ramzi bin al-shibh, born on the first of may in 1972 grew up in a poor family in sanaa, where his father died when he was 15, leading him to work as a clerk at the international bank of yemen.
during the 1994 civil war in yemen, he fought briefly for the government. shortly after, he applied for a us visa in 1995, which was denied likely due to economic migrant concerns, then he moved to hamburg germany in the late 1990s under various aliases including claiming asylum as a sudanese refugee.
there he roomed with mohamed atta, and became central to the hamburg cell. in my personal opinion, I think he was the glue who kept the cell together (through other untold details). however, his poor academic record/grades led to expulsion from german language school. while the other men were in the united states, ramzi wired money in-between them and AQ, along with passing messages and helping recruit while acting as intermediary, since he couldn't secure a visa himself. technically, he could've earned the label of being the intended 20th hijacker, or would've been in hani's spot for f77. regardless, he lived to see his operation play out on the evening (his time in pakistan) on september 11th.
