The long view.

A Nightline Fantasia 

Transcript from ABC News's Nightline with Ted Koppel, September 15, 2001

TED KOPPEL: "And so then what happened?"

MOHAMED ATTA: "Well, Mr. Koppel, as I was boarding the plane, or should I say, trying to board the plane, a uniformed officer took me aside ..."

TED KOPPEL: "Just you?"

MOHAMED ATTA: "No, no. That's the thing. It wasn't just me. It was me and a guy named Abdulaziz Alomari, a guy named al-Shehri ... and a couple of other guys. I mean, do you get it? Do you see what's going on here?"

TED KOPPEL: "Mr. Atta, if I may, it seems that what you're saying here ..."

MOHAMED ATTA: "It's all in our lawsuit."

TED KOPPEL: "If I may, sir, it seems that what you're saying here is that the government systematically profiled you and your associates ..."

MOHAMED ATTA: "My associates? Mr. Koppel, I didn't know all of the gentlemen they detained. Oh, one or two I knew from around, you know, Hamburg and Kabul and flight school. But we were nodding, hey-how-are-you friends. Not close. I wouldn't say close."

TED KOPPEL: "In any case, sir, the essence, if I may, of your complaint, if I may call it that, is that the FAA, acting on a directive from the intelligence branch of the federal government, detained several Arab men and prevented them from boarding their flights?"

MOHAMED ATTA: "Yes. That is correct, Mr. Koppel. And that's racism. Racism and racial profiling and it's illegal and we're suing for damages."

TED KOPPEL: "You and ..."

MOHAMED ATTA: "The other gentlemen who were detained for racial reasons. We were pulled out of line, searched, our possessions were confiscated ..."

TED KOPPEL: "These would be the famous box cutters?"

MOHAMED ATTA: "We're not allowed to cut boxes, I guess. Not in Bush's America, I guess. Not with Bushitler in charge!"

TED KOPPEL: "Sir ..."

MOHAMED ATTA: "The American people have got to wake up! Bush and Cheney and his gang are trying to turn this into a police state. You know the old saying, 'When they came for the Jews, I said nothing because I was not a Jew'? 'And then when they came for me, there was no one left to speak up'? Well, it's like that with us. Not the part about the Jews, of course, but the general idea: When they came for the single, male Arab nationals with expired visas traveling without luggage, I said nothing because I was not a ...

TED KOPPEL: "I understand, sir. Next, we have ..."

MOHAMED ATTA: "First they pull out of Kyoto, then they boycott the U.N. Racism Conference in Durban. The signs are there, people. This is an administration out of control!"

TED KOPPEL: "Sir, if I may ..." MOHAMED ATTA: "You can't know how upsetting and distressing this is, Mr. Koppel."

TED KOPPEL: "I'm sure, sir. We have with us Dr. Condoleezza Rice, national security adviser to President Bush. Dr. Rice, your response to Mr. Atta's complaint?"

DR. RICE: "Well, obviously, we're very sorry for the distress our heightened terrorist alert may have caused Mr. Atta."

MOHAMED ATTA: "Too late! I was going to a wedding!" DR. RICE: "Without luggage?"

MOHAMED ATTA: "I travel light. Is that a crime, too?"

DR. RICE: "Secondly, as the newly released presidential daily briefing clearly shows, we had credible evidence that Islamic fundamentalist terrorists were going to attempt something in this country ..."

TED KOPPEL: "Something? That's pretty vague, wouldn't you say?"

DR. RICE: "At the time ..."

TED KOPPEL: "I've read the briefing, and with all due respect, Dr. Rice, it's really more of a historical document, wouldn't you say? And it's pretty vague at that. Something might happen? How do you get from a page-and-a-half memo to stopping and searching every Arab or Arab-appearing male on every flight in the country?"

DR. RICE: "Well, in the first place ..."

TED KOPPEL: "Are you a racist?"

DR. RICE: "No! And if I may finish ..."

TED KOPPEL: "Then is the president a racist?"

DR. RICE: "Sir, if I could just ..."

MOHAMED ATTA: "Ted, it's been a nightmare for us."

DR. RICE: "Ted, I think you have to see this in context. Think about what might have happened had we not ..."

TED KOPPEL: "With all due respect, Dr. Rice, that's a pretty big hypothetical."

MOHAMED ATTA: "Yes, it is."

TED KOPPEL: "Dr. Rice, did the administration overreact to these vague threats?"

DR. RICE: "We believe that ..."

MOHAMED ATTA: "Dr. Rice should resign!"

DR. RICE: "Mr. Atta and his companions are known to have trained in Afghanistan with a shadowy terrorist figure named Osama bin Laden. They trained in flight schools across the country. They were carrying weapons ..."

MOHAMED ATTA: "Box cutters!"

TED KOPPEL: "Mr. Atta, what about this bin Laden figure?"

MOHAMED ATTA: "What about him?"

TED KOPPEL: "Have you met him?"

MOHAMED ATTA: "Good heavens! I don't know. Maybe. I'd have to check my day planner. The point is, the racist Bush admini ..."

DR. RICE: "Ted, all the men detained had shaved the hair off their bodies. It's a way devout Muslims prepare for death."

MOHAMED ATTA: "More racism! Ted, we're metrosexuals!"

TED KOPPEL: "We'll be back in a moment."