the Rabat mosque. He admitted helping Hazmi to learn English and taking
over the operatives' first apartment in San Diego after they moved out. Bakar-
bashat apparently had downloaded stridently anti-American Web pages to his
computer's hard drive.
thus a U.S. citizen, Aulaqi grew up in Yemen and studied in the United States
on a Yemeni government scholarship.We do not know how or when Hazmi
and Mihdhar first met Aulaqi. The operatives may even have met or at least
talked to him the same day they first moved to San Diego. Hazmi and Mih-
dhar reportedly respected Aulaqi as a religious figure and developed a close rela-
tionship with him.
Hazmi several times, he claimed not to remember any specifics of what they
discussed. He described Hazmi as a soft-spoken Saudi student who used to
appear at the mosque with a companion but who did not have a large circle
of friends.
in Virginia, an appearance that may not have been coincidental.We have been
unable to learn enough about Aulaqi's relationship with Hazmi and Mihdhar
to reach a conclusion.
out and found a group of young and ideologically like-minded Muslims with
roots in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, individuals mainly associated with Mohdar
Abdullah and the Rabat mosque.The al Qaeda operatives lived openly in San
Diego under their true names, listing Hazmi in the telephone directory.They
managed to avoid attracting much attention.
Hazmi and Mihdhar came to the United States to learn English, take flying
lessons, and become pilots as quickly as possible.They turned out, however, to
have no aptitude for English. Even with help and tutoring from Mohdar Abdul-
lah and other bilingual friends, Hazmi and Mihdhar's efforts to learn proved
futile.This lack of language skills in turn became an insurmountable barrier to
learning how to fly.
with small planes. Hazmi and Mihdhar emphasized their interest in learning to
fly jets, Boeing aircraft in particular, and asked where they might enroll to train