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September 11, 2001 attacks

(Redirected from September 11, 2001)
The World Trade Center on fire
The World Trade Center on fire
September 11, 2001 attacks
Timeline
Background history
Planning and execution
September 11, 2001
Rest of September
October
Aftermath
Victims
Casualties
Missing Persons
Survivors
Foreign casualties
Rescue workers
Effects
US government response
World political effects
World economic effects
Airport security
Closings and cancellations
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Response
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Financial assistance
Memorials and services
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Communication
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Misinformation and rumors
Opportunists

The September 11, 2001 attacks were a series of coordinated suicide attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001. Members of the al-Qaeda militant Islamist organization used hijacked aircraft to crash into the Pentagon and the two towers of the World Trade Center. A fourth hijacked plane was intentionally crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers fought back.

The attacks were the first highly lethal attack by a foreign force on the mainland U.S. since 1814. With a death toll of nearly 3,000, the attacks exceeded the toll of approximately 2,400 dead following the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The primary targets were civilians, and conventional military forces were not used.

The attacks involved the hijacking of four commercial airliners. With nearly 24,000 U.S. gallons (about 91 cubic meters) of jet fuel aboard, the aircraft were turned into flying bombs. Two aircraft were flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and a third into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia. The final aircraft crashed into a Pennsylvania field, near Shanksville. It has been speculated that the hijackers of this aircraft intended to crash into either the U.S. Capitol or the White House in Washington, DC. Black box recordings revealed that the passengers attempted to seize control of the plane from the hijackers and when rocking the plane failed to subdue the passengers, the hijackers decided to intentionally crash the aircraft.

In addition to the loss of nearly 3,000 lives, a number of important buildings and landmarks were destroyed or severely damaged. The most notable buildings were the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, although five other buildings were destroyed and four subway stations under the site were completely or partly destroyed.

On Manhattan Island, 23 nearby buildings were also damaged. Some debate continues over the reasons the buildings collapsed, particularly 7 World Trade Center, which was not hit by the planes and stood across the street from the primary complex. This building was struck by debris from the falling towers, as were all buildings in the WTC complex, and a fire fed by emergency fuel storage tanks located in the building further weakened the structure. In Arlington, a portion of the Pentagon, headquarters for the U.S. military, was severely damaged by fire and one section (or "wedge") of the building collapsed.

Shortly after the attacks, the United States government declared the militant Islamic group al-Qaida, and al-Qaida's putative leader, Osama bin Laden, as the prime suspects. This led to what President George W. Bush called the War on Terrorism, which included the U.S. removal of the Taliban Government in Afghanistan in October 2001. In the aftermath of the attacks, the U.S. government increased military operations, economic measures and political pressure on groups it accused of being terrorists, as well as on governments and countries accused of harboring them. The September 11 attacks also precipitated a focus on domestic security issues and the creation of a new cabinet-level federal agency, the Department of Homeland Security.

Contents

Overview

Lower Manhattan as seen from New Jersey, shortly after the attacks
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Lower Manhattan as seen from New Jersey, shortly after the attacks

The combined attack was the deadliest act of terrorism and one of the deadliest attacks of asymmetric warfare in history. On the morning of September 11, 2001, four passenger jets were hijacked over the United States. American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the north side of the north tower of the World Trade Center at 8:46:40 a.m. EDT (12:46:40 UTC). At 9:03:11 a.m. EDT (13:03:11 UTC), United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the south tower. American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon at 9:37:46 a.m. EDT (13:37:46 UTC). Both 110-story towers of the World Trade Center collapsed along with several neighboring buildings, and part of the Pentagon was destroyed by fire.

The fourth hijacked plane, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed in a field near Shanksville and Stonycreek Township in Somerset County, Pennsylvania at 10:03:11 AM EDT (14:03:11 UTC). The evidence suggests that it crashed after passengers and crew tried but failed to retake control of the plane from the hijackers. According to the 9/11 Commission, the passengers rushed the cockpit and fought the hijackers for access to the door. Flight and cockpit voice recorders of the hijackers' conversation indicate that they violently maneuvered the plane to throw the passengers off balance but after evaluating the situation, they decided to intentionally fly the plane into the ground. There was no evidence that any passenger reached the cockpit before impact. [1]


There were no survivors from any of the hijacked aircraft.

The casualties of the September 11, 2001 attacks were in the thousands: 265 on the planes; at least 2,602 people, including 343 firefighters, at the World Trade Center; and 125 at the Pentagon. A total of at least 2,992 people were killed. More than 3,000 people filed claims for compensation of injuries and trauma related to the attacks. At least 59 American Muslims were among those killed in the attacks. [2]

Some passengers and crew were able to make phone calls from the doomed flights (see Communication during the September 11, 2001 attacks). They reported that there was more than one hijacker on each plane. A total of 19 were later identified, five on most flights and four on United 93. Reportedly, the hijackers took control of the aircraft by using knives to kill flight attendants, pilots, and/or at least one passenger. On American 77, one of the passengers reported that the hijackers used box-cutters. 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 all planes except American 77.

Name

 The attacks are often referred to simply as September 11 or 9/11. The latter is from the U.S. style for writing short dates, and is pronounced "nine-eleven." Within the United States, the typographic styling of the 9/11 designation alludes to 9-1-1 (also written 911, pronounced "nine-one-one" in either case), the emergency telephone number used by the U.S. and Canada. Furthermore, the two "ones" in 9/11 are seen by some as being representative of the two towers of the World Trade Centers. For these symbolic reasons and for convenience, 9/11 has become a common domestic term for the attacks.

There was some initial speculation that the correspondence between 911 and the date 9/11 as mentioned above was intentional, to communicate something along the lines "Starting now, life in America is about emergencies rather than ease." It was also suggested, but apparently never confirmed, that the number may have had some religious significance to the hijackers. Most Americans seemed to quickly accept press commentators' opinion that the date carried no symbolic significance. The coincidence in any case has emotional resonance, and may contribute as much as slips of the tongue to Americans sometimes saying "nine-one-one" when they mean "9/11." Subconscious awareness of it may also contribute to the enhanced identification with public-safety personnel.

Historians noted that September 11 was the date in 1683 when the Battle of Vienna by Ottoman Empire Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa was routed by Poland's military leader, and later king, John III of Poland. September 11 was also the date in 1922 when the British Mandate of Palestine was promulgated at Jerusalem. Although both of these symbolic and historically significant events occurred on the same date in the solar Gregorian calendar, the corresponding dates vary in the lunar Islamic calendar.

Others speculated that the date of 9/11 was chosen for purely operational reasons, that the attack timetable was accelerated due to the arrest of Zacarias Moussaoui or because on that date many New York fire and rescue vehicles were out of the state for training purposes. It was also the day of the New York City mayoral primary, which was postponed to a later date after the attacks.

Reportedly, the name of the Porsche 911 car model was used as a codeword by two of the conspirators in reference to the date 9/11.

Effects

The Honolulu Advertiser was mindful of the attack on Honolulu on December 7, 1941 in its extra edition headline.
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The Honolulu Advertiser was mindful of the attack on Honolulu on December 7, 1941 in its extra edition headline.
September 13, 2001: A New York City firefighter looks up at what remains of the South Tower.
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September 13, 2001: A New York City firefighter looks up at what remains of the South Tower.

The attacks had immediate and overwhelming effects upon the United States population. Gratitude toward uniformed public-safety workers (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 them. The number of casualties among the emergency services was unprecedented.

The highly visible role played by Rudolph Giuliani, the Mayor of New York City, won him high praise from residents of New York and the entire nation. He was named Person of the Year by Time Magazine for 2001, and at times had a higher profile than President George W. Bush.

In the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks, the United States and other countries around the world were placed on a high state of alert against potential follow-up attacks. Civilian air travel across the United States was—for the first time ever—suspended almost totally for three days, with numerous locations and events affected by closures, postponements, cancellations, and evacuations. Other countries imposed similar security restrictions: in the United Kingdom, for instance, civilian aircraft were forbidden to fly over London for several days after the attacks.

The attacks had significant economic repercussions to the United States and world markets. The New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and NASDAQ did not open on September 11 and remained closed until Monday, September 17. New York Stock Exchange 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 Verizon's central switching facility near the World Trade Center. When the stock markets reopened on September 17, 2001, the shutdown of trading on the New York Stock Exchange was the longest since the closure from March 4March 14, 1933 during the national bank holiday declared by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression. On September 17, the Dow Jones Industrial Average 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.

The attacks also had major world-wide political effects. Many countries introduced tough anti-terrorism legislation - in the U.S., the USA PATRIOT Act - and took action to cut off terrorist finances (including the freezing of bank accounts suspected of being used to fund terrorism). Law enforcement and intelligence agencies stepped up cooperation to arrest terrorist suspects and break up suspected terrorist cells around the world. This was a highly controversial process, as prior restrictions on governmental authority were lifted and certain civil rights protections were rescinded.

As well as the invasion of Afghanistan, claims of a strong link between Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, and the argument that the attack demonstrated the need to preemptively strike at forces hostile to U.S. and allied interests, were used by the U.S. Administration as justification for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The official panel investigating the attacks reported that, while contacts were made, it had found no "collaborative relationship" between Iraq and al-Qaida regarding the September 11 attacks specifically; however it was found that al-Qaida did have connections with Iraqi groups dating back to the early 1990s. Al-Qaida appears to have had links with Ansar al-Islam, an extremist group based in areas of Iraq controlled since the 1991 Gulf War by the U.S.-backed forces of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan [3] [4].

International reaction

The attack prompted numerous memorials and services all over the world. In Berlin, 200,000 Germans marched to show their solidarity with America. The French newspaper Le Monde, typically critical of the United States Government, ran a front-page headline reading "Nous Sommes Tous Américains", or "We are all Americans". In London, the American national anthem was played at the changing of the guard. In the immediate aftermath, support for the United States' right to self-defense was expressed across the world, as expressed in United Nations Security Council Resolution 1368 [5].

The reaction to the attacks in the Muslim world was mixed. While the great majority of Muslim political and religious leaders condemned the attacks - virtually the only significant stand-out was Saddam Hussein, the then president of Iraq - the U.S. media reported popular celebrations in some communities opposed to U.S. policies in the Middle East.

Rescue and recovery

Fires burned amidst the rubble of the World Trade Center for weeks after the attack.
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Fires burned amidst the rubble of the World Trade Center for weeks after the attack.

Rescue and recovery efforts took months to complete. It took weeks simply to quench the fires burning in the rubble of the World Trade Center and the clean-up was not completed until May 2002. Many relief funds were immediately set up to assist victims of the attacks. The task of providing financial assistance to the survivors and the families of victims is still ongoing.

A small number of survivors and surprisingly few intact victims' remains were found in the rubble of the WTC. The forces unleashed by the towers' disintegration were so great that many of those trapped in the buildings were simply pulverized in the collapse. Some victims had to be identified by as little as a few scraps of flesh or individual teeth. Most bodies were never found at all, presumably because the heat of the fires had completely incinerated them.

On January 18, 2002, the last hospitalized survivor of the World Trade Center attack was released from hospital.

Over 1.5 million tons of debris produced by the collapse of the WTC posed unique problems for the cleanup effort. A fully occupied skyscraper had never previously collapsed in a city center and the environmental and health consequences of such an event were unknown. About 100 tons of asbestos used in the construction of the WTC had not yet been fully removed [6]. The attacks released dense clouds of dust containing pulverized cement, glass fibers, asbestos, and other airborne contaminants. By 2004, nearly half of more than 1000 screened rescue and recovery workers and volunteers reported new and persistent respiratory problems and more than half reported persistent psychological symptoms. [7] Because of the long latency period between exposure and development of asbestos-related diseases, exposed Manhattan residents, especially rescue and recovery workers, may suffer future adverse health effects.

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

Six months after the attack, the 1.5 million tons of debris had been removed from the WTC site and work continued below ground level, despite concerns that the slurry wall encompassing the site foundation (known as the Bathtub) might collapse. Ceremonies marking the completion of debris removal took place at the end of May 2002.

Why did the WTC collapse?

Main article: Collapse of the World Trade Center

The reasons for the collapse of towers 1 and 2 of the World Trade Center are under active debate by structural engineers, architects and the relevant U.S. government agencies. Certainly the force of the jetliner impacts was unprecedented outside the battlefield, as was the intense heat of the resulting fires. But the WTC design, with its non-traditional, lightweight, largely hollow configuration may have been, in some ways, more prone to penetration, fire damage, and structural failure than an older construction. See Collapse of the World Trade Center for details.

Responsibility

Though no group has explicitly claimed responsibility, the al-Qaida organization has praised the attacks and the organization's leaders have hinted at their involvement in the incidents. The U.S. government immediately launched a response, stating its intentions to go to war against those it deemed responsible. In 2004, the U.S. government commission investigating the attacks officially concluded that the attacks were conceived and implemented by al-Qaida operatives. [8]

Recent statements and revelations

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Important information about the planning and execution of the attacks by al-Qaida came to light following the capture of two of its members - Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Ramzi Binalshibh - in separate raids in 2003 and 2002, and in an exclusive interview with al Jazeera journalist Yosro Fauda in September 2002.

Interrogations allegedly revealed that Khalid Mohammed was the instigator and prime organizer of the attacks. The first hijack plan that Mohammed presented to the leadership of al-Qaida called for several airplanes on both east and west coasts to be hijacked and flown into targets. Mohammed's plan evolved from an earlier foiled plot known as Operation Bojinka which called for ten or more airliners to be bombed in mid-air or hijacked for use as missiles.

Osama bin Laden was aware of these plans, and used his authority to gradually scale them down to an operation with four planes.

According to the captured al-Qaida members, six of the hijackers played active parts in the planning, including the four who became the pilots. The other two were Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi. CIA operatives reportedly monitored the movements of these two known militants when they visited the U.S. but did not notify the FBI or gain an inkling of what the hijackers were planning.

The targets ultimately chosen were the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the United States Capitol. Flight 93 was apparently meant to crash into the Capitol. The White House was considered as a target but was dismissed as being too difficult to locate from the air. In the communications that developed as the scheme took form, the Pentagon's code name was the Faculty of Arts, Capitol Hill was the Faculty of Law, and the World Trade Center was coded as the Faculty of Town Planning.

20th hijacker

Twenty-seven members of al-Qaida attempted to enter the United States to take part in the September 11 attacks. In the end, only nineteen participated. Other would-be hijackers are often referred to as "20th hijacker"s.

Binalshibh meant to take part in the attacks, but he was repeatedly denied entry into the U.S. Mohamed al-Kahtani was another would-be hijacker, but he was denied entry into the U.S. at Orlando International Airport in August 2001. He was later captured and imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay.

Zacarias Moussaoui was 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 never finalized, as the al-Qaida hierarchy had doubts about his reliability. Ultimately, Moussaoui did not play a role in the hijacking scheme.

The other al-Qaida members who attempted to take part in the attacks, but were not able, were 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. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the attack's mastermind, had wanted to remove at least one member -- Khalid al-Mihdhar -- from the operation, but he was overruled by Osama bin Laden.

Earlier revelations

Main article: Osama bin Laden Fatwa, Osama tapes, Osama bin Laden's Declaration of War

In late September 2001, British Prime Minister Tony Blair released information compiled by Western intelligence agencies connecting Osama bin Laden to the Afghan Taliban leadership and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida organisation.

The Taliban refused to extradite Osama bin Laden or other al-Qaida leaders based in Afghanistan to the United States without conclusive evidence, although they proposed extradition to an Islamic country. (Previously, the Taliban had refused to extradite bin Laden without conclusive evidence that he was involved in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, and the bombing of the USS Cole in a harbor in Yemen.) The Taliban leaders' refusal to comply with U.S. government demands gave the U.S. government a rationale for launching the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan on October 7, 2001.

September 17, 2001 - A small portion of the scene where the World Trade Center collapsed following the September 11 attacks.
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September 17, 2001 - A small portion of the scene where the World Trade Center collapsed following the September 11 attacks.

After the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, an abandoned videotape was purportedly discovered in Kabul, the Afghan capital, showing bin Laden discussing the attacks and claiming foreknowledge of the attacks.

U.S. Investigators have nearly a decade of statements directly from bin Laden that state the motives for the attacks on the U.S. and U.S. allies. In interviews with journalists and other public proclamations since 1996, bin Laden has repeatedly broadcast a common list of grievances which he cites as the reason for his declaration of war against the U.S. Most of these statements have been confirmed as bin Laden's but at least one letter written in Arabic, ostensibly bin Laden's "will", appeared on the Internet but has not been authenticated.

In many interviews with bin Laden, he lists specific foreign policies of the U.S. as the reasons for al-Qaida attacks against Americans and the U.S. government.

An audio tape reportedly from bin Laden stated in part:

"... the Mujahideen saw the black gang of thugs in the White House hiding the Truth, and their stupid and foolish leader, who is elected and supported by his people, denying reality and proclaiming that we (the Mujahideen) were striking them because we were jealous of them (the Americans), whereas the reality is that we are striking them because of their evil and injustice in the whole of the Islamic World, especially in Iraq and Palestine and their occupation of the Land of the Two Holy Sanctuaries. Upon seeing this, the Mujahideen decided teach them a lesson and to take the war to their heartland. On the blessed Tuesday 11 September 2001, while the Zionist-American Alliance was targeting our children and our people in the blessed land of Al-Aqsa, with American tanks and planes in the hands of the Jews, and our people in Iraq were suffering from the America's sanctions upon them, and the Islamic world was very far away from establishing Islam properly." – Osama bin Laden, February 14, 2003

In the paragraph before that he again recaps motives that he has claimed for years:

" ... in 1995, the explosion in Riyadh took place, killing four Americans, in a clear message from the people of that region displaying their rejection and opposition to the American policy of bankrolling the Jews and occupying the Land of the Two Holy Sanctuaries. The following year, another explosion in Al-Khobar killed 19 Americans and wounded more than 400 of them, prompting them to move their bases from the cities to the desert. Then in 1998, the Mujahideen warned America to cease their support to the Jews and to leave the Land of the Two Holy Sanctuaries, but the enemy refused to heed this warning, so the Mujahideen, with the ability from Allah, smashed them with two mighty smashes in East Africa. Then again America was warned, but she refused to pay attention to the warnings, so the Mujahideen destroyed the American Destroyer, the USS Cole, in Aden, in a martyrdom operation, striking a solid blow to the face of the American military and at the same time, exposing the Yemeni Government as American agents, similar to all the countries in the region." -Osama bin Laden February 14, 2003

For many years bin Laden stated motives for attacking U.S. interests. He said in an interview in 1999, "The International Islamic Front for Jihad against the U.S. and Israel has issued a crystal-clear fatwa calling on the Islamic nation to carry on jihad aimed at liberating holy sites. The nation of Muhammad has responded to this appeal. If the instigation for jihad against the Jews and the Americans in order to liberate Al-Aksa Mosque and the Holy Ka'aba Islamic shrines in the Middle East is considered a crime, then let history be a witness that I am a criminal."

"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." -Osama bin Laden, October 2001

"The Pile", Manhattan
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"The Pile", Manhattan

A German friend of Mohammed Atta is quoted as describing him as "most imbued actually about Israeli politics in the region and about U.S. protection of these Israeli politics in the region. And he was to a degree personally suffering from that."

The FBI testified that al-Qaida had specific goals. "One of the primary goals of Sunni extremists is the removal of U.S. military forces from the Persian Gulf area, most notably Saudi Arabia."

The Bush Administration and others have stated that terrorists are motivated to attack by "hatred of America". President Bush said: "America was targeted for attack because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world."

Prediction

Photo of lower Manhattan, showing fires still burning at the WTC site, taken by Landsat 7 satellite at 11:30 a.m. local time, September 12, 2001. Courtesy of NASA.
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Photo of lower Manhattan, showing fires still burning at the WTC site, taken by Landsat 7 satellite at 11:30 a.m. local time, September 12, 2001. Courtesy of NASA.

The U.S. Government released, on April 10, 2004, the text of a previously top secret President's Daily Briefing "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.". See U.S. White House briefing on terror threats of August 6, 2001.

Another prediction came from The Wall Street Journal:

Just four months before the attack on the twin towers, he (Daniel Pipes) and Steven Emerson wrote in The Wall Street Journal that Al Qaida was "planning new attacks on the U.S." and that Iranian operatives "helped arrange advanced ... training for Al Qaida personnel in Lebanon where they learned, for example, how to destroy large buildings." Boston Globe 22 June 2003 (emphasis added).

Investigations

The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, an independent bipartisan commission popularly known as the 9-11 Commission, concluded its investigation in July 2004. The commission consisted of a ten-member group chaired by former New Jersey Governor Thomas H. Kean-R. Among other requests, the commission requested information from the Federal Aviation Administration on air traffic control tracking of hijacked aircraft and the FAA's communication with NORAD. The investigation concluded there were inadequacies in some parts of the United States government, mainly relating to the use and gathering of intelligence in the years prior to the attacks.

In February 2002, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence agreed to conduct a Joint Inquiry into the activities of the U.S. Intelligence Community in connection with the attacks. They completed their report in December 2002.

Insurance claims

The attack on the World Trade Center has led to the largest-ever terrorism-related insurance claims, with many insurance companies having to disclose the impact of the attack in their financial statements. In April 2004, a U.S. District Court jury rejected claims by World Trade Center leaseholder, Larry Silverstein, that two planes hitting the Twin Towers should legally be considered two separate incidents, which would have entitled him to $7 billion in insurance reimbursements. The insurers, Swiss Reinsurance Co. and others, successfully argued that the attacks in New York were one incident and that Silverstein is only entitled to $3.5 billion.

In 2003, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein agreed to hear a consolidated master case against three airlines, ICTS International NV and Pinkerton's airport security firms, the World Trade Center owners and Boeing Co., the aircraft manufacturer. The case was brought by people injured in the attacks, representatives of those who died and entities that suffered property damage.

In September 2004, just prior to the expiration of a three-year statute of limitations, the insurers for the World Trade Center filed suit against American Airlines, United Airlines, and Pinkerton's airport security firm, alleging their negligence allowed the planes to be hijacked. Because the Air Transportation Act , passed after the September 11 attacks, limits the liability of airlines, plane manufacturers and airports to the amount of their insurance coverage, this case will likely be combined with the consolidated master case filed in 2003.

Conspiracy theories

Since the attacks, a variety of conspiracy theories abound suggesting actors other than al-Qaida were responsible, including the U.S. government, the government of Israel, the Iraqi government, or their respective intelligence agencies. Some of the claims include the following:

  • One witness said the aircraft that hit the Pentagon looked like a cruise missile.
  • The initial hole created by the aircraft that hit the Pentagon was too small to have been made by a Boeing 757.
  • One witness said the aircraft that hit the north tower of the WTC was a business jet.
  • There was possible video evidence that shows that one of the aircraft's wing roots may have been a missile pod, but was later identified as a structural component of the Boeing 767's wing.
  • Five Israeli citizens set up a camera atop of a minivan in New Jersey and filmed the WTC complex during and after the airliner rammings on September 11 and were smiling as the towers burned in the background. After investigation, the FBI concluded "To date, this investigation has not identified anybody who in this country had pre-knowledge of the events of 9/11". The men's lawyers and the Israeli Embassy ascribe their behavior to "immature conduct". [9] [10][11] In September 2004, four of the detained Israelis filed a $250 million lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice alleging that they were unlawfully incarcerated for an extended period of time and that they were subjected to physical abuse during their two months in prison.[12]
  • Michael Moore's film, Fahrenheit 9/11 suggested that there was, during the post-9/11 grounding of all flights, an airlift to Saudi Arabia of bin Laden family members in the USA, leading to claims that potentially useful witnesses had been allowed by the U.S. government to escape investigation [13]. Moore's claims have been challenged with evidence that bin Laden family members and other Saudi Arabian citizens were airlifted to assembly points inside the United States and were made available for FBI interview before being allowed to leave the country when normal civilian flights were resumed on 14th September and after Richard Clarke granted approval.[14] [15] [16]

There is a wiki dedicated to disputing the official and/or unofficial story: The 911 Fact Repository

See also

External links



Last updated: 10-24-2004 05:10:45