Getting six or seven people who want to kill themselves is a lot easier than 19. Some evidence, combined with knowledge of how Osama bin Laden s al-Qaida terrorist network has operated in the past, has led some investigators to suggest that as many as 13 members of the four terrorist teams may have believed they were part of a traditional hijacking operation aimed at landing and issuing demands. The reality is that we may never know for sure, but we are viewing that as a real possibility at this point, said one U.S. government official. It could explain many things. Getting six or seven people who want to kill themselves is a lot easier than 19.
Officials stress that they have reached no conclusions.
Many terrorism experts unconnected with the investigation still believe it is likely that all the hijackers had agreed to die. But emerging clues have led some investigators to believe that it is just as likely that many did not willingly roar into the twin towers or the Pentagon. The scenario provides an alternate view of a terrorist plot that was so chilling, in part, because of what appeared to be the unwavering dedication of its conspirators. Unlike the leaders of the plot the pilots of the four hijacked aircraft and at least two others the remaining hijackers arrived in the United States later and served primarily, in the words of one top U.S. official, as the muscle. None of these men, most from middle-class backgrounds in Saudi Arabia, appears to have left his family with a cryptic farewell, as some of the lead hijackers did, officials said.