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American Morning
America's New War: How Terrorists Blend In
Aired September 20, 2001 - 09:14 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAUN, CNN ANCHOR: Our correspondent Eileen O'Connor has spent a lot of time following all the latest developments in the investigation, and right now she takes a look at about how the suspected terrorists carried out the kind of attacks they accomplished.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EILEEN O'CONNOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Portland, Maine shocked at the proof: suspected hijackers living in their midst. Surveillance photos released by the police show Mohammed Atta with another of the suspected hijackers right there at airport, calmly walking through security, despite the knowledge by intelligence agencies worldwide that Atta was a man to watch.
It's the same here just outside the Washington, D.C. beltway, a surveillance photo uncovered, taken days before at an ATM of two Pentagon hijackers. Federal agents working around the clock retracing where they slept, ate, spent time.
Police spokesman Jim Collins.
JIM COLLINS, LAUREL, MARYLAND POLICE: Then again, these people blend in so well, you could have been with them shopping, you could have passed them on the street, you would never know it.
SURESH PATEL, PIN_DEL MOTEL OWNER: They act like normal persons to me.
O'CONNOR: Suresh Patel owns the Pin-Del Motel. Ziad Jarrahi checked into room 105 on August 27th, paying by credit card. Nawaq Alhamzi stayed there September 1st, in room seven. He paid cash. On September 11th, Jarrahi, the FBI says, was in the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. Alhamzi is suspected in helping slam American Flight 77 into the Pentagon.
PATEL: I feel, you know, terrible about that. You know, if I would have some kind of hint, you know, we would have called the police or FBI or anything. It was too late.
O'CONNOR: At some point it is believed Nawaq Alhamzi moved here to the Valencia Motel to join other suspected hijackers. People here talk of how they got pizza, shopped at the local Giant. One of them honed his flying skills at nearby airfield. And then there is the gym.
SPEROS COURTIS, GOLD'S GYM: They really didn't stand out. And it's very common for groups of three guys to come in and work out in the evening here.
O'CONNOR: Regional manager Speros Courtis says the suspected hijackers paid cash and signed their names. Patrons say, knowing men who could commit such heinous acts were among them gives them the creeps.
GABRIEL ROBINSON, GOLD'S GYM MEMBER: It's an uneasy feeling. You pretty much got to kind of like have a third eye.
DENNIS BALTIMORE, GOLD'S GYM MEMBER: It makes me feel kind of, you know, upset that, you know, these people can just blend in here and then go out and do something like that.
O'CONNOR: Something no one could imagine, even in their worst nightmares.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'CONNOR: The investigation increasingly important as the president prepares by sending the military over to the Persian Gulf, those fighter jets over there. He has said he wants justice, not vengeance, and has to prove to the American people, but also, really, overseas, that this investigation has proven direct links to Osama bin Laden.
In addition, in the investigation, the FBI is saying that they are discounting some published reports telling the public that they have no specific and credible evidence relating any future attacks to September 22nd. Although FBI spokesman saying that does not mean there is not concern about a possible future attack -- Paula.
ZAUN: Eileen O'Connor, thanks.
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