1. Running Header: 9-11 Attacks<br />-314325186055<br />September 11, 2001: United States is Under Attack!<br />Where Did This Come From and Why Did It Happen?<br />Elizabeth Hall<br />Kaplan University<br />-41910067310The World Trade Center Towers Before September 11, 2001 Attackhttp://newsnidea.com/12759/world-trade-centers-911-attacks-before-and-after-photos/?pid=2282<br />Introduction to Crime Analysis CJ110-03<br />Tracy Walker Townsend<br />1.5.2011<br />469582547625CNN NEWS reports the attackhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmoozeUC330&feature=PlayList&p=5BF7521EAEB4898E&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=7September 11, 2001: United States is Under Attack!<br />4476750186055Where Did This Come From and Why Did It Happen?<br />Introduction<br />Following WWII, the creation of Israel left the Arab nations feeling<br /> very put out, since the creation of the Jewish country meant that land was<br /> taken from Palestine and given to the Jews. According to both the Christian <br />and Muslim faiths, Jerusalem is both of their holiest city and the Muslims and Jews have been fighting over it since biblical times. Because the United States aligned themselves with Israel, we have been caught up in the regional political violence ever since. Usually this violence remains in the Middle East or on foreign soil with episodes involving our military, such as the U.S.S Cole bombing incident or trouble at our foreign embassies. On September 11, 2001 as most Americans began their day as normal routines, and most of us had never heard of Osama Bin Laden or Al-Qaeda, 19 men were planning to change our views of the Middle East forever. (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2009)<br />On September 11, 2001 as most Americans began their day as normal routines, and most of us had never heard of Osama Bin Laden or Al-Qaeda, 19 men were planning to change our views of the Middle East forever. The events of that day shook the world, and marked the beginning of a worldwide economic and military turmoil that is still going on today, shaping our policies as the War on Terror proceeds. Flights # 77 and # 11 from American Airlines, and flights # 175 and # 93 flown for United Airlines were the weapons used to facilitate a holy war in the minds of the Muslim extremist group. According to the 9/11 Commission Report (n.d.), “September 11, 2001 was a day of unprecedented shock and suffering in the history of the United States.” <br />The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York were first hit, followed by the Pentagon, and a fourth unknown target. The fourth plane, United # 93 was overtaken by passengers, and forced to crash in a Pennsylvania field. To add insult to injury, the terrorists obtained their knowledge of flying in our flight schools. We have never faced an enemy such as this, because these people have no regard for anyone who is not Muslim, and have the money and means to attack their target (Americans), both globally, and on our own soil. (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2009)<br />Because of these attacks, the United States learned during the review of the attacks by the 9/11 Commission (n.d.) just how vulnerable and unprepared we are as a nation to deal with current global threat assessment. Because no one has ever dared to attack us on our home soil, we have had a false sense of security that no one ever would. Therefore, the agencies who are supposed to be guarding against this sort of thing really were not prepared nor did any of these agencies realize the gravity of the situation. We were operating our agencies, as the types of threats of the past were all we faced, and the difficulty of data management was compounded during the crisis because we were not prepared. (9/11 Commission, n.d.)<br />American Airlines # 11<br /> On September 11, 2001 before dawn, Mohamed Atta and Abdilaziz Alomari were chosen for Computer Assisted Passenger Pre-Screening (CAPPS). This system is formed to select people who may need to be screened more closely for security reasons. Unfortunately, since we were unprepared for the situation that unfolded on that morning, current laws only required that their luggage is held away from the plane until they officially boarded the aircraft. Since the aircraft itself was to be the weapon, no one suspected anything. Boarding took place at 7:45 in the morning with no problems. (9/11 Commission, n.d.)<br />Approximately one hour later, these men along with Satam M.A. Al Suqami, Waleed M. Alshehri, and Wail M. Alshehri would fly American Airlines #11 into the World Trade Center (WTC) North Tower thus beginning the largest terrorist act ever performed against the United States. The first plane was only the beginning however and the fact that this was not a lone incident or an accident became evident before we knew what hit us. Just twenty minutes later at 9:05 a.m. another plane crashes into the South Tower of the WTC. (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2001)<br />United Airlines # 175<br />As Americans were watching both on the ground and on television the events and news stories of the first plane, wondering how any pilot could have flown into a building on such a clear day, we all watched in horror as the United Airlines #175, appeared, and flew directly into the South Tower. Marwan Al-Shehhi, Fayez Rashid Ahmed Hassan Al Qadi Banihammad, Ahmed Alghamdi, Hamza Alghamdi, and Mohand Alshehri, we would later learn were the people responsible for crashing plane number two. The carnage was not over yet, as by now the country has discovered that two more planes were already hijacked. Since the guys who are actually on the planes along with all the staff and passengers are killed instantly, the United States must assume that there is a group behind the attacks. As this pondered, another plane appears ready for attack. (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2001)<br />American Airlines # 77<br />This plane headed for the Pentagon will crash at 9:39 a.m. causing damage to one side of the Pentagon. It is evident that the terrorists are not only, after our financial structures, but our government itself as well. This plane also had five hijackers aboard, as noted in Figure 3 below. The terror acts are still not yet over, as reports show that there is still one plane left unaccounted for in our airspace. The United States Government had grounded all planes after the second plane hit the WTC. This last plane will have a very different outcome than what the terrorists have planned due to our natural national spirit. (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2001) <br />United Airlines # 93<br />At 8:42 a.m., United Airlines flight #93 departed from Newark, NJ headed for San Francisco. Saeed Alghamdi, Ahmed Ibrahim A. Al Haznawi, Ahmed Alnami, and Ziad Samir Jarrah were among the 37 passengers aboard the craft. All three other planes had taken of within 15 minutes of scheduled departure times, but #93 was running at least 25 minutes behind schedule. The captain and staff were unaware of the hijacking of the American #11 plane as the news of this event was just spreading through officials of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and both airlines at 9:00 a.m. and it wasn’t until 9:03 that the second plane crashed into the WTC. This means that neither airline nor the FAA crisis administrators have issued no warnings of the hijacking to other aircrafts at this time. (9/11 Commission, n.d.)<br />According to the 9/11 Commission (n.d.), the FAA’s rules indicated that it was the airline’s job to notify other aircrafts about incidences on their respective planes, and the first action taken by anyone was by United Airlines at 9:19 a.m.. They warned their pilots in the air to be wary of any attempted break ins, into the cockpit. The pilots flying #93 heard the warning at 9:23 a.m. but had not had any problems since the flight took off. At 9:28 a.m., the hijackers struck, and “Mayday” was exclaimed over the airways as the plane dropped 700 ft. and a sound of bodily altercations was heard. The next thing heard was the captain telling someone to “Get out of here” repeatedly. (9/11 Commission, n.d.)<br />It is believed that there was another terrorist supposed to be on this flight, Mohamed al-Khatani was denied entry by immigration in Florida. At 9:32 a.m., the four remaining terrorists made a fatal mistake. They announced that they had a bomb on board over the intercom in the plane, which prompted passengers to begin making cell phone and GTE airphone calls from the plane. During this time as they shared information back and forth with family and friends on the ground, the remaining passengers, as calls confirmed that a few passengers and a flight attendant were dead, the decision to attack the hijackers was discussed and made. The passenger attack began at 9:57 a.m. and continued until 10:02 a.m. when the hijackers crashed the plane in Shanksville, PA aborting their mission to Washington, D.C. (9/11 Commission, n.d.)<br />The Cost of These Attacks<br />Not only did the attacks come with a huge sense of unease and loss on the day that it happened, but also this attack cost us as Americans for the next ten, going into eleven, years. This cost us in personal freedoms with rulings such as the Patriot Act as well as the creation of whole new departments in our government, such as the Department of Homeland Security. The subsequent investigation led us to Osama Bin Laden and his terror group known as al-Qaeda. This along with the knowledge that we were attacked because our society does not fit in with his religious ideals, that we are the infidels, and that his attack was a success considering that he intended to disrupt the governmental and financial activities of the United States. This is in part because we side with Israel in the scope of world politics, also, because Saudi Arabia declined his help and took ours instead in a previous conflict. It angered him that “infidels” were defending his homeland. (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2009)<br />According to the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security (IAGS) (2004), the total cost of this attack is approximately 2 trillion dollars. Some of the pricier costs that make up this number include the loss of the four planes that value at 385 million dollars, the structural damage to buildings alone, cost almost 6 billion dollars. Approximately 40 billion dollars was added to our Federal Emergency Funding annually for more security at airports, and the operations taking place in Afghanistan. The war in Iraq is based on the problem that the terrorists chose to stand up in that country after we ousted Saddam Hussein, since mostly Muslims reside there. The infrastructure, and property damages and cleanup amount to roughly 120 billion dollars, and the market values that we have lost are immeasurable. We also loss air traffic revenue, and job revenue worth another 27 billion, and our insurance industry lost at least 40 billion. (Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, 2004)<br />Conclusion<br />It seems that because our arrogance blocked us from considering that we could possibly be attacked effectively on our own soil, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (2001), 3,000 people lost their lives during the attack. Our whole outlook on terrorism and world politics have changed due to the events and laws such as the Patriot Act have been enacted despite our culture’s tendency to value individual freedom over the greater good. This war, because the attack was the start of the “War on Terror” has cost us at least 2 trillion dollars in lives, money, and commodities, according to the IAGS (2004). Although political violence and terrorism have been around for centuries, the current state of foreign and domestic policies and programs enables terrorists to expand, grow, and hit larger targets. Terrorism remains a global issue. In order to combat terrorism, we must come up with a global solution. (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2009)<br />3150235-543560Flight 93 Plane Crash Sitehttp://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0WTefalFNdL6iUAaJeJzbkF?p=911+pennsylvania+crash&y=Search&fr=&ei=utf-8&js=1&x=wrt3054985-569595-619760-594995<br />-43815023495Fireball from the Pentagonhttp://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?&p=pentagon+911+attack+photos&rs=2&fr2=<br />References:<br />9/11 Commission, (n.d.). The 9/11 Commission Report. Retrieved From: www.9-11commission.gov/report/​911Report.pdf<br />Creative Commons, (n.d.). History Commons. Complete 911 Timeline. Retrieved From:<br /> http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=complete_911_timeline&day_of_9/11=dayOf911&startpos=0<br />Federal Bureau of Investigation, (2001). National Press Releases. The FBI Releases 19 Photographs of Individuals Believed to be the Hijackers of the Four Airliners that Crashed on September 11, 2001. Retrieved From: http://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/the-fbi-releases-19-photographs-of-individuals-believed-to-be-the-hijackers<br />Federal Bureau of Investigation, (2001). Famous Cases & Criminals.<br /> 9/11 Investigation (PENTTBOM). Retrieved From: http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/famous-cases/9-11-investigation <br />Federal Bureau of Investigation, (2009) Valuable Lessons Learned at an International Counterterrorist Forum. Retrieved From: http://www.scribd.com/doc/30306548/FBI-Law-Enforcement-Bulletin-August-2009 <br />Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, (2004). How Much Did the September 11 Terrorist Attacks Cost America. Retrieved From: http://www.iags.org/costof911.html<br />Siegel, L.J. (2010). Criminology: Theories, Patterns, and Typologies. Tenth Edition. Belmont: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.<br />2787650118110The 9/11 Hijackershttp://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0WTb_4gftdLLS8AvdaJzbkF?p=9%2F11+hijackers&fr=&ei=utf-8&x=wrt&y=Search<br />1994592546100<br />