September 11 attacks
The September 11, 2001 attacks were a series of coordinated Islamist terrorist attacks carried out in the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. According to the official 9/11 Commission Report, nineteen men affiliated with al-Qaeda, a network of militant Islamist organizations, hijacked four commercial airliners. They crashed one into each of the two tallest towers of the World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York City, shortly after which both towers collapsed. The third aircraft crashed into the U.S. Department of Defense headquarters, the Pentagon, in Arlington County, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed into a rural field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania following passenger resistance.
The attacks were the most lethal terrorist act ever carried out in the United States. The death toll of 2,986 exceeded the toll of 2,403 dead after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The September 11th attacks are arguably the most significant events to have occurred so far in the 21st Century in terms of the profound economic, social, cultural, and military effects that followed in the United States and many parts of the world.
The attacks
The attacks involved the hijacking of four commercial airliners. With jet fuel capacities of nearly 24,000 U.S. gallons (91,000 litres), the aircraft were turned into flying incendiary bombs. American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the north side of the north tower of the World Trade Center (WTC) at 8:46:40 AM local time (12:46:40 UTC). At 9:03:11 AM local time (13:03:11 UTC), United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the south tower, covered live on TV. American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon at 9:37:46 AM local time (13:37:46 UTC). The fourth hijacked plane, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed in a field near Shanksville and Stonycreek Township in Somerset County, Pennsylvania at 10:03:11 AM local time (14:03:11 UTC), with parts and debris found up to 8 miles away. The crash in Pennsylvania is believed to have resulted from the hijackers either deliberately crashing the aircraft or losing control of it as they fought with the passengers. No one in any of the hijacked aircraft survived.
The fatalities were in the thousands: 265 on the planes; 2,595, including 343 firemen and 60 New York City and Port Authority police officers, in the WTC; and 125 at the Pentagon. At least 2,985 people were killed in total. In addition to the 110-floor Twin Towers of the World Trade Center itself, five other buildings at the WTC site and four subway stations were destroyed or badly damaged. In total, on Manhattan Island, 25 buildings were damaged. Communications infrastructure such as broadcast radio, television and two way radio antenna towers were damaged beyond repair. In Arlington, a portion of the Pentagon was severely damaged by fire and one section of the building collapsed.
Some passengers and crew members were able to make phone calls from the doomed flights (see Communication during the September 11, 2001 attacks). They reported that multiple hijackers were aboard each plane. A total of 19 were later identified, four on United 93 and five each on the other three flights (though confusion remains over their exact names and photographs, with some of those first identified still alive in Saudi Arabia[1]). The hijackers reportedly took control of the aircraft by using box cutter knives to kill flight attendants and at least one pilot or passenger. On American 77, one of the passengers reported that the hijackers used Leatherman utility knives.[2] Some form of noxious chemical spray, such as tear gas or pepper spray, was reported to have been used on American 11 and United 175 to keep passengers out of the first-class cabin. Bomb threats were made on three of the aircraft, but not on American 77.
Fatalities
| World Trade Center | Towers | 2,595 |
| Flight 11 | 92 | |
| Flight 175 | 65 | |
| Pentagon | Building | 125 |
| Flight 77 | 64 | |
| Shanksville | Flight 93 | 45 |
| Total | 2,986 | |
|---|---|---|
In New York, some of the occupants of each tower above its point of impact made their way upward towards the roof in hope of helicopter rescue. No rescue plan existed for such an eventuality. By some accounts, fleeing occupants instead encountered locked access doors upon reaching the roof. Faced with a desperate situation of smoke and burning heat from the jet fuel, an estimated 200 people jumped from the burning towers to the streets and roofs below.
According to Associated Press, the city identified over 1,600 bodies but was unable to identify the rest of the bodies (about 1,100 people). They report that the city has "about 10,000 unidentified bone and tissue fragments that cannot be matched to the list of the dead" (AP, 23 February 2005).
The fourth aircraft
It has been speculated that the hijackers of the fourth hijacked aircraft, United Airlines Flight 93, intended to crash into the U.S. Capitol, the White House in Washington, DC, or Camp David. Black box recordings reportedly revealed that passengers attempted to seize control of the plane from the hijackers, who then rocked the plane in a failed attempt to subdue the passengers. Soon afterwards, the aircraft crashed in a field near Shanksville and Stonycreek Township in Somerset County, Pennsylvania at 10:03:11 AM local time (14:03:11 UTC). Captured al-Qaeda mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is rumored to have said that Flight 93 was definitely targeting the Capitol. Some put forth unsubstantiated claims that the plane was shot down over Pennsylvania by the US military.
9/11
The attacks are often referred to simply as September 11, 9/11, or 9-11. The latter two are from the U.S. style for writing short dates, and are pronounced "nine-eleven", though a few people say "nine-one-one" (the same as the telephone number for emergency services in the US, 9-1-1).
Responsibility
The militant Islamist al-Qaeda group praised the attacks, had been involved in several previous attacks on American targets, and its leaders hinted at their involvement in the incidents. Osama bin Laden had earlier declared a jihad against the United States. Shortly after the attacks, the United States government declared al-Qaeda and bin Laden the prime suspects.
The first public response from Osama bin Laden was read on September 16, 2001. He stated, "I stress that I have not carried out this act, which appears to have been carried out by individuals with their own motivation," which was broadcast by Qatar's Al-Jazeera satellite channel. ([3], [4], [5]). This denial was broadcast on U.S. news networks and worldwide.
According to U.S. military sources, in November 2001 U.S. forces recovered a videotape from a destroyed house in Jalalabad, Afghanistan which showed Osama bin Laden talking to Khaled al-Harbi. In the tape, Osama seems to admit planning the attacks, though some dispute the translation provided. The tape was broadcast on various news networks in December 2001. In a 2004 video bin Laden appears to take full responsibility for the September 11 attacks.
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, known as the 9-11 Commission, released its report on July 22, 2004, concluding that the attacks were conceived and implemented by al-Qaeda operatives. The commission reported that, while contacts with Iraq (along with several other Middle Eastern and African nations) had been made, it found no "collaborative relationship" between Iraq and al-Qaeda regarding the September 11 attacks. [6] The Commission also stated that "9/11 plotters eventually spent somewhere between $400,000 and $500,000 to plan and conduct their attack", but that the specific origin of the funds used to execute the attacks remained unknown. To date, no convictions have been made in association with the attacks.
The official reports claim that the Twin Towers fell because the force of the jets and the fire weakened the steel. The way in which the towers fell resembled a process called "controlled demolition". This is because they fell straight down, at a slightly lower velocity than that of an object in free-fall, with each floor showing little resistance. This has suggested to some that explosives were used and had been placed on every floor near all the steel joints of the building before September 11th. Such controlled demolitions can take up to two months to prepare. No credible evidence of any such conspiracy has ever been presented, and there were significant differences in the way the buildings fell from the collapse characteristic of a controlled demolition.
Motive
Al-Qaeda had previously been involved in several attacks on American targets, notably the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and the USS Cole in Yemen. The September 11th attacks were consistent with their campaign against the United States, undertaken because of perceived American support for Israel's oppression of fellow Arab Muslims in Palestine, and American support for dictatorial regimes in the Middle East which al-Qaeda opposes (e.g. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, and Jordan).
The book Al Qaeda: The true story of radical Islam by Jason Burke asserts that in the broader picture, Al-Qaeda's intent from the start was to unite nationalistic factions of militant Islam into a common world view, and to encourage and provide support for attacks against what it saw as the main enemies of a future Islamic "world order".
In a 1998 fatwa, Bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Abu-Yasir Rifa'i Ahmad Taha, Shaykh Mir Hamzah, and Fazlur Rahman declare the purpose of their jihad to be "[I]n order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy mosque [Mecca] from [the Americans'] grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim."
The document also claims that "if the Americans' aims behind these wars are religious and economic, the aim is also to serve the Jews' petty state and divert attention from its occupation of Jerusalem and murder of Muslims there. The best proof of this is their eagerness to destroy Iraq, the strongest neighboring Arab state, and their endeavor to fragment all the states of the region such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Sudan into paper statelets and through their disunion and weakness to guarantee Israel's survival and the continuation of the brutal crusade occupation of the Peninsula." [7]
The public speeches and writings of Osama bin Laden suggest that the majority of his hatred for the United States is directed at the United States government and three particular policies: its support for Israel, its stationing of American troops in the Middle East, and its support for sanctions against Iraq. Immediately prior to the 2004 U.S. presidential election, Bin Laden released a videotape specifically declaring that Al Qaeda actions toward the United States would be determined by US policy toward the Middle East, not by who was elected president. The three particular policies which fuel most of his hatred have been supported by both Democrats and Republicans.
Some people reject the evidence and claim that al-Qaeda were not the perpetrators or sole perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks. According to their theory, the United States Government orchestrated the attacks to build popular support for its war efforts in the Middle East.
Aftermath
International reaction
The attacks had major world-wide political effects. The attacks were denounced world-wide and approximately one month after the attacks the USA led a wide coalition of international forces into Afghanistan in pursuit of al-Qaeda forces. Pakistan moved decisively to ally itself with the United States in its war against Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda. It gave the U.S. a number of military airports and bases, for its attack on Afghanistan. It has arrested over 600 hundred supposed Al-Qaeda members and handed them over to the U.S.[8]
Many countries introduced tough anti-terrorism legislation and took action to cut off terrorist finances, including the freezing of bank accounts suspected of being used to fund terrorism. Law enforcement and intelligence agencies stepped up cooperation to arrest terrorist suspects and break up suspected terrorist cells around the world. This process was highly controversial, as restrictions on government authority were lifted and certain civil rights protections were rescinded and violated. The controversy was highlighted in September 2004 when Yusuf Islam, a leading British Muslim noted for his peaceful charitable work and previously known as the singer Cat Stevens, was barred from entering the U.S. and was subsequently returned to the UK after his flight was briefly diverted to Maine. Yusuf Islam's expulsion led to a complaint from British foreign secretary, Jack Straw to the U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who ordered a review of restrictions placed on people entering the United States.
Reaction amongst the United States population
The attacks also had immediate and overwhelming effects upon the United States population. Gratitude toward uniformed public-safety workers, and especially toward firefighters, was widely expressed in light of both the drama of the risks taken on the scene and the high death toll among the workers. The number of casualties among the emergency service personnel was unprecedented. The highly visible role played by Rudolph Giuliani, the Mayor of New York City, won him high praise nationally. He was named Person of the Year by Time magazine for 2001, and at times had a higher profile in the U.S. than President George W. Bush.
There were several widespread public reactions in the U.S. to the attacks. One was a surge in patriotism and flag-waving not seen since World War II. There was also an unprecedented level of respect, sympathy, and admiration for New York City and New Yorkers as a group by Americans from other parts of the U.S. Some criticized this particular reaction, noting that not everyone who died was from New York (for example, some of the passengers on the planes). However, New York City clearly bore the brunt of the attacks --- and for years to come will still bear physical scars from the events of that day. Blood donations saw a surge in the weeks after 9/11. According to a report by the Journal of the American Medical Association released on May 7, 2003: "...the number of blood donations in the weeks after the September 11, 2001 attacks was markedly greater than in the corresponding weeks of 2000 (2.5 times greater in the first week after the attacks; 1.3–1.4 times greater in the second to fourth weeks after the attack)."[9]
There were some incidents of hate crimes against Middle Easterners and other "Middle Eastern looking" people, particularly the Sikhs. Balbir Singh Sodhi, one of the first victims of this, was shot dead on September 15. Usually, the authorities were quick to protect the people who were at the risk of hate crimes and there was no widespread backlash among Americans against any community.
Economic aftermath
The attacks had significant economic repercussions for the United States and world markets. The New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and NASDAQ did not open on September 11 and remained closed until September 17. New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) facilities and remote data processing sites were not damaged by the attack, but member firms, customers and markets were unable to communicate due to major damage to the telephone exchange facility near the World Trade Center. When the stock markets reopened on September 17, 2001, after the longest closure since the Great Depression in 1933, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (“DJIA”) stock market index fell 684 points, or 7.1%, to 8920, its biggest-ever one-day point decline. By the end of the week, the DJIA had fallen 1369.7 points (14.3%), its largest one-week point drop in history. U.S. stocks lost $1.2 trillion in value for the week. As of 2005 the streets surrounding the Stock Exchange on Wall Street are still barricaded and heavily guarded to prevent a physical attack upon the building.
North American air space was closed for several days after the attacks and air travel decreased significantly upon its reopening. As of 2005, the U.S. airline industry has not fully recovered, and only a handful of American airline corporations are performing well.
All towers in the United States were evacuated during the aftermath of the terrorist attacks, including Los Angeles, where traffic was at its lowest volume ever for that city, and the major downtown business district was virtually deserted as most businesses were closed.
Rescue, recovery, and compensation
Rescue and recovery efforts took months to complete. It took several weeks to simply put out the fires burning in the rubble of the WTC, and the clean-up was not completed until May 2002. Many relief funds were immediately set up to assist victims of the attacks. The task of providing financial assistance to the survivors and the families of victims is still ongoing.
Collapse of the World Trade Center
There has been much speculation on the "performance" of the Twin Towers after the impacts, and the reasons for the collapse are under active debate by structural engineers, architects and the relevant U.S. government agencies. The design of the WTC included many basic innovations distinguishing it from all previous skyscrapers and from many built since. Although the kinetic force of the jetliner hits and the resulting conflagrations were unprecedented in the history of building disasters, some engineers strongly believe skyscrapers of more traditional design (such as New York City's Empire State Building and Malaysia's Petronas Towers) would have fared much better under the circumstances, perhaps standing indefinitely. If they are correct, supertall buildings that share the WTC's major design elements (for example, Chicago's Sears Tower and John Hancock Center) could be considered particularly vulnerable.
7 World Trade Center collapsed in the late afternoon of September 11. It was hit by falling debris of the Twin Towers; for details on its collapse see: Destruction of 7 World Trade Center.
A federal technical building and fire safety investigation of the collapses of the Twin Towers and 7 WTC has been conducted by the United States Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The goals of this investigation -- completed on April 6, 2005 -- were to investigate the building construction, the materials used, and the technical conditions that contributed to the outcome of the WTC disaster. The investigation [10] will serve as the basis for:
- Improvements in the way buildings are designed, constructed, maintained, and used
- Improved tools and guidance for industry and safety officials
- Revisions to building and fire codes, standards, and practices
- Improved public safety
The long anticipated report on the collapse by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) was released on April 6, 2005. In its over 10,000 pages the conclusion reached was that the fireproofing on the steel infrastructure was blown off by the initial impact of the planes into the towers. If this had not occurred the WTC would likely have remained standing. Furthermore the staircases were not adequately reinforced to provide emergency escape for people above the impact zone.
Survivors
Congressional inquiries
Speculation and claims of further conspiracies
Since the attacks, there has been much speculation concerning their planning and execution. A Zogby International Poll published August 30, 2004 reported that half (49.3%) of New York City residents and 41% of New York citizens overall believe that some U.S. leaders "knew in advance that attacks were planned on or around September 11, 2001, and that they consciously failed to act." There are stories of phone call warnings, even weeks in advance that went unheeded. Some theories include the President's behavior during the event as evidence.
20th hijacker
Twenty-seven members of al-Qaeda attempted to enter the United States to take part in the September 11 attacks. In the end, only nineteen participated. Other would-be hijackers are often referred to as the 20th hijackers.
Ramzi Binalshibh meant to take part in the attacks, but he was repeatedly denied a visa for entry into the U.S. Mohamed al-Kahtani, a Saudi Arabian citizen, may also have been planning to join the hijackers but U.S. Immigration authorities at Orlando International Airport refused his entry into the U.S. in August 2001. He was later captured in Afghanistan and imprisoned at the U.S. military prison known as Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Zacarias Moussaoui was reportedly considered as a replacement for Ziad Jarrah, who at one point threatened to withdraw from the scheme because of tensions amongst the plotters. Plans to include Moussaoui were never completed because the al-Qaeda hierarchy had doubts about his reliability. However, in April 2005, Moussaoui pled guilty to involvement in the hijacking and Al Qaeda, a plea which made him eligible for the death penalty. He has yet to be sentenced.
Other al-Qaeda members who may have attempted, but were unable, to take part in the attacks include Saeed al-Ghamdi (not to be confused with the successful hijacker of the same name), Mushabib al-Hamlan, Zakariyah Essabar, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, and Tawfiq bin Attash. According to the 9/11 Commission Report, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the attack's mastermind, wanted to remove at least one member — Khalid al-Mihdhar — from the operation, but he was overruled by Osama bin Laden.
Media
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See also
- 9/11 conspiracy theories
- 7 World Trade Center
- 9/11 Commission Report
- 9/11 (movie)
- Civil Air Patrol
- Collapse of the World Trade Center
- Freedom Tower
- Twin Towers 2
- List of accidents and incidents on commercial airliners
- List of historical events by death count
- National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
- Thomas Kean, chairman of the 9/11 Commission
- Osama bin Laden's Declaration of War
- Osama tapes
- Project Bojinka
- Scott Fry, author of Joint Chiefs of Staff 'Instruction' altering hijack intercept protocol
- September 11, researchers
- Stanley Hilton
- Steven Emerson
- 911 horoscope
- 7 July 2005 London bombings (7 July, 2005)
- Islamist terror bombings in France (July – October 1995)
- Jerusalem bus 20 massacre (21 November 2002)
- Jerusalem bus 2 massacre (19 August 2003)
- Moscow Metro bombing (6 February 2004)
- Madrid train bombings (11 March 2004)
- Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway (20 March 1995)
Victims
References
- 9-11Commission.gov - 'National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States' (9/11 Commission official homepage)
- "9-11Commission.gov - 'The 9-11 Commission Report: The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States' (official commission report, 22 July 2004)
- ABCNews.go.com - 'Forensics at New York's Ground Zero ends' ABC News (23 February 2005)
- Aljazeera.net - Full transcript of bin Ladin's speech (1 November 2004)
- Vivisimo.com - 'Search the final report of the 9/11 Commission'
- GPOAccess.gov - 'The 9-11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (official government edition)
External links
 | This article is written like an obituary. |
- 9-11Heroes.com - '9-11 Heroes: Three years after: We remember the events and victims of September 11 2001: In Memory to all those who gave their lives on 9-11-2001'
- CreativeLoafing.com - 'Did the White House fail to heed pre-9-11 terror warnings? The president must ensure that the bureaucracies charged with protecting national security do their work -- and work together', John Hickman, Creative Loafing Atlanta (May 29, 2002)
- BBC.co.uk - 'America's Day of Terror: On 11 September 2001 a series of attacks were launched on America: It was a day that many around the world would never forget' (special 9/11 report compilation), British Broadcasting Company (11 September 2002)
- CBSNews.com - 'New WTC Death Toll Is 2,752' (AP, 30 October 2003)
- CNN.com - '9/11 Timeline'
- MAHOPA.de - 'The world after September 11'
- NY1.com - 'World Trade Center Special Section', New York One News Television (June 7 2005)
- WashingtonPost.com - 'Terrorists Unleash Assault on US', Washington Post
- RealOpinion.com - A chronology of related events leading up to 9/11 since 1974.
- September 11, 2001, Documentary Project from The Library of Congress
- 9-11 Quotations
Video
- AirDisaster.com - video of the World Trade Center crashes
- 9/11 Timeline - Chronology of events according to 9/11 Commission Report presented in 4-way split screen.
- CNN.com - First plane hits World Trade Center
- CNN.com - Second plane hits World Trade Center
- CNN.com - Exclusive video of plane crashing into WTC
- CNN.com - Video shows second WTC attack
- CTData.com - 'Naudet Documentary "9|11" to be Released on DVD and VHS on September 10' (documentary of Naudet brothers following firefighters during the event)
Photos
- 911DigitalArchive.org - 'The September 11 Digital Archive' (in partnership with the Library of Congress)
- InteractivePublishing.net - Media Sites on September 11
- New YorkSnapShot.com - 'Events of September 11th' (pictorial chronograh of the Towers after 9/11 from the same vantage point), Sage Reynolds
- Time.com - 'Shattered: a remarkable collection photographs', James Nachtwey
- World Trade Center Photos by Robert Swanson
Books
- CSMonitor.com - 'September 11 One Year Later: A Monitor Guide to Books of September 11: A year after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the publishing industry has produced more than 300 related books', Christian Science Monitor
- September11News.com - 'Historical 9-11-01 Books'
Victims and damage
- CNN.com - List of Victims
- CNN.com - In-Depth Specials - Damage report from the city of New York
- NewYorkMetro.com - 9/11 by the Numbers: Death, destruction, charity, salvation, war, money, real estate, spouses, babies, and other September 11 statistics', New York Times
Further reading
- DMOZ.org - 'September 11, 2001', Open Directory Project (directory category)
- LookSmart.com - 'September 11 Attacks' (directory category)
- Yahoo.com - 'September 11th Attacks' (directory category)