Commission Sensitive
MEMORANDUM FOR
THE
RECORD
Event:
Interview of Xxxxxxxxxx Xxxxxx
Date:
04/23/2004
Special
Access
Issues:
none
Prepared by:
Quinn
John
Tamm
Jr. and Dietrich
Snell
Team Number:
1A
Non Commission participants:
Counsel for Xxxxxxxxxx
Xxxxxx, Charles G.
La
Bella
and George
C
loannides,
FBI
representative
Special
Agent|
The
interview
was
conducted
in the law
offices
of La
Bella
and
McNamara,
401
West A
Street,
Suite
1150
San Diego, CA. The interview began at
2:30
pm
Pacific
time.
|
[
arrived
at
the law
offices
at
3:30
pm.
Xxxxxxocxxx
Xxxxxx,
PhD.,
was
introduced
to
Commission
Staffers
Dietrich
Snell and Quinri
John Tamm,
Jr. It was
explained
to
Dr<
Xxxxxx that this interviewconcerned his
contact
with
Nawaf
al-Hazmi
(al-Hazmi) and Khalid al-Mihdhar (al-Mihdhar),
and
other related issues.
Dr.
Xxxxxx provided
the
following
information:
Dr. Xxxxxx
stated that
his is a
native
of
India
having been born
in
RajasthanProvince.
He
became
a
United States
citizen
in
1976/
Dr.
Xxxxxx
isf
| He
became active in the Muslim community of San Diego in the early IwOs and was a
|
jlslamic Center
of
San
Diego
(ICSD).
Dr
Xxxxxx explained that
/
the
core group
of
members
for the
ICSD began meeting
fpr
prayer
at a
warehouse
in San
Diego owned by one
of.
the members of the ICSD.
.The
initial gathering occurred duringRamadan. Later
the
ICSD bought
a
house
on
Curry Street
in San
Diego,
to use as a
mosque.
After
a
fund
raising campaign the
present
mosque was built on Balboa Avenue
in
San
Diego.|
Dr.
Xxxxxx
has two
sonsj
|who
Is
I
and
I
who is
1
1
thefLoran.
Eft
Both
sons,
traveled to
1
|are
fiafiz
wnicjj.mearis
that thev have memorizedIndia to
Study arid
memorize theKoran.
1
;
I
because
of
his
accomplishment.
9 11
Personal
Privacy
9 11
Law
Enforcement Privacy
Commission Sensitive
Dr.
Xxxxxx
was
asked about
his
relationship with
the
ICSD
in
January 2000.
Dr.
Xxxxxx
stated that
in
January 2000
his
only relationship with
the
ICSD
was as an
attendee
of
Friday prayers.
He was not on the
board
of
trustees
of the
mosque,
and
held
no
other position with
the
ICSD.
Dr.
Xxxxxx stated that between
600 and 700 people
routinely
attend
the
Friday prayer service
at the
ICSD.
After
the
service there
is
generally
some socialization
in the
common
areas
and
parking
lot of the
mosque.Dr. Xxxxxx was asked how he met Nawaf al-Hazmi and
Khalid
al-Mihdhar. In
April
2000,
Dr. Xxxxxx explained that he had placed an announcement on the bulletinboard
of the
ICSD adjacent
to the
administrative
offices
of the
mosque.
The
notice
was in
English, and stated that Dr. Xxxxxx was interested in renting
rooms
in his house in
|
Ito
practicing
or
observant Muslims.
The
notice only provided
Dr
/Xxxxxx s
telephone number for contact. Dr. Xxxxxx stated that he was standing in the
•hallway
adjacent
to the
administrative
offices
at the
ICSD
when
the
mosque's secretary,
I
~|pointed
him
(Xxxxxx)
out to
al-Hazmi
and
al-Mihdhar, Al-Hazmi spoke
to
/Dr. Xxxxxx with al-Mihdhar present. Al-Hazmi told Dr. Xxxxxx that he and al-Mihdhar
needed at place to stay,
very
badly. Dr. Xxxxxx said that the conversation was
conducted
in
English.
Dr.
Xxxxxx explained that al-Hazmi
had limited
English
skills, but
go his
message
across.
Al-Mihdhar spoke
no
English,
and
conversed with
al-
Hazmi
in
Arabic. Al-Hazmi stated that
he and
al-Mihdhar were living
in an
apartmentcomplex near
the
ICSD,
but
would have
to
vacate
the
apartment because
the
person
they were living with
was
leaving
for
Saudi Arabia.
Dr.
Xxxxxx recalled that
the
apartment building was on Mt. Aida Avenue in San Diego. Dr. Xxxxxx stated that it washis recollection
that
al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar came to his house inl Ion05/10/2000.
Dr.
Xxxxxx bases this
on the
fact
that al-Hazmi
left
his
house
on
12/10/2000
and did not owe him any
additional rent.
Dr.
Xxxxxx said that al-Hazmigave
him
notice
of his
departure several days earlier
and
then selected 12/10/2000, statingthat would complete
a
full
month's rent.
Consequently,
Dr.
Xxxxxx presently
believes
that
he first met al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar on the .Friday before 05/10/2000, or05/05/2000.
It
was
noted
to Dr.
Xxxxxx
by
Commission staffers that al-Mihdhar changed
the
mailing address
on his
bank account
at the
Bank
of
America
from
the Mt.
Aida Avenueaddress
to Dr.
Xxxxxx's address
on
04/19/2000.
Dr.
Xxxxxx
did not
have
an
explanation
for
this contradiction, other than he recalled
that
al-Mihdhar lived with him forapproximately
six
weeks
and he
believed that al-Hazmi
and
al-Mihdhar moved into
his
house on 05/10/200Q. Dr. Xxxxxx stated that he did assist
al-Hazmi
in opening achecking
account, at the
Bank
of
America branch.inl
|CA,
sometime after
al-Hazmi
moved into his house. It is Dr. Xxxxxx's recollection that al-Hazmi opened the
account
with
a
$3,000.00
cash
deppsit, in
$100
bills, which
Dr.
Xxxxxx handed
to the
bank
teller
or
employee.
Dr..Xxxxxx
did not
know that al-Mihdhar
had a
bank account,
and
denied suggesting
in a Federal
Bureau
of
Investigation
(FBI)
report
that al-Mihdhar handled
the
.money.
9/11 Personal Privacy
i
.•••€ ;-•<•
_...---
:
' /9/ll
Personal Privacy
ommission
Sensitive
When
al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar moved into.Dr.
Xxxxxx's house m|
,-•-'
•
-^*.-ri
1
S«
„
•-><;-,••
"V*i* ^MMHHMMMH
J-Hazmi
owned an automobile'. As
previously
noted, al-Hazmi could speak
limited
English and al-Mihdhar spoke no English at all. Al-Hazmi told Dr. Xxxxxx thathe and al-Mihdhar came to the United States to
lea^n
English. Dr. Xxxxxx said that theytold him the name of a language school in San Diego, which Dr. Xxxxxx no longerrecalls.
Dr.
Xxxxxx noted that
the
school
was
legitimate,
When
Dr.
Xxxxxx would
find
al-Hazrni and al-Mihdhar at his house during the middle of the day, and not at thelanguage
school,
he
would
ask
them about their
studies.
Al-Hazmi
told
him
that
the
language school was no
good,
and they had
stopped
attending. Dr. Xxxxxx mentionedthat al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar seemed
secretive/'
on occasion. Dr. Xxxxxx thought thatthis behavior came
from a
personal disagreement between
the
two.Both al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar stated
thirt
they were from Saudi Arabia,
specifically
the Jeddah region. Dr. Xxxxxx
suspected
that al-Mihdhar was
from
Yemen,because he had the ethnic characteristics of a Yemeni. Al-Mihdhar told Dr. Xxxxxx thathe was a fisherman and al-Hazmi stated that he had worked in his father's grocery store.Neither al-Hazmi nor al-Mihdhar provided
an
explanation why they came to San Diegoto study English, as opposed to some other American
city.
They
also
did not tell Dr.Xxxxxx the history of
their
friendship (al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar) which was customaryamong Arabs. Dr.
Xxxxxx
stated that a previous FBI report where he (Xxxxxx)described al-Hazmi
and
al-Mihdhar
as
cousins,
was
incorrect. Also incorrect
was
another FBI report that stated that al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar were introduced to him byModhar Abdula. Dr. Xxxxxx reiterated that he met al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar at the ICSD
on
the
casual introduction
of|
|
When ai-Hazmi
and al-Mihdhar moved in with Dr. Xxxxxx they had limitedpersonal possessions. Al-Hazmi had his clothes and a personal stereo system or boombox and al-Mihdhar only had his clothes. Dr. Xxxxxx allowed them to use his computer
to
access
the
internet. Al-Hazmi
was a frequent
user
of the
computer
and the
internet.
Dr. Xxxxxx did notice that neither al-Hazmi nor al-Mihdhar ever made telephone calls
from his
(Xxxxxx's)
telephone. When
he
asked both
of
them
if
they ever called home,they said that they
did but
that they
used
pay
telephones. Al-Hazmi
stated,
We go
outside
to use the
telephone.
Dr.
Xxxxxx noted that they would have
to
drive
from the
neighborhood
to use a pay
telephone.
Dr.
Xxxxxx described al-Hazmi
and
al-Mihdhar
as
Bedouins.
He
further
stated that they were very patient and ate their meals in theBedouin style by sitting on the floor of the kitchen.Dr. Xxxxxx described al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar as very pious. Dr. Xxxxxxremarked that on one occasion that al-Mihdhar asked Dr. Xxxxxx to turn
off
thetelevision
set
because
scantly
clad
cheerleaders
were performing during
a
basketball
game. Al-Hazmi was especially interested in the news when it related to Chechnya. Dr.Xxxxxx stated that al-Hazmi would be come visibly upset when there was news ofRussian victories in Chechnya. The three of them prayed the
pre-dawn
s l h
or prayertogether most days. Dr. Xxxxxx could only recall al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar missing thepre-dawn
s l h
on one
occasion,
and
that
is
when al-Mihdhar went
to Los
Angeles,
CA
to fly back to Yemen. Al-Mihdhar told Dr. Xxxxxx that he was going to visit his
wife
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