JANITOR TELLS 9/11 PANEL OF BRUSH WITH WTC THUG

NY Daily News ^ | 6/15/04

[areafiftyone]

WASHINGTON - A hero janitor who helped victims escape from the World Trade Center's north tower before it collapsed told the 9/11 panel that he came across one of the hijackers in the building a few months before the attack.

William Rodriguez, 43, of Jersey City met with the commission for the first time last week.

A 20-year Trade Center employee who swept stairwells, he swears he saw United Airlines Flight 175 hijacker Mohand Alshehri in June 2001 and told an FBI agent in the family center at Ground Zero about it a month after the attacks. He never heard back from the bureau.

Rodriguez said he was working overtime one weekend cleaning rest rooms on the concourse and mezzanine levels when Alshehri approached him.

"I had just finished cleaning the bathroom and this guy asks me, 'Excuse me, how many public bathrooms are in this area?'" Rodriguez told the Daily News.

"Coming from the school of the 1993 [Trade Center] bombing, I found it very strange," Rodriguez said. "I didn't forget about it."

After Al Qaeda's attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Rodriguez recognized Alshehri's mug in newspapers.

"I'm very certain, I'll give it 90%" that Alshehri was casing the towers before the attacks, the WTC ex-porter said.

It is believed that American Airlines Flight 11 hijacker Mohamed Atta cased New York City targets, including the Diamond District, but Rodriguez may have given the 9/11 panel the first eyewitness testimony about a hijacker inside one of the towers before the terror strike.

Little is known about the Saudi-born Alshehri, 22, or his travels after arriving in Miami on May 28, 2001. Alshehri used the alias Abu Dujana, the name of Islam's mythic Red-Banded Warrior, who fought for the Prophet Muhammed. It's a name other Al Qaeda attackers also have used, including one who claimed responsibility for the train bombings in Madrid on March 11 of this year.

Rodriguez is credited with saving lives on 9/11 and for helping immigrants get 9/11 funds. He kept mum until now because he assumed the FBI was investigating his lead. FBI officials say they have never heard of Rodriguez but do not discount his story.

The revelation, if true, comes as the panel meets this week to scrutinize - again - the military's Sept. 11 response. FBI agents and CIA officials also will testify about the post-attack probe of the plot.

Originally published on June 15, 2004

[joesnuffy]

A tale which quickly spread after the hijackings was that actor James Woods had noticed four men "of Middle Eastern appearance"
acting strangely on a flight he made from Boston to Los Angeles a week before the hijackings, but when he reported his suspicions,
they were not taken seriously:

Woods took a flight from Boston to Los Angeles one week before the World Trade Center attacks. The only other people in first
class with him were four men "of Middle Eastern appearance" who acted very strangely. During the entire cross-country flight none
of them had anything to eat or drink, nor did they read or sleep. They only sat upright in their seats, occasionally conversing with
each other in low tones. Woods mentioned what he had noticed to a flight attendant, "who shrugged it off." Arriving in Los Angeles,
Woods told airport authorities, but they "seemed unwilling to become involved."

That Woods noticed unusual behavior and reported it to authorities was true, although some of the details in the initial news
reports were wrong. Woods' Boston-to-Los Angeles flight actually took place the previous month, in August 2001, not "one week
before the World Trade Center attacks":

One of the practice flights may have occurred in August. Actor James Woods was so shaken by a flight he took from Boston to Los
Angeles about a month before the attacks that he told an attendant and authorities of his suspicions when he landed. Woods was in
first-class and the only other passengers in the section were four men who appeared to be Middle Eastern in origin.

During the entire six-hour flight, Woods noticed the men neither ate nor drank. They talked to each other in whispers and did not
read or sleep. On Sept. 12, Woods called the FBI to tell investigators about his experience. He was interviewed by agents on
Sept. 13. Woods's spokesman told Reuters the actor thought it ''prudent not to comment on this and let the FBI continue to do their
job, which they seem to be doing superbly right now.''

Snopes dot com

[mastequilla]

I was in the WTC a few months before the 9/11 attack and the security at the entrance points was very tight. To get to the elevators required not only producing a photo ID, but being signed in by someone holding a building pass. That would imply for the hijacker to get past security he would have had to have had a valid photo ID, and he would have had to have been signed in by someone who had access privaleges.

[JoeSixPack1]

The 911 panel is compromised. It's findings are irrelevant and it's proceedings are a sham. Disband and regroup and put GoreLick on the stand.

Until GoreLick is off the panel, their findings are meaningless.

[Boxsford]

'Excuse me, how many public bathrooms are in this area?'" Rodriguez told the Daily News.

How is this ridiculous question supposed to generate any kind of meaning related to terrorism? How does its answer help take down the building? Is this janitor trying to fabricate a story to make FBI agents look like they aren't doing their jobs?

[petercooper]

Was Richard Ben-Veniste really at the WTC the week before 9-11 as he keeps saying, or was he b.s.'ing?

[TheCrusader]

"How is this ridiculous question supposed to generate any kind of meaning related to terrorism?"

I'm not sure; but who else would ask such a question other than a building inspector or prospective buyer? And neither of these types would ask a janitor the question. Perhaps knowing the number of public restrooms would indicate the number of persons who are inside the building at a given time. Just guessing here, but you could be right about the guy just trying to get some attention.

[thegreatbeast]

A 20-year Trade Center employee who swept stairwells, he swears he saw United Airlines Flight 175 hijacker Mohand Alshehri in June 2001 and told an FBI agent in the family center at Ground Zero about it a month after the attacks. He never heard back from the bureau.

Is this janitor trying to fabricate a story to make FBI agents look like they aren't doing their jobs? Sorry, friend, the evidence is in-- the FBI did fail, has failed, historically in many investigations. A janitor can't inflict so much damage as the truth.

[thegreatbeast]

P.S. I've seen James Woods recount his story a couple of times and I believe he DID say he took the same flight a WEEK earler than the WTC flight. I think Snopes is wrong.

[GOP_Proud]

...and the FBI got him out of bed one morning to question him. I heard him interviewed about it.

[Boxsford]

But why the bathroom question? What's the purpose or intent?

[Defiant]

Peggy Noonan wrote a column in which she mentioned seeing a ME man video taping the church near the WTC area, AFTER 9/11. She gave him a hard stare and he stared back menacingly.

[NYCVirago]

I was in the WTC a few months before the 9/11 attack and the security at the entrance points was very tight. To get to the elevators required not only producing a photo ID, but being signed in by someone holding a building pass. That would imply for the hijacker to get past security he would have had to have had a valid photo ID, and he would have had to have been signed in by someone who had access privaleges.

Yep. I had to go to a doctor's office in the WTC in the fall of 2000. I had to not only show photo ID to the guards, but they also gave me a temporary photo ID/access pass for the day, and I was asked for it at several points.