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Waleed M. al-Shehri (وليد الشهي, also transliterated Alshehri) was named by the FBI as a hijacker of American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston to Los Angeles that crashed into the World Trade Center as part of the September 11, 2001 attacks. His brother, Wail al-Shehri, is also a suspected 9/11 hijacker. The following birthdates have been associated with al-Shehri: September 13, 1974; November 5, 1975, January 1, 1976; March 3, 1976; July 8July 8 is the 189th day of the year (190th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 176 days remaining. Events 1099 First Crusade: 15,000 starving Christian soldiers march in religious procession around Jerusalem as its Muslim defenders mocked them., 1977For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). Events January 1 First woman Episcopal priest ordained January 6 EMI sacks the Sex Pistols January 18 Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious " legionnaire's disease" Januar; December 20December 20 is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 11 days remaining. Events 1803 Louisiana Purchase completed 1860 South Carolina becomes first state to secede from the United States 1915 Last Australian t, 1978Events January January 1 The Copyright Act of 1976 takes effect, making sweeping changes to United States copyright law. January 1 Air India's Boeing 747 explodes near Bombay 213 dead. January 4 Referendum in Chile supports policies of Augusto Pinochet.; and May 11May 11 is the 131st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (132nd in leap years). There are 234 days remaining. Events 330 Byzantium is renamed Constantinople during a dedication ceremony. 1502 Christopher Columbus leaves for his fourth and final voyag, 1979Events January-February January 1 Sino-American relations: United States and the People's Republic of China establish diplomatic relations January 4 State of Ohio agrees to pay $675,000 to families of dead and injured in Kent State University shootings..
Waleed M. al-Shehri was from Asir Province , a poor region in southwestern Saudi ArabiaThe Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a country on the Arabian Peninsula. It borders Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, with the Persian Gulf to its north-east and the Red Sea to its west. Al-Mamlakah al-'Arabiyah as-Sa'udiyah that borders Yemen. He had begun but not finished college and did not speak English well. He did not ever attend flight school. According to some sources, Waleed al-Shehri and his brother Wail declared they were going to Chechnya to defend Muslims there in December 2000, after which they disappeared for a time. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A19549-2001Sep24
After training in an al Qaida camp, Waleed was in the security force at Khandahar airport with a number of other future hijackers. After being selected for the operation, he trained with the other hijackers at al Matar complex under Abu Turab al Jordani .
In mid-November, 2000, the 9/11 Commission beleives that three of the future muscle hijackers, Wail al Shehri, Waleed al Shehri, and Ahmed al-Nami, all of whom had obtained their U.S. visas in late October, traveled in a group from Saudi Arabia to Beirut and then onward to Iran where they could travel through to Afghanistan without getting their passports stamped. This probably followed their return to Saudi Arabia to get "clean" passports. An associate of a senior Hezbollah operative is thought to have been on the same flight, although this may have been a coincidence.
After training he would have moved to a safehouse in Karachi before travelling to the United Arab Emirates. From the UAE, the muscle hijackers came to the U.S. between April and June of 2001. Waleed may have arrived April 23. Ramzi Binalshibh says that Bin Ladin had given a message to Waleed al Shehri for conveyance to Mohammed Atta earlier that spring, indicating that bin Laden preferred to attack the White House instead of Congress. On May 4, 2001, he applied for and received a Florida drivers license. The very next day, he filled out a change-of-address form to receive a duplicate license. Five other suspected hijackers also receive duplicate Florida licenses in 2001, and others had licenses in different states. Some have speculated that this was to allow multiple persons to use the same identity.[1]
Some sources report that al-Shehri "at times" stayed at lead hijacker Mohammed Atta's apartment in Hamburg, Germany at some period 1998 and 2001.[2]
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On May 19, Shehri and Satam al-Suqami flew from Fort Lauderdale to Freeport, the Bahamas, where they had reservations at the Bahamas Princess Resort. The two were turned away by Bahamian officials on arrival, however, because they lacked visas; they returned to Florida that same day. The 9/11 Commission felt that they likely took this trip to renew Suqami's immigration status, as Suqami's legal stay in the United States ended May 21. On July 30, al-Shehri traveled alone from Fort Lauderdale to Boston. He flew to San Francisco the next day, where he stayed one night before returning via Las Vegas. While this travel may have been a casing flight – al-Shehri traveled in first class on the same type of aircraft he would help hijack on September 11 (a Boeing 767) and the trip included a layover in Las Vegas like the pilot's trips – al-Shehri was neither a pilot nor a plot leader, as were the other hijackers who took surveillance flights. |