Plot details emerge
The week's news at a glance.
Washington, D.C.
The alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, told interrogators that he originally planned to hijack five planes each on the East and West coasts and “fly them into targets,” the Associated Press reported this week. Mohammed, who is being detained in an undisclosed country, said that Osama bin Laden himself vetoed the idea, saying it would be impossible to pull off so many hijackings at once. In spring 2000, bin Laden also called off plans to simultaneously hijack airliners in East Asia. Mohammed said that he used Internet chat software to pass on his instructions, and that the ringleader wasn’t the notorious Mohamed Atta, but two hijackers who had spent time in California, Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.