9/11/2001
THE DAY AMERICA CHANGED FOREVER
EARLY PLANNING
idea of the 9/11 plot came from
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who first
presented the idea to Osama bin Laden
in 1996
• The 1998 African Embassy bombings &
Bin Laden's 1998 fatwa (in the Islamic
faith is a religious opinion concerning
Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar)
marked a turning point, with bin Laden
intent on attacking the U.S.
• 12/1998, the Director of Central
Intelligence Counterterrorist Center
reported to President Bill Clinton that alQaeda was preparing for attacks in the
U.S., including the training of personnel
to hijack aircraft
•
The
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
THE PLOT IS CONCEIVED
• In late 1998 or early 1999, bin Laden gave approval for
Mohammed to go forward with organizing the plot. A
series of meetings occurred in spring of 1999, involving
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Osama bin Laden, and his
deputy Mohammed Atef
• Mohammed provided operational support for the plot,
including target selections and helping arrange travel for
the hijackers
• Bin Laden overruled Mohammed, rejecting some
potential targets such as the U.S. Bank Tower in Los
Angeles because "there was not enough time to prepare
for such an operation”
TIMELINE OF TERRORISTS
•
In late 1999, a group of men from Hamburg, Germany arrived in Afghanistan, including Mohamed
Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi, Ziad Jarrah, and Ramzi bin al-Shibh
•
Bin Laden selected these men for the plot, as they were educated, could speak English & had
experience living in the west
•
New recruits were routinely screened for special skills, which allowed Al Qaeda leaders to also
identify Hani Hanjour, who already had a commercial pilot's license, for the plot
•
12/8/2000, Hanjour arrived in San Diego joining Hazmi. They soon left for AZ, where Hanjour took
refresher training.
•
Marwan al-Shehhi arrived at the end of May, while Atta arrived on 6/3 and Jarrah arrived on 6/27
•
Bin al-Shibh applied several times for a visa to the U.S., but as a Yemeni, he was rejected out of
concerns he would overstay his visa and remain as an illegal immigrant
•
Bin al-Shibh remained in Hamburg, providing coordination between Atta & Khalid Sheikh
Mohammed. The three Hamburg cell members all took pilot training in south FL
•
In spring 2001, the secondary hijackers began arriving in the U.S.
•
7/2001, Atta met with bin al-Shibh in Spain, where they coordinated details of the plot, including
final target selection. Bin al-Shibh also passed along Bin Laden's wish for the attacks to be carried
out as soon as possible
THE ATTACK
• Early on the morning of September 11, 2001, 19 hijackers took
control of 4 commercial airliners en route to San Francisco & Los
Angeles from Boston, Newark, & Washington, D.C. At 8:46 a.m.
• American Airlines Flight 11 was crashed into the World Trade
Center's North Tower, followed by United Airlines Flight 175, which
hit the South Tower at 9:03 a.m.
• Another group of hijackers flew American Airlines Flight 77 into the
Pentagon at 9:37 a.m.
• A fourth flight, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed near Shanksville,
Pennsylvania, at 10:03 a.m., after the passengers on board
engaged in a fight with the hijackers
• Its ultimate target was thought to be either the Capitol (the meeting place
of the United States Congress) or the White House
FLIGHT 93
• On United Airlines Flight 93, a transcript of audio recorded by the cockpit voice
recorder revealed that crew & passengers attempted to seize control of the
plane from the hijackers after learning through phone calls that similarly
hijacked planes had been crashed into buildings that morning
• One of the hijackers gave the order to roll the plane once it became evident that
they would lose control of the plane to the passengers. Soon afterward, the
aircraft crashed into a field near Shanksville in Stonycreek Township, Somerset
County, PA
• In a 9/2002 interview conducted an al Jazeera journalist, Khalid Sheikh
Mohammed and Ramzi bin al-Shibh, who are believed to have organized the
attacks, stated that the 4th hijacked plane was heading for the U.S. Capitol, not
for the White House
• They further stated that al-Qaeda initially planned to fly hijacked jets into
nuclear installations rather than the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, but it
was decided not to attack nuclear power plants "for the moment" because of
fears it could "get out of control
FLIGHT 93
CASUALTIES
• There were a total of 2,996 deaths, including the 19 hijackers and 2,977 victims
• The victims were distributed as follows:
• 246 on the four planes (from which there were no survivors)
• 2,606 in NYC in the towers and on the ground
• 125 at the Pentagon
• All the deaths in the attacks were civilians except for 55 military personnel killed in the
attack on the Pentagon
• According to the Commission Report, hundreds were killed instantly by the impact,
while the rest were trapped and died after tower collapse
• At least 200 people jumped to their deaths from the burning towers landing on the
streets and rooftops of adjacent buildings hundreds of feet below
• Some of the occupants of each tower above its point of impact made their way
upward toward the roof in hope of helicopter rescue, but the roof access doors were
locked. No plan existed for helicopter rescues, and on 9/11, the thick smoke and
intense heat would have prevented helicopters from conducting rescues
THE AFTERMATH
• The attacks created widespread
confusion among news organizations
and air traffic controllers across the
United States
• All international civilian air traffic was
banned from landing on U.S. soil for
3 days Aircraft already in flight were
either turned back or redirected to
airports in Canada or Mexico
• Following the attacks, President
Bush's job approval rating soared to
90%
9/11 MOTIVES
• The motives for the attacks include the presence of the U.S. in Saudi
Arabia
• the support of Israel by the U.S. & the sanctions against Iraq
• These motives were explicitly stated by Al-Qaeda in proclamations
before the attacks, including the fatwa of August 1996 & a shorter fatwa
published in February 1998
• After the attacks, bin Laden & al-Zawahiri published additional video
tapes & audio tapes, some of which repeated those reasons for the
attacks
• 2 particularly important publications were bin Laden's 2002 "Letter to
America“ & a 2004 video tape by bin Laden
• 11/2002, Bin Laden described the U.S.‘s support of Israel as a
motivation: "The creation & continuation of Israel is one of the greatest
crimes & you are the leaders of its criminals”
WHO’S TO BLAME?
• The FBI investigation into the attacks,
code named operation PENTTBOM, was
the largest and most complex investigation
in the history of the FBI, involving over
7,000 special agents
• U.S. gov’t determined that al-Qaeda,
headed by Osama bin Laden, bore
responsibility for the attacks, with the FBI
stating "evidence linking al-Qaeda and bin
Laden to the attacks of 9/11 is clear and
irrefutable"
• The Government of the United Kingdom
reached the same conclusion regarding alQaeda and Osama bin Laden's culpability
for the 11 September attacks
MEMORIALS
• The damage to the Pentagon was cleared and
repaired within a year, and the Pentagon
Memorial was built adjacent to the building
• The rebuilding process has started on the World
Trade Center site. In 2006, a new office tower
was completed on the site of 7 World Trade
Center
• The new One World Trade Center is currently
under construction at the site and is expected to
be completed in 2013
• Three more towers were originally expected to
be built between 2007 and 2012 on the site
• Ground was broken for the Flight 93 National
Memorial on November 8, 2009, and the first
phase of construction is expected to be ready
for the 10th anniversary of the attacks on
September 11, 2011
CLOSURE? JUSTICE? WE GOT HIM!!
• Operation code-named Operation Neptune Spear,
was ordered by President Obama and carried out by
a team of Navy SEALs
• After President Obama authorized the mission to kill
or capture bin Laden, CIA Director Leon Panetta gave
the go-ahead at midday on 5/1
• The SEALs encountered bin Laden on the 2nd or 3rd
floor of the main building
• He peered over the third floor ledge at the Americans
advancing up the stairs, and then retreated into his
room as a SEAL fired a shot at him, but missed
• The SEALs quickly followed him into his room, and
shot him, there were two weapons near bin Laden in
his room, but according to his wife Amal, he was shot
before he could reach his AK-47
• Bin Laden was killed by a shot to his chest followed
by one above his left eye
LEGACY OF 9/11
• U.S. responded to the attacks by launching the War on Terror,
invading Afghanistan to depose the Taliban, who had harbored
al-Qaeda terrorists, and enacting the PATRIOT Act.
• Many other countries also strengthened their anti-terrorism
legislation and expanded law enforcement powers.
• Some American stock exchanges stayed closed for the rest of
the week following the attack, and posted enormous losses
upon reopening, especially in the airline and insurance
industries.
• The destruction of billions of dollars' worth of office space
caused serious damage to the economy of Lower Manhattan