have kidney problems or a bleeding condition, like stomach ulcers. or if you take aspirin products, nsaids, or blood thinners. tell your doctor about all medicines you take, any planned medical or dental procedures, and don't stop taking pradaxa without your doctors approval, as stopping may increase your stroke risk. other side effects include indigestion,stomach pain, upset, or burning. if you have afib not caused by a heart valve problem, ask your doctor if pradaxa can reduce your risk of a stroke. for more information or help paying for pradaxa, visit pradaxa.com. ♪ good afternoon from msnbc. we're in shanksville, pennsylvania for the first event to mark the horrors, but also in so many cases the heroic

nobility of september 11, 2001. ten years ago tomorrow. shanksville, pennsylvania, now a place of history because here where we are today for this day of remembrance, is the crash site of united airlines flight 93. the jet liner had left newark that morning a decade ago, headed for san francisco. there were 33 passengers aboard. seven crew members. they numbered among them true american patriots who, getting word upon what happened that day, stormed the cockpit. "let's roll" one called out and brought down that plane before the terrorists could attack the united states capitol. then just 20 minutes over the horizon. today we honor them and with them the american resilience they, in those moments of dread, rose up to personify. ten years after a brave group of passengers took matters into their own hands aboard united

airlines flight 93, we're here in shanksville, pennsylvania, and joining me right now is my colleague, tameran hall. >> you see a lot of people looking over this field, because this is the exact direction that flight 93 came into this area. and behind us near where i'm standing is the wall of names. and it also follows the path that flight 93 took on that awful day ten years ago. i had the pleasure of speaking with two family members this morning. i said how does it feel to be here ten years later? they told me this is a comfort spot for them and for all americans who were able to travel to this community and see the very place as you put it earlier, where americans fought back. and there's a bolder that marks the spot where flight 93 crashed to the ground. it is so emotional. i guess it's spiritual and comforts and the family members want this to be a celebration.

after all, this is a dedication to the heroism we saw on that day and we remember every day, now ten years. >> thank you so much. msnbc contribute for and syndicated radio talk show host michael smircinish is here. you've done so much work to honor this group of people. we don't know what happened up there on that plane, but this is the first time americans had a chance to defy what was going on, to be americans. >> we're not that far from gettysburg. one of the passengers on the buses said this is the first battlefield in the war on terror. and i think that's why it's attracted so many people to come here and pay their respects. >> i keep thinking of the word defiance. you have defied this bad day in history by going out and bringing a lot of people by the

way, looking at us right now came from the philadelphia area and you brought them here. >> we brought 400 today and i'm proud of the fact that $10 at a time, we were just discussing off air, there's a funding shortfall for the flighted 3 national memorial, which i think is a disgrace. but $10 at a time, the pen on my lapel, we've been selling through a philadelphia jewelry and collectively we've raised $250,000 in three years. they're all sporting pins, buying them and we've done our part. >> when you're making the case of why this particular spot in pennsylvania needs to be honored, what do you say? >> what took place behind us, 18 minutes in travel time from the white house or the capital. i tell the story of jose perez, the ins inspector who stopped muhammad al khatani from gaining

entrance into the united states. so the argument goes perhaps with one added terrorist, they could have kept the plane in the air and struck the capital. >> joining us right now, former governor of pennsylvania, ed rendell. what i like about you, governor, is you're resilient. you never lad to be in an airplane taken over by terrorists, but this idea that pennsylvania gets to do this honoring is so great for you. >> sure. chris, i've had the pleasure of being out here every year. i came in 2002 as a candidate and eight years as governor and i speak as governor, i speak at the dedication. i always say that when the plane entered pennsylvania air, there were 40 citizens, none of whom were pennsylvanians. when the plane crashed here, they became pennsylvanians like the people who died in valley

forge. they're patriots and heroes. so there's nothing we can't do for them. >> we're here with -- many presidents are coming today. vice president biden is coming here to pay honor to these courageous people aboard flight 93. we also have former president bill clinton who will introduce former president george bush. so there will be quite a program here this afternoon. i want to bring in neil mulholland. tell us about the role you've played in the effort to make this happen today. >> this has been a public private private partnership. it's a $16 million memorial. half is raised from the public. then as president of the national park foundation, we've been leading the private fund-raising efforts for this memorial. so far we've raised $20 million, whether it's been in $10 increments, $75 donations or million dollar donations. we have a $10 million shortfall.

the national park foundation is putting up a match donation to close that funding gap. >> let's tell the people about what's been done so far. michael, maybe you should start. this was originally a strip mining site here. and then the plane came in. explain what happened. >> what was so impressive to me is the fact that in the immediate aftermath, people just started to come here, even though there was nothing to see. governor ridge said to me just last week as a matter of fact that on september 11, he came here that afternoon expecting to see carnage akin to what you would see on a movie. instead, there was nothing, but a smoldering hole in the ground. there was a chain link fence that was erected.

>> everyone was destroyed when that flame came in at 580 miles an hour. >> had it continued just a mile further, the shanksville stoney creek high school which had just come back to class could have been struck. but they put up a chain link fence and people brought mementos from across the country. i was here six years ago and there were license plates from all 50 states it seemed. people want to come here to pay respects. >> it's a very horrible event, the plane came in upside down and blew up on impact. neil, tell us about that and the fact that there was no graveyards. it just is a graveyard. >> it is. behind us is the hallowed ground where the passengers and crew members, their final resting place. the plane vaporized on impact, it was fully loaded with fuel. so they're here forever, they're

part of pennsylvania. but part of what we're doing today is permanently memorializing their heroic acts and their final resting place. but the other thing that resonates, 1.6 million visited this site in the last ten years. that's because we were all impacted by 9/11. for varying reasons. so much of that 9/12 feeling that people come here. >> for people that are watching us, if you haven't contributed yet, do so. i was amazed at how many americans paid money for the restoration of the statue of liberty. that was an important icon. but this is an icon of heroism and we need to do this. there's no question, chris. we need to get this done. these 40 families are incredible. they've staid together. they've waited for this day. somebody asked me how i feel and of course, there's always grief coming here, but today there's a sense of accomplishment. but we have more to do and people have to help us get it

done. >> i haven't been involved as you folks have, but i feel like everybody about what happened that day. and what this part of the memorial, this part here is really about defiance. again, this is about people who got the word in and tried to do something. the only americans that could fight back that day. they knew what was happening to their loved ones, they were talking from their seats. they saw these guys killing people. they said this is not a standard hijacking. this is going to be a human bomb, this plane is going to be a weapon against washington. and they knew what they had to do. and the fact in that moment of whatever you want to call it, they said we're not going to live with this. we're going to do something and that moment of guts going up against guys with box cutters. they had hot water was their weapon, remember? tell us about that. all they had was that weapon of hot water from the cart. >> ordinary people got on a

plane to go home, go to work that day, and in the span of, you know, an hour and a half, you know, this event unfolded. but in a 35-minute period they realized no one propositioned and they decided to fight back. they organized, they charged the cabin and voided this plane going to the capital. the capital was fully staffed that day because both houses were in session. it was prime tourist season. if this had reached the capital, the results of 9/11 would be 2 x of what they were. >> the only thing i would correct chris on. he said ordinary americans. they weren't ordinary americans, they were extraordinary americans, individuals swho had guts and courage who knew that they were committing suicide, but they were saving their country. extraordinary story. the story that's got to be told forever. that's why the $10 million we need to raise is so important to do more than just memorialize.

but to tell chirp for generation after generation what happened in the air above this site. >> i think they were hoping to take that cockpit and the fanatics aboard that plane, religiously bent on their own deaths, they couldn't stop them from turning the plane upside down, but they certainly stopped it. michael, they stopped it from doing what they came here to do, which is to hit our financial capital in new york, hit our military capital at the pentagon and destroy ourself government. >> this is about a four or five bus trip from philadelphia. we left this morning at 5:30. for the final 90 minutes of the trip, we rolled on my bus, "flight 93." >> the movie. >> the movie. >> i talked to sidney kimmel who produced the movie, and we're

trying to get them do an edited 25-minute version that we can put in the visitor center. >> we're going to take a break right now and we'll will bringing in james thompson, a member of the 9/11 commission, to give us a sense of what happened here above here and what ended up down here, and how it fit into the hell of 9/11 and the nobility of 9/11, which we're talking about so much today. we'll come back with msnbc's special coverage of flight 93 and the national memorial dedication here live from shanksville, pennsylvania. [ carrie ] i remember my very first year as a teacher, setting that goal to become a principal. but, i have to support my family, so how do i go back to school? university of phoenix made it doable. i wouldn't be where i am without that degree. my name is dr. carrie buck. i helped turn an at risk school into an award winning school, and i am a phoenix.

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as a member of the 9/11 commission, one of the men charged with figuring out how it could have happened on 9/11 and ha the country can do to prevent it from happening again is former illinois governor jim thompson. here he is right now. governor thompson, thanks for joining us on this big day. we're trying to understand flight 93 and how it fits into the whole horror of that day and in this case i think nobility of the american response. what is your sense as an expert on this issue, how it all fit in that day? >> well, i think it's clear that there was a chance that this horror of 9/11 could have been prevented if the intelligence agencies and the law enforcement agencies were talking to each other as they do now ten years later. i say could have, could have.

we'll never know the answer to that. but the response to the loss of life and the horror of the attack on the nation has been overwhelming. and i think as my fellow commissioners and i concluded last week, we are safer today. but there's no question that we might have missed an opportunity ten years ago. >> how can you -- can you explain it in simple language how it's different today with regard to the cia, the fbi and the other intelligence agencies? >> yes. first, it's clear that the leaders of those agencies, the cia, the fbi, the defense intelligence agency, nsa, under the direction of both the president and the director of national intelligence, a post that was created based on our recommendations in the 9/11

report, talk to each other, share information, share leads, gather together in the national terrorism/counterterrorism center. so the walls mostly that surrounded these agencies ten years ago have come down. they don't husband or hide information anymore. the turf battles have been lessened. and then, of course, you've got the real trick which is to combine human intelligence, infiltration and tips from people on the inside of these plots or people who know them with technical intelligence, the overhears that nsa picks up. and if you look at the morning news reports, you'll see a perfect example of that for the

new york/washington security that's going on now. nsa picked up chatter or conversations from al qaeda or other groups in pakistan, afghanistan area. but they also had apparently a tip from someone who knew or heard of the conspirators and heard of the plan. so putting the two together, human jenls and technical intelligence, we apparently have at least leads on those who may be threatening either washington or new york this weekend. >> let me bring in governor rendell on that. i guess that comes down to hunches and instinct and not just the data, but it looks to me, we must be getting pretty good at reading the chatter i would think. they were able to say it might be bridges and tunnels and you immediately think of the lincoln

tunnel. >> i think governor thompson is exactly right. the improvement here has been as dramatic as improvement anywhere. the walls have come down, the technology is better, we've made more in roads among people who tip us off. so we are significantly safer than we once were. >> i noticed that mayor bloomberg was taking the subway the other way as a way of putting it in perspective. but at the same time, you tell people there's something coming, we don't know what it is, but continue on your lives. what do you do? what is the average person supposed to do? >> the important thing is for people to get involved. remember, the tip on the times square vendor came from a citizen vendor. so we all have to be involved in this effort. >> is that right, governor

thompson? when you hear these warnings like this weekend, what do you think the proper citizen response can be? >> the citizen response this weekend, we went to the u.s. open. it stopped raining and we saw great matches. we went to the theater. we've been to restaurants and stores and malls in new york city this weekend. but we've seen the security checkpoints and we've seen the closed streets, we've seen the searching of vans and cars. that's the only response that you can make. here's the good news and bad news. the good news is that we have seriously crippled al qaeda and its leadership, so the likelihood of elaborate plots like 9/11 is substantially lessened. at the same time, we're seeing the growth of the lone wolf

operatives or the radicalized americans or persons legally in the united states. a and the plots may get simpler and harder to defect and harder to prevent. >> that's great irony. thank you is much governor thompson, joining us from new york. much more coming up live from shanksville, pennsylvania on this msnbc special coverage of the flight 93 national memorial dedication, which is happening in a few moments. the dignitaries are making their way to their seats. and in fact, we'll be right back to catch the ceremony itself in just a moment. why do we have aflac... aflac... and major medical? major medical, boyyyy! [ beatboxing ] ♪ i help pay the doctor ♪ ain't that enough for you? ♪ there are things major medical doesn't do.

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shanksville, pennsylvania today for the dedication to flight 93 memorial. it's coming up in any moment right now. the brave americans on united flight 93 didn't know the sacrifice they made that tuesday morning preventing the terrorists from reaching washington for sure and most people believe they were headed directly for the u.s. capitol itself. mike was at the capitol that day on september 11, 2001. mike, when i heard your story, i just wanted to tell it. so tell what it was like to be at the capitol with news that planes were coming. >> reporter: chris, thanks for having me on. it was important for me to talk to you not only as a newsman in the capitol that day trying to get information, but as a father of two children who probably would not exist today if it weren't for the heros that hallowed that ground where you are right now. the morning was crazy. we were watching it alongside everybody else on tv, what was

happening in new york. didn't even dawn on us the magnitude of what could be happening over the course of that morning. i ran down to the speaker's office, which is next to the rotunda, trying to talk to him or his staff to see if they had any information that i could contribute on msnbc or nbc about what was happening. in short order, he came out and said we're evacuating. he was trailed by a bunch of staffers, some of them crying, all of them with a look of terror on their face. chris, what happened after that, all we knew is a plane was coming to washington. the capitol police were screaming at us. ten minutes out, there's another plane ten minutes out, run for your lives and people are running down the marble steps of the capitol, running in all different directions. there were members alongside reporter. there were rumors all over the

place. chris, somebody said that the national mall was on fire. somebody said the state department had been bombed. porter goss, the chairman of the intelligence committee, we were trying to do our jobs. we had him set up for a press conference and he started to tell us things but nobody could concentrate because there were sonic booms from the jets flying over the capital. we thought they were more explosions from bombs. those people that hallowed that ground there, those people on flight 93, many of us, hundreds of us in the city owe our lives to them. >> mike, that was very dramatic and i remember watching you, not you personally, but all those staff people and reporters and members of condition and senators racing across almost to the union station across the lawn in the parking lot and i kept thinking what is everybody thinking? we were at the old msnbc head

quarters there, and i'm so glad you reminded me of what could have been. >> chris, in the middle of this, there's smoke curling up from the pentagon and the doomsday that the u.s. government keeps out at andrews comes swooping in over the capitol. nobody needs to be reminded of the chaos this year. but every 9/11 it brings it all back home. >> what's the doomsday plane? >> reporter: it used to be a top secret plane. it doesn't have any windows. it's supposed to fly -- it was originally designed to fly in the event of a nuclear attack. >> and wow, you saw it. mike, thanks so much for coming on. as we do honor those people, you've already paid tribute to so personally, the flight 93 people.

and here we are to honor them. stay with us right now on msnbc for our special live coverage of this dedication. former president bill clinton is coming up to speak. former president george bush will be introduced by bill clinton and vice president biden are all speaking here today at shanksville. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] the most headroom per dollar of any car in america. the all-new nissan versa sedan

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♪ maybe time can mend us together again ♪ ♪ it's not what we've done but how far we've come ♪ ♪ i know that we will recover [ male announcer ] here when you need us most. we're here at the crash site of united airlines flight 93. of course, that was the plane that we all believe was headed towards the united states capitol. it was certainly headed to washington, most people believe it was going for the capitol. and a group of passengers rose up and prevented that plane from making it. that plane crashed right behind me here into the ground and everyone was killed.

but they are being remembered here today at this dedication of the memorial for the people who were on that plane. nobody has done more than michael sitting with me to try to make americans rally to the spirit of that courage. >> what i think about on a day like today is september 11 is a day often remembered for its enormity. the images of the twin towers collapsing. the war in two countries. to me, flight 93 is a reminder of the role of individuals and how seconds mattered. how minutes mattered. there are so many different examples that come out of flight 93. had this airplane stayed in the air for just 18 more minutes, it would have reached the nation's capitol. >> we all loved hemingway growing up. he said that courage is grace under fire. i wonder whether people get too worried about their place in the world when you have people like that, when you have people that just come out of their regular

lives and just behind so boldly and courageously. i would be afraid of us. it's our freedom that allows you to be impulsive. you can make your own orders, you know? >> that's what is so special about flight 93. they weren't trained for this. it was as much a cross section of america as you could find. at that moment, they rallied and knew what they had to do. >> let's talk right now, the president of the united states over at arlington today, going to section 60. that's the part of our great arlington national cemetery where the brave men and women who have been killed in our wars since 9/11 and because of 9/11 in afghanistan and in iraq, that's where their final resting place is now. the president went there today. let's take a look at the president and the first lady going over to arlington this morning. there they are right now, visiting with the families of

those warriors, if you will, out defending the country, consoling them. it must be a good thing to have the president come and show that your country cared about what you did, your family did. this is part of the presidency that has nothing at all to do with politics, michael. >> no, it doesn't. and i think he's been very d dignified and adjudicated himself very well with the solemn responsibility that come with that job. >> you work so close to dover, delaware. and finally, we've come to recognize that we have to recognize the cost of war. >> right. funny you should say part of the media market, because until this administration stepped in, the media market were persona nongrata. >> even vice president biden when he was the senator from

delaware, was not able to go and receive the remains of servicemen and women killed over there. it was a strange secrecy. you have to be transparent about life and death. >> i don't think you can appreciate the cost of war if you're detached from that aspect of it. >> today, it's going to be an interesting day this afternoon. this has been a very political time in our country, we're fighting about taxes and the debt and the deficit and they're heated issues, and they ought to be. it's a good time to get angry. but also today i think it's a day off from that and i think it's interesting that w., george w. bush, the most former president and his predecessor bill clinton, they've all become pretty friendly people, even though they will probably always disagree. i always like it when they get together. i have a soft part for bipartisanship when it's

appropriate and certainly it's appropriate when it comes to honoring people like those who performed so nobly on 9/11 on flight 93. bill clinton is here today, and george w. bush and vice president biden, who is much a pennsylvaniaen, as well. >> that sense of unity is going to be back here today and throughout the country tomorrow and one hopes that it lasts, particularly given the stakes that we're facing, whether it's the economy or the fact that we're still at war in two different spots. >> i don't think either party anymore is the hawk party or the dove party. we're all trying to figure out things right now. a lot of republicans are saying we should stop these what they call adventures. so we're having an interesting debate about how to end these wars in afghanistan and iraq. we're on a very muddy field.

everyone here has sloshy boots on. this is a day where people have to go through some effort to honor these people. we're in a field, once it was part of a strip mine and covered over. we're look t a couple of tents behind us. we've got two former presidents and the vice president here, and this is an iconic event today and our enemies love to hit iconic targets. so the security has been a real pain, and rightfully so. but there's one reason why these chairs aren't filled right now. there's some people still trooping inrer slowly through the security gate set up down here and it's very hard to get in here today. so a lot of the packed house is waiting to get through security and will probably be there most of the afternoon. it's a very security site, michael. >> it's a 2 1/2 mile access road

that literally opened today. it's very difficult to get here. opened today because of governor rendell's funding he was able to secure. but i rode in on that road own a bus and it's backed up for miles and miles. >> if we don't honor our heroes, we shouldn't be around. flight 93, the national memorial dedication will begin in any moment. we'll be right back.

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you can see forever here. it's one of those great open spaces in america. of course, it was once a strip mine area. over here to my left, it's now a memorial to the men and women of flight 93, which crashed here of course on 9/11. it was as i said before this afternoon, the one great moment when america fought back. when we knew finally what was going on. it wasn't a standard hijacking to get money. not the kind of event we had seen before. it was a new kind of terror where airplanes were being used as weapons. this plane was a weaponized united airlines flight 93 meant to go to the united states capital. it was definitely going to washington, it may have been going to the white house. the 9/11 commission i believe thought it was headed toward the united states capitol. we just had mike on, a reporter from the white house who gave a

beautiful description of what it was like to be a survivor of that event. because of those people on flight 93, that plane never made it to washington, it made it here. michael, you were telling me during a break about how so much of this is about individual citizens, not some big monument constructed by somebody else. it was the people you've been helping to raise the money with and the people that guide you here are not just the park service people in uniform. they're volunteers. >> up until now, if you've come to shanksville, and so many have, 130,000 annually, when frankly there wasn't too much yet that they could see. but you would be greet by these community organizers who had been trained for no money, just to school you on what had transpired and they would greet you with three ring binders and show you profiles of each of those 40 american heroes and tell you about their lives. they would present to you what had transpired with the flight

chronologically. and i found it more moving to know that they were volunteers. i came here for the first time six years ago. there was a controversy in the blogosphere. some said from an aerial perspective, the winning plan was going to resemble a muslim crescent. i wanted to come and look for the first time. we found that it was bogus. they were indigenous maples and the reason they were going to be arranged the way they were is because of the topography and because it was intending to replicate the flight path. everything they're doing here, to an untrained eye like mine, is lost on me. it's very deliberate. everything has meaning. the way which they're going to present this story is a very deliberate analysis. >> i thought it was interesting when you come along this

dramatic pathway where it comes to the memorial itself, that you see the flight path as it went off to lake erie. it was ended to san francisco and it turned around in the air, because that terrorist had trained to learn how to fly a plane at that altitude and was coming back here, 20 minutes away from washington. >> when i first came, as i've driven the surrounding counties, i remember going home the first time wanting to take a t-shirt for my son, something that would say, 9/11, we remember flight 93. i think it's a credit to this community, there's zero merchandising. these are really good people. i think their response has been very appropriate. >> and one of those guides, those citizen guides who welcomed us here a couple hours ago this morning, he said just

what you said, there's not going to be any honky tonk here or any sideshows or cheap souveniring and trying to make a buck off of this. there will probably be a refreshment stand, but that's about it. >> it's a hard place to buy a hot dog. >> i didn't get a cup of coffee here by the way. >> over our shoulder on that wall, that's the crash site. only family members are permitted behind that wall. and on monday, when -- >> explain so people know why. >> it's always been regarded as a cemetery. and a cemetery they didn't want overrun by so many who come to pay their respects, but they come in such hordes, they thought that should be a place only for family reflection. tomorrow, the president comes here and when we're all gone on monday, there will be a burial of remains that were never to be able to be determined.

i think the number is three different coffins that come monday are going to be buried on this location with only friends and family present. it will be a full funeral service. >> what it is now, if you can't see it and we don't have a camera shot, when the plane came down, it came down upside down and coming at 580 miles an hour. it went into the tree line and stopped there, disintegrating basically in a burst of planes. it blew up into nothingness and the people, they were able to determine the dna of the people. they were able to distinguish who was there and prove that all the people on that plane were on that plane. but it's a meadow, so it's not like arlington with those beautiful white markers. it's a meadow. it's so interesting how integrated it is. it's a grave site without graves. there's no separation of the graves. it's just all the people that were killed there that day.

and it's so much of what you say about the naturalness of this and how small is beautiful and this isn't going to be some grand -- one of those cemeteries you see in europe that are very elaborate and what is it, byzantine or baroque. it's not going to be at all like that. >> very understated and i think you'll attest to this. there is a special feeling here. it's almost indescribable to tell people what they're going to experience when they get here. but it's a very special place, and i think many, many more are about to come. >> well, the motorcade bringing the dignitaries, if you will, the people who did what they did to make this a memorial happen and you included are the real heroes of the day, starting with the people who are honoring. but the motorcade will be coming in and i guess we'll get a good shot of that. if we can watch it coming in. and this is obviously going to include the two former presidents and the vice

president of the united states, joe biden, who is in so many ways a pennsylvaniaen. he grew up here in scranton and he's going to be responsible for delivering this thing next year for the democratic ticket, i assume. have we lost the motorcade? >> it's over your left shoulder over the top of the hill. >> i see the black suv. and that is where we're going to see the distinguished -- in fact, i see them walking now. i think i see dr. biden and i think through the magic of long vision, i think i can see vice president joe biden right now coming along. we're going to watch them come in right now and begin basically our quiet coverage of today's events. we're going to take a break and

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to have the opening of the ceremony to honor the heroes of flight 93, united airlines flight 93 that crashed here september 11, 2001, ten years ago tomorrow. i've been here with michael smirkonish and so much of today's story is what could have been, had it not been for these passengers and their courage, that plane would have gone to washington. michael, what allowed -- what was the special circumstance you believe that allowed the passengers to get the upper hand that brought down that plane? >> i back the story up 30 days,

august 4, 2001. it's the orlando international airport. a man named jose perez is working as an ins inspector in secondary screening. off of a flight from london steps muhammad khatani. he claims that he can't speak english and he's assigned to mr. perez, who would later tell the 9/11 commission "that guy just gave me the creeps." so he gave him the hairy eyeball treatment as we would say in philly, and there was something that rubbed him the wrong way. that's why an interrogation ensued. against the advice of his colleagues, melendez perez says i'm not letting this guy in the united states. i think he's up to no idea. so he puts him on an airplane back out of the country. and this guy who can't speak english, in schwarzenegger like fashion, says "i'll be back." then comes september 11, three

months later khatani is captured, captured fighting with bin laden. and because there had been a fingerprinting in orlando, they i.d. this guy and say there's more to this guy. he tried to get into the united states a month in advance of september 11. the 9/11 commission puts together all of the facts and concludes that muhammad atta, the 9/11 ringleader, was in the orlando airport to pick up khatani. that's the basis for the belief that khatani would have been on flight 93. there would have been 20 hijackers. but flight 93 was short handed. this plane only had four, where the other planes had five. you look at perez and you say, but for him stopping this guy, this plane could have reached the capitol. and the capture of bin laden is also attributable to this chronology. khatani was the first at gitmo

to give up the identity of bin laden's courier. >> what a story, what could have been. >> yeah. >> with a little more firepower on that plane, that could have subdued the passengers. >> ten m >> imagine if it had struck the high school one mile down the road. >> i was reading the transcripts and i think the family doesn't want the country studying the voice recordings. but we know what went on that plane, the horror of people being killed on the spot. the attempt, we'll never understand how it went, getting ahold of a food cart and