Officials in the United States had four separate chances to put an end to Mohammad Atta's stay here in the US! They botched each chance and on September 11, 2001, Atta led 18 other terrorists in the Attack on America.

Atta was most likely at the controls when Flight 11 crashed into the first WTC tower.

See the article at:[url]http://www.miami.com/herald/special/news/terrorism/digdocs/084895.htm[/url]

We really, really need to stop this sort of stupidity when it comes to 'visitors' to our beloved nation. If 9-11-2001 doesn't do it, what in God's name would be sufficient to make people sit up and pay attention???

[b]From the article:[/b]

Mohamed Atta, the suspected ringleader of the hijackers in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, was almost denied entry to the United States earlier this year when an immigration inspector at Miami International Airport became suspicious that he wanted to take flight lessons while on a tourist visa.

The inspector ordered Atta out of the regular immigration line so a second immigration officer could question him at length, a federal official familiar with the incident said. After a 57-minute delay, the second inspector cleared Atta into the country as a tourist, the official said.

Atta's brief detention at the airport on Jan. 10, after arriving on a flight from Madrid, Spain, is the fourth instance that has come to light since the attacks that U.S. authorities missed a chance to stop the 33-year-old Egyptian pilot before the hijackings.

On Dec. 27, a Federal Aviation Administration official threatened to investigate Atta and another hijacking suspect, Marwan al-Shehhi, after they abandoned their broken-down small private plane on a taxiway at Miami International the day after Christmas.

Also on Jan. 10, the Immigration and Naturalization Service inspectors who interviewed Atta failed to notice that he had overstayed his visa by 32 days during a prior trip to the United States.

And in May, police failed to arrest Atta on a warrant issued after he missed a May 28 court hearing on a ticket in Tamarac for driving without a valid license.
*   *   *
The U.S. official familiar with the investigation said the INS officer who inspected Atta's papers at 5:03 p.m. Jan. 10 became concerned when Atta said he was in the United States for flight training.

The inspector pulled Atta out of the line because he had a tourist visa, not the M vocational training visa commonly issued to foreign students seeking flight training, the official said.

Atta told the inspector that he had applied for an M and was awaiting a change in status, the official said.

The INS officer told Atta to report to a second INS official for secondary inspection, ostensibly a more thorough interview in which an arriving passenger is grilled extensively on his or her intentions while in the United States.

[b]CLEARED TO ENTER[/b]

According to the U.S. official, the second inspector ultimately cleared Atta into the country.

Had the second inspector deemed Atta inadmissible, the officer could have either ordered Atta transferred to the Krome Service Processing Center or deported him on the next plane back to Europe. Neither MIA inspector apparently noticed that Atta had overstayed his visa on his previous trip.

See remainder of story at url address.

Eric The(Yeah,WhenWillWeEverLearn?)Hun[>]:)]

(Atta)Laughing all the way. ha ha ha ha ha

Those officials need to be Prosecuted for "Deriliction of Duty".

We need some serious tightening of immigration laws. It will also open up the job market for Americans.

Its sad but true. Hindsight is always 20/20. Now any of these ragheads who comes in is no doubt being watched. Personally I would piss them off, and not let any of them in.

Heard on US Fox News tonight that several men from Syria are in the USA to take pilot trg! And they are doing it! Send them directly to gaol, not to fly Cessnas! Interragate the bastards, use alittle pressure to get the truth!

Syria is already blacklisted with the US as assisting terr orgs etc.