HANI SALEH HANJOUR
Hani Hanjour arrived in USA in October 1991, ten years before 9/11. He studied English in Arizona and, after completing his studies, returned to family business in Saudi Arabia till 1996. During that period of time Hani Hanjour traveled for a short time to Afghanistan on behalf of one of the aid agencies acting for the refugees.
In 1996 Hani Hanjour returned to USA and with the help of his brother’s Abdul Rahman contacts got accommodation with a Muslim family in Arizona who found out that Hani Hanjour was practicing and diligent in the Muslim faith.
In November 1997 Hani Hanjour settled in Phoenix, Arizona, and started flight school together with a Yemenite – Riad Mohammed Abdallah Ali – with whom he studied English in Florida in 1997. Hani Hanjour returned in 2000 to Saudi Arabia. He tried to get work in the Saudi airlines but was rejected. Probably at that time he was recruited to Al Qaeda.
After being rejected Hani Hanjour got back to USA and continued air pilot training on a higher level. Probably due to briefing he got in Saudi Arabia Hani Hanjour demonstrated liberal life style and backed off from religious conduct. At that period he trained with one of his team in flight 77 – Salem al-Hazmi . He was under surveillance of the FBI through the informant Aukai Collins – a white American Muslim who fought in Chechenya and, generally, was an adventurer.
By the end of December 2000 Hani Hanjour moved to San Diego, California where he met other two members of his team: Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi. After a short time the third hijacker joined them – Majed Moqed, as well as a hijacker of flight 175 – Ahmed al-Ghamdi. Until the 9/11 Hani Hanjour used to travel in USA hiring cars under fake names and falsified documents. He probably met in spring of 2001 with Mohamed Atta in New Jersey.
As the date of the 9/11 hijacking got closer he used to fly frequently on commercial flights probably in order to study the security measures undertaken. In August 2001 he hired a small plane in Maryland so he could learn the layout of US capital from the air. In the morning of The 9/11 he boarded, with his team, flight 77 which crashed at 09:39 into the Pentagon in Washington, DC.
