[aristeides]

Atta was in Spain in the summer of 2001, was he not? What do we know about when he left for Spain, how long he was in that country, when he left it, and when he returned to the U.S.?

[Angelus Errare]

Yes, though the Spain note made me remember that Yusuf Galan, the top deputy of Abu Dahdah (the contact between the hijackers and the al-Qaeda C-in-C Mohammed Atef in Afghanistan) was invited to the Iraqi Embassy - under his al-Qaeda codename prior to the attacks.

I'll have to check an Atta timeline to be sure, but I think that he could easily have squeezed in a couple of days to go to Iraq.

[Selene]

Yes he was in Spain in summer 2001:

The terrorist
The shy, caring, deadly fanatic
Sunday September 23, 2001
The Observer


Although he remained enrolled, no one on campus seems ever to have seen him again. He next reappears this year making an unexplained 10-day visit to Spain. The Observer has seen hotel records which confirm that Atta spent at least one night in the eastern resort town of Salou in mid-July.

The FBI said that Atta flew to Madrid's Barajas airport from Miami on 9 July. His first step on arrival was to pick up a rental car which he had previously reserved over the internet.

Atta spent his last night in the Montsant Hostal in Salou, where he paid with his Visa card and registered under his own name. His Hyundai Accent car was returned to Madrid airport on 18 July with some 1,250 miles on the clock.

On 16 August, back in Florida, he rented a single-engined plane from a company in Palm Beach. He made a test flight to demonstrate his competence and then returned twice more, each time with a different passenger.