A previously overlooked individual had been in contact with two terrorists responsible for 9/11 and new evidence has suggested a deeper involvement.
The September 11 terrorist attacks may have happened over 20 years ago, but the day remains alive in the American consciousness.
Four coordinated terrorist attacks were carried out by Islamist extremists tied to al-Qaeda.
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In one of the most haunting moments in recent American history, as a part of the terrorist attack, two commercial airline planes flew into the North and South Twin Towers of the World Trade Center Complex in New York.
A third plane flew into the Pentagon and a fourth into a field in western Pennsylvania, unable to reach its intended target due to a revolt from the passengers on board.
The total death count was 2,977 victims.
As you can imagine, authorities launched into a series of investigation following the attack and a CBS News report revealed that new evidence of an individual allegedly connected to the incident has been uncovered.
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Saudi Arabian national Omar Al-Bayoumi was investigated following the attack, however in 2004, the 9/11 Commission described him as ‘an unlikely candidate for clandestine involvement with Islamic extremists'.
However, recently rediscovered evidence from his 2001 apartment in America casts a different light and Gina Bennett, a counterterrorism analyst at the CIA during the terror attacks, believes crucial information may have been missed.
She has said that based on evidence that she has seen she believes Bayoumi ‘was an al-Qaeda facilitator’ and provided substantial support to the ‘two hijackers, without which they may very well have been caught'.
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The FBI has said Bayoumi was an operative of the Saudi intelligence service and had close ties to two of the hijackers.
Evidence that was unsealed in federal court last year as part of the 9/11 family's lawsuit against Saudi Arabia showed a video Bayoumi recorded in Washington over several days in the summer of 1999.
The footage includes entrances and exits of the Capitol, security posts, a model of the building and nearby landmarks.
Bayoumi also points out the Washington monument and noted that the airport was not too far away, something that retired FBI supervisor Richard Lambert said would be crucial information in relation to an attack.
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The Saudi government has said Bayoumi's video is just a tourist video.
Other evidence that has made Bayoumi a person of interest is a sketch and equation he confirmed were written by him when being questioned during a 2021 deposition.
He said he remembered little else about the sketch or handwritten notes about the height of the plane from the Earth in miles, along with the distance of the plane to the horizon.
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Experts said the equation could be used by a pilot to calculate the rate of descent to hit a target on the horizon.
Speaking with the help of a translator he said: “Perhaps this was an equation that we studied before in high school, and I was trying to remember whether I'm going to be able to figure out and solve it or not.”
He also met 9/11 hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar in Los Angeles in early 2000, however, he claims this was just a chance encounter and he was helping them settle into the US.
Following the attacks, Bayoumi relocated to Saudi Arabia and has never been charged with any crime.
Gerrard Kaonga