text
stringlengths 0
82.7M
|
|---|
The failure to order a full evacuation of the South Tower after the first plane crash into the North Tower was described by USA Today as "one of the day's great tragedies".[176] As exemplified in the photograph The Falling Man, more than 200 people fell to their deaths from the burning towers, most of whom were forced to jump in order to escape the extreme heat, fire and smoke.[177] Some occupants of each tower above the point of impact made their way toward the roof in the hope of helicopter rescue, but the roof access doors were locked.[178] No plan existed for helicopter rescues, and the combination of roof equipment, thick smoke and intense heat prevented helicopters from approaching.[179] At the World Trade Center complex, a total of 414 emergency workers died as they tried to rescue people and fight fires, while another law enforcement officer was separately killed when United 93 crashed. |
The New York City Fire Department (FDNY) lost 343 firefighters, including a chaplain and two paramedics.[180][181][182] The New York City Police Department (NYPD) lost 23 officers.[183] The Port Authority Police Department (PAPD) lost 37 officers.[184] Eight emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and paramedics from private emergency medical services (EMS) units were killed.[185] Almost all of the emergency personnel who died at the scene that day were killed as a result of the towers collapsing, with the exception of one who was struck by a civilian falling from the upper floors of the South Tower.[186] Cantor Fitzgerald L.P. (an investment bank on the North Tower's 101st–105th floors) lost 658 employees, considerably more than any other employer.[187] Marsh Inc., located immediately below Cantor Fitzgerald on floors 93–100, lost 358 employees,[188][189] and 175 employees of Aon Corporation were also killed.[190] The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) estimated that about 17,400 civilians were in the World Trade Center complex at the time of the attacks. |
Turnstile counts from the Port Authority suggest 14,154 people were typically in the Twin Towers by 8:45 a.m.[191][page needed][192] Most people below the impact zone safely evacuated the buildings.[193] In Arlington County, Virginia, 125 Pentagon workers died when Flight 77 crashed into the building's western side. |
70 were civilians and 55 were military personnel, many of whom worked for the United States Army or the United States Navy. |
The Army lost 47 civilian employees; six civilian contractors; and 22 soldiers, while the Navy lost six civilian employees; three civilian contractors; and 33 sailors. |
Seven Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) civilian employees died, and one Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) contractor.[194][195][196] Lieutenant General Timothy Maude, an Army Deputy Chief of Staff, was the highest-ranking military official killed at the Pentagon.[197] Weeks after the attack, the death toll was estimated to be over 6,000, more than twice the number of deaths eventually confirmed.[198] The city was only able to identify remains for about 1,600 of the World Trade Center victims. |
The medical examiner's office collected "about 10,000 unidentified bone and tissue fragments that cannot be matched to the list of the dead".[199] Bone fragments were still being found in 2006 by workers who were preparing to demolish the damaged Deutsche Bank Building. |
In 2010, a team of anthropologists and archaeologists searched for human remains and personal items at the Fresh Kills Landfill, where 72 more human remains were recovered, bringing the total found to 1,845. |
DNA profiling continues in an attempt to identify additional victims.[200][201][202] The remains are being held in storage in Memorial Park, outside the New York City Medical Examiner's facilities. |
It was expected that the remains would be moved in 2013 to a repository behind a wall at the 9/11 museum.[needs update][203] In July 2011, a team of scientists at the Office of Chief Medical Examiner continued efforts to identify remains, in the hope that improved technology will allow them to identify other victims.[202] In August 2017, the 1,641st victim was identified as a result of newly available DNA technology,[204] and a 1,642nd during July 2018.[205] Three more victims were identified in October 2019,[206] two in September 2021[207] and an additional two in September 2023.[208] As of September 2023, 1,104 victims remain unidentified,[208] amounting to 40% of the deaths in the World Trade Center attacks.[207] On September 25, 2023, the FDNY reported that with the death of EMT Hilda Vannata and retired firefighter Robert Fulco, marking the 342nd and 343rd deaths from 9/11-related illnesses, the department had now lost the same number of firefighters, EMTs, and civilian members to 9/11-related illnesses as it did on the day of the attacks.[209][210] Along with the 110-floor Twin Towers, numerous other buildings at the World Trade Center site were destroyed or badly damaged, including WTC buildings 3 through 7 and St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church.[211] The North Tower, South Tower, the Marriott Hotel (3 WTC), and 7 WTC were destroyed. |
The U.S. Customs House (6 World Trade Center), 4 World Trade Center, 5 World Trade Center, and both pedestrian bridges connecting buildings were severely damaged. |
The Deutsche Bank Building (still popularly referred to as the Bankers Trust Building) on 130 Liberty Street was partially damaged and demolished some years later, starting in 2007.[212][213] The two buildings of the World Financial Center also suffered damage.[212] The last fires at the World Trade Center site were extinguished on December 20, exactly 100 days after the attacks.[214] The Deutsche Bank Building across Liberty Street from the World Trade Center complex was later condemned as uninhabitable because of toxic conditions inside the office tower, and was deconstructed.[215][216] The Borough of Manhattan Community College's Fiterman Hall at 30 West Broadway was condemned due to extensive damage from the attacks, and then reopened in 2012.[217] Other neighboring buildings (including 90 West Street and the Verizon Building) suffered major damage but have been restored.[218] World Financial Center buildings, One Liberty Plaza, the Millenium Hilton, and 90 Church Street had moderate damage and have since been restored.[219] Communications equipment on top of the North Tower was also destroyed, with only WCBS-TV maintaining a backup transmitter on the Empire State Building, but media stations were quickly able to reroute the signals and resume their broadcasts.[211][220] The PATH train system's World Trade Center station was located under the complex. |
As a result, the station was demolished when the towers collapsed, and the tunnels leading to Exchange Place station in Jersey City, New Jersey, were flooded with water.[221] The station was rebuilt as the $4 billion World Trade Center Transportation Hub, which reopened in March 2015.[222][223] The Cortlandt Street station on the New York City Subway's IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line was also in close proximity to the World Trade Center complex, and the entire station, along with the surrounding track, was reduced to rubble.[224] The latter station was rebuilt and reopened to the public on September 8, 2018.[225] The Pentagon was extensively damaged by the impact of American Airlines Flight 77 and the ensuing fires, causing one section of the building to collapse.[226] As the airplane approached the Pentagon, its wings knocked down light poles and its right engine hit a power generator before crashing into the western side of the building.[227][228] The plane hit the Pentagon at the first-floor level. |
The front part of the fuselage disintegrated on impact, while the mid and tail sections kept moving for another fraction of a second.[229] Debris from the tail section penetrated the furthest into the building, breaking through 310 feet (94 m) of the three outermost of the building's five rings.[229][230] The New York City Fire Department (FDNY) deployed more than 200 units (approximately half of the department) to the World Trade Center.[231] Their efforts were supplemented by numerous off-duty firefighters and emergency medical technicians.[232][231][233] The New York City Police Department (NYPD) sent its Emergency Service Units and other police personnel and deployed its aviation unit.[234] The NYPD aviation unit assessed the situation and decided that helicopter rescues from the towers were not feasible.[235] Numerous police officers of the Port Authority Police Department (PAPD) also participated in rescue efforts.[236] Once on the scene, the FDNY, the NYPD, and the PAPD did not coordinate efforts and performed redundant searches for civilians.[232][237] As conditions deteriorated, the NYPD aviation unit relayed information to police commanders, who issued orders for personnel to evacuate the towers; most NYPD officers were able to safely evacuate before the buildings collapsed.[237][238] With separate command posts set up and incompatible radio communications between the agencies, warnings were not passed along to FDNY commanders.[239] After the first tower collapsed, FDNY commanders issued evacuation warnings. |
Due to technical difficulties with malfunctioning radio repeater systems, many firefighters never heard the evacuation orders. |
9-1-1 dispatchers also received information from callers that was not passed along to commanders on the scene.[231] The 9/11 attacks resulted in immediate responses to the event, including domestic reactions; closings and cancellations; hate crimes; Muslim-American responses to the event; international responses to the attack; and military responses to the events. |
Shortly after the attacks, a U.S. government fund that was created by an Act of Congress named the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.[240][241] The purpose of the fund was to compensate the victims of the attacks and their families with the quid pro quo of their agreement not to file lawsuits against the airline corporations involved.[242] Legislation authorizes the fund to disburse a maximum of $7.375 billion, including operational and administrative costs, of U.S. government funds.[243] The fund was set to expire by 2020 but was in 2019 prolonged to allow claims to be filed until October 2090.[244][245] At 8:32 a.m., FAA officials were notified Flight 11 had been hijacked and they, in turn, notified the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). |
NORAD scrambled two F-15s from Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts and they were airborne by 8:53 a.m. Because of slow and confused communication from FAA officials, NORAD had nine minutes' notice, and no notice about any of the other flights before they crashed. |
After both of the Twin Towers had already been hit, more fighters were scrambled from Langley Air Force Base in Virginia at 9:30 a.m.[246] At 10:20 a.m., Vice President Dick Cheney issued orders to shoot down any commercial aircraft that could be positively identified as being hijacked. |
These instructions were not relayed in time for the fighters to take action.[246][247][248] Some fighters took to the air without live ammunition, knowing that to prevent the hijackers from striking their intended targets, the pilots might have to intercept and crash their fighters into the hijacked planes, possibly ejecting at the last moment.[249] For the first time in U.S. history, the emergency preparedness plan called Security Control of Air Traffic and Air Navigation Aids (SCATANA) was invoked,[250] thus stranding tens of thousands of passengers across the world.[251] Ben Sliney, in his first day as the National Operations Manager of the FAA,[252] ordered that American airspace would be closed to all international flights, causing about 500 flights to be turned back or redirected to other countries. |
Canada received 226 of the diverted flights and launched Operation Yellow Ribbon to deal with the large numbers of grounded planes and stranded passengers.[253] The 9/11 attacks had immediate effects on the American people.[254] Police and rescue workers from around the country took a leave of absence from their jobs and traveled to New York City to help recover bodies from the twisted remnants of the Twin Towers.[255] Blood donations across the U.S. surged in the weeks after 9/11.[256][257] The deaths of adults in the attacks resulted in over 3,000 children losing a parent.[258] Subsequent studies documented children's reactions to these actual losses and to feared losses of life, the protective environment in the attacks' aftermath, and the effects on surviving caregivers.[259][260][261] Following the attacks, President George W. |
Bush's approval rating increased to 90%.[262] On September 20, 2001, he addressed the nation and a joint session of Congress regarding the events of September 11 and the subsequent nine days of rescue and recovery efforts, and described his intended response to the attacks. |
New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani's highly visible role resulted in praise in New York and nationally.[263] Many relief funds were immediately set up to assist the attacks' victims, with the task of providing financial assistance to the survivors of the attacks and to the victims' families. |
By the deadline for victims' compensation on September 11, 2003, 2,833 applications had been received from the families of those who were killed.[264] Contingency plans for the continuity of government and the evacuation of leaders were implemented soon after the attacks.[251] Congress was not told that the United States had been under a continuity of government status until February 2002.[265] In the largest restructuring of the U.S. government in contemporary history, the United States enacted the Homeland Security Act of 2002, creating the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. |
Congress also passed the USA PATRIOT Act, saying it would help detect and prosecute terrorism and other crimes.[266] Civil liberties groups have criticized the PATRIOT Act, saying it allows law enforcement to invade citizens' privacy and that it eliminates judicial oversight of law enforcement and domestic intelligence.[267][268][269] In an effort to effectively combat future acts of terrorism, the National Security Agency (NSA) was given broad powers. |
NSA commenced warrantless surveillance of telecommunications, which was sometimes criticized as permitting the agency "to eavesdrop on telephone and e-mail communications between the United States and people overseas without a warrant".[270] In response to requests by various intelligence agencies, the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court permitted an expansion of powers by the U.S. government in seeking, obtaining, and sharing information on U.S. citizens as well as non-U.S. people from around the world.[271] Six days after the attacks, President Bush made a public appearance at Washington, D.C.'s largest Islamic Center and acknowledged the "incredibly valuable contribution" that millions of American Muslims made to their country and called for them "to be treated with respect".[272] Numerous incidents of harassment and hate crimes against Muslims and South Asians were reported in the days following the attacks.[273][274][275] Sikhs were also subject to targeting due to the use of turbans in the Sikh faith, which are stereotypically associated with Muslims. |
There were reports of attacks on mosques and other religious buildings (including the firebombing of a Hindu temple), and assaults on individuals, including one murder: Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh mistaken for a Muslim, who was fatally shot on September 15, 2001, in Mesa, Arizona.[275] Two dozen members of Osama bin Laden's family were urgently evacuated out of the country on a private charter plane under FBI supervision three days after the attacks.[276] According to an academic study, people perceived to be Middle Eastern were as likely to be victims of hate crimes as followers of Islam during this time. |
The study also found a similar increase in hate crimes against people who may have been perceived as Muslims, Arabs, and others thought to be of Middle Eastern origin.[277] A report by the South Asian American advocacy group known as South Asian Americans Leading Together documented media coverage of 645 bias incidents against Americans of South Asian or Middle Eastern descent between September 11 and 17, 2001. |
Various crimes such as vandalism, arson, assault, shootings, harassment, and threats in numerous places were documented.[278][279] Women wearing hijab were also targeted.[280] A poll of Arab-Americans, conducted in May 2002, found that 20% had personally experienced discrimination since September 11. |
A July 2002 poll of Muslim Americans found that 48% believed their lives had changed for the worse since September 11, and 57% had experienced an act of bias or discrimination.[280] Following the September 11 attacks, many Pakistani Americans identified themselves as Indians to avoid potential discrimination and obtain jobs (Pakistan was created as a result of the partition of India in 1947).[281] By May 2002, there were 488 complaints of employment discrimination reported to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). |
301 of those were complaints from people fired from their jobs. |
Similarly, by June 2002, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) had investigated 111 September 11th-related complaints from airline passengers purporting that their religious or ethnic appearance caused them to be singled out at security screenings. |
DOT investigated an additional 31 complaints from people who alleged they were completely blocked from boarding airplanes on the same grounds.[280] Muslim organizations in the United States were swift to condemn the attacks and called "upon Muslim Americans to come forward with their skills and resources to help alleviate the sufferings of the affected people and their families".[282] These organizations included the Islamic Society of North America, American Muslim Alliance, American Muslim Council, Council on American-Islamic Relations, Islamic Circle of North America, and the Shari'a Scholars Association of North America. |
Along with monetary donations, many Islamic organizations launched blood drives and provided medical assistance, food, and shelter for victims.[283][284][285] Curiosity about Islam increased after the attacks. |
As a result, many mosques and Islamic centers began holding open houses and participating in outreach efforts to educate non-Muslims about the faith. |
In the first 10 years after the attacks, interfaith community service increased from 8 to 20 percent and the percentage of U.S. congregations involved in interfaith worship doubled from 7 to 14 percent.[286] The attacks were denounced by mass media and governments worldwide. |
Across the globe, nations offered pro-American support and solidarity.[287] Leaders in most Middle Eastern countries, as well as Libya and Afghanistan, condemned the attacks. |
Iraq was a notable exception, with an immediate official statement that, "the American cowboys are reaping the fruit of their crimes against humanity".[288] The government of Saudi Arabia officially condemned the attacks, but privately many Saudis favored bin Laden's cause.[289][290] Although Palestinian Authority (PA) president Yasser Arafat also condemned the attacks, there were reports of celebrations of disputed size in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem.[291][292] Palestinian leaders discredited news broadcasters that justified the attacks or showed celebrations,[293] and the Authority claimed such celebrations do not represent the Palestinians' sentiment, adding that it would not allow "a few kids" to "smear the real face of the Palestinians".[294][295] Footage by CNN[vague] and other news outlets were suggested by a report originating at a Brazilian university to be from 1991; this was later proven to be a false accusation, resulting in a statement being issued by CNN.[296][297] As in the United States, the aftermath of the attacks saw tensions increase in other countries between Muslims and non-Muslims.[298] United Nations Security Council Resolution 1368 condemned the attacks and expressed readiness to take all necessary steps to respond and combat all forms of terrorism in accordance with their Charter.[299] Numerous countries introduced anti-terrorism legislation and froze bank accounts they suspected of al-Qaeda ties.[300][301] Law enforcement and intelligence agencies in a number of countries arrested alleged terrorists.[302][303] British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Britain stood "shoulder to shoulder" with the United States.[304] A few days later, Blair flew to Washington, D.C., to affirm British solidarity with the United States. |
In a speech to Congress nine days after the attacks, which Blair attended as a guest, President Bush declared "America has no truer friend than Great Britain".[305] Subsequently, Prime Minister Blair embarked on two months of diplomacy to rally international support for military action; he held 54 meetings with world leaders and traveled more than 40,000 miles (60,000 km).[306] The U.S. set up the Guantanamo Bay detention camp to hold inmates they defined as "illegal enemy combatants". |
The legitimacy of these detentions has been questioned by the European Union and human rights organizations.[307][308][309] On September 25, 2001, Iran's fifth president, Mohammad Khatami, meeting British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, said: "Iran fully understands the feelings of the Americans about the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on September 11". |
He said although the American administrations had been at best indifferent about terrorist operations in Iran (since 1979), the Iranians felt differently and had expressed their sympathetic feelings with bereaved Americans in the tragic incidents in the two cities. |
He also stated that "Nations should not be punished in place of terrorists".[310] According to Radio Farda's website, when the news of the attacks was released, some Iranian citizens gathered in front of the Embassy of Switzerland in Tehran, which serves as the protecting power of the United States in Iran (U.S. interests-protecting office in Iran), to express their sympathy, and some of them lit candles as a symbol of mourning. |
This piece of news at Radio Farda's website also states that in 2011, on the anniversary of the attacks, the United States Department of State published a post at its blog, in which the Department thanked the Iranian people for their sympathy and stated that it would never forget Iranian people's kindness on those harsh days.[311] After the attacks, both the President[312][313] and the Supreme Leader of Iran, condemned the attacks. |
The BBC and Time magazine published reports on holding candlelit vigils for the victims by Iranian citizens on their websites.[314][315] According to Politico Magazine, following the attacks, Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, "suspended the usual 'Death to America' chants at Friday prayers" temporarily.[316] In September 2001, shortly after the attacks, some fans of AEK Athens burned an Israeli flag and unsuccessfully tried to burn an American flag. |
Though the American flag did not catch fire, the fans booed during a moment of silence for victims of the attacks.[317] At 2:40 p.m. on September 11, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was issuing rapid orders to his aides to look for evidence of Iraqi involvement. |
According to notes taken by senior policy official Stephen Cambone, Rumsfeld asked for, "Best info fast. |
Judge whether good enough hit S.H. [Saddam Hussein] at same time. |
Not only UBL" [Osama bin Laden].[318] Cambone's notes quoted Rumsfeld as saying, "Need to move swiftly – Near term target needs – go massive – sweep it all up. |
Things related and not".[319][320] In a meeting at Camp David on September 15 the Bush administration rejected the idea of attacking Iraq in response to the September 11 attacks.[321] Nonetheless, they later invaded the country with allies, citing "Saddam Hussein's support for terrorism".[322] At the time, as many as seven in ten Americans believed the Iraqi president played a role in the 9/11 attacks.[323] Three years later, Bush conceded that he had not.[324] The NATO council declared that the terrorist attacks on the United States were an attack on all NATO nations that satisfied Article 5 of the NATO charter. |
This marked the first invocation of Article 5, which had been written during the Cold War with an attack by the Soviet Union in mind.[325] Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who was in Washington, D.C., during the attacks, invoked Article IV of the ANZUS treaty.[326] The Bush administration announced a war on terror, with the stated goals of bringing bin Laden and al-Qaeda to justice and preventing the emergence of other terrorist networks.[327] These goals would be accomplished by imposing economic and military sanctions against states harboring terrorists, and increasing global surveillance and intelligence sharing.[328] On September 14, 2001, the U.S. Congress passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists. |
It is still in effect, and grants the President the authority to use all "necessary and appropriate force" against those whom he determined "planned, authorized, committed or aided" the September 11 attacks or who harbored said persons or groups.[329] On October 7, 2001, the War in Afghanistan began when U.S. and British forces initiated aerial bombing campaigns targeting Taliban and al-Qaeda camps, then later invaded Afghanistan with ground troops of the Special Forces.[citation needed] This eventually led to the overthrow of the Taliban's rule of Afghanistan with the Fall of Kandahar on December 7, 2001, by U.S.-led coalition forces.[330] Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who went into hiding in the White Mountains, was targeted by U.S. coalition forces in the Battle of Tora Bora,[331] but he escaped across the Pakistani border and would remain out of sight for almost ten years.[331] In an interview with Tayseer Allouni in 21 October 2001, Bin Laden stated: "The events proved the extent of terrorism that America exercises in the world. |
Bush stated that the world has to be divided in two: Bush and his supporters, and any country that doesn't get into the global crusade is with the terrorists. |
What terrorism is clearer than this? |
Many governments were forced to support this "new terrorism.".. |
America wouldn't live in security until we live it truly in Palestine. |
This showed the reality of America, which puts Israel's interest above its own people's interest. |
America won't get out of this crisis until it gets out of the Arabian Peninsula, and until it stops its support of Israel.[332] The Philippines and Indonesia, among other nations with their own internal conflicts with Islamic terrorism, also increased their military readiness.[333][334] The military forces of the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran cooperated with each other to overthrow the Taliban regime, which had had conflicts with the government of Iran.[316][335] Iran's Quds Force helped U.S. forces and Afghan rebels in the 2001 uprising in Herat.[336][337][338] Hundreds of thousands of tons of toxic debris containing more than 2,500 contaminants and known carcinogens were spread across Lower Manhattan when the Twin Towers' collapsed.[341][342] Exposure to the toxins in the debris is alleged to have contributed to fatal or debilitating illnesses among people who were at Ground Zero.[343][344] The Bush administration ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue reassuring statements regarding air quality in the aftermath of the attacks, citing national security, but the EPA did not determine that air quality had returned to pre-September 11 levels until June 2002.[345] Health effects extended to residents, students, and office workers of Lower Manhattan and nearby Chinatown.[346] Several deaths have been linked to the toxic dust, and victims' names were included in the World Trade Center memorial.[347] Approximately 18,000 people have been estimated to have developed illnesses as a result of the toxic dust.[348] There is also scientific speculation that exposure to various toxic products in the air may have negative effects on fetal development.[citation needed] A study of rescue workers released in April 2010 found that all those studied had impaired lung functions, and that 30%–40% were reporting little or no improvement in persistent symptoms that started within the first year of the attack.[349] Years after the attacks, legal disputes over the costs of illnesses related to the attacks were still in the court system. |
On October 17, 2006, a federal judge rejected New York City's refusal to pay for health costs for rescue workers, allowing for the possibility of numerous suits against the city.[350] Government officials have been faulted for urging the public to return to lower Manhattan in the weeks shortly after the attacks. |
Christine Todd Whitman, administrator of the EPA in the attacks' aftermath, was heavily criticized by a U.S. District Judge for incorrectly saying that the area was environmentally safe.[351] Mayor Giuliani was criticized for urging financial industry personnel to return quickly to the greater Wall Street area.[352] On December 22, 2010, the United States Congress passed the James L. |
Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, which President Barack Obama signed into law on January 2, 2011. |
It allocated $4.2 billion to create the World Trade Center Health Program, which provides testing and treatment for people suffering from long-term health problems related to the 9/11 attacks.[353][354] The WTC Health Program replaced preexisting 9/11-related health programs such as the Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program and the WTC Environmental Health Center program.[354] In 2020, the NYPD confirmed that 247 NYPD police officers had died due to 9/11-related illnesses. |
In September 2022, the FDNY confirmed that the total number of firefighters that died due to 9/11-related illnesses was 299. |
Both agencies believe that the death toll will rise dramatically in the coming years. |
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department (PAPD), the law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over the World Trade Center due to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey owning the site confirmed that four of its police officers have died of 9/11-related illnesses. |
The chief of the PAPD at the time, Joseph Morris, made sure that industrial-grade respirators were provided to all PAPD police officers within 48 hours and decided that the same 30 to 40 police officers would be stationed at the World Trade Center pile, drastically lowering the number of total PAPD personnel who would be exposed to the air. |
The FDNY and NYPD had rotated hundreds, if not thousands, of different personnel from all over New York City to the pile, which exposed many of them to dust that would give them cancer or other diseases years or decades later. |
Also, they weren't given adequate respirators and breathing equipment that could have prevented future diseases.[355][356][357][358] The attacks had a significant economic impact on United States and world markets.[359][360] The stock exchanges did not open on September 11 and remained closed until September 17. |
Reopening, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) fell 684 points, or 7.1%, to 8921, a record-setting one-day point decline.[361] By the end of the week, the DJIA had fallen 1,369.7 points (14.3%), at the time its largest one-week point drop in history. |
In 2001 dollars, U.S. stocks lost $1.4 trillion in valuation for the week.[362] In New York City, about 430,000 job-months and $2.8 billion in wages were lost in the first three months after the attacks. |
The economic effects were mainly on the economy's export sectors.[363][364][365] The city's GDP was estimated to have declined by $27.3 billion for the last three months of 2001 and all of 2002. |
The U.S. government provided $11.2 billion in immediate assistance to the Government of New York City in September 2001, and $10.5 billion in early 2002 for economic development and infrastructure needs.[366] Also hurt were small businesses in Lower Manhattan near the World Trade Center (18,000 of which were destroyed or displaced), resulting in lost jobs and wages. |
Assistance was provided by Small Business Administration loans; federal government Community Development Block Grants; and Economic Injury Disaster Loans.[366] Some 31,900,000 square feet (2,960,000 m2) of Lower Manhattan office space was damaged or destroyed.[367] Many wondered whether these jobs would return, and if the damaged tax base would recover.[368] Studies of 9/11's economic effects show the Manhattan office real-estate market and office employment were less affected than first feared, because of the financial services industry's need for face-to-face interaction.[369][370] North American air space was closed for several days after the attacks and air travel decreased upon its reopening, leading to a nearly 20% cutback in air travel capacity, and exacerbating financial problems in the struggling U.S. airline industry.[371] The September 11 attacks also led to the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq,[372] as well as additional homeland security spending, totaling at least $5 trillion.[373] If there are Americans clamoring to bomb Afghanistan back to the Stone Age, they ought to know that this nation does not have so far to go. |
This is a post-apocalyptic place of felled cities, parched land and downtrodden people. |
— Barry Bearak, The New York Times, September 13, 2001[374] Most of the Afghan population was already going hungry at the time of the September 11 attacks.[375] In the aftermath of the attacks, tens of thousands of people attempted to flee Afghanistan due to the possibility of military retaliation by the United States. |
Pakistan, already home to many Afghan refugees from previous conflicts, closed its border with Afghanistan on September 17, 2001.[376] Thousands of Afghans also fled to the frontier with Tajikistan, although were denied entry.[377] The Taliban leaders in Afghanistan themselves pleaded against military action, saying "We appeal to the United States not to put Afghanistan into more misery because our people have suffered so much", referring to two decades of conflict and the humanitarian crisis attached to it.[374] All United Nations expatriates had left Afghanistan after the attacks and no national or international aid workers were at their post. |
Workers were instead preparing in bordering countries like Pakistan, China and Uzbekistan to prevent a potential "humanitarian catastrophe", amid a critically low food stock for the Afghan population.[378] The World Food Programme stopped importing wheat to Afghanistan on September 12 due to security risks.[379] The Wall Street Journal suggested the creation of a buffer zone in an inevitable war, similarly as in the Bosnian War.[380] Approximately one month after the attacks, the United States led a broad coalition of international forces to overthrow the Taliban regime from Afghanistan for their harboring of al-Qaeda.[376] Though Pakistani authorities were initially reluctant to align themselves with the United States against the Taliban, they permitted the coalition access to their military bases, and arrested and handed over to the U.S. over 600 suspected al-Qaeda members.[381][382] In a speech by the Nizari Ismaili Imam at the Nobel Institute in 2005, Aga Khan IV stated that the "9/11 attack on the United States was a direct consequence of the international community ignoring the human tragedy that was Afghanistan at that time".[383] In 2011, the U.S. and NATO under President Obama initiated a drawdown of troops in Afghanistan finalized in 2016. |
During the presidencies of Donald Trump and Joe Biden in 2020 and 2021, the United States alongside its NATO allies withdrew all troops from Afghanistan completing the withdrawal of all regular U.S. troops on August 30, 2021, 12 days before the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks,[148][384][385] The withdrawal marked the end of the 2001–2021 War in Afghanistan. |
Biden said that after nearly 20 years of war, it was clear that the U.S. military could not transform Afghanistan into a modern democracy.[386] The second emir of Al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, a close associate of bin Laden, was killed in a U.S. drone strike at his home in Kabul, Afghanistan on July 31, 2022.[387] The impact of 9/11 extends beyond geopolitics and into society and culture in general. |
Immediate responses to 9/11 included greater focus on home life and time spent with family, higher church attendance, and increased expressions of patriotism such as the flying of American flags.[388] The radio industry responded by removing certain songs from playlists, and the attacks have subsequently been used as background, narrative, or thematic elements in film, music, literature, and humor. |
Already-running television shows as well as programs developed after 9/11 have reflected post-9/11 cultural concerns.[389] 9/11 conspiracy theories have become social phenomena, despite lack of support from expert scientists, engineers, and historians.[390] 9/11 has also had a major impact on the religious faith of many individuals; for some it strengthened, to find consolation to cope with the loss of loved ones and overcome their grief; others started to question their faith or lose it entirely, because they could not reconcile it with their view of religion.[391][392] The culture of America, after the attacks, is noted for heightened security and an increased demand thereof, as well as paranoia and anxiety regarding future terrorist attacks against most of the nation. |
Psychologists have also confirmed that there has been an increased amount of national anxiety in commercial air travel.[393] Anti-Muslim hate crimes rose nearly ten-fold in 2001 and have subsequently remained "roughly five times higher than the pre-9/11 rate".[394] As a result of the attacks, many governments across the world passed legislation to combat terrorism.[396] In Germany, where several of the 9/11 terrorists had resided and taken advantage of that country's liberal asylum policies, two major anti-terrorism packages were enacted. |
The first removed legal loopholes that permitted terrorists to live and raise money in Germany. |
The second addressed the effectiveness and communication of intelligence and law enforcement.[397] Canada passed the Canadian Anti-Terrorism Act, their first anti-terrorism law.[398] The United Kingdom passed the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 and the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005.[399][400] New Zealand enacted the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002.[401] In the United States, the Department of Homeland Security was created by the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to coordinate domestic anti-terrorism efforts. |
The USA Patriot Act gave the federal government greater powers, including the authority to detain foreign terror suspects for a week without charge; to monitor terror suspects' telephone communications, e-mail, and Internet use; and to prosecute suspected terrorists without time restrictions. |
The FAA ordered that airplane cockpits be reinforced to prevent terrorists gaining control of planes, and assigned sky marshals to flights. |
Further, the Aviation and Transportation Security Act made the federal government, rather than airports, responsible for airport security. |
The law created the Transportation Security Administration to inspect passengers and luggage, causing long delays and concern over passenger privacy.[402] After suspected abuses of the USA Patriot Act were brought to light in June 2013 with articles about the collection of American call records by the NSA and the PRISM program (see Global surveillance disclosures (2013–present)), Representative Jim Sensenbrenner,(R- Wisconsin) who introduced the Patriot Act in 2001, said that the NSA overstepped its bounds.[403][404] Criticism of the war on terror has focused on its morality, efficiency, and cost. |
According to a 2021 study conducted under the auspices of the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, the several post-9/11 wars participated in by the United States in its War on Terror have caused the displacement, conservatively calculated, of 38 million people in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, and the Philippines.[405][406][407] The study estimated these wars caused the deaths of 897,000 to 929,000 people and cost $8 trillion.[407] The U.S. Constitution and U.S. law prohibits the use of torture, yet such human rights violations occurred during the War on Terror under the euphemism "enhanced interrogation".[408][409] In 2005, The Washington Post and Human Rights Watch (HRW) published revelations concerning CIA flights and "black sites", covert prisons operated by the CIA.[410][411] The term "torture by proxy" is used by some critics to describe situations in which the CIA and other U.S. agencies have transferred suspected terrorists to countries known to employ torture.[412][413] As all 19 hijackers died in the attacks, they were never prosecuted. |
Osama bin Laden was never formally indicted, but was after a 10-year manhunt killed by U.S. special forces on May 2, 2011 in his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.[k][414] The main trial of the attacks against Mohammed and his co-conspirators Walid bin Attash, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Ammar al-Baluchi, and Mustafa Ahmad al Hawsawi remains unresolved. |
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was arrested on March 1, 2003, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, by Pakistani security officials working with the CIA. |
He was then held at multiple CIA secret prisons and Guantanamo Bay, where he was interrogated and tortured with methods including waterboarding.[415][416] In 2003, Mustafa al-Hawsawi and Abd al-Aziz Ali were arrested and transferred to US custody. |
Both would later be accused of providing money and travel assistance to the hijackers.[417] During U.S. hearings at Guantanamo Bay in March 2007, Mohammed again confessed his responsibility for the attacks, stating he "was responsible for the 9/11 operation from A to Z" and that his statement was not made under duress.[40][418] In January 2023, the US government opened up about a potential plea deal,[419] with Biden giving up on the effort in September that year.[420] To date, only peripheral persons have thus been convicted for charges in connection with the attacks. |
These include: Immediately after the attacks, the Federal Bureau of Investigation started PENTTBOM, the largest criminal inquiry in United States history. |
At its height, more than half of the FBI's agents worked on the investigation and followed a half-million leads.[423] The FBI concluded that there was "clear and irrefutable" evidence linking al-Qaeda and bin Laden to the attacks.[424] The FBI quickly identified the hijackers, including leader Mohamed Atta, when his luggage was discovered at Boston's Logan Airport. |
Atta had been forced to check two of his three bags due to space limitations on the 19-seat commuter flight he took to Boston. |
Due to a new policy instituted to prevent flight delays, the luggage failed to make it aboard American Airlines Flight 11 as planned. |
The luggage contained the hijackers' names, assignments, and al-Qaeda connections. |
"It had all these Arab-language [sic] papers that amounted to the Rosetta stone of the investigation", said one FBI agent.[425] Within hours of the attacks, the FBI released the names and in many cases the personal details of the suspected pilots and hijackers.[426][427] Abu Jandal, who served as bin Laden's chief bodyguard for years, confirmed the identity of seven hijackers as al-Qaeda members during interrogations with the FBI on September 17. |
He had been jailed in a Yemeni prison since 2000.[428][429] On September 27, 2001, photos of all 19 hijackers were released, along with information about possible nationalities and aliases.[430] Fifteen of the men were from Saudi Arabia, two were from the United Arab Emirates, one was from Egypt, and one was from Lebanon.[431] By midday, the U.S. National Security Agency and German intelligence agencies had intercepted communications pointing to Osama bin Laden.[432] Two of the hijackers were known to have traveled with a bin Laden associate to Malaysia in 2000[433] and hijacker Mohamed Atta had previously gone to Afghanistan.[434] He and others were part of a terrorist cell in Hamburg.[435] One of the members of the Hamburg cell in Germany was discovered to have been in communication with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed who was identified as a member of al-Qaeda.[436] Authorities in the United States and United Kingdom also obtained electronic intercepts, including telephone conversations and electronic bank transfers, which indicated that Mohammed Atef, a bin Laden deputy, was a key figure in the planning of the 9/11 attacks. |
Intercepts were also obtained that revealed conversations that took place days before September 11 between bin Laden and an associate in Pakistan. |