The Observer: The last days of Muhammad Atta by Martin Amis

[Mark Gobell]

From today's Observer for those who like novels.

I guess in the all out propaganda war, every angle has to be covered.

For those lazy Sunday afternoons, for avid readers, averse to news. What could be better than some soothing, reassuring topical fiction. As they lay content yet hungry for missing truth, in their warm leather sofa's. The silent ticking of the clock. Dead time. The warm, crisp pages of the Observer, gently resting in porcelain hands . . .


The last days of Muhammad Atta

On 11 September 2001, he opened his eyes at 4am, in Portland, Maine; and Muhammad Atta's last day began. (Part one: to read part two, click here)

Martin Amis
Sunday September 3, 2006

'No physical, documentary, or analytical evidence provides a convincing explanation of why [Muhammad] Atta and [Abdulaziz al] Omari drove to Portland, Maine, from Boston on the morning of September 10, only to return to Logan on Flight 5930 on the morning of September 11'
The 9/11 Commission Report

On 11 September 2001, he opened his eyes at 4am, in Portland, Maine; and Muhammad Atta's last day began.

What was the scene of this awakening? A room in a hotel, of the type designated as 'budget' in his guidebook - one up from 'basic'. It was a Repose Inn, part of a chain. But it wasn't like the other Repose Inns he had lodged at: brisk, hygienic establishments. This place was ponderous and labyrinthine, and as elderly as most of its clientele. And it was cheap. So. The padded nylon quilt as weighty as a lead vest; the big cuboid television on the dresser opposite; and the dented white fridge - where, as it happened, Muhammad Atta's reason for coming to Portland, Maine, lay cooling on its shelf... The particular frugality of these final weeks was part of a peer-group piety contest that he was laconically going along with. Like the others, he was attending to his prayers, disbursing his alms, washing often, eating little, sleeping little. (But he wasn't like the others.) Days earlier, their surplus operational funds - about $26,000 - had been abstemiously wired back to the go-between in Dubai.




http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,,1862353,00.html

[Annie]

Like a cheap wine, Amis doesn't improve with age.....

[utopiated]

Strap Amis *and* the Observer Features' Editor into a chair Clockwork Orange stylee and make them watch Daniel Hopsicker's video on Atta.

Some bizzare stuff indeed.

[Skeptic]

what a load of tripe this was

he made several points about Atta's supposed oppressive views on women

no mention of his cocaine abuse or going to strip-clubs

it was the part where 'he knew the towers wouldn't survive the fires and that they would come tumbling down' because he had studied engineering that really made this a joke

[Mark Gobell]

I have never read any Amis novels. It is unlikely I will start anytime soon.

Life's too short for fiction in my book.

Is this typical of his work ?

My first pass through this fiction gave me the impression that it was some kind of parody, a joke. I actually kept reading thinking there would be some point to it, some denouement. If there was, it eluded me.

Will the pseudo litteratti among the Observer's chattering classes find succour in this fiction ?

Nobody knows why Atta, whoever he was, allegedly drove to Portland on September 10th 2001.

Nobody knows why Atta allegedly caught a plane from Portland back to Boston on the morning of Sept 11th 2001, instead of driving again.

Flying into Boston to connect with the fictional Flight 11 which, like the fictional Fllight 77 that allegedly hit the Pentagon, the US Government's own database proves didn't even fly that day, was a risky thing to do.

One small glitch at Portland, your connecting flight is delayed and you miss your connection on the phantom Flight 11 out of Boston. We would still have WTC1 standing tall and proud.

Allegedly, nobody knows why Atta's alleged luggage allegedly wasn't loaded onto the fictional Flight 11. However that little c*** up proved amazingly fortuitous for the official US Government's fiction.

In the alleged Atta's alleged luggage they allegedly found a four page document written in Arabic, allegedly detailing the preparations the alleged hijackers should make the night before their alleged mission.

Not suprisingly the Observer has the details here, published in a "story" 19 days after Sept 11th:

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,560773,00.ht ml

Amis follows this script "religously".

In that same alleged luggage they allegedly found alleged instructional videos and manuals on operating Boeing 767s, alleged overalls like those worn by airport ramp workers, an alleged Holy Quran and an alleged fuel-consumption calculator.

Allegedly, last minute packing ?

Just in case they wanted to remind themselves of how to fly a 767 and ensure they had enough fuel on a plane that was flying from Boston to Los Angeles, say a few prayers and watch a video.

Who writes this stuff ?

Allegedly, nobody knows why the alleged Atta and his alleged cohorts left allegedly incriminationg evidence in an alleged car it is alleged they used, including alleged flight manuals and an alleged instruction book allegedly, on how to fly a Boeing 767.

Allegedly, just in case they forgot on their way to the airport ?

Allegedly, nobody knows much about any of this.

Amis doesn't know. He writes fiction. That's what he does.

Amis' publishers attempts to explain here:

http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/books/news/article357637.ece

As explained by his publisher, Jonathan Cape, the tale can be summarised like this: "Accompanied by one of the 'muscle' Saudis, Mohamed Atta drove to Portland, Maine, on 10 September 2001. Noone knows why. In 'The Last Days of Mohamed Atta', Martin Amis provides a rationale for Atta's insouciant detour, and for other lacunae in the 'planes operation'. We follow Atta on that day: from his small-hour awakening in the budget hotel room in Portland, all the way to 8:46am - and beyond."

Actually, "Nobody knows" is a fictional statement.

Some people know what happened. That is a fact.

The world doesn't know everything. Yet. That too is a fact.

Amis clearly doesn't. He makes it up. His fans will consume this tripe and be satiated.

Mission accomplished. You can all go back to sleep now.

Amis, the writer of fiction, chooses a subject matter which is already founded and mired in fiction:

The Official US Government fictional account of 9/11 as explained by the mostly fictional 9/11 Commission Report.

Fact:

Amis writes fictional accounts of fictional events.

Fact:

People expend their cash on such fiction.

Fact:

People who use reason and science to cast doubt on the official fiction produced by governments and their agencies about 9/11 and it's consequential wars are demonised as "conspiracy nut jobs".

Fact:

The world doesn't need more fiction about 9/11. That day was too important for the likes of Amis to produce further fiction.

Fact:

What the victims of 9/11, their families, and all of those killed and maimed in the wars that were planned before 9/11 and have been waged in it's wake, need, are facts about 9/11. Not more fiction.

Five years on we need more truth. Not more fiction.

Our democracies cannot be underpinned by fiction.

Our liberty cannot be legislated away using fictional threats.

Thanks for enlightening us Martin with your fiction.

To the Editor of the Observer for publishing this timely, fictional reminder to it's readers about the fictional events of September 11th 2001, I say:

If you are willing to publish known fiction, from Martin Amis, for the entertainment of your readership why do you continue to abstain from publishing the known contradictions in the fictional accounts of 9/11 ?

[IronSnot]

Anybody know why they were in Portland?

[Mark Gobell]

Frank Sinatra knows. But he's dead too.

[IronSnot]

Yes thanks for that.

Really they must have had a reason. A meeting with somebody?

[Mark Gobell]

I think the official reason is that their instructions told them to start their last journeys from small, innocuous airports so as to evade security.

[Mark Gobell]

There is this speculation here : http://www.physics911.net/pdf/honegger.pdf

This also throws new light on the claims by the Pentagon’s then−secret datamining task force, "Able Danger," to have tracked lead 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta and at least four of the other 19 hijackers beginning in January, 2000, when Atta actually did enter the country according to Daniel Hopsicker in his book, Welcome to Terrorland. The FBI falsely claimed, and still falsely claims, that Atta did not enter the US until the summer of 2000, six months later. The likely reason for this intentional lie about when Atta first entered the country is what Atta is known to have done while inside the US between January and the Summer of 2000. Hopsicker reveals that, among other activities, Atta visited Portland, Maine, in March, 2000, and perhaps even earlier.

An abiding "mystery" of the official cover story is why Atta drove to Portland, Maine on September 10, the day before 9/11, and then flew from Portland to Boston early on the morning of September 11.

The answer to this "mystery," which the FBI clearly already knows, is the link between what Atta was doing in Portland before the administration admits he was even in the country, as well as what he was doing there the day before 9/11 and early on the morning of 9/11.

This may all have something to do with the fact that the CIA reportedly runs secret flights out of an airport in Portland, Maine, and that "rendition" detainees have said they were flown out of the country on special jets after first stopping at Portland’s International Jet Port.

[IronSnot]

Whereabouts 10/11 September
http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel01/100401.htm

Mohammed Atta did email a "New Hampshire Flying School" for lessons according to the 911 commission report.

Maybe this article is of some interest (who knows)

http://www.seacoastonline.com/2002news/1_6biz2.htm

Also the Shehri brothers (co hijackers with Atta on 11) were the sons of a Saudi diplomat (including in Washington, but in India on 9/11) who is also listed as resident at their addresses in VA and FL.