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American Morning

Target: Terrorism - Atta's Odyssey

Aired October 01, 2001 - 11:44   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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: You heard the name Mohamed Atta, and the picture there. "Time" magazine chronicling what it calls "The Odyssey of Atta: The Personal Evolution of Mohamed Atta," suspected leader in the hijacking ring.

Howard Chua Eoan is an assisting managing editor for "Time" magazine, a sister news operation of our parent company, America Online Time Warner. Good morning to you, Howard.

What we know about Mohamed Atta continues to develop as a man who has seen and traveled a number of places, Los Vegas, and Florida, and Germany. Also, a picture that you have in your magazine, we can show our viewers now, from Istanbul, Turkey.

Tell us about this picture, and tell us about -- actually, I take that back. This is in Egypt. There is Istanbul.

HOWARD CHUA EOAN, TIME MAGAZINE: He traveled a lot when he was a student in Germany studying city planning. He was -- his thesis was on the Syrian city. I guess this may have been a side trip from Syria into Istanbul, into Turkey. He did a lot of traveling.

HEMMER: The other picture we saw, the archaeological dig in Egypt. This partly went toward what he studied.

CHUA EOAN: Yes. He was very interested in Islamic cities, and how they had retained their integrity.

This is when he was a much younger, back when he was in college in Egypt, 1989, 1990 perhaps. He was a very different person then. He was very introverted. His father called him, his nickname was little song bird, because he was very delicate in a way. Very different from the sort of tough person that we seem to have learned he was at the end.

HEMMER: You say 5'7 tall?

CHUA EOAN: Right, yes.

HEMMER: And you say, when he moved to Germany, things started to change for him? He was quite fluent in the language.

CHUA EOAN: He learned to be really fluent in German.

HEMMER: What changed?

CHUA EOAN: It seems like he got to be very fluent in German, he somehow did not fully integrate with the society there. He made some good friends, but he kept to himself. And later, 1997, '98, he grew a beard, sort of the Islamic beard. He seemed to have had a transformation then.

HEMMER: You say, and I want to use your words, Howard, "[H]e was like someone who had fallen into a cult."

CHUA EOAN: Yes. In a way it's like when you -- when some of the people we've unfortunately gotten used to in the last few years, his life is transformed. They are -- they don't know where they are going, and so they come into some idea or some organization gives them some meaning and some sense of power. Perhaps that's what happened to Atta.

HEMMER: You talked with family members and friends. How did they describe him?

CHUA EOAN: They can not believe that he is the same person. They say, he couldn't fly a plane. (AUDIO GAP) And yet, it's partially, perhaps, part of what happens when (AUDIO GAP)

HEMMER: Howard Chua Eoan, from "Time" magazine, thanks for stopping by. Much appreciate it. It's a fascinating article.

We apologize to our viewers for a little bit of audio difficulty there too.

Howard, thanks to you.

CHUA EOAN: Thank you.

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