ashcroft.

  9:29 A.M.: The autopilot on American Flight 77 was disengaged; the aircraft was at 7,000 feet and approximately 38 miles west of the Pentagon.

  9:32 A.M.: Controllers at the Dulles Terminal Radar Approach Control “observed a primary radar target tracking eastbound at a high rate of speed.”

  9:34 A.M.: Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport advised the Secret Service of an unknown aircraft heading in the direction of the White House. American Flight 77 was then 5 miles west-southwest of the Pentagon and began a 330-degree turn. At the end of the turn, it was descending through 2,200 feet, pointed toward the Pentagon and downtown Washington. The hijacker pilot then advanced the throttles to maximum power and dove toward the Pentagon.

  9:37:46 A.M.: The American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon, traveling at approximately 530 miles per hour. Fifty-eight of the passengers and six crewmembers on board, as well as one-hundred-twenty-five-civilian and military personnel in the building, were killed.

  United Airlines Flight 93

  8:42 A.M.: United Airlines Flight 93 took off from Newark, New Jersey’s Liberty International Airport bound for San Francisco. The aircraft was piloted by Captain Jason Dahl and First Officer Leroy Homer and included five flight attendants; thirty-seven passengers, including the hijackers, boarded the plane. Scheduled to depart the gate at 8:00 A.M., the Boeing 757’s takeoff was delayed because of the airport’s heavy morning traffic.

  9:00 A.M.: The FAA was aware that multiple planes were hijacked, but the leadership at the FAA failed to put out a nationwide alert that multiple planes had been hijacked and that all aircraft should take appropriate action.

  9:24 A.M.: United Airlines flight dispatcher, Ed Ballinger, transmitted a warning to Flight 93, “Beware of any cockpit intrusion and two aircraft have hit the World Trade Center.”

  9:28 A.M.: The hijackers struck. Flight 93 immediately dropped 700 feet and a mayday call was received by the FAA air traffic control center in Cleveland. At least ten passengers and two crewmembers shared vital information with family, friends, colleagues or others on the ground via cell phones. All understood the plane had been hijacked and that two-hijacked-knives and claimed to have a bomb. The hijackers were wearing red bandanas and they forced the passengers to the back of the aircraft. Once this information had been shared among the passengers, they voted to rush the hijackers and attempt to retake the plane.

  9:57 A.M.: The passengers assaulted the hijackers. The cockpit voice recorder captured the sounds of the passenger assault muffled by the intervening cockpit door. In response, Ziad Jarrah, the terrorist pilot, immediately began to roll the airplane to the left and right, attempting to knock the passengers off balance.

  9:58:57 A.M.: Jarrah told another hijacker in the cockpit to block the door. Jarrah continued to roll the airplane sharply left and right, but the assault continued.

  9:59:52 A.M.: Jarrah changed tactics and pitched the nose of the airplane up and down to disrupt the assault. The recorder captured the sounds of loud thumps, crashes, shouts and breaking glasses and plates.

  10:00:03 A.M.: Jarrah stabilized the airplane. Five seconds later, Jarrah asked, “Is that it? Shall we finish it off?”

  A hijacker responded, “No. Not yet. When they come, finish it off.”

  The sounds of fighting continued outside the cockpit. Again, Jarrah pitched the nose of the aircraft up and down.

  10:00:26 A.M.: A passenger in the background said, “In the cockpit. If we don’t, we’ll die!”

  Sixteen seconds later, a passenger yelled, “Roll it!”

  10:01:00 A.M.: Jarrah stopped the violent maneuvers and said, “Allah is the greatest! Allāh is the greatest!” He then asked another hijacker in the cockpit. “Is that it? I mean shall we put it down?” To which the other replied, “Yes, put it in and pull it down.”

  10:02:23 A.M.: The passengers continued their assault and the hijacker said, “Pull it down! Pull it down!”

  The hijackers remained at the controls but must have judged that the passengers were only seconds from overcoming them. The airplane headed down; the control wheel was turned hard to the right. The airplane rolled onto its back and one of the hijackers shouted, “Allah is the greatest. Allāh is the greatest.”

  With the sounds of the passenger counterattack continuing, the aircraft plowed into an empty field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at 580 miles per hour, about twenty minutes’ flying time from Washington, D.C. The brave passengers of Flight 93 defeated the objective of hitting either the Capital building or the White House.

  Mossad Headquarters

  In Tel Aviv, Mark Heckman burst into Benjamin Werner’s office shouting, “A plane hit the World Trade Center in New York seven minutes ago! We’re just getting the full reports.”

  “Terrorist attack?” retorted Benjamin.

  “No confirmation, but with all the chatter over the past several months, it certainly looks that way.”

  “What has the CIA told you and what precautions are being taken?”

  “They haven’t said much and are monitoring the activity. I suggest we go down to the command center to get the latest information. The IDF is on full alert and fighter aircraft has been scrambled to protect Israeli airspace. The United States has yet to do the same. It seems that there’s a terrorist simulation drill going on and massive confusion among the U.S. military to whether this is a real attack or just part of the exercise.”

  Benjamin shook his head as they entered the elevator. The United States wouldn’t listen to us when we told them their airport security was sub-par.

  Mossad Headquarters was a non-descript five-story building that blended in with others in the surrounding area. The only features that made it stand out were the multiple antenna and microwave transmitters and receivers on the roof. The Mossad Command Center and other vital operations were located in subterranean chambers in levels forty to sixty feet below ground level in bedrock with steel and concrete reinforced bunkers. A completely self-contained city, it could provide its own electricity, water and communications. There was enough food stored to last six months for a staff of three hundred personnel.

  Benjamin and Mark entered the command center and Benjamin immediately asked, “What evasive actions have been taken by the Americans?”

  The section chief monitoring the activity replied, “Nothing is apparent at this time. The FAA hasn’t even warned other flights that a hijacking took place and the U.S. Air Force has yet to scramble fighter j
ets.”

  Benjamin’s stomach churned. I’ve been doing this job for thirty-five years and it’s time for me to quit before I’m dead.

  The group in the control room was monitoring satellite imaging and radio transmissions of the U.S. military and Law Enforcement, but the best information came from the telecasts from the U.S. television stations. Six television monitors were receiving signals from various transmissions, as they watched and listened to the chatter from NORAD and the FAA.

  “They’re not even on the same page,” a confused Mark announced. “No one in the U. S. Air Force is scrambling fighter jets. They think it’s an exercise.”

  The group was watching the television monitors when United Airlines Flight 175 hit the South Tower.

  Mark let out a gasp.

  Benjamin turned away. I think I’m going to throw up. Fighting back the sensation, Benjamin spoke quietly. “Today we’ve witnessed one of the most vicious terrorist attacks in the history of mankind. No one was paying attention to our warnings that the security gaps in American airports were leaving them vulnerable. Today will be the beginning of a new world order that will punish the evil, but also destroy the lives of many who are innocent.”

  Florida Ridge Nuclear Reactor Site

  10:13 A.M.: Howard Lieberman pulled up to the guard gate at the nuclear reactor site. Waiting for him was a frantic Wayne Anderson from the FEU corporate security office. “Jesus Christ, Howard, have you heard the news?”

  “Yes, I’ve been listening to the police scanner, but also radio broadcasts and I’m constantly in touch with our headquarters in Washington. Calm down. I’ve already dispatched an additional six guards to each facility and they should arrive in thirty minutes. My best supervisor, Sergeant Navarro, is on his way to meet us. How come the guards haven’t taken out the high-powered rifles from the lockers? Why haven’t we started the emergency procedures?”