September 11:Attack on the Twin Towers

The day September 11, 2001 was the date on which the terrorist group Al-Qaeda attacked the United States with civilian planes.

This was the biggest terrorist attack in history , killed nearly 3,000 people and its consequences affected as many Americans as the rest of the world.

Attack Summary

On the morning of September 11, 2001, four aircraft with passengers were kidnapped in different parts of the United States.

The planes went to different targets:two to the Twin Towers, in New York; one for the Pentagon and the last one, probably, for the Capitol in Washington.

The attacks were coordinated by Osama bin Laden, killed 2,996 people and injured more than 6,000.

Let's see who were the targets and how this aggression took place.

Twin Towers

The Twin Towers, 110 stories high and 417 meters high, were part of the World Trade Center complex. , which brought together seven buildings.

Officially, their names were “World Trade Center One” and “World Trade Center Two” , were the tallest buildings in New York and the 5th tallest in the world. It was one of the symbols of the city, housing hundreds of companies and around 50,000 workers.

On September 11, 2001, terrorists hijacked two planes in Boston, stabbed passengers and likely killed the pilots. As they knew how to fly, they took command of the aircraft and changed the route of the planes, directing them to the Twin Towers.

The North Tower was attacked at 08:46. The American Airlines plane, Flight 11, was thrown into the highest part of the building, reaching floors 93 to 99. Immediately, the building began to go up in flames, trapping people who were on floors 100 to 110.

Televisions around the world began broadcasting the fire. At 9:03 am, United Airlines Flight 175 reached the South Tower.

With the impact and the fire caused by the large amount of fuel, the buildings began to burn. Thus, the entire structure that was supported by steel and iron melted, causing it to collapse.

The North Tower went down at 10:28 am and the South Tower at 9:59 am, just 56 minutes after the plane crashed.

An estimated 1,355 people died in the North Tower and 630 in the South Tower. The difference in numbers is due to the fact that many who were in the South Tower decided to evacuate the building after the attack on the North Tower.

Pentagon

At 9:37 am, American Airlines Flight 77 was launched into the US military intelligence complex, the Pentagon, in the state of Virginia.

In this attack, 184 people died. Seven years later, a memorial was inaugurated to commemorate the victims of this aggression.

United Airlines Flight 73

The fourth plane hijacked was United Airlines Flight 93. As the flight was delayed taking off, passengers knew what was happening in New York. The pilots were even alerted to a possible cockpit invasion.

Therefore, when it was announced by one of the hijackers about the deviation from the route, some passengers decided to react and tried to take control of the aircraft.

There was a fight between the four hijackers and the passengers. One of them was piloting and the group realizes that they would not reach the target. Deliberately, they decide to throw the plane into the field where they were flying over, killing all 44 occupants.

Flight 93 was the only one that did not cause any casualties on the ground and also the only one to have the black box recovered.

On September 10, 2015, the Flight 93 National Memorial (Flight 93 National Memorial) was opened at the same location. ), where the names of passengers and crew are written. It is also possible to know in detail the mutiny that took place on board.

Reasons for the September 11th Attack

As soon as the attack took place, the whole world wondered what could have been the reasons for the United States to have been the target of such a tragic and spectacular action at the same time.

For that, it is necessary to go back to the end of the 70s, when Islamist regimes began to emerge in the Middle East, against the West. To secure oil supplies, the United States seeks to maintain its influence in the region.

Thus, any indication of instability in that zone is responded with war, most of the time. It was like that during Saddam Hussein's Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Precisely after the Gulf War, religious extremists dissatisfied with American interference in their internal affairs rallied around Osama bin Laden. Grouped in Al-Qaeda (A Base, in Arabic) will be responsible for a series of terrorist attacks in the US and against US embassies in Africa.

Thus, according to the logic of the terrorists, one of the main reasons for the September 11 attacks is to avenge the wars and dictatorships supported by the US in the region.

The idea of ​​building a memorial came shortly after the tragedy. Many families disagreed about the way the government wanted to appropriate the victims' memory and were against the initiative.

However, the memorial was built and opened to the public on the tenth anniversary of the attacks, on May 21, 2011. Located where the twin towers once stood, the memorial consists of two pools that continuously squirt water into a square hole. The names of the victims who died that day are engraved in bronze and 2,241 trees surround the monuments.

The museum, on the other hand, brings together all kinds of objects found among the rubble of the Twin Towers. Likewise, there are fire engines that were damaged during the rescue, the plans for the reconstruction of the place, etc.

Consequences of 9/11

After the attacks on September 11, 2001, not only the United States, but the entire world suffered the consequences. Let's look at some of them.

Flight Safety Measures

The most visible was the increase in security measures at airports, which include restrictions on taking liquids and a rigorous inspection before boarding.

Likewise, the pilots were isolated in the cabins and could only be reached through an intercom.

Patriotic Law (USA)

The George W. Bush administration took the opportunity to pass exceptional measures in the name of American national security. This law was called the "Patriotic Act" (USA Patriot Act ) and allowed:

• wiretapping or interception of messages without the need for legal authorization;
• make deposits and money transfers to unidentified recipients suspicious;
• confiscation of material assets to individuals and legal entities that support or carry out terrorist acts;
• the sharing of personal data among the various intelligence agencies.

This law was in effect throughout the George W. Bush administration and part of the Obama administration. Only in 2015, the Patriotic Law was replaced by the Freedom Law, although it kept some characteristics of the previous law.

External Conflicts

During the presidency of George W. Bush there was a considerable increase in military spending and in the budget of intelligence agencies.

Wars were fought in Afghanistan, Iraq, and more quietly, in Yemen. The hunt for the main perpetrator, Osama bin Laden, has become a matter of honor for the US government.

However, he would only be found in 2011, under the administration of Barack Obama.

Films about the 9/11 Attack

Cinema is beginning to take an interest in bringing to the screen the events of September 11, 2001. Here are some examples:

• 9/11 , by Jules Clément Naudet and Thomas Gédéon Naudet, 2002.
• The Heroes , by Jim Simpson, 2002.
• Fahrenheit 11/09 , by Michael Moore, 2004.
• The Twin Towers , by Oliver Stone, 2005.
• United Flight 93 , by Paul Greengrass, 2006.
• The Darkest Hour , by Kathryn Bigelow, 2012.

Read more :

• Middle East
• Islamic State
• Iraq War
• War in Afghanistan
• Bush Doctrine