What if~9/11 Never Happened?

September 11, 2001, a day not just in American History where radical terrorism hit the country, but it's also when the entire world was shocked to its very core. It saw the sudden destruction of the old World Trade Center twin towers, the deaths of over 3,000 people, and a desire for revenge against radical Islamic terrorism which led to a near 8 year manhunt for one such terrorist "Osama Bin Laden"; a leader of the terrorist organization, Al-Qaeda.

So, what if in an alternate reality, terrorism never struck the United States, what if 9/11 never happened? This is what this page will try to cover. But first (and as always) some context. If you just want to read about the alternate scenario, you can just scroll down to the "What if?" part of the page.

## Real History

Now, since these events are 20 years ago and are still very recent, I'm only going to give you a brief generalization of what happened on that day.

The Old World Trade Center Twin Towers (built in the early 1970s by Minoru Yamasaki) were attacked when a commercial airplane (hijacked by terrorists) which left Boston airport and bound for Los Angeles flew into Tower 2 on September 11, at 8:46 AM, the country was in shock, just 18 minutes later at 9:03 AM, Tower 1 was hit. New York's police and fire department scramble to get people out of the towers, but those to were above the blasts of the planes had a more unsure fate. A half-hour later, at 9:37 AM, the south side of the Washington DC building; The Pentagon (the center for America's Military) was also hit by another hijacked airplane that left Cleveland. At 9:59 AM, Tower 1 of the WTC collapsed, a few minutes later, a plane (supposedly hijacked) crashed on an open field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and at 10:28 AM Tower 2 also collapsed from the burning jetfuel.

Yeah, all of this over the course of nearly 2 hours and New York lost a face on its skyline (as well as some other buildings around the WTC) and the good people of America lost nearly 3,000 people. A nation was in total shock and anger.

In response to these attacks, President Gorge Bush Jr. has declared a "war on terrorism" and the remainder of the 2000s were dominated by the conflict between angry Americans and radical Islamic Terrorist groups, including Al-Qaeda and its leader Osama Bin Laden who would be labeled "Public Enemy #1" and was wanted dead or alive.

## What if?

Now, here's our favorite question. What if 9/11 never happened, what if Al Qaeda didn't attack the US?

Now, if you (the reader) are thinking "Johnny will say, The old World Trade Center would still dominate the New York Skyline, 3,000 people never die, and American troops won't stay in Afghanistan for 20 years."

Well, you would be wrong.

The tragic events of September 11, 2001 did more than change New York's skyline forever and touched the hearts and minds of those who are personally effected by the attacks. It also changed the American mindset at the time.

To put this in perspective, the American people that lived in the 1950s lived (somewhat) happy lives and had a happy and optimistic mindset thanks to the United States emerging as the victor in World War 2, so the propaganda for the time was to encourage Americans to walk around with their chests poked out, so to say now that their country had won a terrible war that cost the lives of 78 Million people (and around 407,000 American troops).

For Americans that have lived in the 1990s, they got a taste of that, so to say again, with the fall of the USSR in 1991 and bringing an end to the Cold War, the United States has become the world's \*only\* superpower with no other country at the time being able to compete against it, militarily and economically, so that happy optimistic mindset stuck with Americans.

That is until 9/11 when that "happy optimism" everybody is feeling has turned into anger and a desire for revenge as the attacks left with destroyed buildings and 3,000 innocent people dead (as mentioned before). In fact, a lot of people in the US were enlisting in the military in hopes to get their revenge on Islamic terrorists (especially Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda).

In this alternate reality, with no terrorist attack on the US, this 90s version of American Happy Optimism would continue well into the 2000s, but would change by the 2011. Why, the economic recession.

Even without 9/11, the American Economic Recession would still happen, but because the US wouldn't spend money on the military to get Bin Laden, the recession would be postponed for about 2 to 3 years.

So, in this alternate reality, the President who would replace Bush (assuming he gets voted in for a second term in 2004) would deal with the economic recession which in our reality began in 2008 during Bush Jr.'s last year in office, and would probably get (unfairly) blamed for it as well.

It's also possible that in this alternate reality without 9/11, the economic recession may not be as bad as it was in our reality and fewer people losing their jobs and their homes. Again, having a substantial effect on our elections in the 2010s.

What about Bush Jr. What would his administration be like without 9/11 happening? Well, as we know in our reality, 9/11, his war on terrorism and rehashing the Iraq war were his legacies for the duration of his presidency, so it's hard to imagine what Bush would do, or how the American people would think of him in this alternate reality. One thing's for sure is that Bush Jr. would be seen by Americans as a "Nice Safe Guy who wouldn't cheat on them" as Bush Jr. was elected in the aftermath of President Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky and was impeached for it, but not officially convicted.

It's also difficult to say how Bush Jr. would handle Iraq, and it's assuming that if he tries. In our reality, Bush Jr. still had the support of an American population still concerned with vengeance against radical Islamic Terrorism (and suspicions that Iraq's leader; Saddam Hussein was aiding Al-Qaeda). Remove 9/11, Bush Jr. wouldn't have the support of the people for his wanting to go to Iraq, so he may have handled it differently.

Of course, nobody knew at the time that it would be a total dumpster fire, except for the apprehension of Hussein.

Oh, there's one more thing. The war on terrorism didn't start after 9/11, why, because it had already started as the US had missions across North Africa, and the Middle East (such as Somalia, Lebanon, US Troops in Saudi Arabia and Iraq as well as Pro-American governments all over the Islamic Middle East which the terrorists didn't like too much) which were the prime motivations for the attacks in the first place. Even with no 9/11, there would still be a war on terrorism, it just won't be headline news as 9/11 in our reality brought the "War on Terrorism into mainstream media.

September 11, 2001 has left scars that are still to this day (20 years ago) throbbing painfully and have yet to fully heal. It has changed not just America, but the world in how we view ourselves as not just Americans but as what kind of people we truly are. It has also proved that an economic and military superpower is just as vulnerable as any small state in the middle east to radical forms of terrorism.

That'll do it for this page, don't forget to check out my Games and Movies wikis too. Until next time, this is JohnnyOTGS signing out.