Reading into the mind of a terrorist

To reinforce this, the document invokes an intricate prayer system apparently borrowed from Sufi mysticism, a narrow branch of Islam, Cole says. But while Sufi mystics used mantra-like repetition to achieve enlightenment, Al Qaeda adapted it for use by the hijackers to induce a mental state free of fear, critical thought, or moral qualms.

One example: A section of the document called the "the last night" contains 15 instructions. In the fifth instruction, the reader is told to pray late into the night repeating certain prayers.

"Praying, chanting, and reciting through the night would aid in the auto-hypnosis necessary to maintaining their self-image as martyrs," Cole writes.

Some academic researchers think Atta must be the author of the document, but others argue that it was more likely penned in committee - or by an Al Qaeda spiritual leader.

Elements of mesmeric manipulation are clearly woven throughout the letter, says Hassan Mneimneh, a Lebanese researcher at Harvard, and a co-author of a detailed analysis of the document.

One reference, for instance, refers to "dhikr," an Arabic term commonly interpreted as "to mention," as it was by the FBI. But it can also mean "to repeat," as in the Sufi practice of mantra-like petition to God.

"In the Sufi context, it is all about getting to be 'alone with the alone' - on your own with God ... even if you're in a crowd," Mr. Mneimneh says.

Not all academics, however, buy into the idea of a brainwashed or hypnotized attacker. Bruce Lincoln, professor of Middle Eastern religions at the University of Chicago, has analyzed the doomsday document but detects no hypnotic system contained in the letter.

Still, he does agree on the document's role as a means of self-justification that systematically and deceptively uses fragmented quotations and excerpts from the Koran plucked out of context to persuade the attackers.

Jerrold Post, a professor of psychology at George Washington University, has not analyzed the doomsday text. But he has delved into the mind-set of suicide terrorists by interviewing dozens of their handlers - those who selected and prepared Palestinian suicide terrorists.

His research has led him to draw a sharp distinction between Palestinian suicide bombers and the 9/11 hijackers, whose psychology "shatters the profile," he says in a phone interview.

The Palestinian bombers are usually young men and women, carefully picked, brainwashed by handlers, and then watched each step of the way until they carry out their mission.

But the 9/11 hijackers were "fully formed, well-educated adults, [and] true believers," Dr. Post says. This enabled them to live among Americans for years without straying from their original convictions and determination.

They remained fixed on their goal, aided, some speculate, by the teaching and routine outlined by the doomsday text.

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