1993 WTC 2001
Within a decade, the World Trade Center has been attacked twice. However, where the terrorists failed in 1993, they would succeed in 2001. The purpose of this article is to illustrate the events on those two tragic days, discuss the individuals involved, and to comprehend why the 1993 attacks were not the wake up call to prepare for the 2001 attacks. Perhaps even more disturbing than the 1993 attacks, not waking up the American public to terrorism, is why the other attacks on the U.S, between 1993 and 2001, were not wake up calls themselves. This article will attempt to explore these issues in depth.
On February 26, 1993, terrorists declared war on the United States, alas, we would not realize it for another eight years. On that terrible day Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the attack, had one of his accomplices, Mohammed Salameh, drive a truck filled with 1500 pounds of explosives into the parking garage of the World Trade Center. “The bomb was made of urea pellets, nitroglycerin, sulfuric acid, aluminum azide, magnesium azide, and bottled hydrogen,”(Wikipedia). The total cost of the bomb was estimated at only $300. The plan was to rupture the foundation of Tower 1 so that it would fall over and collapse into Tower 2, effectively destroying both Towers. Luckily, the plan failed and the Towers remained intact. Unfortunately, six people were killed and over 1000 were wounded.
The evidence left behind at the World Trade Center led investigators to Mohammed Salameh, a Palestinian, who rented the truck in his own name. His arrest led investigators to the arrests of his accomplices shortly after the bombing. The perpetrators were a mix of Arabs from different countries but according to government reports, they were all under the control of Omar Abd al-Raham, a radical Egyptian cleric. The arrest of Salameh eventually led investigators to Yousef’s apartment where they would find materials to make bombs and documents with names of people within his faction. It was during this investigation that authorities would first hear the name, Osama Bin Laden. After all the arrests were complete and the sentences handed down, all of the conspirators, including Omar Abdel-Raham, were sentenced to life in prison.
However, before the arrests were made, there was much speculation into who was responsible for the attacks. “One FBI investigator recalls that he initially suspected Serbian involvement, and later the prevailing opinion was that Libyans were behind the attack. Others thought that perhaps the Iraqis were seeking revenge for Operation Desert Storm. This theory gained support when it was discovered that Ramzi Yousef traveled to the United States with a valid Iraqi passport,”(White, Jonathan). Eventually intelligence came in that disproved these theories and the true perpetrators were apprehended. The confusion that befuddled the team of investigators and our government was caused by the simple fact that these were a new breed of terrorists. They did not operate under a flag or have a specific nation for which they fought. Their unity came from a shared hatred of the United States of America.
Perhaps one of the most puzzling questions of this tragedy is why were these attacks not the wake up call for America to prevent the September 11, 2001, attacks? With the exception of poor intelligence by our government, three possible reasons come to mind. The first is that there was minimal damage done to the building, unlike the Oklahoma City Bombing of 1995. From the outside, not much damage to the World Trade Center could be seen. Another reason, there was relatively limited loss of life. Do not get me wrong, six dead is six too many, but in comparison to other tragedies, the death toll was relatively low. The final reason many people did not see the 1993 attacks as a wake up call is because the nation was too preoccupied with another newspaper headline. Incase you do not remember, the O.J Simpson trial was going on around the same time. With many Americans enamored with O.J, they simply did not notice the serious implications of the attack. This would prove to be one of the greatest blunders in American history.
OTHER ATTACKS ON THE U.S
Terrorism is nothing new in much of the rest of the world, but for Americans it is a relatively new concept. Just three years after the attacks on the World Trade Center, the United States was hit again. Only this time it would not be on our own shores. The attack that I am referring to is the Khobar Towers bombing. The Khobar Towers were being used to hold military personnel of the United States Air Force in Saudi Arabia. It is believed that the attack came from a terrorist group that was hell bent on removing the United States from the region. The attack claimed the lives of 19 Americans and left close to 400 people wounded. The investigation led to the arrest of 13 Saudis and 1 Lebanese man, yet America had still not woken up. Why? The most obvious reason for our ambivalence to the situation was the sole fact that it happened in another country far from our homeland. It is like the old adage, “out of sight, out of mind.” And the sad truth is, it really was out of mind for most of the Aamerican public.
Then, just two years later the U.S was struck by terrorists again. As with the Khobar Towers bombing, the attacks took place in a distant land. This time it was Africa and entailed simultaneous attacks on three U.S embassies. The operation, led by Al Qaeda operatives, claimed the lives of 220 people and left nearly 4,000 injured. These attacks focused international attention on Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. It was also at this point that Osama Bin Laden began to foster his Allah-like status among Islamic radicals. To put it quite simply, Bin Laden became a hero. The United State’s response was swift and led to Cruise Missile strikes in Afghanistan and Sudan. Policies were also drafted by the Clinton Administration to make it illegal to do business with Osama Bin Laden and his Al Qaeda warriors. This was an attempt to put a strangle hold on their financial support. It was around this point that Americans began to open their eyes to this grave new danger but we were still not ready to understand fully, the seriousness of the situation that confronted us.
The final attack on the United States, before 9/11, was the attack on the USS Cole, in 2000. The destroyer was docked at a Yemeni port in Aden when a boat filled with explosives trolled up beside it and detonated a bomb, tearing a gaping hole in the side of the ship. The attack claimed the lives of 17 Americans and injured 39 others. The attack was planned by Osama Bin Laden and was carried out by Al Qaeda suicide bombers, Ibrahim al-Thawr and Abdullah al-Misawa. This would be the first terrorist attack on a U.S. Navy vessel in the history of the United States. However, the ship did not sink and was carried back to the United States for repairs.
The attack on the USS Cole was, to say the least, very different from the previous attacks on the United States. The attack was considered an act of terrorism but under law, an attack on a military target could not be deemed a terrorist attack. According to the Annual Country Report on Terrorism, “the term terrorism means premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetuated against noncombatant targets by sub national groups or clandestine agents.” Now, it is true that a group of sub national agents committed the attacks but their target was a combatant target and therefore it could not be viewed as a terrorist attack. It is because of this slight technicality that the American public still had not been awakened to the terrorist threat and also, because the attack happened in a distant place like the first two and received minimal news coverage, considering the severity of the event. However, it would not be long before America would wake up to a nightmare that finally brought the fear of terrorism into our reality.
A DAY OF INFAMY
On September 11, 2001, terrorists viciously attacked the United States of America. Nineteen Al-Qaeda operatives, under the command of Osama Bin Laden, hijacked four commercial airliners with the intent of ramming them into buildings that were symbolic of American primacy. The World Trade Center, symbolic of America’s economic wealth, and the Pentagon, symbolic of American military power, made prime targets. According to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the fourth plane was intended to hit the Capitol Building or the White House, both symbolic institutions of American control. Fortunately, the plane never reached its target but, regrettably, all on board the plane were killed. The attacks on America claimed the lives of 2,986 people and left thousands injured.
Armed with nothing more than box cutters, the hijackers took control of American Airlines Fight 11. The plane departed from Logan International Airport at around 8:00am on a transcontinental flight for Los Angeles. Within approximately 15 minutes, the terrorists took the plane. According to voice transcripts from the plane, the hijackers killed three of the passengers at the begging of the assault, claimed to have a bomb, and sprayed pepper-spray into the first-class cabin. Presumably, this was done to prevent the passengers from fighting back and possibly retaking the plane. At approximately 8:45am; the plane, carrying 92 passengers and crew, slammed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, killing everyone on board and hundreds more in the tower instantly.
United Airlines Flight 175 also departed from Logan International. It was supposed to take off at the same time as Flight 11 but due to delays at the airport was held up. According to voice transcripts from the plane, the hijackers had box cutters and sprayed pepper spray into the front cabin as they did on AAF 11. “At approximately 9:03, Flight 175 flew into the south side of the southern tower of the World Trade Center, between floors 78 and 84. The plane was carrying 56 passengers (including the 5 hijackers) and 9 crew members”(Wikipedia). All people on board were killed including hundreds more in the building.
The two planes that hit the World Trade Center were bound for Los Angeles. Since they were making a transcontinental flight, they had both been filled to the brim with jet fuel. When the planes hit the buildings they both knocked off the fire proofing that covered the steel structures and disabled the fire sprinklers, rendering the building helpless to extinguish the fire. Experts believe that the heat created from the burning jet fuel was hot enough to weaken the support trusses of the building. After some time the floors began to sag and eventually came crashing down. The falling floors created a domino effect that brought the buildings to the ground. The South Tower was the first to go, followed by its twin. However, the buildings were able to stand for some time after the impact and did not fall for almost an hour. The collapse of the building left most of lower Manhattan covered in smoke for days. In all, seven buildings in Manhattan had been destroyed and another 25 seriously damaged.
American Airlines flight 77 departed from Dulles International Airport in Fairfax County Virginia at approximately 8:20a.m. It is believed that the flight was taken over at about 8:55a.m. because the transponder was turned off and the plane began to turn around at that point. Voice transcripts from the plane described four men with box cutters or knives forcing all the passengers and the pilots to the back of the plane. “Flight 77 crashed into the western side of the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, just south of Washington, D.C. at 9:37 AM EDT, killing all of its 58 passengers (including the hijackers) and 6 crew members” (Wikipedia). The Pentagon sustained some serious damage but because of its design, most of the building survived the attack. Flight 77 marked the third attack of the day but would not be the last.
United Flight 93 departed from Newark International Airport at approximately 8:45a.m. Had there been no delays, the plane would have taken off at 8:00a.m like the other planes were scheduled to do. Unlike the other three planes, Flight 93 never reached its target and instead crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The plane was carrying 37 passengers and 7 crew members. All on board were killed instantly. It is widely accepted that the intended target was either the White House or the Capital Building in Washington, DC. According to voice transcripts and phone calls taken from the plane, the passengers knew of their impending doom and made an effort to retake control of the plane. In all, 10 phone calls were made and from the statements that were recorded, we have been able to construct the possible scenario that unfolded on the plane. According to the 9/11 Commission Report, some, if not all the passengers on board were aware that terrorist had been flying planes into buildings up and down the east coast. Calls taken from the plane suggest that the passengers tried to take back control of the plane and in doing so scared the terrorists into crashing the plane. That crash would mark the final attack of the day.
After nearly eight years and half a dozen attacks on the United States, we finally got the message. The attacks made the country fully aware that we were no longer living in a safe world and that not even the United States was safe from terrorism. The attacks brought about a huge international response. Governments from all over the world condemned the attacks and vowed support for the United States. A French newspaper, Le Monde, ran the headline, “We are all Americans,” in support of our tragedy, and many other countries came to our aid. Coincidentally, George Bush’s approval rating at the time was around 86%. Most Arab countries around the world also condemned the attacks while a small majority viewed the attacks as America’s comeuppance.
The final question that needs to be answered is why we were attacked and what was the specific motivation. There is much speculation as to why the attacks descended upon our cities. The Bush Administration claimed that the attacks by Al Qaeda were spurred by their intense hatred of freedom and democracy, while other government sources said that the attacks were an attempt to unify the Muslim world and pave the way for a world under Islamic control. However, there are less radical explanations of the motivations behind the attacks. “The motivation for this campaign 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”(Wikipedia). According to the fatwa, the attacks were carried out because of U.S. support of Israel, U.S. occupation of Arab lands, and previous U.S. aggression towards the Iraqi people. The fatwa goes on to state 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, and supports Israel, and wishes to divert international attention from (and tacitly maintain) the occupation of Palestine” (Wikipedia). According to Osama Bin Laden and his followers, attacks upon the United States will continue until these grievances have been rectified.
AMERICA RESPONDS
Following the September 11 attacks on the United States, steps were taken to ensure our safety. Increased boarder control and airline security were the first steps taken to decrease the likelihood of another attack. The creation of the Department of Homeland Security, beefing up agencies already in place, and the Patriot Act were among other measures taken by the Bush Administration. The attacks also brought about what is being called the “War on Terrorism.” This war has included an increase in satellite surveillance, increased information sharing between countries, sanctions on known terrorist states, and the 2001 Invasion of Afghanistan followed by the 2003 invasion of Iraq. All of which have created much controversy throughout the entire world including the United States. Some attest that the U.S. decision to invade Iraq has effectively squandered the international good will toward our country and has in essence made us more vulnerable to future terrorist attacks. At the other end of the spectrum, there are those who say we are safer because the invasions have the terrorists on the run, making it difficult for them to plan and carry out attacks. Only time will tell who is right and who is wrong but one thing remains certain: Americas days of ignoring terrorism are over and we can no longer stand idle while the looming threat of terrorism is upon us.
For the record, I wrote this paper on my own. It was an essay I wrote for Terrorism 442 in college…
you dont honastly expect people to read all that? but my answer to the first question is that terrorism is no more a problem today than it was in the clinton or first bush presidencys.
that fact is that bush screwed up and let the US get attacked and now he is just trying to scare us to stay in power and justify more wars.
clinton stoped about 8 large scale terror attacks in his administration bush only one out of 2.
please dont belive the fear mongoring, it just leads to hate and facism.
Recent Comments