Visiting the Places Where the Hijackers Lived in San Diego

I am for the first time in San Diego, in Southern California, the city where Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi spent a lot of time, thanks also to the support of Saudi intelligence agent Omar al-Bayoumi, before becoming two of the hijackers of American Airlines Flight 77 that crashed into the Pentagon. After seeing the places where the two terrorists met al-Bayoumi in Los Angeles last year, I decide to dedicate half a day of this trip to see where al-Midhar and al-Hazmi lived and worked here in San Diego.

The first stop of today’s tour is the Parkwood Apartments on Mount Ada Avenue, now known as Blossom Walk Condominiums, where the two initially lived in al-Bayoumi’s apartment and then moved to another unit in the same complex, also found with his help. I am interested in finding two apartments: 152, where al-Bayoumi lived, and 150, where the two terrorists later moved.

“Strange destination” comments the Uber driver taking me there, but I have an answer ready: “I’m going to visit some friends who live there.” I get out between the two complexes, numbers 6333 and 6401. It is a residential area with only a liquor store and two churches; otherwise, all I see are houses. I start with the first of the two blocks and walk around trying to find apartment 152. During the walk I see only two people either coming home or taking out the trash; nobody else passes by. Unfortunately, the apartment numbers are only visible from the internal access driveway, so I can only deduce that 152, being the first, is the first on the left on the lower floor. I photograph it from beyond the railing and cannot do anything else.

I then go in search of 150, but here identifying the correct apartment from the outside is practically impossible because in the second block the ground floor numbers range from 129 to 151 and you cannot see deep enough inside. I have to settle for a generic photo from outside, but only after waiting for two residents who were talking to each other in the entrance driveway to leave.

I then head towards the Islamic Center, which they chose precisely because it is a short distance from the Parkwood Apartments. It takes me about ten minutes to walk under the California sun to get there. I enter and find a sign saying visitors must first speak with the administration office. I follow the arrow and find an armed guard in a bulletproof vest talking to a woman of about seventy in Islamic dress. I ask the woman if I can see the prayer hall, and she tells me she will accompany me. I can take photos, she says, as long as there are no people. She leads me to the anteroom where I must remove my shoes and, while speaking very kindly, asks me what I know about Islam. I know enough to have a conversation with her. She tells me the history of the center, founded in 1985, shows me the carpet on which the faithful kneel, the pulpit from which the Imam preaches, and points out the shelves around the room where many copies of the Quran translated into various languages are available for reading and prayer.

I chat a bit longer with the administration lady and have her tell me a few more Islamic customs, while I wonder if she knows that two of the 9/11 hijackers used to attend this center. Given her age, it is likely she even knew them, but I keep the doubt to myself to avoid any adverse reactions, considering how kind she has been.

I call a second Uber to take me to the al-Ribat mosque, putting as an intermediate stop the Chevron gas station where both terrorists worked, when it was a Texaco station, on University Avenue. I explain to the driver that when we arrive at the first destination he will have to wait a moment while I take a couple of photos.

When I get back in the car, the driver asks why I stopped to photograph a gas station. "Do you plan to buy this station?" he asks jokingly. I answer that I work in the energy sector and like to compare photos of gas stations with historical images on Google Maps. He asks no further questions, but he is probably wondering why this unusual Italian customer photographing Chevron stations is being taken from an Islamic Center to a mosque.

I arrive at the mosque, which from the outside is much smaller and more insignificant than I expected, nothing like the Islamic Center or the King Fahad mosque in Los Angeles. It even takes me a few minutes to realize I am in the right place. In this location, the two hijackers met al-Qaeda senior leader Anwar al-Awlaki, who preached at this mosque. This would be the most important stop of the tour, but it is closed and there is no sign of anyone around. I try to open the doors both from the parking lot and the main entrance, but they are locked. I knock, but no one answers. I have to settle for a few photos from outside, also because the sun is beating down and there is very little shade. I must give up.

I return toward downtown, also because it is already lunchtime, having added another piece to my visits to the locations of the worst and most destructive terrorist attack in history. And after having seen places where the supreme evil of Islamic extremism mixes with the mysteries of intelligence, wondering why al-Bayoumi helped two terrorists, and why the three were not stopped before two of them went on to kill nearly three thousand people.