What ever happened to Atta's passport?

[GregW]

You know ... the one that was 'mysteriously' found soon after the planes impacted the building, causing a huge fireball, which melted steel, eventually causing the building to collapse?

How did it survive?
Where is it now?
Has anyone actually 'seen' it?

[StopTheMorans]

1. Bin Laden, Saddam, and the Anthrax Terrorist

got a hold of it and enjoy perusing it while sipping pina coladas at an undisclosed location...

[David Zephyr]

2. FBI Asst Director Barry Mawn "Found It", But I Don't Think it Was Atta's

Can't remember if a name was ever given.

[ramblin_dave]

3. It wasn't Atta's passport that was found.

It was the passport of Satam al Suqami, one of the terrorists aboard American Airlines Flight 11.

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/WTC_recovery_010916.html

It was found by an FBI agent and is presumably in FBI custody.

How did it survive? A lucky break for the FBI? Planted? Who knows?

[VolcanoJen]

6. Many websites still back up the Atta Passport "found" claim

The Observer (from March '02, though), for one:

Uncle Sam's Lucky Finds

Excerpt:

It started the day after the attacks on the twin towers, with the discovery of a flight manual in Arabic and a copy of the Koran in a car hired by Mohammed Atta and abandoned at Boston airport. In the immediate shocked aftermath of the attacks, these findings were somehow reassuring: American intelligence was on the case, the perpetrators were no longer faceless.

In less than a week came another find, two blocks away from the twin towers, in the shape of Atta's passport. We had all seen the blizzard of paper rain down from the towers, but the idea that Atta's passport had escaped from that inferno unsinged would have tested the credulity of the staunchest supporter of the FBI's crackdown on terrorism.

Yet we were still in the infancy of coincidence. On September 24 the belongings of alleged terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui threw up a cropdusting manual, while four days later came Atta's suicide note, the one with the counsel to shine your shoes before you meet your maker - a piece of advice which seemed suspiciously Norman Rockwellesque. It was here, too, that the stuff about 72 virgins awaiting him in heaven first started to circulate.

[oasis]

8. And no sign of the fireproofed flight data recorders?....hmmmm

:shrug:

[qb]

4. Funny - I was just thinking about that passport

in relation to all of the other improbable crap surrounding 9/11. I think it was a plant - something to give the public "concrete evidence" to support the Al Qaeda hijacker scenario. Along with the flight instructions and other terrorist stuff left in plain view in a rental car. The passport is probably locked away in a super secure safe - unreachable by the scrutiny of public eyes.

[evworldeditor]

5. Truth to Allegation US Facilitated Hussein's Escape?

Is there any concensus on the veracity of Patrick Kelly's (I think that's his name) assertion that early on the morning of April 9th, a number of Lockheed 130s landed on a isolated Baghdad runway being held by Iraqi Republican Guards and into which 10 black Mercedes limos disppeared, presumably with Saddam Hussein and his entourage?

Kelly video taped the Iraqi Lt. Colonel responsible for holding the runway open who charges that about 10,000 Iraqi soldiers can attest to witnessing this event.

Could this be why we've not found Saddam? Hmmm! Makes one wonder.

[CaptainMidnight]

7. c'mon, silly!

You don't think that something the "rare" and "unique" would be put on display for just about anybody, do you?

Much like the Honus Wagner original baseball card, it should be kept squirreled away in a safety deposit box or secure location, lest dust, moisture, mildew, or the grubby fingerprints of covetous 9-11 conspiracy buffs decay such a highly-prized item, thusly decreasing it's value to the Bush Cartel.

It was only quick thinking on the part of Atta, just before the passenger jet hit the WTC tower, to throw the passport out the window, thusly ensuring his and the fortunate finder's place in memorabilia history!

Silly goose!

Captain Mike