<P> In November 1999, Jarrah left Hamburg for Afghanistan, where he spent three months . While there, he met with al - Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in January 2000 . Jarrah returned to Hamburg at the end of January and in February obtained a new passport containing no stamped records of his travels by reporting his passport as stolen . </P> <P> In May, Jarrah received a visa from the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, arriving in Florida in June 2000 . There, he began taking flying lessons as well as training in hand - to - hand combat . Jarrah maintained contact with his girlfriend in Germany and with his family in Lebanon in the months preceding the attacks . This close contact upset Mohamed Atta, the tactical leader of the plot, and al - Qaeda planners may have considered another operative, Zacarias Moussaoui, to replace him if he backed out . </P> <P> Four "muscle" hijackers were trained to storm the cockpit and overpower the crew, and three accompanied Jarrah on Flight 93 . The first, Ahmed al - Nami, arrived in Miami, Florida, on May 28, 2001, on a six - month tourist visa with United Airlines Flight 175 hijackers Hamza al - Ghamdi and Mohand al - Shehri . The second Flight 93 hijacker, Ahmed al - Haznawi, arrived in Miami on June 8 with Flight 11 hijacker Wail al - Shehri . The third Flight 93 muscle hijacker, Saeed al - Ghamdi, arrived in Orlando, Florida, on June 27 with Flight 175 hijacker Fayez Banihammad . </P> <P> On August 3, 2001, an intended fifth hijacker, Mohammed al - Qahtani, flew into Orlando from Dubai . He was questioned by officials, who were dubious that he could support himself with only $2,800 cash to his name, and suspicious that he intended to become an illegal immigrant as he was using a one - way ticket . He was sent back to Dubai, and subsequently returned to Saudi Arabia . Ziad Jarrah and Saeed al - Ghamdi's passports were recovered from the Flight 93 crash site . Jarrah's family asserted that he had been an "innocent passenger" on board the flight . </P>

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