20th hijacker

A 20th hijacker is a numeric metaphor concerning a possible additional terrorist in the September 11, 2001 attacks who was not able to participate.

The term is somewhat misleading, as there is no evidence that al-Qaeda ever planned to have exactly 20 hijackers. There were many variations of the 9/11 plot, with the number of terrorists fluctuating with available resources and changing circumstances. In the end, there were 19 hijackers: three of the planes were taken over by five members each and the fourth was hijacked by only four people. One plane, United Airlines Flight 93, had fewer hijackers than the rest, thus the idea of a 20th hijacker came to be widely discussed.

The 9/11 Commission concluded that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed intended to have as many as 25 or 26 hijackers for the plot. It was also reported that 14 members of al-Qaeda, in addition to the 19 known hijackers, attempted to enter the United States to participate in the attacks.

Ramzi Binalshibh allegedly meant to take part in the attacks, but he was repeatedly denied a visa for entry into the U.S.cite news | last =Smith| first =Elliot Blair | title =U.S. blood 'all over his hands'| publisher =USA Today| url =http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002-09-15-1acover_x.htm| accessdate = 2007-02-13 ] Mohamed al-Kahtani, a Saudi Arabian citizen, may also have been planning to join the hijackers, but Jose Melendez-Perez, a U.S. Immigration inspector at Orlando International Airport refused his entry into the U.S. in August 2001. He was later captured in Afghanistan and imprisoned at the U.S. military prison known as Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.cite news | last =Shenon| first =Philip | title =Panel Says a Deported Saudi Was Likely '20th' Hijacker| publisher =The New York Times| url =http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/27/politics/27TERR.html?ex=1390539600&en=b8103e74d803a2df&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND| accessdate = 2007-02-13 ]

Zacarias Moussaoui was considered as a replacement for Ziad Jarrah, who at one point threatened to withdraw from the scheme because of tensions amongst the plotters. Plans to include Moussaoui were never finalized, as the al-Qaeda hierarchy had doubts about his reliability. Ultimately, Moussaoui did not play a role in the hijacking scheme. He was arrested about four weeks before the attacks.

The other al-Qaeda members who attempted to take part in the attacks, but were not able, were Saeed al-Ghamdi (not to be confused with the successful hijacker of the same name), Tawfiq bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, Mushabib al-Hamlan, Zakariyah Essabar, Saeed Ahmad al-Zahrani, Ali Abd al-Rahman al-Faqasi al-Ghamdi, Saeed al-Baluchi, Qutaybah al-Najdi, Zuhair al-Thubaiti, and Saud al-Rashi. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the attack's mastermind, had wanted to remove at least one member — Khalid al-Mihdhar — from the operation, but he was overruled by Osama bin Laden. [cite book
last = Kean
first = Thomas
coauthors = et al.
authorlink = Thomas Kean
title = Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
publisher = U.S. Government Printing Office
date = July 22, 2004
pages = pp. 237
url = http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/05aug20041050/www.gpoaccess.gov/911/pdf/fullreport.pdf
format=PDF
quote = "Mihdhar complained about life in the United States. He met with KSM, who remained annoyed at his decision to go AWOL. But KSM's desire to drop him from the operation yielded to Bin Ladin's insistence to keep him."
id = ISBN 0-16-072304-3 ]

According to the BBC, Fawaz al-Nashimi claimed to have been the "20th hijacker". An Al-Qaeda video has been released from a US intelligence organization, showing al-Nashimi justifying attacks on the west. The U.S dismissed al-Nashimi's claims as propaganda. cite news
title='Al-Qaeda video' of 20th hijacker
date=2006-06-21
publisher=BBC
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5101954.stm ] He was also known as Turki bin Fuheid al-Muteiry and took part in a May 29, 2004 attack on oil facilities in Khobar, Saudi Arabia. He was killed in a June 2004 shootout with Saudi Arabian security forces. cite news
first=KATHERINE
last=SHRADER
title=al-Qaida Video Shows Alleged 20th Hijacker
date=2006-06-21
publisher=Associated Press
url=http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/wireStory?id=2101264 ]

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