4um: "Where's the f------ sprinkler system?"

Status: Not Logged In; Sign In
9/11
See other 9/11 Articles
Title: "Where's the f------ sprinkler system?"
Source: USA Today,Memphis Commercial Appeal
URL Source: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation ... attacks-transcript-cover_x.htm
Published: Aug 8, 2003
Author: USA staff,Bill Dries, and others
Post Date: 2007-02-16 20:11:40 by honway
Ping List: *9-11* Subscribe to *9-11*
Keywords: None
Views: 252
Comments: 24

USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-08-28-attacks-transcript-cover_x.htm
Excerpts:
The transcript of nearly 2,000 pages includes the words of dozens of victims. Some identified themselves by name. The release comes two weeks before the second anniversary of the terrorist attacks.
As maintenance and electrical workers talked to each other on their dedicated radio channel, one man trapped in a stairwell on the 103rd floor of the north tower called repeatedly for help.
"Open the stairway door," he called. The radio picked up his labored breathing, and he reported smoke rising. "People stuck in the stairway, open up the goddamn doors." Later he burst out, "Where's the f------ sprinkler system?"
My comments:
For over 18 months many have been asking that same question, "Where was the sprinkler system?"
The question has considerably more impact coming from someone in the Tower as compared to coming from someone at a keyboard.
Maybe this man deserves an answer to his question.
I first considered the question when I read about the five Middle Eastern men arrested in Memphis on Feb.5,2002 for buying fraudulent Tennessee drivers licences.
One of those arrested, Sakher A. Hammad , "had a visitor's pass for one of the towers dated Sept. 5. He has allegedly told investigators that his Brooklyn plumbing company worked on the building's sprinkler system."
Sakher reported that his cousin, also arrested with him was working on the sprinkler system..
A letter presented in court from Hammad's alleged employer,explaining his work in the World Trade Center, is signed with an alias,Sergei Denko, and is from a non-existent company named Denko Mechanical.
Katherine Smith was a State of Tennessee employee that was also arrested for providing the fradulant drivers licences to Hammad and friends. Katherine Smith was associated with a Memphis man named Khaled Odtllah, who was the ring leader of the scam. According to press reports, on September 11,2001, the Memphis resident Khaled Odtllah was driving his car from New York City to Memphis.
"Katherine Smith, out of jail on her own recognizance, died in a fiery car crash the night before she was scheduled to appear at a detention hearing." She was found alone in a car owned by Odtllah, burned alive with gasoline. The last time developments into the Katherine Smith death were reported in the press was when in June 2002, the Medical Examiner for Shelby County was found in a stairwell in his work building tied up with barbed wire with a bomb attached to his chest. In those press reports it was stated that four months after Katherine Smith was burned alive with gasoline, the Medical Examiner had still not determined if it was homicide or suicide.
A lot of folks contributed to the effort to make the details of this story available to those interested, since the mainstream media never covered this story.
I will provide the links for those interested. All I ask is, if someone has a reasonable explanation why the national media never covered this story, please share it with me.
The five Middle Eastern men were all free by August 2002, released with time served. Sakher A. Hammad served 51 days, Katherine Smith got death, and the Medical Examiner got the scare of a life time.

Suspect in ID fraud goes free on bond (Tennessee) Memphis Commercial Appeal ^ | March 29, 2002 | Bill Dries http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/655625/posts Subscribe to *9-11*
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: All (#0) (Edited)
New York Times
March 29, 2002
Towers Withstood Impact, but Fell to Fire, Report Says
By JAMES GLANZ and ERIC LIPTON
Fireproofing, sprinkler systems and the water supply for hoses were all disabled in the twin towers on Sept. 11 in the face of a blaze so intense that it drove temperatures as high as 2,000 degrees and generated heat equivalent to the energy output of a nuclear power plant, a federal report on how the towers fell has concluded.

honway posted on 2007-02-16 20:12:41 ET Reply Trace Private Reply
#2. To: All (#1) (Edited)
Commercial Appeal, The (Memphis, TN) LAST LICENSE FRAUD SUSPECT SENTENCED TO TIME SERVED, PROBATION
Date:August 20, 2002 Section: Metro Page: B2
Source: Lela Garlington
Memo: METRO & MID-SOUTH BRIEFS Edition: Final
The last of the driver's license fraud suspects - Sakher Hammad - was placed on two years' probation Monday and was sentenced to time served.
Four of the other defendants also were sentenced to time served earlier. Three are still being held and are facing deportation for being in the country illegally.
"I want to get on with my life," Hammad told U.S. Dist. Judge Bernice Donald.
After the Jordanian naturalized citizen was arrested in February, Hammad, 25, of Brooklyn was held in prison for 51 days until he made bond. Although federal prosecutors initially hinted that the case might be tied to the World Trade Center disaster, there was no evidence any were involved in terrorist activities.
The death of Katherine Smith, the Memphis driver's license examiner accused of being the inside source for the licenses, remains unsolved. She died in a fiery car crash the day before her first court appearance in February.

honway posted on 2007-02-16 20:13:38 ET Reply Trace Private Reply
#3. To: All (#2)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/629113/posts
License suspect had WTC repair pass, but Port Authority did its own work [Tennessee License Scandal]
A photo ID pass for Sept. 5 found on one of the men charged with fraudulently obtaining a Tennessee driver's license from a Memphis woman gave him access to the six underground levels of the One World Center building.
But which tenant hired Sakher 'Rocky' Hammad, 24, to work on its sprinklers is lost, said Port Authority of New York and New Jersey spokesman Alan Hicks on Friday.
Hammad told federal authorities that he was working on the sprinklers six days before the twin towers were brought down by terrorists, court testimony revealed this week.
But Hicks said the Port Authority, which owned the building, did its own sprinkler work, and that any other work involving sprinklers would have been arranged by an individual tenant.
"We don't know (which one) because all our records were destroyed in the World Trade Center, as were some of the people who know that," Hicks said.

honway posted on 2007-02-16 20:14:43 ET Reply Trace Private Reply
#4. To: All (#3)
http://college4.nytimes.com/guests/articles/2002/02/18/903268.xml
Then the agents searched a fifth man, Sakhera Hammad of New York, whom the men identified as their second contact, and found an alarming piece of paper. Mr. Hammad had a worker's pass to the World Trade Center dated Sept. 5. Suddenly, the case became a possible terrorist plot.
In a telephone interview on Saturday, Mr. Hammad's father, Peter Hansen, said his son was a plumber, and he provided a letter he said he had obtained from his son's employer attesting to his work at the trade center. In the letter, dated Feb. 13, Sergei Denko, president of Denko Mechanical, said Mr. Hammad had been working for his company in the basement garage area of 1 World Trade Center.
"He was there for a couple of days," Mr. Denko said in an interview.
Mr. Hansen, 56, said he immigrated to the United States 15 years ago. He said he was not in frequent contact with his son, who was born in Jordan, but he said it was inconceivable that his son was involved in any terrorist activity.
Federal prosecutors indicated in court records that a second man in the scheme had ties to the World Trade Center, but did not elaborate.
F.B.I. officials said this weekend that they had begun to corroborate some of Mr. Hammad's statements regarding his work, but that they were continuing to investigate whether the men had any terrorist links. The five men, including Mr. Hammad, are being held in Memphis without bail.
In Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, where Mr. Hammad lives and is known as Rocky, friends and neighbors said they were shocked by the reports of his arrest.

honway posted on 2007-02-16 20:15:54 ET Reply Trace Private Reply
#5. To: All (#4)
September 11 link to deadly Tennessee crash?
MEMPHIS, Tennessee (AP) -- Shortly before 1 a.m. last Sunday, witnesses saw flames erupt from the back seat of a 1992 Acura Legend as it crawled along a two-lane road skirting farm fields in the little Tennessee town of Piperton.
The driver breathed in the flames, her lungs searing, as the car veered off the road and came to rest against a utility pole near the Mississippi state line. There were no skid marks or furrows in the grass to indicate the driver had hit the brakes.
A witness rushed up and pulled open the car door, but the driver was not moving. She appeared to be already dead. When the first volunteer firefighters arrived, the car was engulfed in flames.
From the very beginning, it didn't look right, said Steve Kellett, chief of the Piperton Volunteer Fire Department.
The car had been moving too slowly for the accident to cause much damage. The wooden pole was barely dented. The radiator was pushed in a few inches, but the engine block was undamaged. Most important, the gas tank had not ruptured. The cardboard packaging for a replacement headlamp in the trunk was barely scorched.
What could have caused a fire so severe that it cooked the passenger compartment of the sedan down to the frame, burned the driver's arms and legs off, and left her charred beyond recognition? If someone had been trying to make this death look like an accident, they had done a lousy job.
Police began investigating the death as a homicide, though they have not ruled out suicide. The mystery deepened the next day when dental records identified the victim as Katherine Smith, 49, a state driver's license examiner.
Smith had been scheduled to be arraigned last Monday on federal charges of helping five Middle Eastern men from New York obtain fraudulent Tennessee driver's licenses.
One of the men, authorities say, drove from New York to Memphis on September 11 -- the day of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. And one of them, at the time of his arrest, was carrying in his wallet a pass to the trade center dated September 5.
Was this a series of bizarre coincidences?
"The possibility of a really interesting story exists here," FBI Agent George W. Bolds said last week, brushing soot from his hands as he walked away from the charred vehicle impounded in a garage. Then again, he said, "it could turn out to be a whole lot less than people expect."
Woman of modest means
On the morning of February 5, authorities say, a gray Dodge Durango and a white Toyota Avalon arrived in Memphis from New York and parked outside the motor vehicles office. Inside the cars sat six Middle Eastern men.
Tennessee is one of four states not requiring a Social Security number to get a license, and many people carry utility bills as proof of residence.
Perhaps the men saw Smith as she arrived in her blue blazer and gray slacks. Shortly after she showed up for work, a man from the Toyota, Khaled Odtllah, a native of Jerusalem, joined the morning rush into the building. According to an FBI affidavit, he was clutching four signed driver's license applications.
Katherine Smith was a woman of modest means. She had a couple hundred dollars in a credit union account, a couple hundred more than that in checking, according to court records. She had a 1999 Ford Escort with a $10,000 lien and the Acura.
She and her daughter shared a one-story home in a rough-and-tumble neighborhood in the shadow of Memphis' Liberty Bowl stadium -- a place where police warn outsiders not to be after dark. The neat little house is worth $65,000; Smith owed $55,000 on it.
She had worked for mental health agencies before joining the motor vehicle division in 1992. She was earning just over $23,000.
Neighbors say they hardly saw the woman because she was working all the time. After hours, she worked taking care of an elderly woman.
"She worked day and night," says Peola Wright, who lives two doors down. She called Smith a nice lady who sang in the church choir and tried to get neighbors to attend services.
The neighborhood is a few miles from where Khaled Odtllah lived, but it seems a world away.
According to records, Odtllah's last address was The Grove, a gated community in the Memphis suburb of Cordova, with swimming pools, tennis courts and spas. A sign out front boasts a first place award in 2000 for beautification.
Police say Odtllah came to the United States about 13 years ago from Jerusalem and had been in Tennessee for about 21/2 years.
Smith later told officials she met Odtllah at his gas station. He sold her the Acura, which was still in Odtllah's name when Smith died.
FBI was waiting
Somewhere along the line, police say, Smith and Odtllah became business partners.
As an examiner in an office processing 300 to 400 driver's license applicants each day, Smith screened applicants at a front counter and gave written and road tests.
On the applications Odtllah was carrying on February 5, each man listed as his address 2840 Morning Lake Drive, in another gated community just outside Memphis. None of the men had checked the application's organ donor box.
At motor vehicles, the applications were approved and entered into the computer system. When Odtllah walked outside, the FBI was waiting for him.
Agents in New York had received a tip that the men would be traveling to Memphis that day, and the bureau's agents in Tennessee had staked out Smith's home and the motor vehicle office. When Odtllah and the others pulled out of the parking lot, agents flashed blue lights and pulled them over.
With Odtllah, police found Mostafa Said Abou-Shahi, Mohammed Fares, Sakher Hammad and his cousin Abdelmuhsen Mahmid Hammad. An unnamed juvenile was also taken into custody.
A few months ago, the contents of Sakher Hammad's wallet would have seemed innocuous: Two video rental cards; two major credit cards; a card designating him a "charter member" of Team Ford Racing; a New York plumber's business card. And a pass, dated 09/05/01 that gave him access to the lower basement of One World Trade Center.
Shown a photocopy, New York City Port Authority officials said the pass looked authentic, but they couldn't be certain without seeing the original.
Authorities say Sakher Hammad told them he is plumber, and that he and his cousin were in the tower to work on the sprinkler system. New York authorities have no record of a plumber's license for either cousin.
A business card in Sakher Hammad's wallet was for a Magic Plumbing & Heating Inc. in Brooklyn. It advertises "custom kitchens, bathrooms, water heaters, boilers, repiping" -- generally residential in nature.
A call to the business produced only a full voice-mailbox for someone named "Rocky." Using a reverse telephone directory, the AP found a list of phone numbers at the company's street address, all of them for individuals, among them Sakher Hammad.
Hammad's wallet also held courtesy cards from the New York City Patrolmen's Benevolent Association and the Detectives' Endowment Association of New York. The latter bears the inscription, "In memory of those who lost their lives on 9-11-01."
It is adorned with a fluttering American flag, a police badge and a picture of the twin towers.
When Smith was arrested, authorities say she admitted helping Odtllah obtain licenses for "cousins" on a half-dozen occasions in the past year. An FBI agent later testified that Odtllah was charging up to $1,200 each to help people get their new identities.
Authorities say the men arrested with Odtllah admitted being in the country illegally.
Fire intentionally set
The day Smith was to appear in court, her car sat in an FBI garage in Memphis, the champagne finish bubbled and streaked with trails of melted rubber window stripping. The upholstery was burned away. Police couldn't even tell if Smith had been wearing a seat belt.
However, they had found a residue of gasoline on her body. The fire, the FBI determined, was intentionally set.
Bolds, the FBI agent, wondered how someone who was conscious could have stayed in the burning car. "If the car is on fire, you're going to stop in the middle of the highway if you have to, to get out," he said.
On Wednesday, Abou-Shahi, Fares and Abdelmuhsen Hammad appeared in court wearing blue windbreakers provided by the court. They face charges of conspiring to obtain licenses with false information. Odtllah and Sakher Hammad had appeared in court Monday.
Court records indicate that another man, Omar Khayata, 20, had also applied for a license February 5, using the same address. But he was not charged, and officials would not say whether he was the juvenile mentioned in the affidavit.
Lawyers for the defendants argued that their clients were being held only because of their ethnicity. "They seem to be trying to tie this to September 11," said Clifton Harviel Jr., who represented Abou-Shahin.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim DiScenza replied that each man had participated in a conspiracy intended to acquire a "completely false and untraceable identity." Their motivation, he said, could be "further criminal activity."
In the wake of September 11, there have been crackdowns on illegally obtained driver's licenses elsewhere. Several of the September 11 hijackers had illegally obtained licenses in Virginia.
In denying bond for the five, federal magistrates cited the men's tenuous connections to the community and strong ties to other countries.
Court papers show Odtllah has a wife, a 2-year-old son, a mother and 10 siblings, all living in Jerusalem. Officials say he has "traveled extensively across the U.S. in the last few years."
A magistrate noted Sakher Hammad, "has no ties whatsoever to this community. He has substantial ties to Jordan or Gaza, where his mother lives. He has had less than stable employment ... and a cooperating witness has disappeared under suspicious circumstances."
Of the local telephone numbers listed on the license applications, three were out of service, and one was a fax.
When bond was denied, Fares put his head in his hands and wiped his eyes. The others showed no reaction

honway posted on 2007-02-16 20:18:41 ET Reply Trace Private Reply
#6. To: All (#5)
DOS Process (Address to which DOS will mail process if accepted on behalf of the entity)
DENKO MECHANICAL, INC.
232 E 26TH ST
STE 21
NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10010

Chairman or Chief Executive Officer
SERGEI DENKO
232 E 26TH ST
STE 21
NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10010
Registered Agent
NONE

NOTE: New York State does not issue organizational identification numbers.

honway posted on 2007-02-16 20:23:18 ET Reply Trace Private Reply
#7. To: All (#6)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/693738/posts
MEMPHIS, TN: MEDICAL EXAMINER AMUSHED
An attacker ambushed Shelby County Medical Examiner Dr. O. C. Smith Saturday night, wrapped him from head to toe in barbed wire and strapped a bomb to his body
In another case that brought widespread attention, the Medical Examiner's Office conducted the autopsy of Katherine Smith, the Tennessee driver's license examiner whose body was burned beyond recognition in a fiery car wreck on Feb. 10.
Just five days earlier Smith had been charged in a federal inquiry with conspiracy to obtain fraudulent driver's licenses for several Middle Eastern men.
State officials are awaiting complete autopsy results before announcing the cause of death.

honway posted on 2007-02-16 20:24:24 ET Reply Trace Private Reply
#8. To: All (#7)
Mostafa Said Abou-Shahin, left
Abdelmuhsen Mahmid Hammad, right

honway posted on 2007-02-16 20:26:26 ET (1 image) Reply Trace Private Reply
#9. To: honway (#0)
As maintenance and electrical workers talked to each other on their dedicated radio channel, one man trapped in a stairwell on the 103rd floor of the north tower called repeatedly for help.
"Open the stairway door," he called. The radio picked up his labored breathing, and he reported smoke rising. "People stuck in the stairway, open up the goddamn doors." Later he burst out, "Where's the f------ sprinkler system?"

Ask Lucky Larry.
In Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward's book about the Iraqi war, Plan of Attack, Lt. Gen. Tommy Franks, who was in charge of the operation, famously called Feith the "dumbest f****** guy on the planet."
robin posted on 2007-02-16 20:30:45 ET Reply Trace Private Reply
#10. To: robin (#9)
Ask Lucky Larry.

"Another stroke of fortune for "Lucky Larry" was that he had regularly been taking breakfast at the
elegant Windows on the World restaurant at the top of the North Tower. On the morning of 9/11 by
an amazing coincidence, his wife had reminded him that he had a "doctor's appointment";
consequently, the tycoon eluded the tragic fate of more than 2,000 WTC workers and hundreds of
emergency responders."

honway posted on 2007-02-16 21:24:00 ET Reply Trace Private Reply
#11. To: honway (#10)
Hadn't heard about that before, I'm surprised he wasn't with Buffet's entourage.
http://killtown.911review.org/buffett.html
In Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward's book about the Iraqi war, Plan of Attack, Lt. Gen. Tommy Franks, who was in charge of the operation, famously called Feith the "dumbest f****** guy on the planet."
robin posted on 2007-02-16 21:27:58 ET Reply Trace Private Reply
#12. To: robin (#11)
That information originated from an in person interview Silverstein gave.Larry is the source.

honway posted on 2007-02-16 21:48:04 ET Reply Trace Private Reply
#13. To: honway (#12)
"pull it" Larry isn't very careful.
In Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward's book about the Iraqi war, Plan of Attack, Lt. Gen. Tommy Franks, who was in charge of the operation, famously called Feith the "dumbest f****** guy on the planet."
robin posted on 2007-02-16 21:49:07 ET Reply Trace Private Reply
#14. To: All (#12)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/628435/posts

F.B.I. Says Arson Killed Woman Accused in License Scheme
New York Times ^ | Friday, February 15, 2002
Posted on 02/14/2002 9:07:25 PM PST by JohnHuang2
February 15, 2002 F.B.I. Says Arson Killed Woman Accused in License Scheme By REUTERS
MEMPHIS, Feb. 14 — A deliberately set fire caused the death of a driver's license examiner who had been accused of illegally selling licenses to five Middle Eastern men who were being investigated for possible ties to terrorism, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has said.
Gasoline was poured on the clothing of the examiner, Katherine Smith, before she burned to death on Sunday in an automobile accident, J. Suzanne Nash, an F.B.I. agent, said on Wednesday.
Ms. Smith died one day before she was to have appeared in court with her five co-defendants after being arrested last week on charges of conspiracy to obtain driver's licenses illegally.
In a federal court hearing here on Wednesday, Ms. Nash said an accelerant had been found in Ms. Smith's car, adding that her death was "not an accident."
Investigators have said the gasoline tank of the automobile did not explode. Ms. Nash also said witnesses had reported that the interior of Ms. Smith's car was on fire before the vehicle struck a utility pole, causing just minor damage to the car.
Ms. Nash told the court on Monday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was looking into whether the five men who were arrested had ties to terrorist groups, citing connections to the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.
The five men, one of whom said he was a plumber at the trade center and had a visitor's pass to the towers dated Sept. 5, are being held without bond.
A lawyer for one of the defendants has denied that they had any connection to terrorism and said they were seeking documentation to work in the United States.

honway posted on 2007-02-16 21:55:33 ET Reply Trace Private Reply
#15. To: All (#14)
http://www.blacknewsweekly.com/bin89.html
September 11 link to deadly Tennessee crash?
Court papers show Odtllah has a wife, a 2-year-old son, a mother and 10 siblings, all living in Jerusalem. Officials say he has "traveled extensively across the U.S. in the last few years."
A magistrate noted Sakher Hammad, "has no ties whatsoever to this community. He has substantial ties to Jordan or Gaza, where his mother lives. He has had less than stable employment ... and a cooperating witness has disappeared under suspicious circumstances."

honway posted on 2007-02-16 21:57:48 ET Reply Trace Private Reply
#16. To: All (#15)
From Port Authority Transcripts:(B-4 is in the basement)
http://www.firehouse.com/news/wtcscripts/wtc_channel8.pdf
MALE CALLER- B-4 LEVEL: Officer, help. We're down in the B-4 level. This is Turner's field office. There's been a big explosion. We've got water lines open. There seems to be steam and smoke in the area.
.................
MALE CALLER- B-4 LEVEL: It's...yeah, we got smoke. I don't know whether it's from fire, or just dust. We got broken water lines, water all over.

honway posted on 2007-02-16 22:02:32 ET Reply Trace Private Reply
#17. To: All (#16)
http://www.firehouse.com/news/wtcscripts/wtc_channel27.pdf
WTC Ch. 27-RADIO CHANNEL X-SECURITY
MALE: Building One is flooding! Building one is flooding! (PAUSE) There's a lot of water in the building, it's flooding.

honway posted on 2007-02-16 22:03:48 ET Reply Trace Private Reply
#18. To: All (#17)
New York Times
February 18, 2002, Monday
NATIONAL DESK
A NATION CHALLENGED: A SUSPICIOUS DEATH; Memphis Fraud Case Is Long on Clues but Short on Answers
By MICHAEL MOSS (NYT) 952 words
MEMPHIS, Feb. 17 -- Just past midnight, the car Katherine Smith was driving on a country highway north of the Mississippi border burst into flames, killing Ms. Smith, a 49-year-old state employee, and deepening the mystery in a federal fraud case. Ms. Smith had been accused of illegally providing driver's licenses to men with Middle Eastern ties, and law enforcement officials are investigating the Feb. 10 crash as a possible homicide. She was to appear in court the next day.
But a week later, her death and the licensing scheme remain a puzzle, and the clues are scattered from the charred remains of her Acura Legend to a World Trade Center pass held by one of the men, whose father pleads emotionally that his son is not a terrorist.
Ms. Smith was an examiner with the State Department of Safety when, investigators say, she gave driver's licenses to three men who agreed to pay $1,000 or more to a middle man. The men, who have ties to Egypt and Lebanon, had driven to Memphis from New York City, where they live.
On Feb. 5 the men -- Mostafa Said Abou-Shahin, Abdelmuhsen Mahmid Hammad and Mohammed Fares -- obtained Tennessee licenses in false names, which gave them ''untraceable'' identities, according to court affidavits and law enforcement officials.
Arrested that day at state offices by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, who had been tipped to the scheme, the men acknowledged using false information to obtain the licenses, and identified Khaled Odtllah, 31, as one of their contacts, the authorities said. Ms. Smith told the agents she had given Mr. Odtllah improper licenses on seven earlier occasions, an F.B.I. agent said in an affidavit.
Then the agents searched a fifth man, Sakhera Hammad of New York, whom the men identified as their second contact, and found an alarming piece of paper. Mr. Hammad had a worker's pass to the World Trade Center dated Sept. 5. Suddenly, the case became a possible terrorist plot.
In a telephone interview on Saturday, Mr. Hammad's father, Peter Hansen, said his son was a plumber, and he provided a letter he said he had obtained from his son's employer attesting to his work at the trade center. In the letter, dated Feb. 13, Sergei Denko, president of Denko Mechanical, said Mr. Hammad had been working for his company in the basement garage area of 1 World Trade Center.
''He was there for a couple of days,'' Mr. Denko said in an interview.
Mr. Hansen, 56, said he immigrated to the United States 15 years ago. He said he was not in frequent contact with his son, who was born in Jordan, but he said it was inconceivable that his son was involved in any terrorist activity.
''He was devastated by Sept. 11,'' Mr. Hansen said. ''We all were. I immigrated to this great country to secure a decent future for my kids. Thank God you have work, you have home, dignity, peace, food.''
Federal prosecutors indicated in court records that a second man in the scheme had ties to the World Trade Center, but did not elaborate.
F.B.I. officials said this weekend that they had begun to corroborate some of Mr. Hammad's statements regarding his work, but that they were continuing to investigate whether the men had any terrorist links. The five men, including Mr. Hammad, are being held in Memphis without bail.
In Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, where Mr. Hammad lives and is known as Rocky, friends and neighbors said they were shocked by the reports of his arrest.
''He worked hard,'' said Elie Eid, manager of the Sunrise Farms delicatessen. ''I feel bad. Life is strange.''
Meanwhile, the mystery of Ms. Smith's death lies partly in the blackened remains of the champagne-colored Acura, which sits in an F.B.I. garage. Ms. Smith had said she was buying the car from Mr. Odtllah, according to court records.
Before the crash, witnesses said, the car headed down Highway 72 with its interior ablaze. Then it veered off the road and struck a pole.
Investigators have determined that Ms. Smith was killed by the fire, not the crash, and they found traces of an accelerant, possibly gasoline, on her clothing.
Standing by the car's wreckage on Saturday, an F.B.I. spokesman, George Bolds, said there was no visible evidence of an explosive device, raising the question of whether Ms. Smith had doused herself.
''We haven't decided yet whether it was suicide or foul play,'' he said. ''It's hard to put all the pieces together and come up with a theory that explains it all.''
Friends of Ms. Smith's, who was known as Kat, say she was devoted to her three adult children and juggled two jobs while helping to care for her mother. Neighbors said she unfailingly remembered their birthdays.
On Saturday, some 200 family members, friends and colleagues packed a funeral home in Memphis to celebrate her life with clapping, cries of joy and resounding song.
''There is so much mystery and speculation surrounding the death of our sister,'' said the Rev. L. F. Self of the Great Ebenezer Baptist Church. ''But there is no mystery about what she would want us to do now. Trust in the Lord.''
CAPTIONS: Photo: Katherine Smith, a 49-year-old Tennessee state employee, died in a car crash on Feb. 10, the day before she was due in court on charges that she had provided false driver's licenses to men with Middle Eastern ties. (Photographs by Associated Press)

honway posted on 2007-02-16 22:09:12 ET Reply Trace Private Reply
#19. To: honway (#1)
Fireproofing, sprinkler systems and the water supply for hoses were all disabled in the twin towers on Sept. 11

whoa. i hadn't heard about that.

christine posted on 2007-02-16 22:25:50 ET Reply Trace Private Reply
#20. To: christine (#18)
bumped for reference
Thanks christine for providing a site that permits me to archive articles like this one.

honway posted on 2009-12-11 14:34:04 ET Reply Trace Private Reply
#21. To: robin (#9)
robin wrote:

Gee whiz, didn't expect you'd have the nuts to show up here ... how's that hope and change treatin ya ?
Doing what's right isn't always easy but it's always right.
noone222 posted on 2009-12-11 14:38:43 ET Reply Trace Private Reply
#22. To: honway (#20)
hi honway, my pleasure for sure, and it's great to see you again. i hope all is well with you.

christine posted on 2009-12-11 16:35:45 ET Reply Trace Private Reply
#23. To: noone222 (#21)
the post is from 2007

christine posted on 2009-12-11 16:36:18 ET Reply Trace Private Reply
#24. To: christine (#23)
oops ! (good).
Doing what's right isn't always easy but it's always right.
noone222 posted on 2009-12-11 16:37:16 ET Reply Trace Private Reply
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest

Freedom4um