In the winter of 2000 FBI agent Ken Williams was concerned about a Lebanese student at Prescott’s Embry Riddle Aeronautical University.

The student was Zakaria Soubra.

Zakaria Soubra, lanky and outspoken in his contempt for U.S. foreign policy, was the Arizona recruiter for Al-Muhajiroun, a London-based group of Islamic extremists. He was evicted from a Tempe mosque for his radicalism and got into Williams’ sights after speaking at a political demonstration.

Soubra was the key “person of interest” identified by Williams at aviation schools in the state. It is unclear whether Hanjour also had become a blip on Williams’ radar by then. The 29-year-old native of Ta’if, Saudi Arabia, was a sometimes Arizona resident with a reputation for shyness. As a teenager, he visited Afghanistan. According to the 9/11 Commission Report, however, Hanjour was not drawn to Arizona by piety or by a conspiracy. Instead, he came here to study.

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