Seattle high-rise once 9/11 target

OLYMPIA – The architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks has told interrogators that the original plan called for terrorists to seize 10 planes and attack targets on both coasts, including a black-glass skyscraper that towers over downtown Seattle.

That detail was included in a report issued Wednesday by the federal commission investigating the terrorist attacks.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who is in U.S. custody at an undisclosed overseas location, said that nine of the hijacked planes were to be crashed into “CIA and FBI headquarters, unidentified nuclear power plants, and the tallest buildings in California and Washington State,” according to the report.

The tallest building in Washington is Seattle’s Bank of America Tower, a 76-story building in Seattle’s financial district. About 5,000 people work in the building, formerly known as Columbia Seafirst Center. It was among many skyscrapers nationwide that were evacuated shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks in New York.

Chicago-based Equity Office, which owns and manages the building, had no comment other than a terse statement saying it works closely with tenants and local authorities “to ensure that we have the best available information, and to coordinate our emergency preparedness.”

Some local authorities, however, were startled to learn Wednesday that Seattle’s biggest building was on a Sept. 11 hit list.

“I would certainly have appreciated that specific information being communicated to me,” Seattle police Chief Gil Kerlikowske said. “You don’t like to be surprised, and I was.”

At least two alleged terrorists have been caught in Washington. In Dec. 1999, Ahmed Ressam, an Algerian, was arrested in Port Angeles while trying to smuggle bomb-making materials into the United States. His apparent target: the Los Angeles airport. And Seattle’s James Ujaama pleaded guilty last year to providing cash and computer help to Taliban terrorists trying to set up a training camp in Oregon.

Wednesday’s news about Seattle’s tallest building “brings home the fact that we are at war,” said U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt. “We are a target of the terrorists and must work to strengthen our homeland security.”

Kerlikowske said that on Sept. 11, 2001, city police were dispatched to tall buildings, critical bridges and icons like the Space Needle. Since then, he said, vulnerability assessments have been done on all those sites. City officials, including himself and Mayor Greg Nickels, now have clearances that allow them access to terrorist data, Kerlikowske said.

“We’ve made progress, but there is much left to be done,” said Sen. Patty Murray. She said she’ll fight for better security at the state’s cities, ports and nuclear sites.

According to the report, Mohammed has told interrogators that he planned to pilot the 10th hijacked plane himself. Terrorists aboard the plane would have killed every adult male passenger, contacted the media while in the air and then landed at a U.S. airport. Mohammed said he planned to make a speech denouncing American policies in the Middle East, then release the women and children passengers.

Over time, the plan shrank, the report states. Osama Bin Ladin rejected the idea of a bloody speech on an airport’s tarmac. And the pool of terrorists dwindled as some backed out, had problems with immigration officials or were yanked from the operation by al Qaeda leaders.

On Sept. 11, 19 terrorists seized four planes and targeted New York City and Washington, D.C., icons including the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The fourth plane, which crashed in western Pennsylvania after passengers fought back against the terrorists, was to hit either the White House or the U.S. Capitol, according to the report.

The report was the 16th from the federal 9-11 Commission, which is investigating the attacks and recommending ways to guard against future attacks. Much of the data comes from intelligence data gathered from the FBI, CIA, National Security Agency, State Department and Defense Department.

The report paints a picture of a plot marred by disagreements, rivalries and failures of will. Bin Laden also had to overcome opposition to attacking the United States from Mullah Omar, leader of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

Among the report’s details:

“ Training for the attacks began in late 1999 when Mohammed, a Kuwaiti raised in Pakistan and a former American college student, taught basic English to four of Bin Ladin’s operatives at a training camp in Afghanistan. He taught them how to read a phone book, make travel reservations, use the Internet and encode communications. They also used flight simulator games and analyzed airline schedules to figure out which flights would be in the air at the same time. Other “suicide operatives,” better trained in English and Western culture, would join the plot the following year.

“ Some of the terrorists tested security by carrying box cutters on test flights. They studied when the cockpit doors were typically opened for the first time – 10 to 15 minutes after takeoff.

“ The attacks cost between $400,000 and $500,000, including flight training, test flights and living expenses. There is no evidence, the report said, that the men received substantial funding from anyone in the United States.

“ Some of the terrorists were remarkably unprepared. Two of them attended flight school, but, according to their instructors, “took no interest in take-offs or landings.” They were desperate to learn to fly big jets, particularly Boeings. When an instructor told them that all students start out on small single-engine planes, the men “expressed such disappointment that the instructor thought they were either joking or dreaming.”

“ One of the 9-11 pilots, Ziad Jarrah was hardly the stereotypical picture of a Muslim militant. He partied at nightclubs and discos, drank beer, was close to his girlfriend and family, and was known in the United States as a friendly, engaging person. His flight-school certificate shows him with frosted hair.

“ Three pilots were recruited for a second wave of attacks, this time on the West Coast. One, Zacarias Moussaoui, was arrested on Aug. 16, 2001, and the other two backed out.