The attack of 2001, September 11, in the USA: description, history and consequences

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:40

Probably every modern person has heard something about the 2001 terrorist attack in New York. However, some people do not know about the details, while others simply forgot - after all, almost two decades have passed since this terrible event. We will try to deal with this tragedy as objectively as possible, but at the same time briefly.

What is this

The terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 took place. And almost immediately the terrible news spread all over the world. Someone mourned the victims, and someone grinned maliciously and rejoiced at the death of thousands of innocent people.

The fact is that it was on September 11 in New York that two passenger planes crashed into the two towers of the World Trade Center. The attack was remembered by many as the bloodiest in the history of mankind.

How did it happen?

Now we will try to recreate in detail the events of the September 2001 terrorist attack.

On this day the airports worked as usual. Many dozens of airliners, taking off from different US cities, were heading toCalifornia. And only on board four planes flying from Newark, Logan and Dulles airports, everything went completely wrong - they were hijacked almost simultaneously shortly after takeoff. They were not chosen by chance - due to the significant length of the routes, there was a large amount of fuel on board the aircraft - approximately 30-35 tons of aviation kerosene.

Until now, experts have not been able to agree on how nineteen terrorists managed to capture four huge airliners. Some argue that ordinary clerical cutters were used for this, with which the terrorists trained for a long time before going "to work." Others believe that tear gas was also used - the report received from the pilot of one of the hijacked aircraft.

The passengers and crew of one of the planes attempted to regain control of the plane, as a result of which the terrorists' plans were thwarted - the plane crashed on a field in Pennsylvania. The terrorists and all on board were killed.

The second plane was sent to the Pentagon near the city of Washington. The terrorists succeeded in carrying out their plan and crashed into the Pentagon. However, the place for the attack was not chosen very well - it was in this wing that repairs were being carried out at that time. Therefore, the number of victims turned out to be relatively small - not counting the terrorists, passengers and crew members who were on board, a little more than a hundred people died. If the plane had crashed into the building from the other side, the number of victims would have increased by at least a fewtimes.

But, of course, the most terrible and memorable events of the 2011 terrorist attack unfolded in New York. It was here that two Boeing 767-200 aircraft with the numbers N334AA and N612UA headed. Their targets were the famous twin towers that housed the World Trade Center.

The first crashed into the north tower at approximately 8:46 am at an altitude of 94-98 floors.

The second crashed into the south tower at 9:03. It was directed lower - approximately at the level of 78-85 floors. Since television film crews had already arrived at the scene in a hurry to film the site of the first explosion, the second terrorist attack was filmed from several angles.

As a result of the impact of aircraft on buildings, a fire started - it was no coincidence that aircraft with a large amount of fuel on board were chosen. Dozens of tons of fuel spilled out of punctured tanks and flooded many floors. And because of the powerful blow that damaged the supporting structures, the buildings began to rapidly collapse.

The tower that was first attacked by terrorists (northern) collapsed at 10:28. This happened because of the fire, which was extinguished only after 102 minutes.

The south tower collapsed much faster - as early as 9:56, and the fire lasted only 56 minutes.

However, the attack had further consequences. Powerful explosions in the attacked buildings led to the fact that in another tower - WTC-7 - gas exploded and a powerful fire started, which could not be quickly stopped. As a result, it collapsed at 17:20.

Number of victims

As mentioned above, the total number of terrorists on boardfour aircraft, amounted to 19 people. Of course they all died.

The terrorists who hijacked United Flight 93, which crashed in a field near Washington, failed to complete their task. Therefore, only passengers and crew members died - the total number of victims was 40 people.

More effective were the actions of the terrorists who chose the Pentagon as their target. In addition to the 59 passengers and members on board, 125 people died in the building.

But, of course, the highest scores were the two planes that crashed into the World Trade Center buildings. The September 11, 2001, terrorist attack at the Twin Towers killed not only the 147 people on board. Also, 2,606 people died in the building and on its rubble.

Yes, not everyone knows about it, but not all the victims died on September 11 precisely because of the terrorist attack itself. During the localization and elimination of the fire, as well as in the process of searching for survivors, 341 firefighters of the city fire department, as well as two paramedics, were killed. In addition, the victims include 60 police officers, as well as 8 emergency doctors.

As a result of the fire, a huge amount of toxic substances was released into the air - insulating and heat-insulating materials, densely saturated with fuel, burned. It was because of this that the last victim of the terrorist attack, Felicia Dunn-Jones, died. And it happened just a few months after the disaster. Carbon monoxide poisoning led to lung failure. Therefore, her name is also included in the lists of the dead.because of the terrorist attack in New York on September 11, 2001.

In total, 2977 people died as a result of the tragedy, not counting the terrorists. Among them were citizens of not only the United States, but also almost hundreds of other countries.

And yet the number of victims could be much higher. About 16 thousand people managed to evacuate from the WTC buildings, who were below the floors to which the planes were directed.

Who are the performers?

Officially, the attack was planned and carried out by Al-Qaeda, one of the most notorious terrorist groups in the world. It was headed by Osama bin Laden himself, whose name has been on the news for many years. And the group itself quickly claimed responsibility, saying that this attack was a response to US support for Israel, as well as the deployment of troops to Afghanistan.

Fifteen of the nineteen performers are from Saudi Arabia, two from the UAE, and one each from Egypt and Lebanon.

Are the secret services behind the attacks?

However, the question of who organized the terrorist attacks in the US in 2001 is not closed at all. There are a huge number of versions, the authors of which look for contradictions in the official version, and sometimes come up with them. Alas, because of the latter, most people don't take the former too seriously. After all, there are indeed enough inconsistencies in this case.

For example, all information about terrorists was obtained due to the fact that the bag of one of them was accidentally detained inairport and missed the plane. It was in it that the true documents of all participants in the terrorist attack were located.

In addition, the buildings did not collapse immediately after the collision with the planes, but an hour and a half later, as a result of fires. But an ordinary fire, even with the use of aviation fuel, cannot melt the supporting pillars of skyscrapers - this was confirmed by the engineers and builders who worked on their construction. And some experts argue that the destruction is more inherent in the nature of a series of small directed explosions, which in turn destroyed the supporting structures.

It is also interesting that the buildings were insured against terrorist attacks a few months before the 2001 attack.

The wing where the repairs were carried out was chosen as the site of the attack on the Pentagon - secret documents and senior officials were temporarily moved to other departments. And what is even more surprising - judging by the photo from the site of the terrorist attack, there are no fragments of the plane that crashed into the building.

And this is not a complete list of strange events associated with the terrorist attack. This makes one wonder - why did the intelligence services not notice or ignore them? Isn't this a consequence of the fact that the explosions were carried out by the special services themselves?

The trail leads to Iran

There is also a version that the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack near the "Gemini" was not carried out without the intervention of special services from Iran. Moreover, information about this came from Iranian intelligence officers and employees of the intelligence ministry. Speaking in court in the cityManhattan, they swore that the Iranian government not only sponsored the attacks, but also participated in their development and implementation. And soon after the explosions themselves, they provided support to hundreds of al-Qaeda operatives.

US government response

A month after the sad events, the US government assembled and led an international coalition whose goal was to overthrow the Taliban regime. State officials said that al-Qaeda is located in Afghanistan, where it is supported by the Taliban and coordinates the actions of its members around the world.

A series of arrests was also carried out both in the United States and in other countries. But, judging by the fact that the intelligence services of other countries handed over the prisoners to their American colleagues, it could not have done without the support of the CIA.

Safety measures taken

Of course, the American public demanded certain measures that would increase the level of security in the country.

In a matter of months after the attack, over 80,000 Arabs, as well as emigrants from other Muslim countries, were forced to undergo a fingerprint check, and they were also registered in special registers. About 8,000 people were interrogated, 5,000 were detained.

Economic consequences

The 2001 terrorist attack in the United States had other consequences.

For example, a telephone exchange near the World Trade Center was destroyed due to an explosion and fires. As a result, the American Stock Exchange, the New Yorkstock exchange and NASDAQ. It was possible to restore their work only on September 17. Because of this downtime, American exchanges lost about 1.2 trillion dollars in a matter of days. This is still considered the largest drop in the Dow Jones index for the week.

Due to the explosions, all air travel in the United States was also canceled for several days. And in the following weeks and months, people were frankly afraid to fly on planes, fearing a repetition of the terrorist attack. As a result, passenger traffic dropped by 20%, creating serious problems for the entire US air travel industry.

Reaction in the world

People around the world reacted strongly to the 2001 New York bombing.

In general, the reaction was unequivocal - ordinary people and heads of government expressed their grief for the innocent people who died. However, there were exceptions to this list.

For example, the government of Iraq has said that American citizens are only reaping the fruits of their crimes.

The citizens of Palestine also openly rejoiced at the terrorist attack of 2001 - solemn processions were organized here. Which is not surprising - the United States supported the Jews, with whom the Palestinians have very strained relations.

Finally, there were demonstrations in China, where students carried banners with slogans in support of the terrorists.

Memory of the dead

• On the day of the terrorist attack in 2001, a minute of silence was declared in almost all European countries as a sign of mourning. A procession with candles was held in Washington.
• In the place of the destroyed towers-twins installed two powerful searchlights aimed at the sky. The exposition was called "Tribute in the Light".

• A small chapel was built at the Pentagon where people died.
• A memorial has been erected at the crash site of Flight 93.
• Act 111-13 approved September 11 as the date of the "National Day of Service and Remembrance".

Conclusion

This concludes our article. Now you know more about the September 11 attacks in the United States. Of course, the story is rather ambiguous and full of white spots. But who knows, maybe over time a more comprehensive version will appear that will put everything in its place.