February 21, 2007

In January, while giving a talk about my book at the 2007 FotoFusion festival in Delray Beach, Florida, I fell into conversation with Art NeJame, one of the organizers of the annual slate of workshops for members of the photo community. Art told me a mesmerizing story of how he had come to encounter four of the September 11 hijackers -- more than a dozen of whom had lived in South Florida during their preparation for their "mission." It all happened because of a passport photo.

I asked Art -- whom I have known, along with his wife, Fatima, for many years -- to send along his recollections, which appear here, in detail, for the first time.

From Art Nejame, of Boca Raton, Florida....

"It was in the middle of June 2001. [The September 11 ringleader, Mohammed] Atta came into our [Delray Beach photo] shop and asked if we took passport or ID photos (apparently he had found us in the yellow pages). I, of course, said yes. He said that he needed a couple of pictures for himself and the fella with him. I heard him tell the other fella in Arabic that they could get their ID photos here and that I would be taking them.

"Since I speak Arabic, I understood them and started to chat with them in Arabic. Atta was not pleased that I had understood him and that I also spoke Arabic. He immediately told the other fella not to say anything further. I was a little taken aback to say the least, since most people are pleased to converse in their native tongue and my Arabic was considerably better than rudimentary, in fact I had answered him with the same Egyptian dialect in which they had spoken to each other. (My dad was born in Lebanon and traveled from Lebanon through Palestine by camel to Egypt in 1916, fleeing the war in Lebanon. He lived in Egypt for a few years, finished high school there and subsequently came to the US in 1919. I of course learned Arabic at home as a child growing up in Johnson City, NY and studied formal Arabic at SUNY Binghamton [from a Palestinian PHD] as an undergraduate. I subsequently understand the Lebanese, Egyptian and Palestinian dialects and there are distinct differences. I find the Egyptian dialect to be much more melodic and the Palestinian dialect to be much more guttural in pronunciation.)

"I took the photos (Polaroids) of both individuals; they paid cash and subsequently left. I did feel that it was strange that they did not want to converse with me in Arabic, since it was obviously their native language, but so be it. But then again, Atta was strange anyway. He didn’t look at you, he looked through you.

"A couple of weeks later Atta came in again and I said hello in English. I asked him if he needed more photos or was there something wrong with the photos that I had taken before. He said that he was meeting two other fellas here and that he needed photos for them just like the photos that I had taken for him. Again, I spoke to these two new customers in Arabic, but Atta interceded so as not to allow any conversation of any kind. I backed off, not wanting to offend him. I’m here to take photos, not to cause any problems. I subsequently took photos of the two new customers and heard them talk in Arabic between themselves and they spoke with a Saudi dialect, which is even more guttural than the Palestine dialect. Atta paid cash for the photos and left.

"I was none the wiser until I saw their photos in the paper a few days after 9/11. Needless to say, I recognized four of the pictures immediately. Atta’s eyes were so piercing. He was easy to remember. The next day the new chief of police in Delray Beach was in my shop to pick up his official portrait that I had taken a couple of weeks before and I asked him for some advice. He of course said yes and I explained that I had taken photos of four of the alleged hijackers and who should I notify. He said that since I told him, he would notify the FBI in West Palm Beach.

"Three months later in late December I received a call from some agent and asked if they could talk to me about the photo session with Atta. I mentioned that the Police chief of Delray had reported it in mid September and he answered me by saying that it must have fallen through the cracks. I suggested that it must have been a big crack and there was dead silence on the other end for a few seconds. I guess FBI agents in West Palm Beach don’t have much of a sense of humor.

"A month later, the day before Fotofusion 2002, four and one half months after 911, a lady agent called and asked to speak to me. She came in the following day and we spoke for a couple of hours. Like I really had nothing better to do than to waste two hours talking to the FBI just one day before Fotofusion. She was very nice, yet very professional and asked me the same questions repeatedly every few minutes during the two hours. Apparently she thought that I may give her different answers. I didn’t. She left and I have had no further contact with any government agency since.

"This is pretty much the end of story, except one day a couple of months later, a customer overheard me chatting with a close friend about how I happened to photograph Mohammed Atta and she came over to me, grunted and asked if I was proud of myself. Yea, right, like I knew Atta was before 911. This is a perfect example of why I have rarely spoken about my encounter with four of the terrorists. Ironically, I am probably one of the most published photographers in the World and I only made $9.00 on each pair of photos, which is what we charge for walk-ins for having passport photos taken. Nine bucks, such a deal for infamy.

"David, Well, it took me five years to come out of the closet. It's as accurate as can be. I'm curious to read the reactions. Please keep me posted..."