Jose E. Melendez-Perez, now an inspector with the Department of Homeland Security, recounted an interview he conducted with a Saudi national, Mohamed al Qahtani, who investigators now believe was planning to meet Atta at the Orlando airport on Aug. 4, 2001. Al Qahtani had no return ticket and no hotel reservations, and he refused to identify a friend who, he said, would provide him with money and other assistance on his trip.

\"The bottom line was, he gave me the creeps,\" Melendez-Perez said in his prepared statement, adding that his first impression was that al Qahtani was a \"hit man\" because of his hostile and arrogant attitude and his refusal to disclose his plans. \"A 'hit man' doesn't know where he is going because if he is caught, that way he doesn't have any information to bargain with,\" he said. \"My wife said I was watching too much movies.\"

Before departing, al Qahtani turned to Melendez-Perez and said, in English: \"I'll be back.\"

Melendez-Perez said he was taking a bit of a risk by refusing al Qahtani entry to the United States because Saudis were generally treated more permissively than other foreign nationals by U.S. border agents. Al Qahtani -- who would later be apprehended by U.S. forces in Afghanistan (news - web sites) -- was eventually escorted onto a flight bound for Dubai via London, a decision that was applauded by the audience and the commission at yesterday's hearing.

\"It is extremely possible, and perhaps probable, that Mohamed al Qahtani was to be the 20th hijacker,\" said Richard Ben-Veniste, a former Watergate prosecutor and Democratic member of the commission. \"It is entirely plausible to suggest that your actions . . . may well have contributed to saving the Capitol or the White House and all the people who were in those buildings.\"
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twin58:
\"It is extremely possible, and perhaps probable, that Mohamed al Qahtani was to be the 20th hijacker,\"

Melendez-Perez said he was taking a bit of a risk by refusing al Qahtani entry to the United States because Saudis were generally treated more permissively than other foreign nationals by U.S. border agents.