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tactical commander of the operation. Such a quick and critical judgment invites
speculation about whether they had already taken Atta's measure at some ear-
lier meeting. To be sure, some gaps do appear in the record of Atta's known
whereabouts during the preceding years. One such gap is February­March
1998, a period for which there is no evidence of his presence in Germany and
when he conceivably could have been in Afghanistan.
94
Yet to date, neither
KSM, Binalshibh, nor any other al Qaeda figure interrogated about the 9/11
plot has claimed that Atta or any other member of the Hamburg group trav-
eled to Afghanistan before the trip in late 1999.
While the four core Hamburg cell members were in Afghanistan, their asso-
ciates back in Hamburg handled their affairs so that their trip could be kept
secret. Motassadeq appears to have done the most. He terminated Shehhi's
apartment lease, telling the landlord that Shehhi had returned to the UAE for
family reasons, and used a power of attorney to pay bills from Shehhi's bank
account.
95
Motassadeq also assisted Jarrah, offering to look after Aysel Senguen
in Jarrah's absence. Said Bahaji attended to similar routine matters for Atta and
Binalshibh, thereby helping them remain abroad without drawing attention to
their absence.
96
Preparing for the Operation
In early 2000,Atta, Jarrah, and Binalshibh returned to Hamburg. Jarrah arrived
first, on January 31, 2000.
97
According to Binalshibh, he and Atta left Kanda-
har together and proceeded first to Karachi, where they met KSM and were
instructed by him on security and on living in the United States. Shehhi appar-
ently had already met with KSM before returning to the UAE. Atta returned
to Hamburg in late February, and Binalshibh arrived shortly thereafter. She-
hhi's travels took him to the UAE (where he acquired a new passport and a
U.S. visa), Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and one or more other destinations. Shehhi
also returned to Germany, possibly sometime in March.
98
After leaving Afghanistan, the hijackers made clear efforts to avoid appear-
ing radical. Once back in Hamburg, they distanced themselves from conspic-
uous extremists like Zammar, whom they knew attracted unwanted attention
from the authorities.
99
They also changed their appearance and behavior. Atta
wore Western clothing, shaved his beard, and no longer attended extremist
mosques. Jarrah also no longer wore a full beard and, according to Senguen,
acted much more the way he had when she first met him. And when Shehhi,
while still in the UAE in January 2000, held a belated wedding celebration (he
actually had been married in 1999), a friend of his was surprised to see that he
had shaved off his beard and was acting like his old self again.
100
But Jarrah's apparent efforts to appear less radical did not completely con-
ceal his transformation from his Lebanese family, which grew increasingly con-
cerned about his fanaticism. Soon after Jarrah returned to Germany, his father
asked Jarrah's cousin--a close companion from boyhood--to intercede. The
AL QAEDA AIMS AT THE AMERICAN HOMELAND
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