Tracking the hijackers' finances, investigators have concluded that the operation probably did not cost much more than $200,000.
The hijackers, largely financed by a series of cash infusions sent by a suspected middleman for Al Qaeda in the Persian Gulf region, moved at least $325,000 into about 35 American accounts without any of the banks' issuing reports of suspicious activity to federal regulators.
The judge, Col. James L. Pohl of the Army, gave Mr. Mohammed permission to speak and did not interrupt him, but said he would not hear any further personal comments from the five defendants who are accused of recruiting, financing and training the hijackers.
A Saudi national, Mr. Hawsawi also helped finance the hijackers, setting up an account in the United Arab Emirates.
At the time, F.B.I. officials were investigating whether money from the accounts of the princess helped finance the hijackers responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks.
We remain in ignorance as to what drove religious zealots formerly allied with the United States to turn against us, and what was the role of our ally, Saudi Arabia, the country of origin for most of the hijackers and their financing.
The Saudi ambassador to the United States has angrily denied that his country failed to cooperate with the F.B.I. and C.I.A. in fighting terrorism and has dismissed accusations that it helped finance two of the hijackers as "outrageous".
Also, the hijackers had "maxed out" all of their credit cards to help finance the operation, one official said.
It's less than five years since 9/11; two of the hijackers were citizens of the United Arab Emirates, and Dubai money apparently helped finance terrorism.
