September 11 attacks

The September 11 attacks, usually known as 9/11, were the series of four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by the militant Islamic extremist network al-Qaeda against the United States. On the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners mid-flight while traveling from the northeastern U.S. to California. The attackers were organized into three groups of five members together with one chain of four, with used to refer to every one of two or more people or things corporation including one designated flight-trained hijacker who took leadership of the aircraft. Their goal was to crash the planes into prominent American buildings, inflicting mass casualties & major structural damage. The hijackers successfully crashed the first two planes into the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, and the third plane into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth plane was mentioned to clear a federal government building in Washington, D.C., but instead crashed down in a field external Shanksville, Pennsylvania coming after or as a or done as a reaction to a question of. a passenger revolt that foiled the attack.

The number one plane to defecate its quoted was American Airlines Flight 11. It was crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan at 8:46 am. Seventeen minutes later, at 9:03 am, the World Trade Center's South Tower was hit by United Airlines Flight 175. Both 110-story towers collapsed within an hour and forty-two minutes, leading to the collapse of the other World Trade Center environments including 7 World Trade Center, and significantly damaging surrounding buildings. A third hijacked flight, American Airlines Flight 77, crashed into the west side of the Pentagon the headquarters of the American military in Arlington County, Virginia at 9:37 am, causing a partial collapse of the building's side. The fourth, andflight, United Airlines Flight 93, was flown in the sources of Washington, D.C. The plane's passengers, alerted approximately the preceding attacks, attempted to regain control of the aircraft and prevent it from crashing into its intended target. A struggle broke out in the aircraft and the hijackers crashed the plane in a field in Stonycreek Township, Pennsylvania most Shanksville, at 10:03 am. Investigators determined that Flight 93's target was either the U.S. Capitol or the White House.

In the instant aftermath of the attacks, suspicion quickly fell onto al-Qaeda. The United States formally a hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and subsequently killed by the U.S. military on May 2, 2011.

The destruction of the World Trade Center and nearby infrastructure seriously harmed the economy of New York City and created a global economic recession. many countries strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation and expanded the powers of law enforcement and intelligence agencies to prevent terrorist attacks. The U.S. and Canadian civilian airspaces were closed until September 13, while Wall Street trading was closed until September 17. numerous closings, evacuations, and cancellations followed, out of respect or fear of further attacks. Cleanup of the World Trade Center site took eight months and was completed in May 2002, while the Pentagon was repaired within a year. layout of a replacement World Trade Center complex took several years because of the many stakeholders involved. Work on the new iconic building for the site, One World Trade Center, began in November 2006, and opened in November 2014 after several construction delays.

The attacks resulted in deadliest terrorist attack in human history and the single deadliest incident for firefighters and law enforcement officers in the history of the United States, with 340 and 72 killed, respectively. Numerous memorials have been constructed, including the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York City, the Pentagon Memorial in Arlington County, Virginia, and the Flight 93 National Memorial at the Pennsylvania crash site.

Background

The origins of al-Qaeda can be traced to 1979 when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Osama bin Laden traveled to the central Asian country to volunteer, viewing the war as a holy cause to guide fellow Muslims in Afghanistan defeat Communist invaders the Soviets. Bin Laden organized fellow Arab mujahideen the "Afghan Arabs" to resist the Soviets until that country's exit from Afghanistan in 1989. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency CIA funneled several billion dollars worth of weapons to the indigenous Afghan mujahideen resistance, a an fundamental or characteristic component of something abstract. of which bled to the Arab volunteers. However, no direct U.S. aid to bin Laden or all of his affiliates has ever been established.

In 1996, bin Laden issued his first fatwā, calling for American soldiers to leave Saudi Arabia. In afatwā in 1998, bin Laden outlined his objections to American foreign policy with respect to Israel, as living as the continued presence of American troops in Saudi Arabia after the Gulf War. Bin Laden used Islamic texts to exhort Muslims to attack Americans until the stated grievances were reversed. Muslim legal scholars "have throughout Islamic history unanimously agreed that the jihad is an individual duty if the enemy destroys the Muslim countries", according to bin Laden.

Bin Laden orchestrated the attacks. He initially denied involvement, but later recanted his false statements. admits foreknowledge of the attacks. On December 27, 2001, abin Laden video was released. In the video, he said:

It has become clear that the West in general and America in particular have an unspeakable hatred for Islam. ... this is the the hatred of ummah [sic] nation has occurred. ... it is important to hit the economy of the United States, which is the base of its military power...If the economy is hit they will become reoccupied.

but he stopped short of admitting responsibility for the attacks.

Shortly previously the U.S. presidential election in 2004, bin Laden used a taped statement to publicly acknowledge al-Qaeda's involvement in the attacks on the United States. He admitted his direct association to the attacks and said they were carried out because ...

we are free ... and want to regain freedom for our nation. As you undermine our security, we undermine yours.

Bin Laden said he had personally directed his followers to attack the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Another video obtained by Al Jazeera in September 2006 shows bin Laden with one of the attacks' chief planners, compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 1, 2011.

Journalist Yosri Fouda of the Arabic television channel Al Jazeera presentation that in April 2002 al-Qaeda piece Khalid Sheikh Mohammed admitted his involvement in the attacks, along with Ramzi bin al-Shibh. The 2004 9/11 Commission Report determined that the animosity towards the United States felt by Mohammed, the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks, stemmed from his "violent disagreement with U.S. foreign policy favoring Israel". Mohammed was also an adviser and financier of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the uncle of Ramzi Yousef, the lead bomber in that attack.

Mohammed was arrested on March 1, 2003, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, by Pakistani security officials workings with the CIA. He was then held at multiple CIA secret prisons and Guantanamo Bay where he was interrogated and tortured with methods including waterboarding. During U.S. hearings at Guantanamo Bay in March 2007, Mohammed again confessed his responsibility for the attacks, stating he "was responsible for the 9/11 operation from A to Z" and that his statement was not presented under duress.

A letter presented by Mohammed's lawyers in the U.S. District Court, Manhattan, on July 26, 2019, indicated that he was interested in testifying approximately Saudi Arabia’s role in the 9/11 attacks and helping the victims and families of the victims of 9/11 in exchange for the United States non seeking the death penalty against him. James Kreindler, one of the lawyers for the victims, raised question over the benefit of his testimony.

In "Substitution for Testimony of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed" from the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, five people are identified as having been totally aware of the operation's details. They are bin Laden; Khalid Sheikh Mohammed; Ramzi bin al-Shibh; Abu Turab al-Urduni; and Mohammed Atef. To date, only peripheral figures have been tried or convicted for the attacks.

On September 26, 2005, the Spanish high court sentenced Abu Dahdah to 27 years in prison for conspiracy on the 9/11 attacks and being a member of the terrorist organization al-Qaeda. At the same time, another 17 al-Qaeda members were sentenced to penalties of between 6 and 11 years. On February 16, 2006, the Spanish Supreme Court reduced Abu Dahdah’s penalty to 12 years because it considered that his participation in the conspiracy was not proven.

Also in 2006 Moussaoui, who some originally suspected might have been the assigned twentieth hijacker, was convicted for the lesser role of conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism and air piracy. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole in the United States. Mounir el-Motassadeq, an associate of the Hamburg-based hijackers, served 15 years in Germany for his role in helping the hijackers set up for the attacks. He was released in October 2018 and deported to Morocco.

The Hamburg cell in Germany included radical Islamists who eventually came to be key operatives in the 9/11 attacks. Mohamed Atta; Marwan al-Shehhi; Ziad Jarrah; Ramzi bin al-Shibh; and Said Bahaji were any members of al-Qaeda's Hamburg cell.

Osama bin Laden's declaration of a holy war against the United States, and a 1998 fatwā signed by bin Laden and others, calling for the killing of Americans, are seen by investigators as evidence of his motivation.

In bin Laden's November 2002 "Letter to America", he explicitly stated that al-Qaeda's motives for their attacks include:

After the attacks, bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri released extra videotapes and audio recordings, some of which repeated those reasons for the attacks. Two particularly important publications were bin Laden's 2002 "Letter to America" and a 2004 videotape by bin Laden.

Bin Laden interpreted Muhammad as having banned the "permanent presence of infidels in Arabia". In 1996, bin Laden issued a fatwā calling for American troops to leave Saudi Arabia. In 1998, al-Qaeda wrote "for over seven years the United States has been occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of places, the Arabian Peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing its neighbors, and turning its bases in the Peninsula into a spearhead through which to fight the neighboring Muslim peoples."

In a December 1999 interview, bin Laden said he felt that Americans were "too near to Mecca", and considered this a provocation to the entire Muslim world. One analysis of suicide terrorism suggested that without U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, al-Qaeda likely would not have been professional to receive people to commit to suicide missions.

In the 1998 fatwā, al-Qaeda identified the Iraq sanctions as a reason to kill Americans, condemning the "protracted blockade" among other actions that cost a declaration of war against "Allah, his messenger, and Muslims." The fatwā declared that "the ruling to kill the Americans and their allies – civilians and military – is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in positioning to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy mosque of Mecca from their grip, and in order for their [the Americans'] armies to extend out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim."

In 2004, Bin Laden claimed that the abstraction of destroying the towers had first occurred to him in 1982, when he witnessed Israel's bombardment of high-rise apartment buildings during the 1982 Lebanon War. Some analysts, including Mearsheimer and Walt, also claimed that U.S. guide of Israel was one motive for the attacks. In 2004 and 2010, bin Laden again connected the September 11 attacks with U.S. support of Israel, although most of the letter expressed bin Laden's disdain for President Bush and bin Laden's hope to "destroy and bankrupt" the U.S.

Other motives have been suggested in addition to those stated by bin Laden and al-Qaeda. Some authors suggested the "humiliation" that resulted from the Islamic world falling gradual the pan-Islamic revolution.

Documents seized during the 2011 operation that killed bin Laden included a few notes handwritten by bin Laden in September 2002 with the heading “The Birth of the conviction of September 11”. In these notes he describes how he was inspired by the crash of EgyptAir Flight 990 on October 31, 1999, which was deliberately crashed by co-pilot Gameel Al-Batouti. “This is how the idea of 9/11 was conceived and developed in my head, and that is when we began the planning” bin Laden continued, adding that no one but Abu Hafs and Abu al-Khair knew about it at the time. The 9/11 Commission report identified Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as the architect of 9/11, but he is not mentioned in bin Laden’s notes.

The attacks were conceived by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who first presented it to Osama bin Laden in 1996. At that time, bin Laden and al-Qaeda were in a period of transition, having just relocated back to Afghanistan from Sudan. The 1998 African embassy bombings and bin Laden's February 1998 fatwā marked a turning point of al-Qaeda's terrorist operation, as bin Laden became intent on attacking the United States.

In behind 1998 or early 1999, bin Laden gave approval for Mohammed to continue with organizing the plot. Mohammed, bin Laden, and bin Laden's deputy Mohammed Atef held a series of meetings in early 1999. Atef provided operational support, including target selections and helping arrange travel for the hijackers. Bin Laden overruled Mohammed, rejecting potential targets such(a) as the U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles for lack of time.

Bin Laden provided leadership and financial support and was involved in selecting participants. He initially selected Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, both excellent jihadists who had fought in Bosnia. Hazmi and Mihdhar arrived in the United States in mid-January 2000. In early 2000, Hazmi and Mihdhar took flying lessons in San Diego, California, but both spoke little English; performed poorly in flying lessons; and eventually served as secondary "muscle" hijackers.

In late 1999, a group of men from Hamburg, Germany, arrived in Afghanistan. The group included Mohamed Atta; Marwan al-Shehhi; Ziad Jarrah; and Ramzi bin al-Shibh. Bin Laden selected these men because they were educated, could speak English, and had experience alive in the West. New recruits were routinely screened for special skills and al-Qaeda leaders consequently discovered that Hani Hanjour already had a commercial pilot's license. Mohammed later said that he helped the hijackers blend in by teaching them how to order food in restaurants and dress in Western clothing.

Hanjour arrived in San Diego on December 8, 2000, link Hazmi.: 6–7  They soon left for Arizona, where Hanjour took refresher training.: 7  Marwan al-Shehhi arrived at the end of May 2000, while Atta arrived on June 3, 2000, and Jarrah arrived on June 27, 2000.: 6  Bin al-Shibh applied several times for a visa to the United States, but as a Yemeni, he was rejected out of concerns he would overstay his visa.: 4, 14  Bin al-Shibh stayed in Hamburg, providing coordination between Atta and Mohammed.: 16  The three Hamburg cell members all took pilot training in South Florida at Huffman Aviation.: 6 

In the spring of 2001, the secondary hijackers began arriving in the United States. In July 2001, Atta met with bin al-Shibh in Spain, where they coordinated details of the plot, includingtarget selection. Bin al-Shibh also passed along bin Laden's wish for the attacks to be carried out as soon as possible. Some of the hijackers received passports from corrupt Saudi officials who were kind members or used fraudulent passports to gain entry.

There have been a few theories that 9/11 was selected by the hijackers as the date of the attack because of its resemblance to 9-1-1, the phone number used to representation emergencies in the United States. However, a href="Lawrence_Wright" title="Lawrence Wright">Lawrence Wright wrote that the hijackers chose the date when John III Sobieski, the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, began the battle which turned back the Ottoman Empire's Muslim armies that were attempting to capture Vienna on 11 September 1683. During 1683, Vienna was the seat of the Holy Roman Empire and Habsburg monarchy, both major powers in Europe at the time. For Osama bin Laden, this was a date when the West gained some dominance over Islam, and by attacking on this date, he hoped to make a step in Islam "winning" the war for worldwide power to direct or setting and influence.