From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the attacks in 2001. For other attacks on the same date, see September 11 attacks (disambiguation).
"Nine eleven," "9/11," "9-11", and "Manhattan Raid" redirect here. For the calendar dates, see September 11 and November 9. For the reverse, see 11/9. For other uses, see 911.September 11 attacksPart of terrorism in the United States
Top row: The Twin Towers of the
World Trade Center burning
2nd row, left to right: Collapsed section of
the Pentagon; Flight 175 crashes into 2 WTC
3rd row, left to right: A firefighter requests
assistance at World Trade Center site;
An engine from Flight 93 is recovered
Bottom row: Flight 77's collision with the
Pentagon as captured by three
consecutive CCTV frames
Lower Manhattan, New York
Arlington County, Virginia
Stonycreek Township, Pennsylvania[a]
DateSeptember 11, 2001; 23 years ago
c. 08:13 a.m.[b] – 10:03 a.m.[c] (EDT)Target
World Trade Center (AA 11 and UA 175)
U.S. Capitol Building or the White House (UA 93; unsuccessful due to passenger revolt)
Attack typeIslamic terrorism, aircraft hijacking, suicide attack, mass murderDeaths2,996[d]
(2,977 victims and 19 Al-Qaeda terrorists)Injured6,000–25,000+[e]PerpetratorsAl-Qaeda led by Osama bin Laden (see also: responsibility)
No. of participants19MotiveSeveral; see Motives for the September 11 attacks and Fatwas of Osama bin LadenConvicted
Mounir el-Motassadeq (see also: Trials related to the September 11 attacks)
The September 11 attacks,[f] commonly known as 9/11,[g] were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and the third into the Pentagon (headquarters of the United States Department of Defense) in Arlington County, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed in a rural Pennsylvania field during a passenger revolt. The September 11 attacks killed 2,977 people, making it the deadliest terrorist attack in history. In response to the attacks, the United States waged the multi-decade global war on terror to eliminate hostile groups deemed terrorist organizations, as well as the foreign governments purported to support them.
Ringleader Mohamed Atta flew American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan at 8:46 a.m.[h] Seventeen minutes later,[i] United Airlines Flight 175 hit the South Tower. Both collapsed within an hour and forty-one minutes,[j] bringing about the destruction of the remaining five structures in the complex and damaging or destroying nearby buildings. American Airlines Flight 77 flew towards Washington, D.C. and crashed into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m., causing a partial collapse. The fourth and final flight, United Airlines Flight 93, also changed course towards Washington, believed by investigators to target either the United States Capitol or the White House. Alerted to the previous attacks, the passengers revolted against the hijackers who crashed the aircraft into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at 10:03 a.m. The Federal Aviation Administration ordered an indefinite ground stop for all air traffic in U.S. airspace, preventing any further aircraft departures until September 13 and requiring all airborne aircraft to return to their point of origin or divert to Canada. The actions undertaken in Canada to support incoming aircraft and their occupants were collectively titled Operation Yellow Ribbon.
That evening, the Central Intelligence Agency informed President George W. Bush that its Counterterrorism Center had identified the attacks as having been the work of al-Qaeda under Osama bin Laden. The United States formally responded by launching the war on terror and invading Afghanistan to depose the Taliban, which rejected U.S. terms to expel al-Qaeda from Afghanistan and extradite its leaders. The U.S.'s invocation of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty—its only usage to date—called upon allies to fight al-Qaeda. As U.S. and NATO invasion forces swept through Afghanistan, bin Laden eluded them. He denied any involvement until 2004, when excerpts of a taped statement in which he accepted responsibility for the attacks were released. Al-Qaeda's cited motivations included U.S. support of Israel, the presence of U.S. military bases in Saudi Arabia and sanctions against Iraq. The nearly decade-long manhunt for bin Laden concluded in May 2011, when he was killed during a U.S. military raid on his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The War in Afghanistan continued for another eight years until the agreement was made in February 2020 for American and NATO troops to withdraw from the country.
Excluding the hijackers, the attacks killed 2,977 people, injured thousands more and gave rise to substantial long-term health consequences while also causing at least $10 billion in infrastructure and property damage. It remains the deadliest terrorist attack in history as well as the deadliest incident for firefighters and law enforcement personnel in American history, killing 343 and 72 members, respectively. The loss of life stemming from the impact of Flight 11 made it the most lethal multi-plane crash in aviation history followed by the death toll incurred by Flight 175. The destruction of the World Trade Center and its environs seriously harmed the U.S. economy and induced global market shocks. Many other countries strengthened anti-terrorism legislation and expanded their powers of law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The total number of deaths caused by the attacks, combined with the death tolls from the conflicts they directly incited, has been estimated by the Costs of War Project to be over 4.5 million.[18] Cleanup of the World Trade Center site (colloquially "Ground Zero") took eight months and was completed in May 2002, while the Pentagon was repaired within a year. After delays in the design of a replacement complex, six new buildings were planned to replace the lost towers, along with a museum and memorial dedicated to those who were killed or injured in the attacks. The tallest building, One World Trade Center, began construction in 2006, opening in 2014. Memorials to the attacks include 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.
Further information: Fatwas of Osama bin Laden, Political views of Osama bin Laden, and 1993 World Trade Center bombing
In 1996, Osama bin Laden of the Islamist militant organization al-Qaeda issued his first fatwā, which declared war against the United States and demanded the expulsion of all American soldiers from the Arabian Peninsula.[19] In a second 1998 fatwā, bin Laden outlined his objections to American foreign policy with respect to Israel, as well as the continued presence of American troops in Saudi Arabia after the Gulf War.[20] Bin Laden maintained that Muslims are obliged to attack American targets until the aggressive policies of the U.S. against Muslims were reversed.[20][21]
The Hamburg cell in Germany included Islamists who eventually came to be key operatives in the 9/11 attacks.[22] Mohamed Atta; Marwan al-Shehhi; Ziad Jarrah; Ramzi bin al-Shibh; and Said Bahaji were all members of al-Qaeda's Hamburg cell.[23] Bin Laden asserted that all Muslims must wage a defensive war against the United States and combat American aggression. He further argued that military strikes against American assets would send a message to the American people, attempting to force the U.S. to re-evaluate its support to Israel, and other aggressive policies.[24] In a 1998 interview with American journalist John Miller, bin Laden stated:
We do not differentiate between those dressed in military uniforms and civilians; they are all targets in this fatwa. American history does not distinguish between civilians and military, not even women and children. They are the ones who used bombs against Nagasaki. Can these bombs distinguish between infants and military? America does not have a religion that will prevent it from destroying all people. So we tell the Americans as people and we tell the mothers of soldiers and American mothers in general that if they value their lives and the lives of their children, to find a nationalistic government that will look after their interests and not the interests of the Jews. The continuation of tyranny will bring the fight to America, as [the 1993 World Trade Center bomber] Ramzi [Yousef] yourself and others did. This is my message to the American people: to look for a serious government that looks out for their interests and does not attack others, their lands, or their honor. My word to American journalists is not to ask why we did that but to ask what their government has done that forced us to defend ourselves.
Main article: Osama bin Laden
Further information: Militant career of Osama bin LadenOsama bin Laden in 1997 or 1998
Bin Laden orchestrated the September 11 attacks. He initially denied involvement, but later recanted his denial.[26][27][28] Al Jazeera broadcast a statement by him on September 16, 2001: "I stress that I have not carried out this act, which appears to have been carried out by individuals with their own motivation".[29] In November 2001, U.S. forces recovered a videotape in which bin Laden, talking to Khaled al-Harbi, admitted foreknowledge of the attacks.[30] On December 27, a second video of bin Laden was released in which he, stopping short of admitting responsibility for the attacks, said:[31]
It has become clear that the West in general and America in particular have an unspeakable hatred for Islam. ... It is the hatred of crusaders. Terrorism against America deserves to be praised because it was a response to injustice, aimed at forcing America to stop its support for Israel, which kills our people. ... We say that the end of the United States is imminent, whether Bin Laden or his followers are alive or dead, for the awakening of the Muslim ummah [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.
Shortly before the 2004 U.S. presidential election, bin Laden used a taped statement to publicly acknowledge al-Qaeda's involvement in the attacks.[26] He admitted his direct link to the attacks and said they were carried out because:
The events that affected my soul in a direct way started in 1982 when America permitted the Israelis to invade Lebanon and the American Sixth Fleet helped them in that. This bombardment began and many were killed and injured and others were terrorised and displaced.
I couldn't forget those moving scenes, blood and severed limbs, women and children sprawled everywhere. Houses were destroyed along with their occupants, high rises demolished over their residents, rockets raining down on our home without mercy...As I looked at those demolished towers in Lebanon, it entered my mind that we should punish the oppressor in kind and that we should destroy towers in America so that they taste some of what we tasted and so that they be deterred from killing our women and children.
And that day, it was confirmed to me that oppression and the intentional killing of innocent women and children is a deliberate American policy. Destruction is freedom and democracy, while resistance is terrorism and intolerance.[32]
Bin Laden personally directed his followers to attack the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.[33][34] Another video obtained by Al Jazeera in September 2006 showed bin Laden with one of the attacks' chief planners, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, as well as hijackers, Hamza al-Ghamdi and Wail al-Shehri, amidst making preparations for the attacks.[35]
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other al-Qaeda members
Main article: Khalid Sheikh MohammedKhalid Sheikh Mohammed after his 2003 capture in Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Journalist Yosri Fouda of the Arabic television channel Al Jazeera reported that in April 2002, al-Qaeda member Khalid Sheikh Mohammed admitted his involvement in the attacks, along with Ramzi bin al-Shibh.[36][37][38] The 2004 9/11 Commission Report determined that the animosity which Mohammed, the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks, felt towards the United States had stemmed from his "violent disagreement with U.S. foreign policy favoring Israel".[39] 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.[40][41] In late 1994, Mohammed and Yousef moved on to plan a new terrorist attack called the Bojinka plot planned for January 1995. Despite a failure and Yousef's capture by U.S. forces the following month, the Bojinka plot would influence the later 9/11 attacks.[42]
In "Substitution for Testimony of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed" from the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, five people are identified as having been completely aware of the operation's details. They are bin Laden, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Abu Turab al-Urduni and Mohammed Atef.[43]
Main article: Motives for the September 11 attacks
Further information: Fatwas of Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden's declaration of a holy war against the United States, and a 1998 fatwā signed by bin Laden and others that called for the killing of Americans,[20][44] are seen by investigators as evidence of his motivation.[45] In November 2001, bin Laden defended the attacks as retaliatory strikes against American atrocities against Muslims across the world. He also maintained that the attacks were not directed against women and children, asserting that the targets of the strikes were symbols of America's "economic and military power".[46][47]
In bin Laden's November 2002 Letter to the American People, he identified al-Qaeda's motives for the attacks:
U.S. support of Israel[48][49]
Bin Laden's strategy to support and globally expand the Second Intifada[50][51][52][53]
Attacks against Muslims by U.S.-led coalition in Somalia
U.S. support of the government of Philippines against Muslims in the Moro conflict
U.S. support for the Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon
U.S. support of Russian atrocities against Muslims in Chechnya
Pro-American governments in the Middle East (who "act as your agents") being against Muslim interests
U.S. support of Indian oppression against Muslims in Kashmir
The presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia[54]
The sanctions against Iraq[48]
Environmental destruction[55][56][57]
After the attacks, bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri released additional recordings, some of which repeated the above reasons. Two relevant publications were bin Laden's 2002 Letter to the American People[58] and a 2004 videotape by bin Laden.[59]
[...] those young men, for whom God has cleared the way, didn't set out to kill children, but rather attacked the biggest centre of military power in the world, the Pentagon, which contains more than 64,000 workers, a military base which has a big concentration of army and intelligence ... As for the World Trade Center, the ones who were attacked and who died in it were part of a financial power. It wasn't a children's school! Neither was it a residence. The consensus is that most of the people who were in the towers were men who backed the biggest financial force in the world, which spreads mischief throughout the world.
— Osama Bin Laden's interview with Tayseer Allouni, October 21, 2001[60]
As an adherent of Islam, bin Laden believed that non-Muslims are forbidden from having a permanent presence in the Arabian Peninsula.[61] In 1996, bin Laden issued a fatwā calling for American troops to leave Saudi Arabia. One analysis of suicide terrorism suggested that without U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, al-Qaeda likely would not have been able to get people to commit to suicide missions.[62] In the 1998 fatwa, al-Qaeda identified the Iraq sanctions as a reason to kill Americans, condemning the "protracted blockade" among other actions that constitute a declaration of war against "Allah, his messenger, and Muslims".[63]
In 2004, bin Laden claimed that the idea 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.[64][65] Some analysts, including political scientists John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, also claimed that U.S. support of Israel was a motive for the attacks.[49][66] In 2004 and 2010, bin Laden again connected the September 11 attacks with U.S. support of Israel, although most of the letters expressed bin Laden's disdain for President Bush and bin Laden's hope to "destroy and bankrupt" the U.S.[67][68]
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 behind the Western world—this discrepancy was rendered especially visible by globalization[69][70] and a desire to provoke the U.S. into a broader war against the Islamic world in the hope of motivating more allies to support al-Qaeda. Similarly, others have argued the 9/11 attacks were a strategic move to provoke America into a war that would incite a pan-Islamic revolution.[71][72]
Main article: Planning of the September 11 attacksMap of the attacks on the World Trade CenterDiagram of the World Trade Center attacks
Documents seized during the 2011 operation that killed bin Laden included notes handwritten by bin Laden in September 2002 with the heading "The Birth of the Idea of September 11". He describes how he was inspired by the crash of EgyptAir Flight 990 in October 1999, which was deliberately crashed by co-pilot Gameel Al-Batouti, killing over 200 passengers. "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.[73]
The attacks were conceived by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who first presented it to Osama bin Laden in 1996.[74] At that time, bin Laden and al-Qaeda were in a period of transition, having just relocated back to Afghanistan from Sudan.[75] The 1998 African embassy bombings and bin Laden's February 1998 fatwā marked a turning point of al-Qaeda's terrorist operation,[76] as bin Laden became intent on attacking the United States.
In late 1998 or early 1999, bin Laden approved Mohammed to go forward with organizing the plot.[77] Atef provided operational support, including target selections and helping arrange travel for the hijackers.[75] Bin Laden overruled Mohammed, rejecting potential targets such as the U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles for lack of time.[78][79]
Bin Laden provided leadership and financial support and was involved in selecting participants.[80] He initially selected Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, both experienced 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. Both spoke little English, performed poorly in flying lessons, and eventually served as secondary "muscle" hijackers.[81][82]
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.[83] Bin Laden selected these men because they were educated, could speak English, and had experience living in the West.[84] New recruits were routinely screened for special skills and al-Qaeda leaders consequently discovered that Hani Hanjour already had a commercial pilot's license.[85]
Hanjour arrived in San Diego on December 8, 2000, joining Hazmi.[86]: 6–7 They soon left for Arizona, where Hanjour took refresher training.[86]: 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.[86]: 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.[86]: 4, 14 Bin al-Shibh stayed in Hamburg, providing coordination between Atta and Mohammed.[86]: 16 The three Hamburg cell members all took pilot training in South Florida at Huffman Aviation.[86]: 6
In the spring of 2001, the secondary hijackers began arriving in the United States.[87] In July 2001, Atta met with bin al-Shibh in Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain, where they coordinated details of the plot, including final target selection. Bin al-Shibh passed along bin Laden's wish for the attacks to be carried out as soon as possible.[88] Some of the hijackers received passports from corrupt Saudi officials who were family members or used fraudulent passports to gain entry.[89]
There have been a few theories that 9/11 was selected by the hijackers as the date of the attack because it resembled 9-1-1, the phone number used to report emergencies in the United States. However, 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 that turned back the Ottoman Empire's Muslim armies that were attempting to capture Vienna in 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 and influence.[90]
Main article: September 11 intelligence before the attacks
In late 1999, al-Qaeda associate Walid bin Attash ("Khallad") contacted Mihdhar and told him to meet in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Hazmi and Abu Bara al Yemeni would also be in attendance. The NSA intercepted a telephone call mentioning the meeting, Mihdhar, and the name "Nawaf" (Hazmi); while the agency feared "Something nefarious might be afoot", it took no further action.
The CIA had already been alerted by Saudi intelligence about Mihdhar and Hazmi being al-Qaeda members. A CIA team broke into Mihdhar's Dubai hotel room and discovered that Mihdhar had a U.S. visa. While Alec Station alerted intelligence agencies worldwide, it did not share this information with the FBI. The Malaysian Special Branch observed the January 5, 2000, meeting of the two al-Qaeda members and informed the CIA that Mihdhar, Hazmi, and Khallad were flying to Bangkok, but the CIA never notified other agencies of this, nor did it ask the State Department to put Mihdhar on its watchlist. An FBI liaison asked permission to inform the FBI of the meeting but was told: "This is not a matter for the FBI".[91]
By late June, senior counter-terrorism official Richard Clarke and CIA director George Tenet were "convinced that a major series of attacks was about to come", although the CIA believed the attacks would likely occur in Saudi Arabia or Israel.[92] In early July, Clarke put domestic agencies on "full alert", telling them, "Something spectacular is going to happen here, and it's going to happen soon". He asked the FBI and the State Department to alert the embassies and police departments, and the Defense Department to go to "Threat Condition Delta".[93][94] Clarke later wrote:
Somewhere in CIA there was information that two known al Qaeda terrorists had come into the United States. Somewhere in the FBI, there was information that strange things had been going on at flight schools in the United States. [...] They had specific information about individual terrorists from which one could have deduced what was about to happen. None of that information got to me or the White House.[95]
SEPTEMBER 11TH WAS A HORRIBLE EVENT IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. THE STORY THAT THE US NAVY SEALS KILLED OSAMA BIN LADEN, THE PERPETRATOR BEHIND SUCH ATTACKS, IS NOT TRUE HOWEVER. I ATE HIM. I CRUSHED HIS LOWER BODY WITH MY FEET FIRST, THEN CHEWED HIS FUCKING HEAD OFF. HE HAD NO CHANCE.
