Al-Mihdhar left the United States in June 2000. Ramzi Binalshibh had wired $115,000 to a Suntrust bank account shortly after Atta and al-Shehhi arrived in Florida. Mohammed Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi started taking flight lessons at Huffman Aviation International in Venice, Florida. Atta claimed that he was of royal Saudi descent, and that al-Shehhi was his bodyguard. The men may have received money financing the plot from Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mohammed Yousef Mohamed Alqusaidi, who may be al-Shehhi's brother.

Meanwhile, Ziad Jarrah arrived in the United States in late June 2000. He left the country five times in the next thirteen months. Al-Hazmi took a job washing cars at a Texaco station that was owned by Palestinians. The gas station was a hangout for Arabs, who drank coffee as they sat at a picnic table outside[citation needed]. Al-Hazmi often rambled about how he feels that Muslims were discriminated against[citation needed]. According to his family, al-Hazmi never told his friends that he fought in Chechnya three years earlier after leaving Saudi Arabia. Back in Europe, Said Bahaji told his employer and his family that he was quitting his job and was going to be an intern in Pakistan. His aunt, Barbara Arens, says that she was suspicious and that she went to the police and pleaded to them "to do something." She says that police took no action against Bahaji.

The men in the September 11 plot were always on the move, spending thousands of dollars on airline tickets and logging many miles into rental cars. They often stayed in Econo Lodges. The men often went to cities that had one or more Mail Boxes Etc. stores. They obtained mail boxes there and used them as permanent addresses to get drivers licenses and admissions into flight schools.

On October 20, 2000, Atta's mentor, Mohammed Belfas, and an Indonesian architecture student that Belfas knew for years, named Agus Budiman, arrived in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.. Both men had been coming to the United States for many years. He said that he wanted to move to the United States for good, and that he had family in Northern Virginia. Belfas even had a Virginia driver's license. While in the United States, Belfas accompanied Budiman while he worked as his job as a driver for a take-out-taxi restaurant delivery service.

When Belfas offered to help Budiman if he got Belfas a U.S. driver's license, Budiman explained that he didn't need one. Belfas said that he wanted one for a souvenir. On November 4, they went to the first trip to the Department of Motor Vehicles office in Arlington County, Virginia. They swore that Belfas lived in Arlington County, so he got his Virginia Identification card. The men obtained his driver's license two days later using the ID. Within the week, Belfas went back to Germany.

Also in October, Zacarias Moussaoui allegedly received US$35,000 and travel documents from Yazid Sufaat, a cohort of Hambali, while Moussaoui was in Malaysia. Sudaat provided the money and documents on Hambali's orders.

In December, a man who al-Hazmi called "Hani" arrived in San Diego. "Hani" was actually Hani Hanjour, who spent most of three years in the late 1990s in Arizona training to be a pilot. Every account of him stated that he was a bad student, but he got his license and returned to Saudi Arabia. He and al-Hazmi then left San Diego and started training to be a pilot in Arizona.

Atta and al-Shehhi practiced flying on a Boeing 727 flight simulator on December 29 and December 30. The simulator was at the SimCenter flight school in Opa-Locka, Florida. According to Henry George, the instructor, the men told him that they wanted to be commercial pilots back in their home countries. The instructor didn't think that they had skill to be real pilots. He commented, "All they were doing is making themselves both prepared for the task." During the three hours apiece training, the men made a lot of turns and maneuvers. Although they could take off and land well, the instructor called the simulator, "a mini, mini introduction."

Shortly afterwards, Atta left for Germany. He then travelled to Spain, before going back to the United States.

Zacarias Moussaoui entered the United States in February 2001. Ramzi Binalshibh, who was in Germany, wired him $14,000. Binalshibh also wired money to Marwan al-Shehhi and a soon-to-be hijacker named Fayez Banihammad.

Al-Mihdhar returned to the U.S. on July 4, 2001. By that time, twelve Saudi men and a man from the United Arab Emirates arrived in the East Coast. It is unknown how they were recruited. Many of the Saudis may have been chosen because it was very easy for Saudi citizens to get visas to the United States.

On July 8, 2001, Atta took his second trip to Spain, leaving from Miami to Madrid. He had already left for Spain another time since he first came to the U.S. Al-Shehhi also took two of his own trips across the Atlantic Ocean. Atta then rented a silver Hyundai and took an 8-hour drive to Tarragona. Ramzi Binalshibh was also in Spain at the time, staying at the Hotel Monica in Cambrils. Atta stayed at a hotel in Tarragona, which was fifteen minutes away. Atta spent 11 days in Spain. The following day, Binalshibh checked out without breakfast and vanished along with Atta. It is unknown why they came to Spain. They most likely came for a third party. Various theories include an operational commander or a courier relaying the final instructions of the plot. The meeting may have concerned Zacarias Moussaoui, a French Moroccan that spent time in Afghanistan and Chechnya and was supposedly on his way to the United States to fill the vacuum that Binalshibh left when he was denied a visa. Plans to include him in the plot were never finalized, as the leadership of the group questioned his competency. The meeting that Atta and Binalshibh possibly attended may have taken place at a safehouse. Binalshibh returned to Hamburg on July 20. On July 29, and August 2, Zacarias Moussaoui placed several calls to a telephone number in Düsseldorf. On July 30 and July 31 in Hamburg, Binalshibh received 15,000 dollars from the alleged paymaster in the United Arab Emirates. He wired $14,000 to Moussaoui on August 1 and August 3.

Soon after Atta returned to the U.S., he set up a meeting in Las Vegas metropolitan area. Again, it is unknown why he set up the meeting. Al-Hazmi and Hanjour were living in an apartment in Paterson, New Jersey, close to where Atta bought a ticket for his second Spain trip.

Shortly afterwards, Atta left for Germany. He then travelled to Spain, before going back to the United States.

On August 1, Hani Hanjour left the Paterson apartment.

On August 2, 2001, Salem al-Hazmi, Abdulaziz al-Omari, Majed Moqed, and two to four other of the hijackers visited the office in Arlington County, Virginia to get IDs and drivers' licenses in the same manner as how Mohammed Belfas got them. They paid other men to sign for them on the paperwork. They used the IDs to make it simpler to purchase boarding tickets for airplanes

On August 1, Hani Hanjour left the Paterson apartment.

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