A Flight Instructor Tries to Clear His Name
By CHARLIE LeDUFF
AN DIEGO, Sept. 11 - Rick Garza, a flight instructor here, wants his countrymen to know that he was not the man who trained Saudi assassins to fly American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon.
Let history note, Mr. Garza said, that though Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaq Alhazmi took two flying lessons and a handful of ground courses from him in May 2000, he asked them to leave the Sorbi Flying Club because they showed no mechanical aptitude and their English was horrible. He was an obstacle rather than an abettor to their butchery.
``It doesn't seem to matter,'' said Mr. Garza, 44, in a moment of reflection as the names of the dead were being read over the television set this morning. ``When people find out about it they give me a sideways look and call me the terrorist instructor.''
It has been a bad year for Mr. Garza, who had hoped before Sept. 11 to find a job as a commercial airline pilot. But the pilot jobs have dried up as the airlines struggle for survival. On his pilot's application he feels compelled to check ``yes'' to the question of whether he has had any affiliation with terrorist organizations, he said.
``Who wants to hire me after that?'' he wonders. No companies have called to inquire about his résumé.
Since his name has appeared in the news pages, he has received strange phone calls, his car has been broken into and he has had nightmares, Mr. Garza said.
Still, Mr. Garza who calls himself a humble servant of Jesus Christ, has not lost faith. ``I believe the hand of God influenced me to turn these men away,'' he said. ``I believe we are fighting a war of good versus evil. Who is good and who is evil? My God doesn't say that it is righteous to kill thousands of innocent people.''
By CHARLIE LeDUFF
AN DIEGO, Sept. 11 - Rick Garza, a flight instructor here, wants his countrymen to know that he was not the man who trained Saudi assassins to fly American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon.
Let history note, Mr. Garza said, that though Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaq Alhazmi took two flying lessons and a handful of ground courses from him in May 2000, he asked them to leave the Sorbi Flying Club because they showed no mechanical aptitude and their English was horrible. He was an obstacle rather than an abettor to their butchery.
``It doesn't seem to matter,'' said Mr. Garza, 44, in a moment of reflection as the names of the dead were being read over the television set this morning. ``When people find out about it they give me a sideways look and call me the terrorist instructor.''
It has been a bad year for Mr. Garza, who had hoped before Sept. 11 to find a job as a commercial airline pilot. But the pilot jobs have dried up as the airlines struggle for survival. On his pilot's application he feels compelled to check ``yes'' to the question of whether he has had any affiliation with terrorist organizations, he said.
``Who wants to hire me after that?'' he wonders. No companies have called to inquire about his résumé.
Since his name has appeared in the news pages, he has received strange phone calls, his car has been broken into and he has had nightmares, Mr. Garza said.
Still, Mr. Garza who calls himself a humble servant of Jesus Christ, has not lost faith. ``I believe the hand of God influenced me to turn these men away,'' he said. ``I believe we are fighting a war of good versus evil. Who is good and who is evil? My God doesn't say that it is righteous to kill thousands of innocent people.''
