What white minivan?

[KJF]

They didn't have a white minivan.

When lead hijacker Mohamed Atta sold his car in Florida in the early afternoon on the Friday before the attacks, he was accompanied by a bunch of guys in a white minivan. The Sun-Sentinel says:

"Errico said Atta drove into his used car lot around 2 p.m. on the Friday before the attacks, saying he wanted to sell the Grand Am because he did not need it anymore. Three men in a white minivan accompanied him and waited for about 45 minutes while Errico and Atta went back and forth about a price, Errico said."
Link: http://www.madcowprod.com/10/atta%20demented.htm

This is the hijackers' true name usage chart:
http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov/notablecases/moussaoui/exhibits/prosecution/OG00013.pdf
Vehicle rentals are on pages 26 and 27. I don't see any minivan.

Here's Wikipedia's list of cars used by 9/11 hijackers:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cars_used_by_the_9/11_hijackers
According to it, the only minivan they rented was in the NE, not Florida.

So where's the minivan from?

[Andre II]

1. Interesting

it goes hand in hand with the many people that hung around with the alleged hijackers that the FBI never bothered to identify.
I recall even in Shuckums there was a third person. Al Shehhi bought his 911 ticket with an unknown etc.

[savemefromdumbya]

2. Wasn't that the white minivan used by the 'dancing Israelis'

you know that story?

[RedSock]

3. three unknown guys

Couldn't the van belong to one of these three unknown guys (assuming the FBI doesn't know who they are)?

If so, then it wouldn't be listed in known vehicles, right?

Edit -- Was it a white minivan that was involved in the possible assassination attempt at Bush's hotel very early on 9/11? Also, I think someone saw a white van with a few "Middle Eastern men" driving around Sarasota yelling anti-American stuff shortly after WTC1 was hit.

[KJF]

5. Good call

It was a van:

At about 6 a.m. Sept. 11, Longboat Key Fire Marshall Carroll Mooneyhan was at the front desk of the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort as Bush prepared for his morning jog. From that vantage point, Mooneyhan overheard a strange exchange between a Colony receptionist and security guard.

A van occupied by men of Middle Eastern descent had pulled up to the Colony stating they had a “poolside” interview with the president, Mooneyhan said. The self-proclaimed reporters then asked for a Secret Service agent by name. Guards from security relayed the request to the receptionist, who had not heard of either the agent or plans for an interview, Mooneyhan said.

...

Earlier, the FBI questioned a Longboat Key man who also had a strange run-in with a van occupied by men of Middle Eastern descent.

At 8:50 a.m. the man stood on the Sarasota bayfront waiting to watch the presidential motorcade pass. A dilapidated van passed him with two men of Middle Eastern descent “screaming out the windows, ‘Down with Bush’ and raising their fists in the air.”

http://www.longboatobserver.com/showarticle.asp?ai=1874

Hopsicker says it was white (WtTL, p. 45), but he didn't talk to Mooneyhan, so how does he know?

I guess there are plenty of white vans with men of Middle Eastern descent in Florida, though.

[Ferry Fey]

6. Maybe just a Florida solar energy practice?

In Florida, wouldn't it be more likely that minivans would be white instead of a darker color, simply on solar heating grounds? You'd want to reflect the sunlight, not absorb it.

It may be that which ties them together, rather than some sinister predilection for the color.

[leftofthedial]

4. why haggle over price

if you're about to kill yourself?