Full-Text Of Terrorist's "Last Night" Document.

September 29, 2001 9:26 AM

Full-Text Of Terrorist's "Last Night" Document. The document found among Mohammed Atta's effects, and also among the wreckage.
posted by tpoh.org (12 comments total)

Damn, I forgot to mention - NYT link, registration required.
posted by tpoh.org at 9:27 AM on September 29, 2001

In related news, the text of the President's radio address to be given today, in which he generally addresses his administration's anti-terrorism and criminal investigation efforts of the past week, and Colin Powell's interview by NPR's Noah Adams, re-affirming some of the comments in the President's address and re-stating that nations who formerly sponsored terrorism have a chance to redefine their relationship with the US (and the world).

My favorite part of the Colin Powell interview is at the end:

"QUESTION: Secretary Powell, thank you for your time, sir.
SECRETARY POWELL: You're quite welcome. Thank you. Bye-bye."

I don't know what a Secretary of State should say to bid someone adieu, but I feel as if "bye-bye" is not it.
posted by Mo Nickels at 10:09 AM on September 29, 2001

damnit. someone set up us the non-reg link.
posted by jcterminal at 11:03 AM on September 29, 2001

Non-registration link.
posted by phatboy at 11:15 AM on September 29, 2001

Or you can use...

ID: metafilter
PW: metafilter
posted by Dirjy at 11:45 AM on September 29, 2001

I wonder if there are people with cult experience/knowledge working with the administration on this, because it reads like something straight out of Koresh or Heaven's Gate.
posted by owillis at 12:55 PM on September 29, 2001

Owillis, I think the closest comparison to this crew of murderers is to Charles Manson, Heaven's Gate, etc. They don't bear as much in common with other terrorists, and certainly not the terror groups that came of age in the 60's and 70's. The cult aspect is very strong/'
posted by chaz at 1:09 PM on September 29, 2001

not to be all conspiratorial and shit, but does anyone else find it weird that his suitcase containing this note didn't make it onto his plane? This Bob Woodward article mentions that two scholars he consulted noted a few incongruties in the notes that didn't make sense in the Islamic tradition.

Something just seems kind of fishy to me.
posted by akmonday at 2:29 PM on September 29, 2001

It may be a bit odd that the suitcase was not on the plane, but these people were certainly not of mainstream Islam as noted in the Woodward article.

However, he said, Islamic extremists have arrived recently at their own interpretations of these early Muslim teachings, and the document's author appears to follow the extremist view.

Not so recently either as the roots of this Islamist ideology, Wahhabism, began in the 1700's.
posted by scottfree at 4:40 PM on September 29, 2001

Thanks for the link, scottfree. Grahamwell posted the same link in this thread. I reread the article just now and can't say enough how educational I found it. It was the first that I've read suggesting that Saudi Arabia and other gulf states are the silent leaders of the "Islamofascist" movement, as the writer put it. I think it deserves a front page post, but figure that would probably irk more than a few here.
posted by Bixby23 at 6:15 PM on September 29, 2001

Actually, I find it a bit weird they had suit cases at all. But my understanding is that they bought tickets at the last minute, making it very understandable that suitcases didn't make it on.

But... why pack?
posted by daver at 7:57 PM on September 29, 2001

It is a strange note. Here's Robert Fisk on the subject. All may not be as it seems.
posted by grahamwell at 6:08 AM on September 30, 2001