Saudi admits to contacts, money from September 11 hijacker

55 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A Saudi detainee has admitted he communicated with
the lead hijacker before the September 11, 2001 attacks and was told by
other top Al-Qaeda figures that an operation was imminent.

But Mustafa Ahmed Al Hawsawi denied he financed the Al-Qaeda teams that
commandeered four airliners, flying them into the World Trade Center, the
Pentagon and a rural field in the deadliest attack ever on US soil, according
to the transcript.

"In the beginning it was a surprise to me," Hawsawi said, describing his
reaction to the attacks at a March 21 military hearing in Guatananamo Bay,
Cuba. "It was mostly a surprise to me."

According to a transcript of the closed door proceeding to review his status
as an "enemy combatant," Hawsawi said he received 17,280 dollars on the
eve of the September 11 attacks from lead hijacker Mohammed Atta and
another hijacker Waleed Al-Saheri.

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