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13 hijackers came into U.S. legally; 6 are a mystery©Associated Press
© St. Petersburg Times, WASHINGTON -- Thirteen of the hijackers in the Sept. 11 attacks entered the United States legally, but no entry records exist for the other six, raising doubts about who they are as well as how they got in, the nation's immigration chief said Thursday. "Six of the individuals, we can find no record of them, period. That's not just INS, that's everywhere," James Ziglar, head of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, said as his agency released records. Three of the four hijacker pilots were in the country legally on Sept. 11, including Mohamed Atta, suspected of being the coordinator of the four terrorist crews who hijacked the flights. The fourth pilot, Hani Hanjour, had been in the United States legally at various times for the past decade, but immigration officials said they were unable to determine that was the case on the day of the attacks. Three of the hijackers who entered the country legally had overstayed their visas: Nawaq Alhamzi, Waleed M. Alshehri and Ahmed Alghamdi. Ziglar's testimony underscored the government's doubts over the identities of some of the hijackers. "I suspect one of the reasons the FBI issued the pictures and the names a week or so ago was to find out if anybody out there knew whether this person was the person who has the name," Ziglar said. "It's a problem not knowing who these people were and being able to match these names with faces," Ziglar told a House Judiciary subcommittee. The chairman, Rep. George Gekas, R-Pa., had requested data about the 19 hijackers. FBI Director Robert Mueller said Sept. 27 that the bureau has been working to find the hijackers' true identities. He said some of the names attached to the photos of the 19 released by the FBI may not be correct. "Our investigation has reached out to a number of countries" in an effort to determine the identities, Mueller said. INS spokesman Bill Strassberger said that regarding some of the hijackers, "you've got the possibility of stolen identity, multiple identities or someone who sneaked across the border." The information about the hijackers emerged as President Bush suggested that nations linked to terrorism might provide assistance in the war. At a news conference Thursday night, Bush said that Syria had expressed a desire to help with the antiterror coalition, "and we'll give them an opportunity to do so." In other developments Thursday: The FBI said it has received information there might be additional terrorist attacks inside the United States or abroad in the next several days. The bureau said its information does not identify specific targets, but it has asked local police to be on the highest alert and for all Americans to be wary of suspicious activity. "I think the next several days are obviously important partially because of the environment in which we find ourselves in the initial response period," Attorney General John Ashcroft said in an interview taped for ABC's Nightline. A law enforcement official said that traces of anthrax had been found in the mail room at the American Media building in Florida where one employee contracted the disease and died. One of two other employees who had anthrax in their nasal passages, Ernesto Blanco, 73, works in the mail room. NBC first reported on the mail-room traces. After meeting in Washington with U.S. Customs Commissioner Robert Bonner, Canada's Customs and Revenue commissioner said his country does not think "we are a source" of transit for any of the 19 hijackers. "There is no evidence that they did" visit or enter the United States through Canada, Rob Wright said. The INS records show that several of the key hijackers, who had been in the United States in 2000, entered the country for the final time in May and June. They included Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi and Khalid al-Midhar. Three of the six hijackers whose names do not appear in immigration records received Florida photo identification cards in early July. For the other three, there is no record of a driver's license or ID card issued by either Florida or Virginia, the two states where the other 16 hijackers obtained identification documents. Two hijackers, al-Midhar and Alhamzi, were placed on a watch list this summer after U.S. intelligence received information they might have been meeting with suspected terrorists. By the time they were added to the watch list, they had already entered the United States, officials said. Al-Midhar entered the country in July, the month before he was placed on the watch list; Alhamzi entered in January 2000. In his testimony, Ziglar said "there is no quick fix, technological or otherwise, to the problems we face."
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From the Times wire desk
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