The 9/11 Terrorist Attacks

The 9/11 Terrorist Attacks

Introduction

International terrorism was accepted as a growing intimidation to the U.S. long before the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Though, the attacks that came to pass that day were unparalleled in coordination, daring, and scope. Under the leadership of Egyptian Mohamed Atta, the group of nineteen Al Qaeda activists that carried out the attacks appropriately detected the weak points of U.S. security and thus, exploited them in a very daring though simple manner to make the utmost possible disruption and damage.

Discussion

The 9/11 Attacks

Tuesday, September 11th, 2001, started as a routine day till, at 8:45 A.M., a hijacked Boeing 767 on a scheduled flight was on purpose crashed into tower number one that is the WTC's north tower in lower Manhattan, New York City. After 18 minutes, a second Boeing 767 flown into the south tower. Later, at 10:10 A.M., Pentagon military headquarters situated in Washington, D.C. was crashed with a Boeing 757, and at one fell swoop another 757 purposely flown into a Pennsylvania's field after passengers stormed the cockpit and wrestled with the hijackers. Other aircraft were about to be hijacked, but the immediate imposition of a ground stop throughout North America left them unable to fly.

All 266 people on board the airliners were killed instantly, including the 19 hijackers. The Boeing 767 has a capacity of more than 90,000 liters of fuel and the 757 can carry nearly 43,000 liters. The 110-story WTC experienced fireballs from the impact of the airliners that ignited 94-98 floors of the north tower and 78-84 floors of the south tower, trapping people who were situated on higher floors. The Pentagon fire burned for some hours; however was controlled by the resistant structure of the building, which was designed to stand firm against attacks.

Designed by the architect Minoru Yamasaki, the complex of 7 buildings in the WTC was built between 1966 and 1971. The twin towers were constructed in a tube frame steel design with reinforced concrete cladding to the load-bearing members. The central column contained the shafts of the 99 elevators, plus utility wells and stairs. Fed by combustible material in offices, the fires burned at 800-1100 degrees Celsius till, at 9:47 A.M., when at first the south tower fell down, and then at 10:28 A.M. the north tower also collapsed. At 5:20 P.M. on the same day, the 47-story WTC-7 building collapsed, and the other four buildings eventually had to be demolished. At the site, there was a compact heap of 1.2 million tons of debris that took eight months to remove. The clear-up operation took place in conjunction with a massive forensic investigation.

Excluding the hijackers, in the Pentagon attack 184 people were killed; 40 died at Pennsylvania in the United Airlines flight crash; and 2,752 people lost their lives in the WTC, including 343 firemen and 78 policemen engaged in rescue efforts. In New York, people from 60 different countries were among the victims, which included a significant number of undocumented aliens, who were working in the ...