Early 9/11 suspect(s)

April 19, 2005 7:54 AM

Within a day or two after 9/11, there was coverage on network news of some person (and possibly his brother) in the US who was suspected of being an important figure in the attacks. A few days later it turned out this person had actually died some time earlier and was in no way involved. Anyone know who this person was?
posted by shoos to society & culture (14 comments total)

Timothy McVeigh?
posted by faceonmars at 8:49 AM on April 19, 2005

faceonmars: "Timothy McVeigh?"

Probably not. Even the US government would not be so inept to run around looking for someone who was executed just three months earlier.
posted by Plutor at 9:21 AM on April 19, 2005

A quick glance through the 9/11 timeline project doesn't show anything, but if you have any other details, you might be able to find something there.
posted by Plutor at 9:24 AM on April 19, 2005

It's not this guy, is it?
posted by nitsuj at 11:24 AM on April 19, 2005

If I could add a related question... what are some good sources to get primary documents from that morning? I remember a huge amount of information from that morning that simply isn't readily available elsewhere, either for political reasons (conspiracy theories and such) or for "respect for the victims," however you define that.

For example, video footage of that morning - where is the best primary source for this? Is there an archive? I hope this isn't out of line to add to the thread, but it does seem like anyone with the answer to the question will likely go to these sources I'd like to know about.

Thanks.
posted by odinsdream at 11:42 AM on April 19, 2005

CNN still has 9-11 archive footage on their website.
posted by SashaPT at 12:37 PM on April 19, 2005

Shoos, are you thinking of the guy who turned out to be alive and living in Pakistan or somewhere?

There was definitely a suspect who turned out to be doing just fine, and completely unrelated to the plot. I think he ran a jewelry shop.
posted by inksyndicate at 4:27 PM on April 19, 2005

No, it wasn't McVeigh or Moussaoui. It wasn't anyone who was in the news before or since the few days after 9-11. IIRC, the guy was originally from Turkey or around that area. They showed a photo of him sunbathing or something like that.

I'll have to go through the CNN and Timeline project sites. Thanks.
posted by shoos at 4:34 PM on April 19, 2005

inksyndicate, no, the person turned out to have been dead and was living up until around the time of his death in the states.
posted by shoos at 4:36 PM on April 19, 2005

Oh, OK.
posted by inksyndicate at 4:41 PM on April 19, 2005

Just to disambiguate, the "jeweler" is probably Mohammed Asghar aka Mustafa Khan Owasi who got caught in a passport bind back in 2003.

I suspect, though, that the person you have in mind is Ameer Bukhari, who was erroneously named as a person of interest by the FBI:

Federal sources had initially identified the brothers as possible hijackers who had boarded one of the planes that originated in Boston. Their names had been tied to a car founded at an airport in Portland, Maine. But Bukhari's attorney said it appeared their identifications were stolen and said Bukhari had no role in the hijackings.

His brother Adnan was treated as a material witness, questioned, and passed a polygraph.
posted by dhartung at 12:27 AM on April 20, 2005

Yeah, dhartung, I think those are the guys. Don't know why I thought they were Turkish. Thanks a lot.
posted by shoos at 1:14 AM on April 20, 2005

I came across this today:

On the night of September 10th, Bush stayed at the Colony Beach Resort - "an upscale and relatively pristine tropical island enclave located directly on the Gulf of Mexico, a spindly coral island ... off Sarasota, Florida." [AP, 07/29/01] Zainlabdeen Omer, a Sudanese native living in Sarasota, told the local police that night that someone he knew who had made violent threats against Bush was in town and Omer was worried about Bush's safety. The man was identified only as "Ghandi." A police report states the Secret Service was informed immediately. [Hopsicker, 7/22/02]

Perhaps you heard about one of these people?
posted by odinsdream at 3:08 PM on April 22, 2005

Oh, and it came from this site.
posted by odinsdream at 3:09 PM on April 22, 2005