September 11 attacks

The **September 11 attacks** (often referred to as **9/11**) were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group Al-Qaeda against the United States on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001.

## Background

Al-Qaeda's plans for the attack date back to 1996, and in 1998 the group came to the attention of the United States publicly for the first time when they simultaneously used truck bombs to attack the US Embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) responded by placing Al-Qaeda's leader Osama bin Laden in its ten most wanted fugitives list. It could now be seen as a warning shot against the United States.

## The set up

The setting up of the attack began with a series of meetings in early 1999, choosing targets and arranging travel to the United States for hijackers. Priority was given to those who could fit in to society in the US thereby avoiding detection. Those that couldn't were trained to do so by those who could - including how to order food in a restaurants and how to dress appropriately. A key group to this came from Germany in late 1999. Training was found for those to gain a commercial pilot's license although one hijacker, Hani Hanjour, already had one. He underwent refresher training just in case. The remaining hijackers arrived in the United States in the first half of 2001. The instructions from bin Laden were to set up as quickly as possible due to the fact that some of the hijackers had passports that had been obtained from corrupt foreign officials, although the date of the attack was set in stone. This date was chosen not because the numbers (9-1-1) represented the digits of the emergency telephone contact service in the United States, but because it was the day in 1683 that bin Laden believed that the West gained a key advantage over Islam. September 11 was when the capture of Vienna by the Muslim armies of the Ottoman Empire was turned back by opposing forces.

## The Attack

The plan was executed in the early morning of September 11, 2001. 19 hijackers took part, one man down for what has been rumoured as the intended 20. It is not known why they were one man down, or if it was always the intention to go with five men on three flights and four men on one. Two flights departed from Boston, both originally headed for Los Angeles. One flight departed from Newark, originally headed for San Francisco and one flight departed from Washington Dullies in Virginia.

### World Trade Center North Tower

American Airlines Flight 11 out of Boston departed at 7:59am. It appears to have been hijacked about 25 minutes into the flight, taking a route that appeared to be headed over the Great Lakes area. It was flown into the northern side of the North Tower of the World Trade Center, crashing at 8:46am.

### World Trade Center South Tower

United Airlines Flight 175 out of Boston departed at 8:14am. It appears to have been hijacked also about 25 minutes into the flight, taking a slightly different route to that of Flight 11 to the south. It was flown into the southern side of the South Tower of the World Trade Center, crashing at 9:03am.

### The Pentagon

American Airlines Flight 77 out of Washington Dullies departed at 8:20am. It appears to have been hijacked about 30 minutes into the flight. It was flown into the west wall of the Pentagon, crashing at 9:37am.

### Pennsylvania field

United Airlines Flight 93 out of Newark departed at 8:42am, just four minutes before the North Tower at the World Trade Center was hit. It appears to have been hijacked about two thirds into the flight but this is debatable due to the resistance by passengers. This was the flight that carried four hijackers and not five. It crashed in a field in Pennsylvania at 10:03am. Consequent evidence revealed the intended target was the Capitol Building.

## The immediate aftermath

Flight 11's deviation from it's flight route was detected but it took 21 minutes to get intercepting aircraft into the air, by which time the North Tower at the World Trade Center had already been hit. Due to the focus on it, the deviations by the other flights went undetected. It took the second World Trade Center strike for activity to begin on it's own but that only started at 9:30am - too late to stop the Pentagon strike. They may have stopped the intended attack on the Capitol but that crashing in Pennsylvania made that unnecessary.

When Flight 11 struck, many in New York felt it was a horrific accident. Media was in attendance when Flight 175 struck, and it was only then that it was realised that this was no accident. Evacuations were ordered, but at 9:59am the South Tower at the World Trade Centre suddenly collapsed. It was assumed that the North Tower would follow and orders for evacuations heightened, when indeed at 10:28am the Tower collapsed.

By this time, all flights in the United States were grounded and any international flights already in the air were diverted to Canada and Mexico.

## The Reaction

As the rest of September passed, attention turned to the rescue efforts and in particular the first responders - a number of whom died when the South Tower collapsed. Many heroes were lauded and of those who died remembered. The then Mayor of New York City, Rudy Guiliani, was also praised for his response in relation to the attack on the Towers.

When it became known that the attacks were the responsibility of Islamic terrorists, residents of the United States who followed any Islamic faith became targets of hate crimes. This was despite efforts by many community leaders to distance themselves from the extremist element that had been behind the attacks and condemn them. Even then President of the United States, George W Bush, made an appearance at Washington DC's largest Islamic Center and noted the "incredibly valuable contribution" made by millions of American Muslims to the US and called for them "to be treated with respect". Sikhs were also targeted based on the false assumption that they were of the same faith.

Virtually all of the other countries in the world expressed shock and remorse. The one exception was Iraq, who stated in response that "the American cowboys are reaping the fruit of their crimes against humanity" - possibly referring to Operation Desert Storm. And while the official reaction from Saudi Arabia and Palestine were supportive, word was that there were many citizens who were more inclined to agree with Iraq.

The US government as a result of the attacks reset a number of laws and created the Homeland Security Act in 2002, consequently setting up the new Department of Homeland Security. It also created the USA Patriot Act and the controversial Guantanamo Bay Detention Center.

The attacks also led to the invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001 - and later by association the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Osama bin Laden was tracked down and killed in early May 2011.

## *Opinions*

* For me personally, 9/11 was proof beyond a shadow of a doubt what lengths terrorists would go to get their own way and what sort of threat they posed to all the democratic societies of the world. My first thought was simple - "Get out of Melbourne". This is something that ultimately happened in 2005. Bush's immediate reaction to the attack was broadcast and the look on his face when he was told smacked of dumbstruck indifference. I've always said that was completely inappropriate. There are a minority of people who believe that the US government arranged this whole thing to distract the population. They base this on the fact that that the government were warned about this attack, but failed to take the intelligence seriously. The US has never taken the offence felt by other countries towards their version of freedom seriously. They think there's nothing wrong with it. There is, and the sooner they realise just how much that freedom is hurting others the better. The conspiracy theories are laughable. I'm not trying to justify Al Queda's actions or support Iraq's careless statement. They were wrong, and a ridiculous and callous over reaction. There are much better ways to deal with bullies like people who demand everyone be absolutely free - when there's no such thing on a world wide scale. It's impossible. **TLPG** 11:30, 13 November 2021 (UTC)