Khalid Sheikh Mohammed had talked with bin Laden about crashing passenger airliners, while bin Laden told of his dream to destroy the American Twin Towers in New York. It was Sharafan who had devised a plan capable of accomplishing the task both men wanted. When Rasht explained to Mohammed his idea of using passenger airliners like guided missiles loaded with more than 11,000 gallons of jet fuel, the idea so intrigued Mohammed he took the idea to bin Laden who agreed completely and gave them the task of organizing and carrying out such a mission.
With more than a dozen Muslims living in Germany and the United States, and some having already taken flying lessons, Sharafan put his plan into action. But bin Laden delayed.
Rasht grew impatient and begged for bin Laden to let him prove how he could defeat the United States. “All in good time,” bin Laden had promised. While the plans were temporarily cast aside, Sharafan attended the wedding of bin Laden’s son to the daughter of Mohamed, bin Laden’s second in command. Sharafan had become like a son to bin Laden. In 1998 bin Laden declared war against the United States and told all Muslims, “Killing Americans and their allies, civilians and military is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible.”
Not long after that announcement Americans began dying.
A year later, in 1999, Sharafan again pleaded with bin Laden to let him show how he could cripple the United States. Bin Laden finally agreed. Sharafan immediately enlisted the aid of Abu Mombassa, Khalid al Mihdhar, and Nawaf al Hamzi. They coordinated the plan as all three men traveled to Germany and the United States, while Khalid Mohammed controlled the financing for the project. Cautiously Sharafan, al Hamzi, and Mihdhar started recruiting in Saudi Arabia, England, and Germany.
Sharafan, Mombassa, and Mohammed discussed targets. Khalid Mohammed wanted to hijack ten planes and crash them into a variety of targets including the tallest buildings in California, Washington, and New York. He also wanted to target a nuclear power plant along with the CIA and FBI headquarters. Then he wanted to land another airliner at an American airport, kill all the men aboard, and then give a speech about the evil support the United States gave to Israel.
Bin Laden listened to the proposal, but finally decided it too grand and more than likely impossible. Eventually they decided on five passenger airliners and all would originate on the East Coast.
The recruiting began, and Mihdhar enlisted Ziad Samir Jarrah while he was in Germany. Jarrah was excited to serve in the jihad against America but he also had a girlfriend, Aysel Senguen, who posed a potential problem. Still Jarrah assured Mihdhar that she would not create difficulty.
Slowly, so as not to arouse suspicion, Sharafan had those he recruited for the operation move to the United States. They were given instructions to blend in, take jobs, learn English, and take flying lessons. Sharafan led the way to lay the groundwork for the project they all laughingly called “Red Eagle.” The “Red” was for the blood of Americans to be spilled.
Mohammed found other sources to finance Red Eagle.
The first were Mihdhar and Nawaf Hamzi in January 2000. They arrived in Los Angeles and a few weeks later moved to San Diego. Unlike the others, they had not spent much time in the West and they spoke very little English. It became necessary for Sharafan to help and support them financially until the appointed time. After they gained assistance within the Muslim community in Culver City, Sharafan enrolled them in English classes. To cover his trail, both Hamzi and Mihdhar called him Khallam. Both men took flying classes but they failed miserably. When Mihdhar learned about the birth of his first child in Yemen, he returned in June 2000. Hamzi remained behind. Upon Mihdhar’s return to his country, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed became enraged and concerned that their plans might be compromised. He tried to remove Mihdhar from the operation, but with Sharafan’s insistence bin Laden decided against Mohammed’s demands.
Hamzi continued to wait for a new member to be added to his cell. Knowing him to have once been a pilot, the al Qaeda noted Hani Hanjour as a prime selection for the operation. Sharafan set things in motion, and after money and paperwork were in place, Hanjour arrived in San Diego in early December and joined Hamzi. Within a few days they moved to Mesa, Arizona, where Hanjour took refresher courses in flying. After Jarrah received his license in August, he returned to Germany to be with his girlfriend, Aysel Senguen. While visiting England, Mombassa went to a restaurant where he found the disgruntled Muslim, Alli Maussan. Depressed with his life and the way he was treated as a waiter in the restaurant, he eagerly joined them for the five thousand cash advance.
Sharafan tried everything he could to get Ramzi Binalshibh to join the operation, but everything failed. A visa was denied because the United States was afraid Ramzi would stay to work in America and not return to Germany. If the United States had only known. The plans were going well and Sharafan continued to look for another potential candidate to train as a pilot.
During the summer of 2000, operatives from the other cells in Hamburg began arriving in the United States. At the end of May, Marwan al Shehhi flew from Brussels to Newark where he waited for the others. Mohamed Atta arrived from Prague the first week of June. They immediately tried to enter a flight training school. When Ziad Jarrah arrived in Newark at the end of June, he let the others know he had entered a flying program at the Florida Flight Training Center in Venice, Florida, and would be unable to join them. Looking for flight schools, Atta and Shehhi checked out the program at Airman Flight School in Norman, Oklahoma, before eventually enrolling at Huffman Aviation, another school in Venice where Jarrah lived.
Helping Sharafan with his plans, bin Laden personally recruited Zacarias Moussaoui. Sharafan agreed with the decision; they intended to use Moussaoui to replace Jarrah whom they feared would not return. At first Moussaoui trained in Malaysia, but Khalid Sheikh Mohammed demanded that Moussaoui train in the United States. From London, Moussaoui flew to Norman, Oklahoma, where, on the recommendation of Atta, he took up flying at the Airman Flight School.
A problem surfaced in 2000 when Alli Maussan had second thoughts about giving his life. After spending the money he had been given, he found a better job and even an American girlfriend. Death no longer seemed so wonderful. He turned himself into the FBI and recited his story. He told the government agents he believed there was a terrorist plot that would use passenger planes to fly into buildings.
Soon after that, Mombassa and Sharafan became aware of what Maussan had done, but they were at a crossroads. Tension and fear threatened to thwart Sharfan’s well laid plans. Mohammed suggested they kill Maussan, but Sharafan feared such an action might alert authorities, thus revealing their plans. The decision was made to let Maussan live.
This worked to perfection as the FBI refused to believe a wild fabricated story such as Maussan recited. Even though Maussan passed a lie detector test, the FBI knew such a plot would be impossible to carry out. No one believed his story and Maussan was returned to England. His new girlfriend refused to go with him.
The cells remained intact and the preparations continued as planned.
Still, Osama wanted to see something that would show him Sharafan could succeed. With bin Laden’s blessings, Sharafan had sought out a place to show him an example of America’s weakness and a solution for defeating the United States. Revenge was almost forgotten when in October of 2000, in a small port of Aden, Yemen, the warship USS Cole was almost blown out of the water. The incident was a great accomplishment and had moved Sharafan up in the ranks of terrorism. The deed also made him one of bin Laden’s right-hand men. Most importantly, the USS Cole showed a weakness that better prepared the Coalition. The United States looked for a terrorist called Alef. Both bin Laden and Sharafan were pleased with this. The plan gained more strength when George W. Bush, the new American president, bombed Iraq. Iraq, being the whipping boy of the Middle East, was another weakness the United States revealed when it took the role of “policeman of the world.” This was a weakness Sharafan was sure he could expose — if done properly — and with bin Laden’s help there was almost no limit as to what he could accomplish. Bin Laden was not so sure, but Sharafan explained in detail how he could accomplish the goal of taking out the economic landmark of the Twin Towers in New York and make bin Laden’s dream come true. This plan was of great interest to bin Laden, who, being an engineer, knew the plan could work. He agreed even though he knew it would probably mean his own life.