Identifications of hijackers by DNA

[John Doe II]

I had an interesting discussion with RH on "Please watch ... no big plane" about the possibility of identifying the hijackers by their DNA. As the discussion might interest other and in order not to discuss a topic that basically has nothing to do with the subject of the plane/missile question I decided to open a new thread and to write a short summary for everybody interested.
If anybody wants you can have a look at the discussion so far. It started with post 26 in the other thread.




The identification of the hijackers

Who were the 19 hijackers of 9/11?
This question also involves the problem of identifying the hijackers after their death. A very common way of identifying people after their death is the analysis of their DNA.

The attacks on the WTC:
Examiners were provided DNA profiles of all 10 hijackers. With this help it was possible to identify two hijackers:

“New York medical examiners using DNA samples have identified the remains of two of the 10 suicide hijackers who crashed jetliners into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, officials said Thursday.
The FBI provided the medical examiners' office with DNA profiles of the 10 hijackers, said Ellen Barakove, a spokeswoman for the New York Medical Examiner's office.”
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Northeast/02/27/hijackers.re...

But the result nonetheless not absolutely convincing as it was not revealed which two hijackers had been identified positively:

“Examiners could not say
which of the hijackers' remains had been discovered because the FBI
did not identify which of the DNA samples belonged to which hijacker, she (said Ellen Barakove, a spokeswoman for the New York Medical Examiner's office) said.”
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Northeast/02/27/hijackers.re...

Although it’s seems quite surprising that the FBI didn’t want to reveal the two identities at least there has been a small effort to succeed in identifying the hijackers.

Attacks on the Pentagon and the crash in Shanksville:
Pentagon:
“What some experts have called
‘the most comprehensive forensic investigation in U.S. history’ ended Nov. 16 with
the identification of 184 of the 189 who died in the terrorist attack on the Pentagon.”
http://www.dcmilitary.com/army/pentagram/6_47/local_new...

“The remains of the five hijackers have been identified
through a process of exclusion,
as they did not match DNA samples contributed by family members of all 183 victims who died at the site. (of the Pentagon)”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=artic... ¬Found=true

Shanksville:
“The AFIP (Armed Forces Institute of Pathology) (…) provided positive DNA identifications on all 40 Pennsylvania victims,
and developed genetic profiles of the terrorists
that could not be matched to any of the other victims.”
http://nmhm.washingtondc.museum/exhibits/911 /

So in both cases the examiners had developed the DNA profiles of the hijackers.

But:
“Genetic profiles of five people from the Pentagon crash scene and
four from the scene in Somerset County, Pennsylvania,
that did not match any of the passengers' profiles
have been handed over to the FBI, said a spokesman for the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology.
The FBI has not given the institute any DNA to match up in those crashes, said the spokesman. ”
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Northeast/02/27/hijackers.re...

The whole investigation led to no conclusion.
No results concerning the identity of the hijackers:
“Investigators segregated remains which yielded DNA samples
that did not match DNA profiles of the 40 passengers and crew. Those,
by process of elimination, are the hijackers, and their remains are being grouped by common DNA.
The air pirates have been identified as Ziad Jarrah, Ahmed Al Haznawi, Saeed Al Ghamdi and Ahmed Al Nami –
but not so positively identified
that officials will list the names in official records.
‘The death certificates will list each as
'John Doe,'’
(Somerset County Coroner Wallace) Miller said.”
http://www.post-gazette.com/headlines/20011220shanksvil...

Bu reports after 9/11 strongly give the impression that the FBI looked for DNA, too:
e.g.
Having found Atta’s car the FBI “started looking at the car, careful not to go near it, careful not to touch anything, to maintain the continuity of evidence and in case there was any other evidence, like DNA”.
(Portland Press Herald, 9/16/01)


Which DNA they could have found:

Saeed Alghamdi:
“About a dozen agents were seen carrying garbage bags out of the residence where Saeed Alghamdi was believed to have lived.”
http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/09/16/inv.investigation...

Ahmed Alhaznawi:
“Another suspected hijacker, Ahmed Alhaznawi, may have lived at the same building. Residents of the apartment complex told CNN Sunday that authorities had already searched the apartment on Wednesday.”
http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/09/16/inv.investigation...

Ziad Jarrah :
The FBI searched through the apartment he shared with Alhaznawi in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea and “seized a green notebook, a videotape, a napkin with Arabic writing on it, several Arabic newspapers that were stuffed between the mattress and the boxsprings and a greeting card, property receipts show.”
http://web.archive.org/web/20011019090410/www.miami.com...
Certainly they could have found a hair as well…
(Moreover Jarrah is known to have had his own car which certainly would be a valuable source for DNA as well. This could have helped to separate Alhaznawi’s from Jarrah’s DNA).


For the six other hijackers it seems quite likely too, that during “the biggest criminal investigation in the history of the USA” the FBI came into possession of anything that could be used in order to determine the DNA profile of the hijackers. (Even if one has to admit that due to the fact that some hijackers always lived together it might be in some cases impossible to know which DNA belongs to which of the hijackers that shared a place to live. But still this would prove that theses hijackers that had lived in this apartment also entered the airplane).


Why did the FBI not release the names of the two hijackers that have been positively identified from Flight 11 or Flight 175 ?
Why did the FBI not give any DNA in order to positively identify hijackers from Flight 77 and Flight 93?
Why is there this apparent lack of interest to identify the hijackers?