The Nineteen

1992 - 2001

This episode is an in-depth look at the nineteen men who carried out the biggest terrorist attack in history.  The story begins with four Muslims who go to Germany to pursue graduate studies and discover radical Islam instead.  These four men - Mohammed Atta, Ramzi Binalshibh, Marwan al Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah - come from very different backgrounds, but by late 1999, they all want to fight jihad.  Within a year, three of them are in the United States taking flying lessons.  

The episode also looks into the 15 "muscle hijackers" who were chosen by Al Qaeda to participate in the attacks.  Who were they, how did they become radicalized, and how did they get involved in the 9/11 plot? And who was helping them? 

This episode also looks at the Al Qaeda summit in Kuala Lumpur in January of 2000 and asks several questions.  How did two known Al Qaeda operatives - both future 9/11 hiijackers - lose the intelligence officers tracking them and make their way to the United States a few days later? Why were they meeting in Los Angeles with a man suspected of being a Saudi intelligence officer? And why was the FBI not notified that they were in the country?