SEPT. 11 TO THE PRESENT

SEPT. 11 TO THE PRESENT

Based on the events of the 1993 World Trade Center attack, this HBO film does a remarkable job tracing the efforts of the Intelligence Community to gather information both prior to and after the attack. It is largely a tale of incompetence and misplaced priorities, as an informant had made it perfectly clear in advance that the attack was coming. Most chilling of all is the last scene of the film, where terrorist bomb maker Ramzi Yousef is being flown back to the United States to face trial, and his helicopter flies over the World Trade Center. Looking down with grim determination, he vows Next time, we ll bring them both down. Of course, four years after this film was made came the events of September 11th, 2001. A few folks at that time dimly remembered that there had been a movie about this on HBO a few years back. HBO, for whatever reason, did not show the movie and only recently released it (in 2009) on DVD. The 1993 World Trade Center bombing occurred on February 26, 1993, when a car bomb was detonated below the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. The 1,500 lb. (680 kg) urea nitrate hydrogen gas enhanced device was intended to knock the North Tower (Tower One) into the South Tower (Tower Two), bringing both towers down and killing thousands of people. It failed to do so, but did kill six people and injured 1,042. The attack was planned by a group of conspirators including Ramzi Yousef, Mahmud Abouhalima, Mohammad Salameh, Nidal Ayyad, Abdul Rahman Yasin and Ahmad Ajaj. They received financing from Khaled Shaikh Mohammed, Yousef's uncle. In March 1994, four men were convicted of carrying out the bombing: Abouhalima, Ajaj, Ayyad and Salameh. The charges included conspiracy, explosive destruction of property and interstate transportation of explosives. In November 1997, two more were convicted: Yousef, the mastermind behind the bombings, and Eyad Ismoil, who drove the truck carrying the bomb.

BACKGROUND: As the film opens, lawyers for the United States are preparing a case against the blind Sheik, Omar Abdel-Rahman who ordered the 1993 bombing of the WTC. To prepare for court, the prosecution interviews FBI agent John Anticev. His memories produce the structure of the film. DIRECTIONS: As you watch the film, answer the questions below. 1. As the film opens, what division of the FBI does John Anticev work for? 2. Why didn t the Al Salaam Mosque (in Jersey City) cause more suspicion with the FBI in 1990? 3. What messages does the blind Sheik deliver to his followers? 4. How do U.S. human rights and liberal gun laws aide the potential terrorists (followers of Omar Abdel-Rahman, including El Sayyid Nosair) when stopped by the police? 5. The blind Sheik (Omar Abdel-Rahman) ordered his followers to kill Israeli Rabbi and politician Meir Kahane in 1990. How did this lead the FBI to center their interest on El Sayyid Nosair (one of the blind Sheik s followers)? 6. What did they find in Nosair s apartment? 7. How does the film suggest that Saddam Hussein was a distraction to the intelligence community in the late 1990 s?

8. Was Nosair convicted of the murder of Kahane? How? 9. Describe the character of Emad Salem (the informant). Why does he claim the terrorists want to hurt America? Cite reasons 10. Is Emad Salem a credible person to have on the FBI payroll? Is he a double agent? 11. How does the blind Sheik (Omar Abdel Rahman) feel about (then) President Mubarak of Egypt? What does he tell everyone to do? 12. How does FBI leadership create strains on the relationship between Nancy Floyd, John Anticev and their source (Emed Salem)? 13. How does Ramzi Yousef and Ahmad Ajaj gain entry into the United States? 14. When Ramzi Yousef and Ahmad Ajaj became part of the blind Sheik s terror network, did the FBI have any informant on the inside? Why not? 15. What is the path to paradise? 16. How do the terrorists pay for the storage unit? 17. How do the terrorists get the components for their bomb? 18. What does the search of Mahmoud Abuhalima s apartment reveal? 19. What is the role of Nidal Ayyad? 20. Why does the FBI refuse to wiretap the blind Sheik? FBI / NYPD AGENTS ------------------------------------------ THE TERRORISTS ----------------------- JOHN ANTICEV AND LOU NAPOLI NANCY FLOYD BLIND SHEIK OMAR EL SAYYID NOSAIR (FBI) (NYPD) (FBI) ABDEL RACHMAN

21. How did freedom of religion laws help protect the terrorist activities of Sheik Omar Abdel Rachman and his followers? 22. How is Ahmed Abad (the terrorist detained when Ramzi Yousef entered the country) treated while in prison? 23. Did Ramzi Yousef appear in court on his assigned date? Was he worried about it? 24. How is the clumsiness of bomb-maker accomplice Mohammad Salameh illustrated in the film? 25. What was the intent of the bomb? What did they want to do to the WTC? 26. What did the tap on blind Sheik. Omar Abdel Rahman reveal? 27. What does Mohammad Salameh rent to hold the bomb? 28. What arouses the suspicions of the storage facility clerks? 29. What happens to everything kept in the storage facility and the bombers apartment at night? 30. What were people in the WTC garage doing at the time the bomb went off? 31. Who initially took credit for the bombing? 32. What did Ramzi Yousef do via telephone, before leaving the country. 33. How did authorities conclude that it was a bomb and not a transformer explosion? INFORMANT-------- RABBI---------------- TERRORISTS -------------------------------------------------- EMAD SALEM MEIR KAHANE RAMZI YOUSEF AHMED AJAD MAHMOUD ABU- (The Informant) (Murdered Israeli Rabbi) (Bombmaker) (Conspirator) HAMILA (Conspirator)

34. What did Mohamad Salameh demand from the Ryder Truck-Rental facility? 35. How did the NYPD match the rental van directly to the explosion? 36. How did the press nearly foil the arrest of Salemeh? 37. What did the FBI translator say the writings found in El Sayyid Nosair s apartment? 38. In one of the most controversial parts of the film, explanations are offered as to how and why blind Sheik Omar Abdel Rachman entered the United States. What are they? 39. What is the informant (Emad Salem) tasks with getting. What does he want in return? 40. What were the Sheik and his followers preparing for? 41. What was one of their next targets? What were others? 42. How did the Sheik s followers protect him? How did they structure their conversations? 43. How did informant Emad Salem attempt to get the necessary evidence against the blind Sheik Omar Abdel Rachman? TERRORISTS ------------------------------------ VICTIMS ------------------------------------------------------- NIDAL AYYAD MOHAMMAD SALAMEH MONICA RODRIGUEZ THE 6 VICTIMS OF THE 1993 (Chemical Engineer) (Conspirator) (Pregnant WTC Victim) ATTACK - MEMORIALIZED

44. Was the big house an allowed target? 45. What 4 targets were allowed by the blind Sheik? (Note: This is called the Landmarks Operation ) 46. What does agent John Anticev warn about at the end of the film? 47. What words were uttered by Ramzi Yousef as he was being brought back into the country for trial? NOTE: Siddig Ali cooperated fully with authorities, was remorseful and sentenced to 11 years in prison. Ramzi Yousef was given 2 life sentences 1 for planning the 1993 WTC attack and the other for planning the Bojinka Plot (a forerunner to the 9/11 attacks). 48. This film was created and first aired in 1997. In what ways was it prophetic of events to come, and the conditions that would foster them? 49. Were the arrests of the 1993 conspirators the result of good police work, blind luck or a combination of both? 50. What lessons should have been learned following the 1993 attack, as suggested in the film? TERRORISTS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SIDDIG ALI BLINK SHEIK OMAR ABDEL The Blind Sheik and RAMZI YOUSEF (Conspirator) RACHMAN (Conspirator) as seen in prison now.