9/11 Terrorism Research Paper

September 11, 2001 (herein referred to as 9/11) was a day in American history, which will be remembered as the most horrific attack on American soil. This attack, carried out by nineteen Islamic extremists, was associated with al-Qaeda, and involved the hijacking of four airplanes. Two of those airplanes were hijacked and flown directly into the World Trade Center in New York City, New York. The third plane’s target was the Pentagon in Washington D.C., and the fourth plane was brought down in Pennsylvania where it is believed the passengers aboard fought the hijackers. This horrific day in history cost over 3,000 people their lives, and was labeled the worst attack on American soil since the attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II.

At 9:12 on Flight 77, staff and passengers contacted their family and friends and air traffic control that the plane had been hijacked. Approximately at 9:36, Secret Service agents evacuate the White House employees to the Presidential Emergency Operations Center. The reason they evacuated the White House is because the authorities were expecting that another hijacked plane was going to attack either the White House or the Capitol (9/11 MEMORIAL - September 11 Attack Timeline, pages 20, 22-23). At 9:37, hijackers crash Flight 77 into the Pentagon’s western facade, killing the fifty-nine on board the plane and one hundred twenty-five military and civilian personnel inside the Pentagon. This had been the third attack on the United States within fifty-one minute. To help the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) find the hijacked planes, they ground all flights over, or bound for, the continental United States. At approximately 9:59, after burning for a total of fifty-nine minutes, the South Tower collapses within ten seconds killing many rescue workers and responders (9/11 MEMORIAL - September 11 Attacks Timeline, pages 24-25,28). Around 10:15, the damaged section of the Pentagon’s outermost offices, known as the E ring, collapses. No on was injured. At 10:28, the North Tower collapses after burning for one hundred two minutes, killing about 1,400 people in the building and the surrounding area (9/11 MEMORIAL - September 11 Attack Timeline,

xi. Support : Evan Thomas states that It departed from Newark, New Jersey and planned to land in San Francisco. The hijackers intended to crash the plane in the final target of their scheme which was the White House.

A second plane, United Airlines Route 175, with 65 passengers on board, was hijacked by five Arab men and armed with knives. During the struggle, to take over the plane, the stack a member of cabin crew down. A female flight

On September 11th, 2001, the worst terror attack on US soil took place. 19 people associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda took 4 airplanes and carried out suicide to kill people in the United States. Two of the planes hit the World Trade Center, another plan hit the pentagon just outside Washington, D.C, and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. These attacks caused massive destruction, forcing the U.S to combat terrorism and “defining the presidency of George W. Bush” (History). 9/11 is one of the most tragic events in the history of America, minute by minute people feared and this fear brought the country together in a way that it never did

As millions were watching the events unfold in New York, American Airlines Flight 77 circled over downtown Washington, D.C., and crashed into the west side of the Pentagon military headquarters at 9:45 a.m. Jet fuel from the Boeing 757 caused a overwhelming firestorm that led to the structural collapse of a portion of the enormous concrete building. All told, 125 military personnel and civilians were killed in the Pentagon, along with all 64 people aboard the airliner. (9/11 Attacks, 2012) It was initially thought that this plane was bound for the White House or the Capitol Building; however, because of lack of visibility coming from the west as it did objects obscured these targets making the terrorists change their plans and crash into the Pentagon. (Limbacher, 2001)

On September 11, 2001, at 8:45 a.m. the US became a nation transformed, four planes were hijacked and turned into deadly guided missiles. One of the planes crashed into the World Trade Center, carrying 20,000 gallons of jet fuel plowed into the north tower. The collision created burning hole near the 80th floor of the 110-story sky scraper, immediately killing more than 3,000 people and injuring hundreds. As the evacuation of the tower and its twin got underway, the media broadcasted live images of what initially appeared to be a

On September 11th, 2001, the Unites States of America was attacked by suicidal al-Qaeda terrorists. Early that morning, nineteen al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial jets, which did have passengers on board. The terrorist purposely killed themselves and the

on the west side of the Pentagon in Washington D.C. which caused structural damage and the death of 189 people including the passengers of the plane. Lastly, the 4th, American Airline Flight 93 which was hijacked only 40 minutes after takeoff was crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after the passengers realized through the media as well as calls being made to and from the ground that the passengers realized that the plane is being hijacked, then a few courageous passengers decided to take the plane down, the destination of where the plane was headed is not known. One of the many innocent passengers that called home was Thomas Burnett Jr., he called his wife and told her “I know we’re all going to die. There’s three of us who are going to do something about it. I love you,

A Boeing 767 containing approximately twenty thousand gallons of jet fuel flew into the North tower of the World Trade Center in New York City on a pristine morning at 8:45 a.m. on September 11, 2001. The collision left a giant opening close to the eightieth floor of the one hundred ten story skyscraper, abruptly ending hundreds of people’s lives and trapping hundreds more in the floors above. As the evacuation of the tower and its twin- the South Tower- got underway by the local authorities, television news channels broadcasted live images of what at first appeared to be a freak accident. Then, eighteen minutes after the initial plane crashed into the tower, a second Boeing 767–United Airlines Flight 175–appeared out of the sky, turned sharply

A total of 19 terrorists hijacked four planes on 9/11. All 19 of the men were split into 4 groups, each group had one person that was able to fly the plane while the other 2 or 3 were there to retain control of the plane.

The attackers were Islamic terrorist from Saudi Arabia and several other Arab nations (“9/11 Attacks”). 9/11 changed the ways I looked at life, for instance, how something drastic could happen and everything could be over in an instance. When I finally knew what truly happened that day, all I could think about was that how all of those innocent people had just died just for Osama Bin Laden to show to the United States what he stood for. 9/11 sparked many things that changed in the United States; one of those changes was a new President.

The attackers were Islamic terrorists from Saudi Arabia and several other Arab nations. Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terrorist organization were allegedly acting the U.S. in retaliation for their support of Israel, their involvement in the Persian Gulf War and their military presence in the Middle East. Some of the terrorists lived in the United States for more than a year and had taken flying lessons at American flight schools. The others had snuck into the country in the months before September 11th and were considered the “muscle” in the operation. They smuggled box-cutters and knives through the loose security at three East Coast airports and boarded four different airliners bound for California, they chose these flights because they were filled with jet fuel for the long flight across the country. After takeoff, they raided the cockpit of the planes and took control, doing this turned the normal passenger jets into huge missiles.

There are several terrorist groups throughout the world today. All the terrorist groups have one common goal and that is to rid the world of Americans and western influence from the Muslim world. There is one organization that has ties to most of all the terrorist groups in the world and is the most infamous group in the world today and that is the group called Al-Qaeda The word Al-Qaeda means “the base” in Muslim. As an international terrorist organization led by Osama bin Laden. The group seeks to rid Muslim countries of western influence and replace them with fundamentalist Islamic regimes. Al-Qaeda grew out of the of the ashes of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1988, after it helped expel the Soviet

As a result, many more people to include fire fighters lost their lives during the collapse of the World Trade Center. Through all this chaos, a fourth plane had been on hijacked; the delay of departure allowed for the passengers to learn of the events that occurred with the other three planes. The passengers of the fourth plane sacrifice their lives to prevent the hijackers from hitting their next target. It was discovered that attacks were the results America’s part in the Persian Gulf War. The hijackers were discovered to be Islamic terrorists who received funding from the Osama Bin Laden’s organization. This deadly massacre caused America to take some drastic measures in different departments. Department of Homeland Security, aviation and US Customs and Immigration immediately made changes that would help to prevent from any future terrorist attacks.