September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks
The September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks, often referred to as 9/11 (pronounced "nine eleven"), were a series of coordinated suicide attacks that involved the hijacking of four passenger jets. The jets were used as flying bombs to kill approximately 3000 people on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. In addition to the loss of life, the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and five other buildings were destroyed or partially collapsed, 23 additional buildings were damaged, and a portion of the Pentagon was severely damaged. The event also led to a "War on Terrorism" that included invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, and increased pressure on groups accused of being terrorists and countries that harbor them.
"The Pile" |
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2 Effects 3 Responsibilty 4 Cleanup 5 Investigations 6 List of topics 7 External links |
It was the deadliest act of terrorism on the United States and one of the deadliest single events of asymmetric warfare in history. On the morning of September 11, 2001, four passenger jets were hijacked almost simultaneously over the United States. American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the north side of the north tower of the World Trade Center at 8:46 EDT. At 9:03 AM EDT, United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the south tower. American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon at 9:37 AM EDT. Both 110-story towers of the World Trade Center collapsed along with several neighboring buildings, and part of The Pentagon was destroyed by fire.
The fourth hijacked plane, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed in a Pennsylvania field after passengers and crew tried to retake control of the plane from hijackers. The intended target of that plane is uncertain but is believed to have been either the United States Capitol or the White House. Claims have circulated that this plane might have been shot down by US military fighter jets, but this seems unlikely since passengers were relaying information over telephones to people on the ground, up until just after the attempt to retake the plane.
Casualties were in the thousands: 265 on the planes; 2605 people, including 343 firefighters who had rushed in, at the World Trade Center; and 125 at The Pentagon.
Some passengers were able to make phone calls from the doomed flights. They reported that there was more than one hijacker on each plane (a total of 19 were later identified) and that they took control of the planes using box-cutter knives. Other weapons that may have been used on at least one flight include bombs and some form of noxious chemical spray, such as tear gas or pepper spray.
The attacks of September 11th, 2001 had immediate and overwhelming effects upon the United States population and prompted numerous memorials and services all over the world, as well as tolerance of the US retaliation upon those accused of supporting the attacks. Numerous locations and events were affected by closures, postponements, cancellations, and evacuations. Political effects included legislation and budget reforms (including the freezing of bank accounts suspected of use by people accused of being terrorists) as part of ongoing cooperation with foreign governments to arrest people in other countries, and to examine their possible involvement in terrorist rings.
On the day of the attacks, the US media reported celebration in some communities hostile to US policies, which fueled the already widespread blame of the 9/11 attacks to followers of the Islam. Newsweek told the story of a Muslim who had to leave the US, where she was being educated, due to racist treatment by her white peers. She points out that the Qur'an reminds its followers that "God loves not aggressors", and that the 9/11 attacks were not a jihad according to her interpretation.
Rescue and recovery took months, with the clean up continuing through May. Many relief funds were immediately set up to assist victims (personally and financially) of the attacks. The task of providing assistance to the survivors and the families of victims is ongoing.
Though no group has explicitly claimed responsibility, the Al-Qaida organization has praised the attacks and hinted that it was behind them (see responsibility for more). The U.S. government immediately launched a response, stating its intentions to go to war against those it assumed responsible.
Additional information about the planning and execution of the attacks by Al-Qaida came to light following the capture of two of its members - Khalid Mohammed and Ramzi Binalsibh - in separate raids in 2003 and 2002, and an exclusive interview with al Jazeera journalist Yosro Fauda in September 2002.
Amongst the things that were revealed in these statements was that Khalid Mohammed was the instigator and prime organiser of the attacks. The original plan, set out in 1999, called for over a dozen planes on both east and west coasts to be hijacked and driven into targets. Osama bin Laden was aware of these plans, and used his authority to gradually scale them down to an operation with four planes.
Six of the hijackers played active parts in the planning, including the four who became the pilots. The other two were Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi. CIA operatives monitored these two when they made visits to the USA, but did not notify the FBI or gain any inkling of what the hijackers were up to.
The targets ultimately chosen were the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and Capitol Hill. Flight 93 was meant to crash into the lattermost. The White House was considered as a target, but was dismissed as being too hard to spot from the air. In the communications that developed as the scheme took form, the Pentagon was known as the Faculty of Arts, Capitol Hill was referred to as the Faculty of Law, and the World Trade Center was referred to as the Faculty of Town Planning.
There were early plans to have 20 hijackers, but the final list always did consist of 19 hijackers. Binalsibh was meant to be the 20th, but he was repeatedly denied entry into the US. Zaccarias Moussaoui was considered for the role of the 20th hijacker, but plans to include him were never finalized, as the al-Qaeda hierachy had doubts about his reliability.
His capture by the US authorities did, however, accelerate the plans of the hijackers. It was hijacker Mohammed Atta who notified Binalsibh after Moussaoui's capture in a coded telephone message, "two sticks, a dash, and a cake with a stick down", meaning that the fateful day would be September 11. Thus, it was Atta who chose the date.
In late September, British Prime Minister Tony Blair released information compiled by Western intelligence agencies connecting Osama bin Laden to the Afghan Taliban leadership, and bin Laden's Al-Qaida organisation.
The Taliban refused to extradite Osama bin Laden and all other Al-Qaida leaders based in Afghanistan to the United States without conclusive evidence, however they did agree to extradite to an Islamic country. That evidence was not given and a coalition led by the United States launched an invasion in to Afghanistan on October 7. Previously, the Taliban had refused to extradite bin Laden without conclusive evidence that he was involved in the U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, and the bombing of the USS Cole in a harbor in Yemen.
After the U.S. attack removed the Taliban from power in many parts of Afghanistan, a videotape was discovered abandoned in Kabul, the Afghan capital, which showed bin Laden discussing the attacks in a context which seemed to imply that he had foreknowledge.
A bit over 1 year following the attacks, a letter supposedly written by Osama bin Laden was sent to worldwide media explaining the reasons behind the attacks. Among the reasons cited in the letter were the numerous military interventions of the United States in the Middle East, the debauchery of Western Civilization (mainly the depravity of sex and alcohol which are strictly restricted under some interpretations of Islam that bin Laden's Al-Qaeda, the Taliban and other fundamentalist Islamic factions follow) and a call for conversion to Islam of the infidels. The United States government maintains its position that they were caused by 'hatred' of America.
This position is at least partly consistent with bin Laden's own statements considering the reasons explicitly stated in the letter include what he views as the depravity of Western civilization. It is clear that this alone does not explain the attacks and other reasons cited are the fates to which the United States' government abandoned the Mujahideen fighters in Afghanistan following the Soviet invasion and the Sunni majority in Iraq who were galvanized by then-president George H. W. Bush's speech to revolt against Saddam Hussein.
Following the attack, the United States government has been on heightened alert for new attacks, periodically warning of "imminent attacks".
The fires at the World Trade Center site continued to burn for three months while rescue workers removed and sifted through debris. Some debris was sent to the National Institute of Standards and Technology for analysis, including one steel beam known to have been struck by an airliner.
On Jan 18, 2002, the last hospitalized survivor of the World Trade Center attack was released from the hospital.
By six months after the attack, the 1.5 million tons of debris had been removed from the WTC site and work continued below ground level despite concerns that the slurry wall around the site might collapse. Ceremonies marking the end of the debris removal took place at the end of May 2002.
At least about 100 tons of asbestos were used in the construction of the WTC and had not yet been fully removed [1]. The attacks released dense clouds of dust into the air of Manhattan, and samples of the residue have shown small percentages of asbestos. As the incubation period for asbestos-related diseases is up to 30 years after inhalation, some citizens living in affected areas may suffer long term effects.
A joint Congressional committee concluded its investigation in July 2003. While the events show inadequacies in some parts of the United States government, in terms of both the way the attacks may have been prevented with better use and gathering of intelligence and in the way that defense forces reacted to the attacks, not a single public official was removed from office.
As well as the invasion of Afghanistan, claims of a strong link between bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, and the argument that the attack demonstrated the need to preemptively strike at forces hostile to US and western interests, were used by the US Administration as justification for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, though such links were hotly questioned at the time and little evidence of such links has since emerged.
In May 2003, a ten-member group was formed, the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. Among other requests, the Commission requested information from the Federal Aviation Administration on air traffic control tracking of hijacked aircraft and the FAA's communication with NORAD. By October, the information had not been handed over, provoking the Commission to subpoena the FAA for the information and accuse it of slowing the probe. On November 7, the Commission subpoenaed the military's North American Aerospace Defense Command records for information the NAADC promised but never deliver. The Commission also threatened to subpoena the White House if information regarding intelligence reports given to the president was not turned over.
Overview
Effects
Responsibilty
Recent statements and revelations
Earlier revelations
Cleanup
Investigations
List of topics
External links
