September 11 attacks

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The explosion resulting from the crashing of United Airlines Flight 175 into the South Tower. A huge plume of smoke and fire can be seen emerging from the North Tower to the left.

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The Twin Towers prior to the 9/11 attacks.

The September 11, 2001 attacks (often referred to as 9/11 ) were a series of coordinated terrorist attacks upon the United States of America carried out on Tuesday, September 11, 2001.

That morning, nineteen men affiliated with al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners. The attackers crashed two planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, one plane into each tower, causing the collapse of both towers within two hours. Hijackers of the third aircraft crashed that plane into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia. Passengers on the fourth hijacked aircraft attempted to retake control of their plane from the hijackers; that plane crashed into a field in rural Somerset County, Pennsylvania. Approximately 3,000 people died in these terrorist attacks.

The attacks

Main article: September 11, 2001 attacks timeline for the day of the attacks.

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A sequential look at United Flight 175 crashing into the south tower of the World Trade Center.

The attacks began with the hijacking of four commercial airliners. With jet fuel capacities of nearly 24,000 U.S. gallons (91,000 litres), each aircraft effectively became a flying incendiary bomb. American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the north side of the north tower of the World Trade Center (WTC) at 8:46:30 a.m. local time (12:46:40 UTC). At 9:02:59 a.m. local time (13:03:11 UTC), United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the south tower, an event covered live by television broadcasters who had their cameras trained on the North Tower. American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon at 9:37:46 a.m. local time (13:37:46 UTC). The fourth hijacked plane, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed in a field in southwest Pennsylvania, at 10:03:11 a.m. local time (14:03:11 UTC), with parts and debris found up to eight miles away. The crash in Pennsylvania is believed to have resulted from the hijackers either deliberately crashing the aircraft or losing control of it as they fought with the passengers. No one survived in any of the hijacked aircraft.

The fatalities were in the thousands: 265 on the four planes; 2,595, including 343 New York City firefighters, 23 NYPD police officers, and 37 Port Authority police officers, in the towers and on the ground; and 125 civilians and military personnel at the Pentagon. At least 2,986 people were killed in total. In addition to the 110-floor Twin Towers of the World Trade Center itself, five other buildings at the WTC site, including WTC building 7, and four subway stations were destroyed or badly damaged. In total, on Manhattan Island, 25 buildings were damaged. Communications equipment such as broadcast radio, television and two-way radio antenna towers were damaged beyond repair. In Arlington County, a portion of the Pentagon was severely damaged by fire and one section of the building collapsed.

Some passengers and crew members were able to make phone calls from the hijacked flights. They reported that multiple hijackers were aboard each plane. A total of 19 were later identified by the FBI, four on United 93 and five each on the other three flights.

For a short period, the precise identity of the 19 hijackers was uncertain. For example, the BBC reported 14 days after the attack that 4 of the 19 were alive based upon the initial identification supplied by the FBI.

The hijackers reportedly took control of the aircraft by using box-cutter knives to kill flight attendants and at least one pilot or passenger. The 9/11 Commission could only establish that two of the hijackers had recently purchased Leatherman multi-function hand tools, but some form of noxious chemical spray, such as tear gas or pepper spray, was reported to have been used on American 11 and United 175 to keep passengers out of the first-class cabin. Bomb threats were made on three of the aircraft, but not on American 77.

The Pentagon was severely damaged during the attack, and 125 lives were lost.

The Pentagon, before its wall collapsed.

In the fourth airplane, black box recordings reportedly revealed that crew and passengers attempted to seize control of the plane from the hijackers, who then rocked the plane in a failed attempt to subdue the passengers. According to 9-1-1 tapes, one of the passengers, Todd Beamer, had asked for the operator to pray with him before the passengers attempted to retake the aircraft. After praying, he simply said, "Let's roll." (The 9/11 Commission stated that Beamer actually said "Roll it," most likely referring to a drink cart being used as a battering ram.) The term "Let's roll" would later become the war cry for those fighting Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Soon afterward, the aircraft crashed into a field near Shanksville in Stonycreek Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania, at 10:03:11 a.m. local time (14:03:11 UTC). There is a dispute about the exact timing of the crash as the seismic record indicates that the impact occurred at 10:06 a.m. The 9/11 Panel reports that captured Al-Qaeda mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed said that Flight 93's target was the U.S. Capitol, which was given the code name, "The Faculty of Law."

The attacks created massive confusion across the United States. During the course of the day, unconfirmed and often contradictory reports were aired and published. One of the most prevalent of these reported that a car bomb had been detonated at the U.S. State Department's headquarters, the Truman Building in Foggy Bottom, Washington, D.C. This erroneous report, picked up by the wire services, made it in a number of newspapers published that day. Another report went out on the AP wire, claiming that a Delta 767, Flight 1989, had been hijacked. This report, too, turned out to be in error; the plane was briefly thought to represent a hijack risk, but it responded to controllers and landed safely in Cleveland.

See also: Communication during the September 11, 2001 attacks

Fatalities

Number of fatalities

World Trade Center	Towers	2,595
	Flight 11	92
	Flight 175	65
Pentagon	Building	125
	Flight 77	64
Shanksville	Flight 93	45
Total	2,986

A jumper, known as "The Falling Man", falls from the North Tower

At the World Trade Center, faced with a desperate situation of smoke and burning heat from the jet fuel, an estimated 200 people jumped to their deaths from the burning towers (as depicted in the photograph The Falling Man), landing on the streets and rooftops of adjacent buildings hundreds of feet below (a reaction to the attacks similar to the effects of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire). In addition, some of the occupants of each tower above its point of impact made their way upward toward the roof in hope of helicopter rescue. No rescue plan existed for such an eventuality. By some accounts, fleeing occupants instead encountered locked access doors upon reaching the roof. In any case, thick smoke and intense heat prevented rescue helicopters from landing.

As many as 1,366 people were trapped at and above the floors of impact in the North Tower (1 WTC). None of them survived. As many as 600 people were trapped at and above the floors of impact in the South Tower (2 WTC). Only about 18 managed to escape in time from above the impact zone and out of the South Tower before it collapsed. The captain of Flight 11, John Ogonowski, is said to have been killed by terrorists before the impact. There were a number of reports, some contradictory, from callers aboard the hijacked aircraft that suggest the hijackers killed multiple persons aboard the planes before impact.

As the suburbs around New York City learned of the destruction so close to home, many schools closed for the day, evacuated, or were locked down. Other school districts shielded students from watching television because many of their parents held jobs in the World Trade Center towers. In New Jersey and Connecticut, private schools were evacuated. Scarsdale, New York schools closed for the day. In Greenwich, Connecticut, about 15 miles north of the city, hundreds of students had direct ties to victims of the attacks. Greenwich, Connecticut, and New Canaan, Connecticut, two of the wealthiest towns in the world, had more residents killed than any other town in the New York metro area.

According to Associated Press, the city identified over 1,600 bodies but was unable to identify the rest of the bodies (about 1,100 people). They report that the city has "about 10,000 unidentified bone and tissue fragments that cannot be matched to the list of the dead." Bone fragments were still being found as late as April 2006 as workers prepared the damaged Deutsche Bank's New York offices for demolition.

See also: Survivors of the September 11, 2001 attacks

Other planned attacks

Allegedly, 27 members of al-Qaeda attempted to enter the United States to take part in the September 11 attacks. In the end, only 19 allegedly participated. Other would-be hijackers are often referred to as the 20th hijacker:

• Ramzi Binalshibh allegedly meant to take part in the attacks, but he was repeatedly denied a visa for entry into the U.S.
• Mohamed al-Kahtani, a Saudi Arabian citizen, may also have been planning to join the hijackers but U.S. Immigration authorities at Orlando International Airport refused his entry into the U.S. in August, 2001. He was later captured in Afghanistan and imprisoned at the U.S. military prison known as Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
• Zacarias Moussaoui was reportedly considered as a replacement for Ziad Jarrah, who at one point threatened to withdraw from the scheme because of tensions amongst the plotters. Plans to include Moussaoui were allegedly never completed because the al-Qaeda hierarchy allegedly had doubts about his reliability. He was arrested on August 16, 2001, about four weeks before the attacks, ostensibly for an immigration violation, but FBI agents suspected he had violent intentions for receiving flight training earlier that year. In April 2005, Moussaoui pled guilty to conspiring to hijack planes, and to involvement with al-Qaeda, but he denies foreknowledge of the 9-11 attacks. Moussaoui, at his sentencing hearing in March 2006, claimed that, upon the personal directive of Osama bin Laden, he and Richard Reid were due to hijack a fifth plane and fly it into the White House.[2] His own defense lawyers dismissed this as fantasy on the part of Moussaoui, saying that he was not an operative in Al Qaeda, but only a "hanger-on."[3] On May 3, 2006, a federal jury rejected the death penalty and sentenced Moussaoui to 6 life terms in prison without parole. [4] At Moussaoui's sentencing trial, FBI agent Greg Jones testified that prior to the attacks, he urged his supervisor, Michael Maltbie, "to prevent Zacarias Moussaoui from flying a plane into the World Trade Center." Maltbie had refused to act on 70 requests from another agent, Harry Samit, to obtain a warrant to search Moussaoui's computer.[5]

Buildings surrounding the World Trade Center were heavily damaged by the debris and massive force of the falling twin towers.

Other al-Qaeda members who allegedly may have attempted, but were unable, to take part in the attacks include Saeed al-Ghamdi (not to be confused with the successful hijacker of the same name), Mushabib al-Hamlan, Zakariyah Essabar, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, and Tawfiq bin Attash. According to the 9/11 Commission Report, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the attack's mastermind, wanted to remove at least one member—Khalid al-Mihdhar—from the operation, but he was overruled by Osama bin Laden.

According to Mohammed Afroze, a planned simultaneous attack in London on the Palace of Westminster and Tower Bridge was aborted at the last minute when the would-be hijackers, waiting to board the planes they were to hijack, saw the damage in the U.S., panicked, and fled.

In February of 2006, President Bush revealed that al-Qaeda had initially planned to crash a plane into Library Tower in Los Angeles on the same day. However, this attack was postponed by bin Laden, and subsequently foiled.[6]

The U.S. government also initially claimed that the White House and Air Force One were also targeted, although the source and nature of these threats was not disclosed. (BBC News, September 12, 2001, [7]).

Responsibility and motives

Responsibility

Main article: Responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks

The United States government determined (in part based on classified information) that al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden bear responsibility for the attacks. Bin Laden initially denied, but later admitted involvement in the incidents. His declaration of a holy war against the United States, and a Fatwa signed by bin Laden and others calling for the killing of American civilians in 1998, are seen by many as evidence of his motivation to commit such acts.

Still of 2004 Osama bin Laden video.

On September 16, 2001, bin Laden denied any involvement with the attacks by reading a statement which was broadcast by Qatar's Al Jazeera satellite channel: "I stress that I have not carried out this act, which appears to have been carried out by individuals with their own motivation." This denial was broadcast on U.S. news networks and worldwide.

In November, 2001, U.S. forces recovered a videotape from a destroyed house in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, in which a man who apparently is Osama bin Laden is talking to Khaled al-Harbi. In the tape, the man admits to planning the attacks. The tape was broadcast on various news networks from December 13, 2001.

On December 27, 2001 a second bin Laden video was released. In the video he stated "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," but he stopped short of admitting responsibility for the attacks.

Shortly before the U.S. presidential election in 2004 in a taped statement, bin Laden publicly acknowledged al-Qaeda's involvement in the attacks on the U.S, and admitted his direct link to the attacks. He said that the attacks were carried out because, "we are a free people who do not accept injustice, and we want to regain the freedom of our nation."

In an audiotape aired on Al Jazeera on May 21, 2006, bin Laden said he had personally directed the 19 hijackers.

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Taken from the 12/27/2001 bin Laden video.

The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States was formed by the United States government and was commonly called the 9/11 Commission. It released its report on July 22, 2004, concluding that the attacks were conceived and implemented by members of al-Qaeda. The Commission stated that, "9/11 plotters eventually spent somewhere between $400,000 and $500,000 to plan and conduct their attack," but that the specific origin of the funds used to execute the attacks remained unknown. To date, only peripheral figures have been tried or convicted in connection with the attacks.

Motive

According to official U.S. government sources, the September 11th attacks were consistent with the mission statement of al-Qaeda. The tactics (e.g., hitting multiple targets simultaneously) and depth of careful planning were also consistent with prior major al-Qaeda attacks and plots. The group's prior involvement in the bombing of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania resulted in numerous United States District Court indictments of identifiable top al-Qaeda leaders, including 13 who consequently ended up on the United States Department of Justice's FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list for that 1998 attack. Al-Qaeda's reputed mastermind of 9/11, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, also appeared on the initial FBI wanted list, and had been indicted years earlier for his role in a similar attack, Operation Bojinka, which had a goal of simultaneous carrying out in-flight bombings of 11 U.S. commercial airliners. In addition, al-Qaeda had declared responsibility for the 2000 USS Cole bombing in Aden, Yemen, as well. (see also Yemeni mass al-Qaeda prison escapes, including FBI Most Wanted Terrorists Jamel Ahmed Mohammed Ali Al-Badawi and Jaber A. Elbaneh; also, Buffalo Six, and Ahmed Hijazi, the U.S. citizen killed in Yemen by a U.S. missile, along with al-Qaeda's Cole mastermind Abu Ali al-Harithi.)

The overarching motivation for this campaign of attacks was set out in a 1998 fatwa issued by Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Abu-Yasir Rifa'i Ahmad Taha, Shaykh Mir Hamzah, and Fazlur Rahman (Amir of the Jihad Movement in Bangladesh, Fazlur Rahman). The fatwa lists three crimes and sins committed by the Americans:

• U.S. support of Israel.
• U.S. occupation of the Arabian Peninsula.
• U.S. aggression against the Iraqi people.

The fatwa states that the United States:

• Plunders the resources of the Arabian Peninsula.
• Dictates policy to the rulers of those countries.
• Supports abusive regimes and monarchies in the Middle East, thereby oppressing their people.
• Has military bases and installations upon the Arabian Peninsula, which violates the Muslim holy land, in order to threaten neighboring Muslim countries.
• Intends thereby to create disunion between Muslim states, thus weakening them as a political force.
• Supports Israel, and wishes to divert international attention from (and tacitly maintain) the occupation of Palestine.

The Gulf War and the ensuing sanctions against and bombing of Iraq by the United States, were cited, in 1998, as further proof of these allegations. To the disapproval of moderate and liberal Muslims, the fatwa uses Islamic texts to exhort violent action against American military and citizenry until the alleged grievances are reversed: Stating "ulema have throughout Islamic history unanimously agreed that the jihad is an individual duty if the enemy destroys the Muslim countries."

Aerial photo taken April 27, 2004 of the area of the crash of United Airlines Flight 93 in Shanksville, PA (USGS)

Statements of al-Qaeda recorded after 9/11 add weight to the U.S account of who was responsible for the attacks. In a 2004 video, apparently acknowledging responsibility for the attacks, bin Laden stated that he was motivated by the 1982 Lebanon War, which he held the U.S. partially responsible for. In the video, bin Laden also claims that he wants to, "restore freedom to our nation," to, "punish the aggressor in kind," and to inflict economic damage on America. He declared that a continuing objective of his holy war was to, "[bleed] America to the point of bankruptcy." Bin Laden said, "We swore that America wouldn't live in security until we live it truly in Palestine. This showed the reality of America, which puts Israel's interest above its own people's interest. America won't get out of this crisis until it gets out of the Arabian Peninsula, and until it stops its support of Israel."

The 9/11 Commission Report determined that the animosity towards the United States felt by Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the so-called, "principal architect" of the 9/11 attacks, stemmed "not from his experiences there as a student, but rather from his violent disagreement with U.S. foreign policy favoring Israel." The same motivation has been imputed to the two pilots who flew into the WTC: Mohamed Atta was described by one Ralph Bodenstein—who traveled, worked and talked with him—as "most imbued actually about... U.S. protection of these Israeli politics in the region." Marwan al-Shehhi is said to have explained his humorless demeanor with the words: "How can you laugh when people are dying in Palestine?"

By contrast, the Bush administration says that Al-Qaeda was motivated by hatred of the freedom and democracy exemplified by the United States.

Reactions

Main article: Aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks

International reaction

A solitary fire fighter stands amidst the rubble and smoke in New York City. Days after the Sept. 11 attack, fires still burned at the site of the World Trade Center.

The attacks had major global political ramifications. They were denounced by mainstream media and governments worldwide, with the headline of Paris, France's Le Monde newspaper summing up the international mood of sympathy: "We Are All Americans" (Nous sommes tous Américains). Approximately one month after the attacks, the United States led a broad coalition of international forces into Afghanistan in pursuit of al-Qaeda forces in order to topple the Taliban government for harboring what it referred to as a terrorist organization. The Pakistani authorities moved decisively to align themselves with the United States in a war against Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda. It gave the U.S. a number of military airports and bases for its attack on Afghanistan, and arrested over 600 supposed al-Qaeda members, whom it handed over to the U.S.

Numerous countries, including the UK, India, Australia, France, Germany, Indonesia, China, Canada, Russia, Pakistan, Jordan, Mauritius, Uganda and Zimbabwe introduced "anti-terrorism" legislation and froze the bank accounts of businesses and individuals they suspected of having al-Qaeda ties. Law enforcement and intelligence agencies in a number of countries, including Italy, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines arrested people they labeled terrorist suspects for the stated purpose of breaking up militant cells around the world. This process aroused controversy, as critics such as the Bill of Rights Defense Committee argued that traditional restrictions on federal surveillance (e.g. COINTELPRO's monitoring of public meetings) were, "dismantled" by the USA PATRIOT Act; civil liberty organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union and Liberty argued that certain civil rights protections were also being circumvented. The United States set up a detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to hold illegal enemy combatants. The legitimacy of these detentions has been questioned by, among others, member states of the European Union, the Organization of American States, and Amnesty International. (See Camp X-Ray for further details.)

Public response

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Front Page of the New York Times on September 12, 2001, the first issue of that paper to be released following the attacks

Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, George W. Bush's job approval rating soared to 86% . On September 20, 2001, the president spoke before the nation and a joint-session of Congress, regarding the events of that day, the intervening nine days of rescue and recovery efforts, and his intent in response to those events. The highly visible role played by Rudy Giuliani, then Mayor of New York City, won him high praise nationally and in New York City.

The attacks also had immediate and overwhelming effects upon the United States population. Gratitude toward uniformed public-safety workers, and especially toward firefighters, was widely expressed in light of both the drama of the risks taken on the scene and the high death toll among the workers. Many police officers and rescue workers elsewhere in the country took leaves of absence to travel to New York City to assist in the grim process of recovering bodies from the twisted remnants of the Twin Towers. Blood donations also saw a surge in the weeks after 9/11.

There were some incidents of harassment and hate crimes against Middle Easterners and other, "Middle Eastern-looking" people, particularly Sikhs, due to the fact that Sikh males usually wear turbans, stereotypically associated with Muslims in the United States. At least nine people were murdered within the United States as part of retaliation. Balbir Singh Sodhi, one of the first victims of this backlash, was shot dead on September 15. He, like others, was a Sikh who was mistaken for a Muslim.

Conspiracy theories

Main article: 9/11 conspiracy theories

Since the attacks, various conspiracy theories have emerged. These include speculation that individuals in the government of the United States knew of the impending attacks and failed to act on that knowledge, or that they actually planned the attacks. Some of those questioning the mainstream account of 9/11 have speculated that the collapse of the World Trade Center was caused by explosives. Some also contend that a commercial airliner did not crash into the Pentagon, and that United Airlines Flight 93 was shot down.

Government response

Rescue, recovery, and compensation

Main article: Rescue and recovery effort after the September 11, 2001 attacks

Rescue and recovery efforts took months to complete. It took several weeks to simply put out the fires burning in the rubble of the buildings, and the clean-up was not completed until May, 2002. Temporary wooden, "viewing platforms" were set up for tourists to view construction crews clearing out the gaping holes where the towers once stood. All of these platforms were closed on May 30, 2002.

Many relief funds were immediately set up to assist victims of the attacks, with the task of providing financial assistance to the survivors and the families of victims. At the deadline for victim's compensation, September 11 2003, 2,833 applications were received from the families of those killed (from an official death toll of 2,986).

The "War on Terrorism"

Main article: Global War on Terrorism

In the aftermath of the attacks, many U.S. citizens held the view that they had "changed the world forever," that the United States was now vulnerable to terrorist attacks in ways it had not been previously. The Bush administration declared a 'war on terrorism', with the stated goals of bringing Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda to justice and preventing the emergence of other terrorist networks. These goals would be accomplished by means including economic and military sanctions against states perceived as harboring terrorists and increasing global surveillance and intelligence sharing. The second-biggest operation outside of the United States was the invasion of Afghanistan, by a U.S.-led coalition. The U.S. was not the only nation to increase its military readiness, with other notable examples being the Philippines and Indonesia, countries that have their own internal conflicts with Islamic extremist terrorism.

President Bush said "The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September the 11, 2001..." Also, the U.S. government has continued to maintain that the war on Iraq is critical to the American "War on Terrorism": "In the war on terror, Iraq is now the central front..." President Bush said on December 14, 2005.

Two years after the attacks, the Program on International Policy Attitudes reported on an opinion poll it conducted of the American public from January through September 2003. The poll asked, "How likely it is that Saddam Hussein was personally involved in the September 11th Terrorist attacks?" The response was 32% very likely, 37% somewhat likely, 12% not very likely and 3% not at all likely. This unsubstantiated view was promoted by the U.S. government in the lead up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, when for example, Vice President Dick Cheney suggested that Iraq was involved in the September 11 attack during a, "Meet the Press" interview: Iraq is, "the geographic base of the terrorists who had us under assault now for many years, but most especially on 9-11." No clear evidence has emerged to support the claim. (Unsubstantiated U.S. government claims to the contrary include: (1) allegations by Czech intelligence of a meeting between 9/11 ringleader Mohammed Atta and an Iraqi intelligence official in Prague on the same day Atta was seen in Florida; and (2) evidence that Ahmed Hikmat Shakir, allegedly a contact of Iraqi intelligence, was present at a meeting in Malaysia where future 9/11 hijacker Khalid al Mihdhar is believed by the CIA to have attended.)

Domestic response

Within the United States, President Bush created the Department of Homeland Security, representing the largest restructuring of the U.S. government in contemporary history. Congress passed the USA PATRIOT Act, stating that it would help detect and prosecute terrorism and other alleged future crimes. Civil liberties groups have criticized the PATRIOT Act, saying that it allows law enforcement to invade the privacy of citizens and eliminates Judicial oversight over law-enforcement and domestic intelligence gathering. The Bush Administration also invoked 9/11 as the reason to initiate a secret National Security Agency operation (see Total Information Awareness), "to eavesdrop on telephone and e-mail communications between the United States and people overseas without a warrant."

Following the attacks, 80,000 Arab and Muslim immigrants were fingerprinted and registered under the Alien Registration Act of 1940. 8,000 Arab and Muslim men were interviewed, and 5,000 foreign nationals were detained under Joint Congressional Resolution 107-40 authorizing the use of military force "to deter and prevent acts of international terrorism against the United States." [8] [9]

Investigations

The collapse of the World Trade Center

Main article: Collapse of the World Trade Center

An illustration of the World Trade Center 9-11 Attacks with a vertical view of the impact locations. Many architects and structural engineers have analyzed the collapse of the Twin Towers.

There has been much speculation on the performance of the Twin Towers after the impacts, and the reasons for the collapse are under active debate by structural engineers, architects, and relevant U.S. government agencies. The design of the WTC included many basic innovations distinguishing it from all previous skyscrapers and from many built since. Although the kinetic energy of the jetliner impacts and the resulting fires were unprecedented in the history of building disasters, some engineers strongly believe skyscrapers of more traditional design (such as New York City's Empire State Building and Malaysia's Petronas Towers) would have fared much better under the circumstances, perhaps standing indefinitely. If they are correct, exceptionally tall buildings that share the WTC's major design elements (for example, Chicago's Sears Tower and John Hancock Center) could be considered particularly vulnerable.

7 World Trade Center collapsed in the late afternoon of September 11. (See 7 World Trade Center for more details).

A federal technical building and fire safety investigation of the collapses of the Twin Towers and 7 WTC has been conducted by the United States Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The goals of this investigation, completed on April 6, 2005, were to investigate the building construction, the materials used, and the technical conditions that contributed to the outcome of the WTC disaster. The investigation was to serve as the basis for:

• Improvements in the way buildings are designed, constructed, maintained, and used
• Improved tools and guidance for industry and safety officials
• Revisions to building and fire codes, standards, and practices
• Improved public safety

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September 13, 2001: A New York City firefighter looks up at what remains of the South Tower.

The report concludes that the fireproofing on the Twin Towers' steel infrastructures was blown off by the initial impact of the planes and that, if this had not occurred, the towers would likely have remained standing. The fires weakened the trusses supporting the floors, making the floors sag. The sagging floors pulled on the exterior steel columns to the point where exterior columns bowed inward. With the damage to the core columns, the buckling exterior columns could no longer support the buildings, causing them to collapse. In addition, the report asserts that the towers' stairwells were not adequately reinforced to provide emergency escape for people above the impact zones. NIST stated that the final report on the collapse of WTC 7 will appear in a separate report.

9/11 Commission Report

Main article: 9/11 Commission Report

The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States was formed in late 2002 to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the attacks, including preparedness for and the immediate response to the attacks. On July 22, 2004, the 9/11 Commission Report was released. The 9/11 Commission has not been without some criticism.

Long-term effects

Economic aftermath

The attacks had a significant economic impact on the United States and world markets. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the American Stock Exchange and NASDAQ did not open on September 11 and remained closed until September 17. NYSE facilities and remote data processing sites were not damaged by the attack, but member firms, customers and markets were unable to communicate due to major damage to the telephone exchange facility near the World Trade Center. When the stock markets reopened on September 17, 2001, after the longest closure since the Great Depression in 1929, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (“DJIA”) stock market index fell 684 points, or 7.1%, to 8920, its biggest-ever one-day point decline. By the end of the week, the DJIA had fallen 1369.7 points (14.3%), its largest one-week point drop in history. U.S. stocks lost $1.2 trillion in value for the week. As of 2005 Wall and Broad Streets near the New York Stock Exchange remain barricaded and guarded to prevent a physical attack upon the building.

View of the WTC and the Statue of Liberty.

The economy of Lower Manhattan, which by itself is the third-largest business district in the United States (after Midtown Manhattan and the Chicago Loop) was devastated in the immediate aftermath. Thirty percent (28.7 million sq. ft) of Lower Manhattan office space was either damaged or destroyed. The 41-story Deutsche Bank Building, neighboring the World Trade Center, was subsequently closed because of extensive damage made it unfit for habitation and beyond repair and was scheduled for demolition. Power, telephone and gas were cut off in much of Lower Manhattan. Citizens were not permitted to enter the SoHo and lower Manhattan area without extensive inspection. Much of what was destroyed was valuable Class-A space. The pre-2001 trend of moving jobs out of Lower Manhattan to Midtown and New Jersey was accelerated. Many questioned whether this loss of jobs and its associated tax base would ever be restored.

The rebuilding has been inhibited by a lack of agreement on priorities. For example, Mayor Bloomberg had made New York's bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics the core of his capital development plan from 2002 until mid-2005, and Governor Pataki largely delegated his role to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation which has been widely criticized for doing little with the enormous funding directed to the rebuilding efforts.

On the sites of the totally destroyed buildings, one, 7 World Trade Center, has a new office tower. Only Ameriprise Financial, Inc., a spin off of American Express Financial Advisors has been named as a potential tenant for it. There is no consensus regarding the demand for office space looking forward to 2010, so the market for 7 WTC and other new construction in the financial district is soft.

North American air space was closed for several days after the attacks and air travel decreased significantly upon its reopening. The attacks led to nearly a 20% cutback in air travel capacity, and severely exacerbated financial problems in the struggling U.S. airline industry.

Many towers in the United States metropolitan areas were evacuated hours after the attacks, including Los Angeles, where traffic was at its lowest volume ever for that city, and the major downtown business district was virtually deserted.

Potential health effects

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September 11 from space: Manhattan spreads a large smoke plume

Thousands of tons of toxic debris resulting from the collapse of the Twin Towers included asbestos, lead, and mercury, as well as unprecedented levels of dioxin and PAHs from the fires which burned for three months. This has led to debilitating illnesses among rescue and recovery workers, and the death of NYPD officer James Zadroga. Health effects also extend to some residents, students, and office workers of Lower Manhattan and nearby Chinatown.

There is scientific speculation that exposure to various toxic products and the pollutants in the air surrounding the Towers after the WTC collapse may have negative effects on fetal development. Due to this potential harm, a notable children's environmental health center is currently analyzing the children whose mothers were pregnant during the WTC collapse, and were living or working near the World Trade Center towers. The staff of this study assess the children using psychological testing every year and interview the mothers every six months. The purpose of the study is to determine whether there is significant difference in development and health progression of children whose mothers were exposed versus those who were not exposed after the WTC collapse.

Memorials

Main article: September 11, 2001 attack memorials and services

World Trade Center site as of December 2005

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Cross left at the World Trade Center

Manhattan from Jersey City on the memorial of the attacks in 2004.

Memorials to the victims and heroes of the attacks of September 11 have been planned. An outdoor public memorial at the Pentagon has been designed by Keith Kaseman and Julie Beckman of KBAS in New York City. Construction of the memorial is scheduled for completion in Fall 2006. Within the Pentagon itself, the America's Heroes Memorial was added in September, 2002 when the building repairs were completed. However, public access to this memorial is restricted to group tours.

The proposed design for Flight 93 National Memorial is called, "Crescent of Embrace," which has created some controversy due to its large red crescent that also points toward Mecca. Recently, due to the amount of public pressure, it has been announced that the memorial will be redesigned so as to avoid any confusion with the sign of Islam.

Construction of the World Trade Center Memorial began in March 2006. The winning design of the World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition was Reflecting Absence created by Michael Arad. It is expected to open in 2009.

Many permanent memorials are being constructed around the world. and a list is being updated as new ones are completed. 911 Memorials is a site that features the newest as they are added and provides a directory of each by community, state, and country that has built a memorial among the list in the column on the right of the site page.

In addition to physical monuments, a number of September 11th family members and friends have set up memorial funds, scholarships, and charities in honor of lost loved ones.

Further information: [[:Financial assistance following the September 11, 2001 attacks]]

See also: September 11, 2001 attacks in arts and literature

See also

9/11 (film) 7 World Trade Center Able Danger al-Qaeda Egyptian Islamic Jihad Fahrenheit 9/11 (film) Freedom Tower Harry Samit Osama bin Laden Osama bin Laden's Declaration of War Osama tapes Pavel Hlava Project Bojinka Slogans and terms derived from the September 11, 2001 attack

United 93 (film) USS Cole bombing War on Terrorism World Trade Center bombing (1993) World Trade Center Memorial World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition Victims One World Trade Center tenants Two World Trade Center tenants

External links

• 9-11Commission.gov - 'National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States' (Official Website – archived)
• 911DigitalArchive.org - 'September 11 Digital Archive: Saving the Histories of September 11th, 2001' (in partnership with the Library of Congress)
• 911 Investigations - Repository of documents relating to the 9/11 attacks and War on Terrorism
• BBC News - 'America's Day of Terror'
• Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports regarding 9/11
• Memory.loc.gov - 'September 11, 2001, Documentary Project', The Library of Congress
• TheMemoryHole.org - New York Fire Department audio tapes from September 11 2001.
• NY1.com - New York One News Television, 'World Trade Center Special Section' (June 7, 2005)
• September 11, 2001 Newspaper Articles Archive - More than 15,000 free newspaper articles related to the 9/11/2001 attacks.
• Washington Post - 'Terrorists Unleash Assault on US'
• Open Directory - September 11, 2001

Multimedia

• Plane Hits Pentagon
• 9/11 Timeline - Chronology of events according to 9/11 Commission Report presented in 4-way split screen.
• CNN.com - Video archive, including the first and second planes.
• Inside 9/11 - National Geographic
• New York 1 channel coverage
• Time.com - 'Shattered: a remarkable collection photographs', James Nachtwey
• Various TV news coverage on Putfile.com

Memorials

• CNN September 11 memorial - List of victims, and photos.
• CNN.com - 'In-Depth Special: War Against Terror Damage report from the city of New York'
• Memorywiki - 9/11 Memoirs
• NewYorkMetro.com - 9/11 by the Numbers: Death, destruction, charity, salvation, war, money, real estate, spouses, babies, and other September 11 statistics', New York Times