Video shows 9/11 hijackers at airport
'They're smart, and they're savvy, and they're a terrible
threat'
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![story.video.2.ap.jpg]()
This image taken
from the surveillance video shows two of the hijackers after
going through Dulles security. |
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 VIDEO |
 Security video shows hijackers passing
through Dulles metal detectors.
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(CNN) -- A surveillance video from
Washington's Dulles International Airport the morning of September
11, 2001, shows four of five hijackers passing through security
checks before boarding the plane they would crash into the
Pentagon.
Three of the men are stopped, apparently after setting off the
metal detector, but are allowed to continue after further checks.
Donn Marshall -- whose wife Shelley was killed at the Pentagon --
had many thoughts race through his mind after watching the
video.
"Look at how easily these guys walked right through, and look at
the calm. It's just scary how easily they did it," he told CNN.
"You can't underestimate al Qaeda," he added. "As much as I hate
them, they're smart, and they're savvy, and they're a terrible
threat."
The video images were broadcast publicly for the first time
Wednesday but are not a new discovery. The images were first
described in a January statement from the 9/11 commission.
The video is unremarkable but is eerie to watch because of what's
known to happen just hours later.
The men eventually board American Airlines Flight 77 which
targeted the Pentagon.
In the first clip of the video, two of the men are stopped,
apparently after setting off the metal detector.
Majed Moqed and Khalid Almihdhar are seen entering a security
screening checkpoint at 7:18 a.m. They place their carry-on bags on
the machine belt to be X-rayed and walk through the
magnetometers.
According to a 9/11 commission staff report, both men set off an
alarm and are sent to a second magnetometer.
Almihdhar cleared the second screening but Moqed failed and was
scanned with a hand-held metal detection wand.
It is presumed each had small knives, but nothing that was
illegal or banned from flights.
At 7:35 a.m. Hani Hanjour, who would pilot the fatal flight,
placed two carry-on bags on the X-ray belt and walked through the
magnetometer without raising suspicion.
One minute later, Nawaf Alhazmi and his brother, Salem, walked
through the security checkpoint.
Nawaf Alhazmi set off the alarm twice. He was screened with the
hand-held wand before passing through to the terminal.
'I don't care about Saddam Hussein'
There were 256 victims on the four jets hijacked by 19 terrorists
who were later found to be acting on behalf of al Qaeda, the Islamic
terrorist organization led by Saudi exile Osama bin Laden.
American Airlines Flight 11, a Boston-to-Los Angeles flight with
81 passengers and 11 crew onboard, struck the World Trade Center
north tower.
United Airlines Flight 175, a Boston-to-Los Angeles flight with
56 passengers and nine crew onboard, struck the Trade Center's south
tower.
A second United plane, Flight 93, from Newark to San Francisco
with 33 passengers and seven crew onboard, crashed in rural
Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
A second American plane, Flight 77, from Dulles to Los Angeles
with 53 passengers and six crew onboard, crashed into the
Pentagon.
Washington Dulles was the only airport to videotape security
checks.
The videos were made public on the eve of the release of the 9/11
commission's final report on the attacks.
As for Marshall, he said he hopes the nation implements the
recommendations of the 9/11 commission as quickly as possible.
"I think of my children. I think that I don't want them to have
to go through anything like this again," he said.
Who does he blame for the attacks that killed his wife,
Shelley, and nearly 3,000 others? (Memorial)
"I blame Osama bin Laden -- and that's somebody that you don't
hear enough about anymore. I don't want to be political, but I don't
care about Saddam Hussein. I want Osama bin Laden," he said.
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