The panel investigating the September 11th, 2001, attacks has unearthed evidence that al-Qaeda had postponed the attack from a date in the spring of that year because their lead hijacker was not ready, the Washington Postsaid today.
Citing unidentified sources, the Postreported that the operation's suspected mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who has been in US custody since March 2003, convinced al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to delay the attacks from May or June.
Evidence of a date postponement, which was obtained from US-held detainees, is expected to be discussed by the 10-member independent commission tomorrow, as it holds its final public hearings this week into how al-Qaeda pulled off its spectacular attacks against US targets, the Postsaid.
Until now, the newspaper said, US investigators have cited evidence that indicates the suicide hijackings that killed more than 3,000 people in New York, Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon probably were initially planned to be carried out on or about September 11th, and if there was an alternate date, it probably would have been later in the year.
Although bin Laden wanted the hijackings to be carried out in May or June, he agreed to delay them because lead hijacker Mohammed Atta and his conspirators had not started reconnaissance flights until May, the Postquoted sources as saying.
The evidence suggests that the decision to delay the attacks came about for operational reasons and not in response to heightened security in the early summer of 2001, it said.
The panel, formally known as the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, is due to present its findings on July 26th.