September 11, 2001 (9/11)

The date of September 11, 2001, often rendered in abbreviated form as 9/11, refers to the series of coordinated suicide attacks on the United States that occurred on that date. Although the attacks were conducted against U.S. domestic targets, they had immediate global consequences.

Early that morning, 19 terrorists, motivated by radical Muslim political ideology, took control of four commercial passenger jet airplanes. Two of [Page 1514]the airplanes were crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, killing everyone on board the planes and many inside the buildings. A third airplane was crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth plane never reached its target (believed to be the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.) because the passengers attempted to seize control of the plane, which the hijackers then crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Scholars have pointed out that the targets were apparently chosen for their symbolic values: The World Trade Center, because of its proximity to Wall Street, represented American economic might. Similarly, the Pentagon, headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense, represents American military might. The U.S. Capitol, meeting place of the U.S. legislature at the center of the District of Columbia, could be taken for the United States itself.

Including the 19 hijackers, the final death toll of the attacks was 2,995, most of whom were civilians. Significantly, the dead included nationals from more than 70 countries. The leader of the 19 hijackers and one of the pilots was Mohammed Atta, from Egypt; among the rest of the hijackers, 15 were from Saudi Arabia, 2 were from the United Arab Emirates, and 1 was from Lebanon. The U.S. government's 9/11 Commission Report later identified Khalid Sheikh Mohammad as the mastermind of the plot. At the time, however, Osama bin Laden was quickly identified with the attack, and his al Qaeda organization became known as the enemy associated with the terrorist mission. He had frequently voiced his objection to U.S. support of Israel and his demand for the U.S. military to leave Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden declared a holy war against the United States in 1998 and is believed to have provided both leadership and financial support for the attacks of 9/11. Some reports claim that he personally selected the hijackers, favoring those who were educated, could speak English, and had lived in the West.

In the wake of 9/11, many world leaders condemned the attacks. These condemnations came not only from allies but also from countries usually hostile to the United States, including Cuba, Iran, Libya, and North Korea. In Iran, large crowds participated in candlelight vigils, and approximately 60,000 soccer fans observed a minute of silence at a stadium in Tehran.

Following the attacks of 9/11, there were two U.S. military responses: the first against Afghanistan and a later, second one against Iraq. Thus, the immediate U.S. response to the al Qaeda attacks was to launch the so-called global War on Terrorism by invading Afghanistan in a maneuver named Operation Enduring Freedom, which began on October 7, 2001. The appropriateness of declaring “war” on a tactic (terrorism) rather than on a nation-state has been questioned by many critics of the U.S. counterterrorism response. The purpose of the Afghanistan invasion was to find Osama bin Laden and to remove the Taliban regime that had protected him. Later, other countries joined in the fight under the umbrella of the International Security Assistance Force, established by the UN Security Council in late 2001. The move against Afghanistan appeared initially to have been a success in ousting the Taliban from power and denying al Qaeda a safe haven.

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