Atta's bags at Logan

Various stuff is rumoured to have been found in Atta's bags that were left at Logan, but pictures of only a few of them were released during the Moussaoui trial. Here they are - just click on the links to see images:

(1) A letter in Arabic. See here for images of the original:
http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov/notablecases/moussaoui/exhibits/prosecution/BS01101.html
See here for a translation:
http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov/notablecases/moussaoui/exhibits/prosecution/BS01101T.pdf

(2) Red pepper spray:
http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov/notablecases/moussaoui/exhibits/prosecution/BS01143.html

(3) Administrative correspondence of Mohamed Atta from Germany dated 28 March 2000:
http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov/notablecases/moussaoui/exhibits/prosecution/BS01110.html

(4) Administrative correspondence of Mohamed Atta from Germany dated 9 May 2000:
http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov/notablecases/moussaoui/exhibits/prosecution/BS01115.html

(5) Envelope addressed to Atta (Mohamed El Amir):
http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov/notablecases/moussaoui/exhibits/prosecution/BS01124.html

(6) Administrative correspondence of Atta (Mohamed El Amir) dated 1 November 1999:
http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov/notablecases/moussaoui/exhibits/prosecution/BS01126.html

(7) Administrative correspondence of Mohamed Atta dated 1 November 1999:
http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov/notablecases/moussaoui/exhibits/prosecution/BS01127.html

It certainly is unusual that he took administrative correspondence over a year old on his death flight. I wonder why he did that.

... that at some point before or just after 9/11 some of the Hamburg cell's documents were stolen. PT says:

October 7, 2001: Stolen 9/11 Documents Appear in Mysterious Circumstances

On this day, Zeljko E., a Kosovar Serb, enters a Hamburg, Germany, police station and says he wants to turn himself in. He tells the police that he has robbed a business and stolen piles of paper written in Arabic, with the hopes of selling them. A friend of his told him that they relate to the 9/11 attacks. The 44 pounds of papers are translated and they prove to be a “treasure trove.” The documents come from Mamoun Darkazanli’s files, which were not in Darkazanli’s apartment when police raided it two days after 9/11. “It makes for a great story. A petty thief pilfers files containing critical information about the largest terrorist attack in history and dutifully turns them over to the police. agents do not buy this story for a minute; they suspect that some other Secret Service was trying to find a way of getting evidence into hands. The question is, whose Secret Service?” Some German investigators later suggest that the CIA was responsible; there are also reports that the FBI illegally monitored Darkazanli after 9/11.
Link: http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=complete_911_timeline&other_al-qaeda_operatives=darkazanli

I have a little "MIHOP light" in my head that is usually dormant, but whenever I think about this it starts flashing.

The guy stole 44 pounds of paper?

I guess that's to make him look like a goof.


There is so much strange intel stuff, I have got to think
that when push comes to shove, the US secret police are going
to reject orders and let us keep working. 'Cause even if
we're wrong we're on the right track--and we have the right to
be wrong!

Can you tell what the admin. documents are for? It might be interesting to see if his signature matches the one on the id that we were questioning whether or not it was him.
I'm glad you are looking at this stuff and posting about it. I've been looking at it, but I don't know what to do with it. John Doe at team 8 has something about evidence for doubles, but I haven't read it yet.
It doesn't make sense that he would take those items, they don't look very important. The pepper spray , to me, looks planted. Why would he put it in his luggage? What good would that do? and it says "PEPPER SPRAY" on it, wouldn't he try to obfuscate what it was? Maybe not, I dunno, it all seems off. If I was going to die, what would I have in my luggage?

I was there last week and I had to get them to write the price of a hotel room down, because I couldn't understand 75.

I got JackRiddler to translate the document dated 9 May 2000 (the day after Atta got a new passport) and it's notification from the foreigners' police (or whatever they have in Hamburg) that they know Atta's not called Mohamed El Amir (which they previously thought), but has more names.

If I'm going to die, why would I have luggage? Pepper spray for combatting the hallucinations in the bardo state?

If he thought he was going to get off the plane afterward and pick up his bag, and then use the pepper spray, is he going to struggle with the zipper while trying to make sure he can ward off passengers at the baggage carousel? Or wait forlornly while everyone collects their bags, and he's left watching it go round and round and round without his luggage?

Maybe he usually carries his favorite pepper spray that's hard to find in supermarkets to spritz on his lunch, because pepper oil might be thought to be a liquid that could blow up a plane. And he's counting calories, so it's like a jalapeno PAM?

It's a wonder he didn't have a "Terrorist Tree House -- No Gurlz Allowed" sign as well, so we wouldn't miss the point.

If I'm going to die, why would I have luggage?

My guess would be to, in some small way, deflect attention from looking even more like "the guy who looks Middle Eastern with no luggage" stereotype.

Pepper spray that actually says "pepper spray" on it is pretty funny. Do bombers really try to board with things that say "timer", "detonation cord" "nitro", etc.?

My guess would be to, in some small way, deflect attention from looking even more like "the guy who looks Middle Eastern with no luggage" stereotype.

In that very special inobtrusive "Oh, yeah. Luggage. I must have left it in the rental car. Thanks for reminding me, I'll pick it up on my return" way?

Pepper spray that actually says "pepper spray" on it is pretty funny. Do bombers really try to board with things that say "timer", "detonation cord" "nitro", etc.?

I'm picturing generic packing for each, white with black lettering, and a bar code. Trying not to mentally add the "Acme" logo on them.

I once brought an albino cobra preserved in formaldehyde in a large glass jar from an elderly friend of mine who was lightening up her cache of cool things, to a herpetologist friend who lived a thousand miles away, who I knew would love it.

But that was in the eighties, when we could put such things in our baggage.

If I were doing a suicide run and needed only to have a bag full of something to blend in, it would be interesting to contemplate what to leave in the bag. Ham sandwiches and rocks?

But the guy at check-in said it was to big and had to go in the hold. At Boston it didn't get loaded because they booked the wrong connecting flight (should have got an American Air connector).

This set of documents is indeed a weird collection to carry around.

The "letter" from the City of Hamburg (BS01110) of 20 March, 2000, is the "Meldebestätigung" - confirmation of his being registered at the "Marienstraße 54". When you take up residence in Germany, everyone has immediately to register with the city, or you are legally without "Wohnsitz" - permanent home - and if picked up or checked by the police for whatever reason you may very well get into trouble. Normally, as part of the registration process your address will be written onto the back of your national ID card. I know that asylum seekers do also carry German ID cards with their registered home address. Maybe other foreigners with permanent residence in Germany need the above receipt as confirmation of registration - in case they don't have other ID with the address written on it.

The other letter from the City of Hamburg (BS01115) of 5 May, 2000, is confirmation of a change in in his registered name. First he registered as "Mohamed Al Emir", based on the name on his first passport (no 243898), then he apparently produced another passport (no 1617066) with the longer name "ATTA, Mohamed Mohamed El Amir Awad Elsayed".

The letter from the Hamburg University (BS01126) of 1 November, 1999, notifies Mohamed el Amir of his grades "to date" (with the exception of the grade on his thesis, so this is probably some kind of status report before he had finished his exam). First listed are the results of his oral exams (five exams, in three of which he received a "very good" - the best grade you can get, in the other two a "good", the second best grade). Following are the grades and titles of his term papers (also "very good" and "good", just one is graded C, "satisfying". Oddly, this is the only document of which they don't show the second page, even though it looks like there was something written on it - whereas they show the empty back pages of the other letters above ... on 600 KB PDFs, no less.

The last "document", also from the Hamburg University (BS01127), not dated, and is a questionnaire for graduates, with which the university gathers data on prospective participants of advanced / further training. Mr. el Amir apparently was interested in further education in urban planning and signed the form on 1 November, 1999. Except for his Hamburg address "Marienstraße 54", he apparently did not fill in any personal information required on page one.


To me, this looks like a bunch of papers someone may have found in a drawer or in a box in Hamburg, Marienstraße 54 ... I cannot see any purpose they could have possibly served in the US for Mr. el Amir aka ATTA Alsayed whatever.

I agree about the drawer.

Did you know about that? Why the name change? for simplicity?

I'm no expert, but my understanding is that male Islamic names should mostly look like this:
first name + father's first name + grandfather's first name + family name + tribal name
AFAIK Atta's family name was El Amir, whereas Atta was his tribal name. For some reason he prefered his family name in Germany, whereas he prefered his tribal name in the US. I have no idea why.

You can view all his passports by clicking on the "his passport" link here:
http://www.ericumansky.com/2005/08/attas_visa.html
The name is always the same.

Sometimes he used odd combinations of his names like "Mahmoud Elsayed". I think this is the main way the 19 hijackers managed to use 364 names between them.

If anyone understands Arabic naming conventions better than me, can they please say how it really works.

I keep forgetting he knew he would have known he wasn't getting off the plane..., they would make sense if he was leaving them behind so someone would identify him, but, it would have been destroyed, so that doesn't make any sense.