The Cradle of Civilization
The Middle East
The Middle East
What will we be examining?
- Where and What: The Middle East
- The Difference: Arab and Muslim
- The Difference: Sunni and Shia
- The aftermath of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Persian Gulf War and
the rise of Osama bin Laden
- What we knew about 9.11
- The Attacks on 9.11
- Afghanistan & Iraq
- ISIS
The Middle East
What and Where?
What is the difference between someone who is
Arab and someone who is Muslim?
QUESTION.
The Arab World
Differentiating Terms
Arabs and Muslims
Arab - Ethnic Group
Muslim - Religious Follower
Lives in, or is from, an Arab
country (does NOT include
Iran, Israel, or Turkey.).
A Muslim is a follower of
Islam
Although MOST Arabs are
Muslim, it IS possible to be a
Arab and Christian or Jewish.
However, MOST Muslims are
NOT Arab.
What are the two major
branches of Islam?
Sunni and Shia (Shi’ite)
Differentiating Terms
Sunni and Shia
When the prophet Muhammad dies in 632 CE, the Islamic splits.
Sunni
Shia (Shi’ite)
(“Ahl al-Sunna” meaning people of tradition)
From “Shiat Ali” meaning party of Ali
Orthodox and
traditionalist (self-proclaimed)
Believed the successor
should remain within the
prophets family (mainly Ali, his
Constitutes roughly 85%
to 90% of the Muslim
population
The prophet Muhammad is
the last and only ruler… until
the new one emerges.
son-in-law)
Iraq and Iran are major
Shia nations
The ruler is from the bloodline
of Ali.
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (1979)
During the Cold War, what event got America involved in
the Middle East?
What doctrine during the Cold War promised that the
USA would protect interests in the Middle East?
QUESTION.
The Aftermath of Afghanistan
The Mujahedeen (coalition of tribes in jihad) fought the
Soviets from 1979 to 1989.
What happened in Afghanistan after the Soviets
retreated and fell?
Civil War breaks out from 1992 to 1996.
One of the groups involved were refugees from
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan known “Talibs”.
The Aftermath of Afghanistan
“I bear witness that there is no deity other than Allah
and that Muhammad is his servant and Messenger”
Many of the Taliban were already trained by the CIA.
By 1996, the Taliban would be in control of Kabul, and thus
Afghanistan and would welcome Osama bin Laden.
He would become the head of Al-Qaeda.
What event in 1991 would cause even more
tension between the United States and Middle
East?
QUESTION.
Shifting Sands Reading (1991)
Saddam Hussein and Iraq invaded Kuwait in 8.1990.
42 day long conflict.
The Persian Gulf War
Inside 9.11
While America Slept
While America Slept
“[In 2001], America was more concerned about summer vacation than
terror attacks. The big movie at the mall was "American Pie II”… and
Beyonce was thinking about ditching her band for a solo career… By the
summer of 2001, Americans had become all too familiar with "hanging
chads," but few had ever heard of al Qaeda or Osama bin Laden.”
While America Slept
While the nation drifted through the dog days, however, a group of
terrorists was in the final stages of planning a series of attacks that would
kill 3,000 people on September 11th. Much of the federal government
seemed to have been in a summer daze as well, missing the warning signs
of what would become the deadliest act of terrorism on U.S. soil. While
some in the intelligence community raised red flags, the White House had
brushed off warnings of an impending attack and the CIA was failing to
share information with the FBI about the terrorists' travels.
On the following pages, [we will examine] what America was doing and
what the hijackers were doing, day-by-day, in August and September
2001. In daily updates, we track the hijackers as they go to flight school.
We shadow them as they buy… airline tickets and knives. We also watch
as CIA analysts and FBI agents try to sound the alarm about the rising
threat, and are ignored. With fresh entries each day from August 11th to
September 10th.”
Some information regarding the purchasing of weapons, plane tickets,
or other minor details have been left out to make the lesson concise.
NOTE:
August 6th, 2001
36 Days Before the Attack
While vacationing in Crawford, Texas, President George W. Bush
receives an intelligence report from the CIA titled:
“Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.”
The report goes on to state that a phone call to the United States embassy in the
United Arab Emirates reported that “a group of bin Laden supporters was in the
U.S. planning attacks with explosives.”
August 11th, 2001
31 Days Before the Attack
All 19 hijackers are already within the United States using visas that they obtained
using their real names.
August 11th, 2001
31 Days Before the Attack
Osama bin Laden approves the final details for the attack, what he called “The
Planes Operation”, on the United States.
The only detail left is the exact date which will be determined sometime later.
August 12th, 2001
30 Days Before the Attack
Zacarias Moussaoui, an Al Qaeda recruit,
arrives in Minnesota to partake in a flight
training school program.
Meanwhile, the FBI has more than 70 “full
field investigations” going on related to bin
Laden and his activities worldwide.
None of them mention that the 19 eventual hijackers that
are already present within the United States.
August 13th, 2001
29 Days Before the Attack
Mohammed Atta, a team leader, flies to
Las Vegas where he meets with two
other hijackers.
He will leave the following day.
Marwan al-Shehhi, a hijacker who would
be on UA flight 175, purchases two four
inch pocket knives (the maximum size
allowable by regulations at the time), in
Florida.
August 13th, 2001
29 Days Before the Attack
Zacarias Moussaoui begins training on a
flight simulator at his flight school in
Minnesota.
Moussaoui raises suspicions after
telling instructors he wants to learn
how to fly a 747 airplane, but does
not want to learn how to land, and
has no intentions of earning a
pilot’s license.
August 14th, 2001
28 Days Before the Attack
Counter Terrorism official Richard Clarke requests a
meeting with national security advisor Condoleezza Rice
to reiterate the potential threat that al-Qaeda posed to
the United States.
I
August 15th, 2001
27 Days Before the Attack
An FBI investigation is opened on
Zacarias Moussaoui after his flight
instructor reports him as a possible
terrorist.
CIA counter-terrorism chief, Cofer Black,
warns the Department of Defense “We are
going to be struck soon, many Americans
are going to die, and it could be in the U.S.”
August 16th, 2001
26 Days Before the Attack
Hani Hanjour, a hijacker on AA flight
77, takes flight training in Maryland.
Zacarias Moussaoui is arrested by the FBI in
Minnesota due to growing suspicion over his
reasoning for taking flight training.
August 19th, 2001
23 Days Before the Attack
Mohamed Atta is heard
shouting “allahu akbar”
over flight radio by a
flight instructor in
Florida.
August 21st, 2001
21 Days Before the Attack
A Jordanian prisoner suspected
of terrorist ties admits to FBI
agents that an impending attack
against buildings in New York and
Washington, D.C. is imminent,
saying, "Something big is going
to happen."
His credibility is questioned as he
cannot provide details of time
and place.
August 22nd, 2001
20 Days Before the Attack
FBI agents demand to know why they were not notified by the CIA of the arrival in
the U.S. of two known al Qaeda operatives, Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf alHazmi, in January 2000.
A search begins for both, but it is labeled: “unhurried”
Two days later, both men would finally be placed on the FBI’s Terror Watch List.
August 24th, 2001
18 Days Before the Attack
The attack date is finalized for September 11th.
Osama bin Laden will learn of the date on September 6th.
Fayez Banihammad purchases his ticket from UA flight 175 from Boston to San
Francisco.
August 25th, 2001
17 Days Before the Attack
One day after his name is added to the FBI's terror watchlist, Khalid al-Mihdhar
uses his Yahoo email account to book a seat on AA flight 77 for September 11th.
Lack of discussion and sharing of intelligence between the FBI and
CIA allows certain operatives to go unnoticed during the lead up to
the attacks.
August 27th, 2001
15 Days Before the Attack
Mohamed Atta meets with the soon-to-be AA flight 77 hijack team at the Valencia
Motel in Laurel, Maryland.
The visa for Khalid al-Mindhar is revoked after investigation by the FBI, but
nothing is done to locate him or his associates.
September 3rd, 2001
8 Days Before the Attack
Labor Day, 2001.
None of the hijackers have been detected.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak warns the United States of a
possible attack involving airplanes or an embassy.
September 4th, 2001
7 Days Before the Attack
Counter Terrorism official Richard Clarke finally meets
with national security advisor Condoleezza Rice.
Clarke tells Rice to imagine “hundreds dying” because of negligence.
September 5th, 2001
6 Days Before the Attack
In Paris, FBI and CIA officials attend an
emergency session at the French
Ministry of the Interior.
France gives America information on Zacarias
Moussaoui and his ties to Osama bin Laden.
Despite this information, Moussaoui and his case
remain on the “back burner”.
September 8th, 2001
3 Days Before the Attack
Several of the American Airlines flight 77 hijackers empty their bank
accounts, giving the money to American Airlines flight 11 hijacker
Mohamed Atta.
Atta wires $7,860 to the Wall Street Exchange Center in Dubai from
the Giant and Safeway stores in Laurel, Maryland.
September 10th, 2001
1 Days Before the Attack
The National Security Agency picks up conversations
between two suspected Al Qaeda leaders.
The first?
"The match begins tomorrow”.
The next?
"Tomorrow is zero day."
The conversations will not be translated and transcribed until September 12th.
Tuesday, September 11th, 2001
The Day of the Attack
September 11th, 2001
“On Florida's Gulf coast, the motorcade carrying President George W. Bush
was en route from the scenic sandbar resort island of Longboat Key to a
school in Sarasota for a routine visit.
At the White House, staffers were going into their regular morning briefings,
while in the Pentagon, defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld was lobbying for
increased funds for the military at a breakfast meeting with members of
Congress.
And in New York, it was a beautifully cloudless morning when a plane
swooped down out of the blue skies at 8:46am and smashed into the North
Tower of the World Trade Center. The mobile phones and pagers of the
Administration's top aides were soon buzzing in Washington and Florida. But
none imagined then this would be the day that would transform the world,
define the Bush presidency and set the stage for a war that is still claiming
American and British lives in Afghanistan a decade later.”
9:03am
9:59am
UA Flight 175
AA Flight 11
1.10:00
15:00
CNN 9.11 Attacks
8:46am
10:28am
September 11th, 2001
North Tower (WTC 1)
South Tower (WTC 2)
United Airlines Flight 175 would hit between
American Airlines Flight 11 would hit
th
th
between the 93rd and the 99th floors moving the 77 and 85 floors moving at roughly
590mph.
at roughly 466mph.
87 passengers would be killed.
Impact would cut through the building
severing the three staircases leaving the
remaining 17 floors cut off with no chance
of escaping.
Firefighters freed at least 28 people who had
been trapped by mangled and distorted steel
frames and jammed doors. With more time, and
simple tools like crowbars and sledgehammers,
firefighters might have been able to free even
more people who were trapped on the floors
above.
60 passengers would be killed.
Impact would knock out all but one staircase
leaving it intact from top to bottom. The New
York Times identified 18 people who had
found and used it to escape successfully.
However, 200 people or more would use that
staircase to climb to the roof believing they would
be airlifted out.
The hatches to the roof would be sealed and
locked. No one is known to have climbed to the
roof hatch and lived.
The Towers
Roughly 1,100 people survived the initial impact of the planes on
both towers (roughly 800 in the North Tower and 300 in the South
Tower), but would be killed upon the towers collapsing.
The North Tower presented less opportunity for escape as all
staircases had been severed. The North Tower also had roughly
three times the people trapped with half as much space to
move.
The South Tower would provide better chances for escape, but
many would perish trying to escape to the roof instead of taking
the stairs to the lobby.
The Towers
In professional and amateur video footage taken from the incident…
around 37 people can be seen jumping or falling from the North Tower. Smoke around the
South Tower makes it difficult to know how many jumped or fell to their death.
It is estimated that anywhere from 100 to 250 people fell to their deaths before the towers
collapsed.
September 11th, 2001
In the South Tower, roughly 600 people would die at or above the planes
impact.
In the North Tower, with no chance of escape, every person believed to be
above the 91st floor died: 1,344.
One of them… was Thomas H. McGinnis.
Thomas H. McGinnis
1960 to 2001 (41 y/o)
Lived in NYC for 37 years of his life
Married his middle and high school
sweetheart, Illiana, in 1986 and had a
daughter, Caitlin, in 1997.
Graduated from SUNY Fredonia in Buffalo, NY
Moved to Oakland, NJ after Caitlin was born
Worked for Carr Futures as a commodities
broker at the New York Mercantile Exchange
(half mile away from the WTC)
On September 11th, Carr Futures had an “impromptu” meeting
at WTC1. Thomas was called to attend that meeting.
Thomas H. McGinnis
The meeting was scheduled to begin at
8:00am on Tuesday, September 11th.
At 8:46:30am American Airlines Flight 11
from Boston to Los Angeles would crash
into the North Tower between the 93rd and
99th floors.
Thomas and 66 others associated with Carr
Futures were on the 92nd floor.
Unknown to anyone at the time, the
three stairwells in the North Tower
were severed at the 91st floor as
drywall and twisted steel blocked all
forms of escape.
Thomas was trapped.
Fighting to Live as the Towers Died
On May 26th, 2002:
The New York Times published an article titled:
“Fighting to Live as the Towers Died”.
The article chronicles the final 102 minutes from inside WTC1 and WTC2 from
the time of impact in the North Tower through the events unraveling in the
South Tower, ending with the north tower collapsing.
Using phone records, the NYT was able to paint a vivid picture of what
it was like to be inside the Twin Towers as they deteriorated.
Fighting to Live as the Towers Died
The last phone call on record from inside either tower?
10:18am
11 minutes until the North Tower collapses.
Thomas McGinnis reached his wife, Illiana, as she emerges from the Lincoln
Tunnel on her way to work.
10:00
The North Tower, which had been hit 16 minutes before the south,
was still standing. It was dying, more slowly, but just as surely. The
calls were dwindling. The number of people falling from windows
accelerated.
That morning, the office of Carr Futures on the 92nd floor was
unusually busy. A total of 68 men and women were on the floor that
morning, 67 of them associated with Carr.
About two dozen brokers for Carr's parent company had been called to
a special 8 a.m. meeting. When the building sprang back and forth like
a car antenna, door frames twisted and jammed shut, trapping a
number of them in a conference room.
The remaining Carr employees, about 40, migrated to a large,
unfinished space along the west side. Jeffrey Nussbaum called his
mother, and shared his cellphone with Andy Friedman. In all, the Carr
families have counted 31 calls from the people they lost, according to
Joan Dincuff, whose son, Christopher, died that morning.
Carr was two floors below the impact, and everyone there had
survived it; yet they could not get out. Between 10:05 and 10:25,
videos show, fire spread westward across the 92nd floor's north face,
bearing down on their western refuge.
At 10:18, Tom McGinnis, one of the traders summoned to the special
meeting, reached his wife, Iliana McGinnis. The words are stitched into
her memory.
"This looks really, really bad," he said.
"I know," said Mrs. McGinnis, who had been hoping that his meeting
had broken up before the airplane hit. "This is bad for the country; it
looks like World War III."
Something in the tone of her husband's answer alarmed Mrs.
McGinnis.
"Are you O.K., yes or no?" she demanded.
"We're on the 92nd floor in a room we can't get out of," Mr. McGinnis
said.
"Who's with you?" she asked.
Mr. McGinnis mentioned three old friends:
Joey Holland
Brendan Dolan
Elkin Yuen
"I love you," Mr. McGinnis said. "Take care of Caitlin." Mrs. McGinnis was not ready to
hear a farewell.
"Don't lose your cool," she urged. "You guys are so tough, you're resourceful. You guys
are going to get out of there.”
"You don't understand," Mr. McGinnis said.
"There are people jumping from the floors above us.”
It was 10:25. The fire raged along the west side of the 92nd
floor. People fell from windows. Mr. McGinnis again told her he
loved her and their daughter, Caitlin.
"Don't hang up," Mrs. McGinnis pleaded.
"I got to get down on the floor," Mr. McGinnis said.
With that, the phone connection faded out.
It was 10:26…
Two minutes before the tower crumbled.
The World Trade Center had fallen silent.
Portraits Redrawn: Illiana McGinnis
Portraits Redrawn
Thomas McGinnis’ remains
would be found in early
November while crews
searched and cleaned up what
remained of the World Trade
Centers.
His gold chain and Celtic Cross had remained
intact around his neck.
One World Trade Center
What We Lost
On 9/11, almost 3,000 people lost their lives at the hands of nineteen individuals in
four different planes.
If we examine each life that was taken from us that day we will see that we lost much
more than what we normally think.
We lost fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, aunts and
uncles, and even cousins. We lost unborn children, firefighters, police officers, EMT’s,
Port Authority officers, and many other brave emergency responders who rushed
towards and into burning buildings as everyone rushed out and away from them.
What We Got?
The War on Terror
The Afghanistan War and the Invasion of Iraq
What We Got?
The Patriot Act.
The PATRIOT Act Explained
In your opinion, is the PATRIOT Act needed?
QUESTION.
What We Got?
A letter.
The Two Towers of Lebanon (2004)
ISIS
The Islamic State
Why?
The Charlie Hebdo attacks were almost immediately
blamed on Islam.
QUESTION.
So, what is ISIS?
Trail of Terror Reading
NY Times: Story of an ISIS Massacre Survivor
VICE News: ISIS Documentary