A leaked FAA memo written on the evening of 9/11
suggests a man on Flight 11 was shot and killed by a gun before the plane
crashed into the WTC. [See the FAA memo, originally posted at World Net
Daily] The "Executive Summary," based on information relayed by a flight
attendant to the American Airlines Operation Center, stated "that a
passenger located in seat 10B shot and killed a passenger in seat 9B at
9:20 a.m.
The passenger killed was Daniel Lewin, shot by passenger Satam Al
Suqami." The FAA claims that the document is a "first draft," declining to release the final draft, as it is "protected information." A report in Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz on Sept. 17 identifies Lewin as a former
member of the Israel Defense Force Sayeret Matkal, Israel's most
successful special-operations unit [UPI, 3/6/02]. It is a deep-penetration
unit that has been involved in assassinations, the theft of foreign
signals-intelligence materials, and the theft and destruction of foreign
nuclear weaponry. Sayeret Mat'kal is best known for the 1976 rescue of 106 passengers at Entebbe Airport in Uganda. [New Yorker, 10/29/01]
Officials later deny the gun story and suggest that Lewin was probably just stabbed to death instead (which would still be very interesting). [UPI, 3/6/02, Washington Post, 3/2/02] Note that Lewin founded
Akamai, a successful computer company, and his connections to Sayeret Mat'kal remained hidden until the gun story came to light. [Guardian, 9/15/01] What are the odds that an Israeli counter-terrorist expert would just happen to be sitting next to the terrorists on this flight, who then somehow knew to kill him?