Washington: The September 11 attacks were planned to take place five or six months earlier but were delayed because the ringleader was not ready, according to a leak from the commission investigating the plot. The attacks were postponed, according to details obtained by the Washington Post, because Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who oversaw the operation, persuaded Osama bin Laden that Mohamed Atta, the lead hijacker, had not carried out sufficient preparation. Mohammed, who has been held by US since March last year, is understood to be the source of the information. The leak conflicts with FBI accounts, which have suggested the attacks were brought forward after the arrest of Zacarias Moussaoui, the alleged "20th hijacker'. —The Guardian