September 11, 2001

By: Hannah Brunelle

What was 9/11?

9/11 was a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks launched by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda upon the United States in New York City and the Washington D.C. metropolitan area on Tuesday, September 11, 2001.

Four passenger airliners were hijacked by nineteen al-Qaeda terrorists so they could be flown into buildings in suicide attacks

Motives of AttacksSupport for the “attacks against Muslims” in Somalia

Support of Russian “atrocities against Muslims” in Chechnya

The sanctions against Iraq

Support of Indian “oppression against Muslims” in Kashmir

U.S. support of Israel

Support to authoritarian regimes in the Middle East such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and JordanThe presence of U.S troops in

Saudi Arabia

The AttacksAmerican Airlines flight 11, and United Airlines flight 175, were crashed into the North and South towers of the World Trade Center, within two hours both towers collapsedAmerican Airlines flight 77, was crashed into the Pentagon (the HQ of the United States Department of Defense) leading to partial collapse of it’s western sideUnited Airlines flight 93 was targeted at Washington D.C., but crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania as passengers tried to overcome the hijackers

Almost 3,000 people died in the attacks including civilians, the hijackers, and firefighters on the scenes

DamageAlong with the 110-floor Twin Towers, numerous other buildings at the World Trade Center were destroyed, including WTC buildings 3 through 7 and St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church

The two buildings of the World Financial Center, and other surrounding buildings also suffered damage

The Pentagon was severely damaged by the impact of the American Airlines flight 77 and ensuing fires, causing the western side of the building to collapse.

Rescue EffortsThe New York City Fire Department deployed 200 units to the site. Their efforts were supported by numerous off-duty firefighters and EMTs.

The New York City Police Department sent Emergency Service Units and other police personnel, and deployed its aviation unit.

After the first tower collapsed, FDNY commander issued evacuation warnings; due to malfunctioning radio repeater systems, many firefighters never heard the evacuation orders

Within hours, a search and rescue operation was launched; after months of around-the-clock operations the World Trade Center site was cleared by the end of May 2002

Immediate ResponseFor the first time in U.S. history, SCATANA was invoked, closing all airspace and immediately grounding all non-emergency civilian aircrafts in the U.S., Canada, and several other countries; stranding tens of thousands of passengers around the world

The Federal Aviation Administration closed American airspace to all international flights causing about 500 flights to be turned back or redirected to other countries.Canada received 226 of the diverted flights and launched Operation Yellow Ribbon to deal with large numbers of grounded planes and passengers

Reactions of the WorldThe deaths of adults who were killed in the attacks resulted in over 3,000 children losing a parent. These children feared losses of life, the protective environment in the aftermath of the attacks, and effects of surviving caregiversMany relief funds were immediately set up to assist victims of the attacks, with the task of providing financial assistance to the survivors of the attacks and to the families of victimsMany Muslim American Islamic organizations launched blood drives and provided medical assistance, food, and shelter for victimsMany nations across the globe offered pro-American support and solidarity

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1368 condemned the attacks and expressed readiness to take steps to respond and combat al forms of terrorism in accordance with their Charter

Numerous countries introduced anti-terrorism legislation and froze back accounts they suspected of al-Qaeda ties

Pakistani authorities permitted the coalition access to their military bases and arrested and handed over to the U.S. over 600 suspected al-Qaeda members.

The U.S. set up the Guantanamo Bay detention camp to hold inmates the defined as “illegal enemy combatants”

Military OperationsIn the afternoon of September 11, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was issuing rapid orders to his aides to look for evidence of Iraqi involvement.

On September 14, 2001, the U.S. Congress passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists

On October 7, 2001, the War in Afghanistan began when U.S. and British forces initiated aerial bombing campaigns targeting Taliban and al-Qaeda camps, then later invaded Afghanistan with special forces

The Philippines and Indonesia, among other nations with their own internal conflicts with Islamic terrorism, also increased their military readiness.

Health IssuesHundreds of thousands of toxic debris containing more than 2,500 contaminants, including known carcinogens, were spread across Lower Manhattan due to the collapse of the Twin Towers

Exposure to the toxins in the debris is alleged to have contributed to fatal or debilitating illnesses among people who were at ground zero

The EPA did not determine that air quality had returned to pre-September 11 levels until June 2002.Approximately 18,000 people have developed illnesses as a result of the toxic dust.

The U.S. Congress passed the James L. Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act on December 22, 2010, and President Obama signed the act into law on January 2, 2011. It allocated $4.2 billion to create the World Trade Center Health Program, which provides testing and treatment for people suffering from long-term health problems related to the 9/11 attacks

Economic EffectsThe attacks had a significant economic impact on United States and world marketsThe stock exchanges did not open on September 11 and remained closed until September 17In NYC, about 430,000 job-months and $2.8 billion dollars and wages were lost in the three months after the attacksSmall businesses in Lower Manhattan near the WTC, $18,000 of which were destroyed or displaced, resulting in lost jobs and their consequent wages.

Cultural EffectsThe impact of 9/11 extends beyond geopolitics into society and culture in generalImmediate responses to 9/11 included greater focus on home life and time spent with family, higher church attendance, and increased expressions of patriotism such as the flying of flags9/11 conspiracy theories have become a social phenomena, despite negligible support for such view from expert scientist, engineers, and historians

9/11 has also had a major impact on the religious faith of many individuals; for some it strengthened, to find consolation to cope with the loss of loved ones and overcome their grief; others started to question their faith or lost it entirely because they could not reconcile it with their view of religion

Government Polices Toward Terrorism

As a result of the attacks, many governments across the world passed legislation to combat terrorismGermany enacted two major anti-terrorism packages were enactedCanada passed the Canadian Anti-Terrorism ActThe U.K. passed the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 and the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005New Zealand enacted the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002

In the U.S. the Department of Homeland Security was created to coordinate domestic anti-terrorism efforts with the USA Patriot Act and the Aviation Transportation Security Act

Osama bin Laden

Osama bin Laden, founder of al-Qaeda, in 2004 in a taped statement, he publicly acknowledged al-Qaeda’s involvement in the attacks and admitted his direct link with the attacks.

The U.S. never formally indicted bin Laden for the 9/11 attacks but he was on the FBI’s most wanted list for bombings of U.S. Embassies

After nearly a 10-year manhunt, bin Laden was killed by American special forces in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan on May 2, 2011

Osama bin Laden (1997)

Osama bin Laden(2010)

FBI InvestigationsImmediately after the attacks, the FBI started PENTTBOM, the largest criminal inquiry in the history in the U.S.The FBI concluded that there was “clear and irrefutable” evidence linking al-Qeada and bin Laden to the attacksThe FBI was quickly able to identify the hijackers, including their leader Mohamed Atta, when his luggage was discovered at Boston’s Logan Airport containing the hijackers’ names, assignments and al-Qaeda connectionsOn September 27, 2001, the FBI released photos of the hijackers, along with information about possible nationalities and aliases

Origins of the 19 hijackers

Nationality Number

Saudi Arabia15

United Arab Emirates2Egypt

1Lebanon

1

Mohammed Atta

MemorialsOne of the first memorials was the Tribute in Light, an installation of 88 searchlights at the footprints of the World Trade Center TowersReflecting Absence was selected in 2006, and consists of a pair of reflecting pools in the footprints of the towers, surrounded by a list of the victims’ names in an underground memorial spaceThe Pentagon Memorial was completed and opened to the public on the seventh anniversary of the attacks in 2008. It consists of a landscaped park with 184 benches facing the Pentagon. When the Pentagon was repaired in 2001-2002, a private chapel and indoor memorial were included at the spot where flight 77 crashed

On every anniversary, in NYC, the names of the victims who died there are read out against a background of somber music

In Shanksville, a permanent Flight 93 National Memorial is planned to include a sculpted grove of trees forming a circle around the crash site, bisected by the plane’s path, while chimes will bear the names of the victims

ReconstructionThe damaged section of the Pentagon was rebuilt within a year of the attacksThe temporary World Trade Center PATH station opened in late 2003 and construction of the new 7 World Trade Center was completed in 2006One World Trade Center us currently under construction at the site On the WTC site, three more office towers are expected to be built one block east of where the original towers stood. Construction has begun on all three of these towers; they are expected to be completed after One World Trade Center

Rebuilt One World Trade Center nearing completion in July 2013

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"September 11 Attacks." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 03 Oct. 2014. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.