September 11 attacks
 | The neutrality of this article is disputed. |
The September 11, 2001 attacks were a series of coordinated suicide attacks on targets within the United States of America carried out on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. According to the official 9/11 Commission Report, nineteen men affiliated with Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, a loose network of Sunni Islamist terrorists, simultaneously hijacked four U.S. domestic commercial airliners. Two were crashed into the World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York City — one into each of the two tallest towers, about 18 minutes apart — shortly after which both towers collapsed. The third aircraft was crashed into the U.S. Department of Defense headquarters, the Pentagon, in Arlington County, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed into a rural field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, 80 miles (129 km) east of Pittsburgh, following passenger resistance. The official count records 2,986 deaths in the attacks including the hijackers.
The 9/11 Commission reported that these hijackers turned the planes into the largest suicide bombs in history. The September 11th attacks are among the most significant events to have occurred so far in the 21st century in terms of the profound economic, social, political, cultural and military effects that followed in the United States and many other parts of the world.
The attacks
Template:Sep11 The attacks started with the hijacking of four commercial airliners. With jet fuel capacities of nearly 24,000 U.S. gallons (91,000 litres) per aircraft [1], the planes 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 television. 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 eight 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 survived in any of the hijacked aircraft.
The fatalities were in the thousands: 265 on the four planes; 2,595, including 343 New York City firefighters, 23 NYPD police officers, and 37 Port Authority police officers in the WTC; and 125 civilians and military personnel at the Pentagon. At least 2,986 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 equipment 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. 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[2]).
The hijackers reportedly took control of the aircraft by using box cutter knives to kill flight attendants and at least one pilot or passenger. The 9/11 Commission could only establish that two of the hijackers had recently purchased Leatherman multi-function hand tools,[3] but 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.
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 or the White House in Washington, D.C. Black box recordings reportedly revealed that passengers, led by Todd Beamer, Jeremy Glick and Mark Bingham, 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 in Stonycreek Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania at 10:03:11 AM local time (14:03:11 UTC). There is a dispute about the exact timing of the crash, founded on the seismic evidence which indicates that the impact actually occurred at 10:06. [4] The 9/11 Panel reports that captured al-Qaeda mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed said that Flight 93's target was the U.S. Capitol, which was given the code name "The Faculty of Law."
9/11
The attacks are often referred to simply as September 11th, 9/11, or 9-11. The latter two are from the U.S. style for writing short dates, in which the month precedes the day, as opposed to the most common style globally, which is day/month/(year). Both are pronounced "nine-eleven", though a few people prefer "nine-one-one" (the same as the telephone number for emergency services in the U.S., 9-1-1). Some people dislike the use of "nine-eleven" due to the similarity to "9-1-1" (which implies a call for help) and the obvious practical point - that this would be far more confusing and potentially ambiguous, and prefer to state the date as "September 11th"; this is also the preferred form in academic writing. Nonetheless, "nine-eleven" is the most common form. With the Madrid attacks called "M11" and the London attacks 7/7, the convention has been extended.
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 | |
|---|---|---|
At the World Trade Center, faced with a desperate situation of smoke and burning heat from the jet fuel, an estimated 200 people jumped to their deaths from the burning towers, landing on the streets and rooftops of adjacent buildings hundreds of feet below (a reaction to the attacks similar to the effects of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and the burning of the General Slocum). In addition, 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. As many as 1,366 people were trapped at and above the floors of impact in the North Tower (1 WTC). None of them survived. As many as 600 people were trapped at and above the floors of impact in the South Tower (2 WTC). Only about 18 managed to escape in time from above the impact zone and out of the South Tower before it collapsed.
As the suburbs around New York City learned of the destruction so close to home, many schools closed for the day, evacuated or were locked-down. Other school districts shielded students from watching television because many parents held jobs in the World Trade Center towers. In New Jersey and Connecticut, private schools were evacuated. Scarsdale, New York schools closed for the day. In Greenwich, Connecticut, about 15 miles north of the city, hundreds of students had direct ties to victims of the attacks. Greenwich, one of the wealthiest towns in the world, had more residents killed than any other town in the area.
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).
Responsibility
| The neutrality of this section is disputed. |
The militant Islamist group al-Qaeda, which had been accused of several previous attacks on American targets, was blamed for the attacks although its leader Osama bin Laden denied involvement and knowledge of the incidents. Osama bin Laden had earlier declared a holy war 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. ([5], [6], [7]). This denial was broadcast on U.S. news networks and worldwide. The second public response was read on September 28 by Daily Ummat a Pakistani newspaper. He stated "I have already said that I am not involved in the 11 September attacks in the United States. As a Muslim, I try my best to avoid telling a lie. I had no knowledge of these attacks, nor do I consider the killing of innocent women, children and other humans as an appreciable act. Islam strictly forbids causing harm to innocent women, children and other people. Such a practice is forbidden even in the course of a battle. " [8].
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 the translation provided some dispute [9]. The tape was broadcast on various news networks in December 2001.
A United States government task force known as the 9-11 Commission and calling themselves "The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States," released its report on July 22, 2004, concluding that the attacks were conceived and implemented by al-Qaeda operatives. The Commission 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, only peripheral figures have been tried or convicted in connection with the attacks.
Motive
The September 11th attacks were consistent with the mission statement of Al-Qaeda. The group's involvement in the bombing of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania is widely suspected, and Al-Qaeda had declared responsibility for the 2000 USS Cole attack in Yemen.
The motivation for this campaign were set out in a 1998 fatwa [10] issued by Bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Abu-Yasir Rifa'i Ahmad Taha, Shaykh Mir Hamzah, and Fazlur Rahman. The fatwa states that the United States:
- Plunders the resources of the Arabian Peninsula.
- Dictates policy to the rulers of those countries.
- Supports abusive regimes and monarchies in the Middle East, thereby oppressing their people.
- Has military bases and installations upon the Arabian Peninsula, which violates the Muslim holy land, in order to threaten neighbouring Muslim countries.
- Intends thereby to create disunion between Muslim states, thus weakening them as a political force.
- Supports Israel, and wishes to divert international attention from (and tacitly maintain) the occupation of Palestine.
The Gulf War and the ensuing sanctions against and bombing of Iraq by the United States, were cited, in 1998, as further proof of these allegations. To the disapproval of moderate Muslims, the fatwa uses Islamic texts to explain violent action against American military and citizenry until the alleged grievances are reversed: stating "ulema have throughout Islamic history unanimously agreed that the jihad is an individual duty if the enemy destroys the Muslim countries".
Statements of Al-Qaeda recorded after 9/11 confirm this motivation. In a 2004 video, apparently acknowledging responsibility for the attacks, Bin Laden claims that the motivation included the wish to "restore freedom to our nation"; to "punish the aggressor in kind", and create economic damage to America - declaring a continuing aim of his holy war was "bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy". [11]
The 9/11 Commission Report determined that the animus towards the United States felt by"the principal architect" of the 9/11 attacks "by his own account [stemmed]... from his violent disagreement with U.S. foreign policy favoring Israel." The same reasons have been imputed to the two pilots who flew into the WTC: Mohamed Atta was described by Ralph Bodenstein - who traveled, worked and talked with Mohamed Atta - as "most imbued actually about... US protection of these Israeli politics in the region." Marwan al-Shehhi is quoted as explaining his humorless demeanour with the words: "How can you laugh when people are dying in Palestine?"
The Bush administration, however, claims that Al-Qaeda was motivated rather by hatred of the freedom and democracy exemplified by the United States. Both the United States and Al-Qaeda present the conflict as a battle between Goodness and Evil. Others have pointed to Al-Qaeda's comments and methods to contend that Al-Qaeda's motivation is to impose a tyrannical World Order based on the organization's interpretation of Islam.
A relatively small minority reject the determination that Al-Qaeda was responsible for the attacks; often citing the CIA or Mossad or pro-Zionist elements as perpetrators. Others, while accepting Al-Qaeda's culpability, allege that members of the American government withheld foreknowledge of the attacks, silently sanctioning them. In both cases, the suggested motivation was to create a pretext for an American military expansion in the Middle East; ultimately to further the realization of those US aims alleged above. Others suggest that the attacks were carried out by Palestinians or by Saddam Hussein's Iraqi government.
Aftermath
International reaction
| The neutrality of this section is disputed. |
The attacks had major world-wide political effects. The attacks were denounced by mainstream media and governments world-wide, with the headline of Paris, France's "Le Monde" newspaper being prototypical: "Today We Are All Americans." Approximately one month after the attacks the United States led a broad coalition of international forces into Afghanistan in pursuit of al-Qaeda forces and to topple the Taliban Government for harboring the terrorist organization. The Pakistani authorities moved decisively to align themselves with the United States in a 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 arrested over six hundred supposed Al-Qaeda members and handed them over to the U.S.[12]
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 (the restrictions of COINTELPRO, blocking the monitoring of public meetings are one example) on government authority were violated by the USA PATRIOT Act and certain civil rights protections were also circumvented. A detention center at Guantanamo Bay Cuba was set up to house suspected terrorists captured on the field of battle in the War on Terrorism world wide. In September 2004 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.
Public response in the United States
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, then 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 has had a higher profile in the U.S. than President George W. Bush.
New York City bore the brunt of the attacks and will always bear physical and physiological scars from the events of the 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)."[13]
There were some incidents of harassment and hate crimes against Middle Easterners and other "Middle Eastern looking" people, particularly Sikhs. A total of nine people were murdered within the United States as part of retaliation. Balbir Singh Sodhi, one of the first victims of this backlash, was shot dead on September 15. He, like many others, was a Sikh yet was mistaken for a Muslim.
Economic aftermath
The attacks had significant short-term economic impact 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 1929, 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 Wall and Broad Streets near the New York Stock Exchange remain barricaded and guarded to prevent a physical attack upon the building.
The economic health of Downtown Manhattan, which by itself is the third-largest business district in the United States (after Midtown Manhattan and the Chicago Loop) remains seriously imperiled by the continuing effects of the attacks, in which 30% (28.7 million sq. ft) of Downtown office space was either damaged or destroyed. Much of what was destroyed was valuable Class-A space. The newly-constructed 7 World Trade Center has only Ameriprise Financial, Inc., a spinoff of American Express Financial Advisors as a named potential tenant[14]. There is no consensus regarding the demand for office space looking forward to 2010, so the market for 7 WTC and other new construction in the financial district is soft.
North American air space was closed for several days after the attacks and air travel decreased significantly upon its reopening. The attacks led to nearly a 20% cutback [15] in air travel capacity, and exacerbated financial problems in the struggling U.S. airline industry.
Many towers in the United States metropolitian areas were evacuated hours after the attacks, including Los Angeles, where traffic was at its lowest volume ever for that city, and the major downtown business district was virtually deserted.
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. Temporary wooden "viewing platforms" were set up for tourists to view construction crews clearing out the gaping holes where the towers once stood.
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.
Potential health effects
Thousands of tons of toxic debris resulting from the collapse of the Twin Towers included asbestos, lead and mercury, as well as unprecedented levels of dioxin and PAHs from the fires which burned for three months. This has led to debilitating illnesses among rescue and recovery workers, as well as some residents, students and office workers of Lower Manhattan and nearby Chinatown. [16]
There is scientific speculation that exposure to various toxic products and the pollutants in the air surrounding the Towers after the WTC collapse may have negative effects on fetal development. Due to this potential harm, a notable children's environmental health center is currently analyzing the children whose mothers were pregnant during the WTC collapse, and were living or working near the World Trade Center towers. The staff of this study assess the children using psychological testing every year and interviews the mothers every six months. The purpose of the study is to determine whether there is significant difference in development and health progression of children whose mothers were exposed versus those who were not exposed after the WTC collapse.
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 energy of the jetliner impacts and the resulting fires 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. 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 [17] was to 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 report concludes that the fireproofing on the Twin Towers' steel infrastructures was blown off by the initial impact of the planes and that if this had not occurred the WTC would likely have remained standing. In addition, the report asserts that the Towers' stairwells were not adequately reinforced to provide emergency escape for people above the impact zones.
Survivors
Congressional inquiries
Speculation, alternative theories, 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. Others say the damage at the Pentagon and WTC does not correspond to the official narrative. Gaps within the public record, the lack of explanation for particular details, and contradictions which have later come to light, continue to fuel speculation. Some skeptics have formed what they call a "9/11 Truth Movement."
There have been several books published detailing alternative narratives of the 9/11 attacks, and there are a large number of websites devoted to explaining and continuing to examine alternative theories of the September 11th attacks. Reasons behind questioning the official story derive from perceived benefits to the US, such as US access and control of Middle East oil, increased popularity ratings for some government officials, and large profit increases for insurance, oil and defense industries following 9/11. Others investigating alternative theories of the 9/11 attacks are concerned by what they see as a series of 'incompetent' or uninvestigated events and coincidences during the Bush Administration which they believe are not all without intention - they see the attacks of 9/11 as the original or largest 'lie,' (or misleading event) that promoted a wartime mentality which subseqently allowed otherwise contentious legislation (i.e., USA PATRIOT Act), authorizations of military force (Iraq War and U.S. invasion of Afghanistan), and even confirmations of what they consider to be questionable US elections (U.S. presidential election, 2004), to be more easily accepted. See: 9/11 conspiracy theories for more information.
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.
Other planned attacks
According to Mohammed Afroze, a planned simultaneous attack in London, on the House of Commons and Tower Bridge, was aborted at the last minute, when the would-be hijackers, waiting to board the planes they were to hijack, saw the damage in the USA, panicked and fled. Similar attacks may also have been planned in New Delhi, Melbourne and Montreal.
The "War on Terrorism"
In the aftermath of the attacks, the view that they had "changed the world forever" became commonplace: that the United States was now vulnerable to terrorist attacks in a way that only other nations had experienced. The United States responded by declaring a war on terrorism, primarily to bring to justice those believed to be responsible, but with a stated long-term goal of preventing the emergence of other terrorist networks by means including economic and military sanctions against states perceived as harboring terrorists, and increasing global surveillance and intelligence-sharing. The biggest operations outside of the United States were the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq by U.S.-led coalitions. The U.S. was not the only nation to increase its military readiness, with other notable examples being the Philippines and Indonesia.
Within the United States many measures were taken to prevent a reccurrence of the attacks by the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration. The USA PATRIOT Act was passed to increase the ability of law enforcement agencies to respond to terrorist threats.
Memorials
Memorials to the victims and heroes of the attacks of Septermber 11 have been planned for the three sites. An outdoor memorial at the Pentagon, for the public, has been designed by Keith Kaseman and Julie Beckman of KBAS of New York City. [18] Construction of the memorial is scheduled for completion in Fall 2006. Within the Pentagon itself, the America's Heroes Memorial was added in September 2002, when the building repairs were completed. Public access to this memorial is restricted to group tours, such as veteran's groups.
The proposed design for Flight 93 National Memorial is called Crescent of Embrace, and it has created some controversy due to its large red crescent plan which also points toward Mecca. Recently, due to the amount of public pressure, it has been announced that the memorial will be redesigned as to avoid any confusion with the sign of Islam.
Currently, there is no memorial at the World Trade Center site. There is one planned called Reflecting Absence, which was designed by Michael Arad and selected through a design competition. This memorial design been generally praised, while other proposed elements for the site have drawn controversy. Among these were the The Drawing Center and the International Freedom Center (IFC). The Drawing Center withdrew its proposal for the site, and in consideration of objections raised by some victims' families, New York Governor George Pataki has barred the IFC from building at the site.
Arts and Literature
The play "The Guys" by Anne Nelson explores the memories and emotions of a surviving fire captain and a writer who helps him writing eulogies for his lost comrades. The play was first performed on December 4, 2001.
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, a 2005 novel by Jonathan Safran Foer, was one of the first books to deal with the attacks. The book follows the narrator, 9-year old Oskar Schell, whose father was in the upper floors of the World Trade Center when terrorists crashed jets into the Twin Towers. To fight his unresolvable grief and quell his terrifying imagination, Oskar embarks on a quixotic quest to find what he hopes is his father's most illuminating secret. In service of this quest Oskar conquers many of his irrational fears and comforts other damaged souls.
Media
Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen end
See also
- Iranian Air Force C-130 crash in Tehran
- Civil Air Patrol
- Collapse of the World Trade Center
- Freedom Tower
- Islamofascism
- List of accidents and incidents on commercial airliners
- List of historical events by death count
- National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
- Osama bin Laden's Declaration of War
- Osama tapes
- Pavel Hlava
- Project Bojinka
- Scott Fry, author of Joint Chiefs of Staff 'Instruction' altering hijack intercept protocol
- September 11, 2001 researchers
- Slogans and terms derived from the September 11, 2001 attack
- Stanley Hilton
- Steven Emerson
- Terrorism
- The New Jackals
- Thomas Kean, chairman of the 9/11 Commission
- Twin Towers 2
- World Trade Center Memorial
- 7 World Trade Center
- 9/11 (film)
- 9/11 Commission Report
- 9/11 conspiracy theories
- 9/11 Truth Movement
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)
- ^ Bhadra, Dipasis, and Pamela Texter. (2004) Airline Networks: An Econometric Framework to Analyze Domestic U.S. Air Travel, Journal of Transportation and Statistics. vol 7(1).
- ^ See http://www.wtceo.org/ http://www.sierraclub.org/groundzero/ http://www.house.gov/nadler/wtc/cleanup.shtml, about health effects.
External links
- 9-11Heroes.us - '9-11 Heroes: Four 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'
- 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 Corporation (11 September 2002)
- 9-11 Predictions and PHOTOS
- CBSNews.com - 'New WTC Death Toll Is 2,752' (AP, 30 October 2003)
- Pictures 9 11, New York City
- 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
- September 11, 2001, Documentary Project from The Library of Congress
- 9-11 Quotations
- Professional architect's comments on the WTC collapse from Cryptome
- Pentagon collision whitepaper (PDF), from Purdue University
- NY fire department audio tapes from September 11, 2001
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
- New York 1 channel coverage
- Various TV news coverage on Putfile.com
- 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)
- Pentagon impact simulation from Purdue University (47 megabyte MPEG file)
Photos
- World Trade Center Photos by Robert Swanson
- 911DigitalArchive.org - 'The September 11 Digital Archive' (in partnership with the Library of Congress)
- InteractivePublishing.net - Media Sites on September 11
- Time.com - 'Shattered: a remarkable collection photographs', James Nachtwey
- Original footage of the WTC attacks - 'NY Hell: videos, pictures and blog from a NYC neighbour'
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'
- The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Acts Upon The United States (2004)
- The Terror Timeline: a comprehensive chronicle of the road to 9/11 and America's response.
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
- Dwyer, Jim and Flynn, Kevin (2005). 102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers. New York, NY: Times Books.
- LookSmart.com - 'September 11 Attacks' (directory category)
- Yahoo.com - 'September 11th Attacks' (directory category)
- 911citizenswatch Oversight process led by 9/11 Families Advisory Group
- Cooperative Research 9/11 Timeline extensive analysis of lead up to 9/11 and its aftermath