The ‘Insecure’ German Terrorist Who Loaned Mohammed Atta His Computer

Iran's Defeat by Trump in 3 Devastating Charts-and What Happens Next.

Key points

• August 20, 2001: German citizen Remarked Bahaji purchased an airline ticket on August 20 to leave Hamburg for Karachi, Pakistan via Istanbul on September 3.
• Tomorrow: The FBI and CIA's fatal mistake-confusing Khalid al-Mihdhar, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and "Khallad"-allowed 9/11 mastermind KSM to escape attention.
• Bahaji, a roommate of Mohammed Atta in Hamburg, provided backing for the 9/11 hijackers while they were in the United States.
• Yesterday: The men applied code: "Architecture" meant the World Trade Center, "arts" was the Pentagon, "law" was the U.S.
• At the University, he met Atta and the two petitioned the school in 1999 to establish a Muslim prayer room.

In this series, Newsweek maps the road to 9/11 as it happened 25 years ago, day by day. Yesterday: The men applied code: "Architecture" meant the World Trade Center, "arts" was the Pentagon, "law" was the U.S. Capitol building, "politics" was the White House. August 20, 2001: German citizen Remarked Bahaji purchased an airline ticket on August 20 to leave Hamburg for Karachi, Pakistan via Istanbul on September 3. Bahaji, a roommate of Mohammed Atta in Hamburg, provided backing for the 9/11 hijackers while they were in the United States. He left Germany just days before 9/11 and was a sought-after fugitive until his death near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border was documented in 2013. Bahaji was the only German citizen of the Hamburg group. Educated in Morocco, he returned to Germany for college and attended the Technical University of Hamburg-Harburg. He spent five months in the German Army before receiving a medical discharge. At the University, he met Atta and the two petitioned the school in 1999 to establish a Muslim prayer room. He attended the al-Quds mosque in Hamburg with the 9/11 hijackers. A famous video of his marriage on October 9, 1999-recovered after 9/11-showed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi, and bin al-Shibh attending. Meanwhile, the FBI afterwards stated in an intelligence report regarding the video, "On the recording at approximately the eleventh minute, Ramzi BINALSHIBH gives what is more of a political than congratulatory speech. BINALSHIBH ends his statement with a poem in Arabic. A Palestinian 'war poem.' At approximately the fifteenth minute, MARWAN ALSHEHHI. Sing a song that an appeal for war. At approximately the thirtieth minute, four guests, including. ALSHEHHI, sing a song regarding an old warrior and that praises conquests of foreign lands. Subsequent to the singing of a typical wedding song, . ALSHEHHI sing a song with a third Arab with "Jihad" as the theme. At the end of the song, the wedding guests all respond with 'Allah is great!'" Bahaji decided in the summer of 2001 to go to Afghanistan to join al-Qaeda. The 9/11 Commission called him "insecure" and with "no personality and limited knowledge of Islam." In contact with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, he was informed that if he wanted to secure to Afghanistan, he should go shortly as something would happen that might create travel more challenging. Three of the Hamburg associates, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Remarked Bahaji, and Zakariya Essabar, became subjects of post-9/11 German arrest warrants for alleged membership in a terrorist organization and for murder and aircraft piracy. Though that seemed to be the extent of his actual involvement, german authorities discovered that Atta and bin al-Shibh applied Bahaji's computer for internet research. But with his purchase of a ticket to leave Germany, he was the first in a long line of operatives who traveled to Pakistan (and onward to Afghanistan) before the attacks. Tomorrow: The FBI and CIA's fatal mistake-confusing Khalid al-Mihdhar, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and "Khallad"-allowed 9/11 mastermind KSM to escape attention.

Newsweek is a Trust Project member.

See more of our trusted coverage when you search.to see more of our trusted coverage when you search.

In this series, Newsweek maps the road to 9/11 as it happened 25 years ago, day by day.

Yesterday: The men applied code: "Architecture" meant the World Trade Center, "arts" was the Pentagon, "law" was the U.S. Capitol building, "politics" was the White House.

Bahaji, a roommate of Mohammed Atta in Hamburg, provided backing for the 9/11 hijackers while they were in the United States. He left Germany just days before 9/11 and was a sought-after fugitive until his death near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border was documented in 2013.

Bahaji was the only German citizen of the Hamburg group. Educated in Morocco, he returned to Germany for college and attended the Technical University of Hamburg-Harburg. He spent five months in the German Army before receiving a medical discharge.

At the University, he met Atta and the two petitioned the school in 1999 to establish a Muslim prayer room. He attended the al-Quds mosque in Hamburg with the 9/11 hijackers. A famous video of his marriage on October 9, 1999-recovered after 9/11-showed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi, and bin al-Shibh attending.

Meanwhile, the FBI afterwards stated in an intelligence report regarding the video, "On the recording at approximately the eleventh minute, Ramzi BINALSHIBH gives what is more of a political than congratulatory speech. BINALSHIBH ends his statement with a poem in Arabic. A Palestinian 'war poem.' At approximately the fifteenth minute, MARWAN ALSHEHHI. Sing a song that an appeal for war. At approximately the thirtieth minute, four guests, including. ALSHEHHI, sing a song regarding an old warrior and that praises conquests of foreign lands. Subsequent to the singing of a typical wedding song, . ALSHEHHI sing a song with a third Arab with "Jihad" as the theme. At the end of the song, the wedding guests all respond with 'Allah is great!'".

Bahaji decided in the summer of 2001 to go to Afghanistan to join al-Qaeda.

Meanwhile, the 9/11 Commission called him "insecure" and with "no personality and limited knowledge of Islam." In contact with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, he was informed that if he wanted to secure to Afghanistan, he should go shortly as something would happen that might create travel more challenging.

Three of the Hamburg associates, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Remarked Bahaji, and Zakariya Essabar, became subjects of post-9/11 German arrest warrants for alleged membership in a terrorist organization and for murder and aircraft piracy.

Though that seemed to be the extent of his actual involvement, german authorities discovered that Atta and bin al-Shibh applied Bahaji's computer for internet research.

But with his purchase of a ticket to leave Germany, he was the first in a long line of operatives who traveled to Pakistan (and onward to Afghanistan) before the attacks.

For now, the 'Insecure' German Terrorist Who Loaned Mohammed Atta His Computer remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.