When did the 9/11 attacks take place? world trade center
September 11, 2001 (or 9/11) attacks - a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks on the United States by an Islamic terrorist group Al Qaeda in New York and Washington. They took place on Tuesday, September 11, 2001.
Four groups of terrorists, each with a trained pilot, hijacked passenger planes and directed them to targets - the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon. The fourth plane crashed in a deserted area in Pennsylvania before reaching Washington. The US government said the masterminds of the attack belonged to the al-Qaeda group. About 3,000 people died during these attacks. Most of them were citizens of the United States, but approximately 300 were from the UK, India, Canada and other countries.
Planes that became the instruments of terrorist attacks
The first of the four hijacked aircraft was American Airlines Flight 11 (Boeing 767-200ER). It made daily flights between Boston and Los Angeles. When captured at 7:59 am on September 11, 2001, there were 81 passengers on board (out of 158 seats). Forty-seven minutes later, this plane crashed into the North Tower of the New York World Trade Center at 94-98 floors, at a speed of 440 miles per hour, carrying 9,717 gallons of jet fuel. (An American gallon is equal to 3.78541178 liters.)
The second was United Airlines Flight 175, also a Boeing 767-200ER, also flying from Boston to Los Angeles. It took off at 8:14 am on September 11 and carried 56 passengers (out of 168 seats) on board. Captured by terrorists, it crashed into the South Tower of the mall at 9:03 am, at a speed of 540 miles per hour, with 9,118 gallons of fuel in the tanks.
The third terrorist hijacked American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757-200. He flew from Washington to Los Angeles at 8:20 am on September 11, 2001. The plane was two-thirds empty (58 passengers out of 176). It crashed into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. at 530 miles per hour with 4,000 gallons of fuel in its tanks.
The fourth plane used by the terrorists was United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757-200. It was captured 42 minutes after taking off at 8 am from Newark to San Francisco. There were only 37 passengers on board and just over 7,000 gallons of fuel. It crashed at 560 mph in an empty field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania at 10:03 am.
Casualties and destruction
All 246 people on the four planes, as well as 19 hijackers, died in the attacks. Both attacked towers of the World Trade Center caught fire. The South Tower (WTC-2) burned for 56 minutes before falling and being destroyed. The North Tower (WTC-1) burned for 102 minutes, then also fell. During the collapse, parts of the towers hit other neighboring buildings. Due to these damages, the third tower, No. 7, of the World Trade Center (WTC-7) fell at 5:20 pm. Many other buildings nearby were so badly damaged that they had to be demolished. 2,602 people died at the World Trade Center.
The plane crashed into the Pentagon from the west side. It damaged three of the five "rings" that make up the Pentagon. At the same time, 125 people died in the Pentagon.
The United States government paid the families of the victims of the attacks an average of $1.8 million.
In total, 2996 people died from the events of September 11, 2001, including firefighters and policemen who were trying to save other people.
It is believed to have been the first major terrorist attack by foreigners on the United States. In 1941, when Japanese planes attacked a US naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was not yet part of the United States. Several major terrorist attacks against American targets have been undertaken before, but most of them took place outside the United States (for example, at a Lebanese Marine camp).
When investigating the causes of the attacks, "conspiracy theories" were put forward, according to which some people in the US government knew about the impending attacks in advance or even organized them.
After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the President of the United States Bush declared the so-called "war on terrorism". It was expressed first in the strengthening of security measures within the United States, and then in real wars on the territory Afghanistan and Iraq. During these wars, the regimes were overthrown. Taliban and Saddam Hussein. In May 2011, US special forces killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.
The Al-Qaeda and Taliban groups are recognized as terrorist in the Russian Federation and banned by law.
On September 11, 2001, one of the worst terrorist attacks in the history of mankind took place in the United States. The victims of the September 11 attacks were 2977 people, another 24 people are still considered missing. According to the official version, the attack was organized by al-Qaeda. 19 terrorists, divided into 4 groups, hijacked 4 scheduled airliners. One of them was sent to the Pentagon building, the second fell in the state of Pennsylvania, and the other two, as you know, crashed into the towers of the World Trade Center.
The official cause of the September 11 tragedy is still being criticized both by journalists and numerous supporters of the "conspiracy theory", and by witnesses of the terrorist attack. In particular, video footage of the collapse of the Twin Towers suggests that the buildings collapsed as a result of controlled demolition. Thus, conspiracy theorists claim that the 9/11 attacks were orchestrated by the US government. Disputes about this are still ongoing.
world trade center
According to Niels Harritt of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Copenhagen, Jeffrey Frerer of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Brigham Young University and his colleague Stephen Jones, traces of "thermite" and "nanothermite" - explosives used to demolition of dilapidated buildings. However, this version of scientists has been severely criticized. Firstly, it does not have any scientific evidence, and secondly, the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NITS) claims that a lot of "termite" is needed to demolish the World Trade Center, but subsequently scientists said that the support beams of the towers The twins were damaged by "supertermite". Finally, thirdly, the samples of beams that the scientists studied could have been cut off by contaminated tools, for example, an acetylene torch, which left traces of the termite.
Even if the claim of the controlled demolition of the World Trade Center is false or incorrect, how then to explain the rate of destruction of the building? The National Institute of Standards and Technology claims that as a result of the passenger plane's impact and subsequent explosion, its fuel weakened the steel beams. Their version is based on the assumption that as a result of the rapid combustion of the fuel, the steel beams weakened, as a result of which the upper plates collapsed onto the lower ones, and due to the force of gravity, the lower plates collapsed. Conspiracy theorists responded by saying that neither before nor after the September 11 attacks did not a single tower collapse as a result of a fire. NITS retorted that no tower had ever been attacked by a passenger plane before. However, the official version does not explain why both towers of the World Trade Center collapsed at great speed, and numerous witnesses of the tragedy stated that they heard several explosions in the buildings before the collapse.
Thus, the reasons for the collapse of the World Trade Center during the September 11 terrorist attack are still unknown and raise a lot of questions that neither the official version nor the assumptions of the conspiracy theorists can answer, since both of them have their shortcomings and inconsistencies. .
Plane crash in Pennsylvania
One of the planes hijacked by terrorists is known to have crashed in an open field in Pennsylvania near the village of Shanksville. The crashed Flight 93 was the only hijacked aircraft to miss its target. According to the official version, the passengers of the plane rebelled, as a result of which a struggle took place between them and the terrorists, which subsequently led to the crash of the plane.
According to another version, the plane was deliberately shot down by the US Air Force. This, in particular, is argued by theologian David Griffin and software engineer Jim Hoffman. According to them, some heavy parts of the aircraft, such as engines, were found several kilometers from the crash site, which indicates that the aircraft was blown up in the air. However, this version was subsequently refuted, stating that large fragments of the aircraft, including engines, were in close proximity to the crash site. However, locals indeed, the remains of the aircraft were found even at a distance of more than 8 kilometers from the crash site, but in this case we are talking about light materials, for example, pieces of insulation.
In addition, the version of the plane being blown up looks ridiculous. If Flight 93 had indeed been shot down by the US Air Force, it would have been only in order to prevent another terrorist attack, but against the background of the assumption of a controlled demolition of the World Trade Center, such actions by the US government are at least illogical.
Pentagon
Another mystery of the September 11 attacks is the attack on the Pentagon building. According to the official version, a passenger plane crashed into the building of the US Department of Defense. However, some argue that there was no plane, and the Pentagon itself was hit by a cruise missile launched by US intelligence agencies. As evidence of their words, they cite the dimensions of the hole in the wall of the building, which were too small to speak of an aircraft attack.
The wreckage of a Boeing found near the Pentagon speaks in favor of the official version: landing gear, nose cone and seats from the cockpit. In addition, the testimony of witnesses who personally saw the plane before it hit the Pentagon testifies in favor of the official version. However, supporters of the alternative theory claim that all the evidence was fabricated.
motives
Whoever organized the September 11 attacks, al-Qaeda or the US government, each had their own motives and certain benefits.
Al-Qaeda, for example, called the September 11 attacks revenge for the aggressive US foreign policy towards Islamic countries.
Possible US motives seem much more interesting and reasonable. After the events of September 11, for the first time in history, Article 5 of the NATO treaty was activated, which allows for military action in the event of an attack on one or more countries of the North Atlantic Alliance. For example, the terrorist attack was the beginning of the so-called "War on Terrorism", which justified the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In addition, it was precisely because of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack that the National Security Act and the Patriot Act were adopted, which significantly curtail the rights and freedoms of ordinary American citizens. Normally, the US government would have faced civil protests in passing such laws, but the 9/11 attacks created favorable public opinion about the measures being taken to protect against terrorist attacks. Thus, the adopted acts allowed law enforcement agencies to invade the privacy of citizens, and the US National Security Agency justified the events of 9/11 to launch a secret operation to wiretap telephone conversations of ordinary Americans. In fact, the US government used the September 11 terrorist attack in order to "under the hood" of the citizens of their own country.
There are other motives that explain the version of US involvement in the September 11 attacks. Thus, in the documentary Zeitgeist, American director Peter Joseph claims that the declared "War on Terrorism" allowed the investment fund "Carlyle Group" (Carlyle Group) to make a huge fortune in the supply of weapons. Michael Moore, the director of the film Fahrenheit 9/11, had previously stated the same, according to which, Osama bin Laden's family was one of the company's largest investors. An interesting fact is that the elder and his son George Bush Jr., as well as former US Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci and former US Secretary of State James Baker previously worked in the Carlisle Group.
The debate about who is actually involved in the September 11 attacks has not subsided so far. Supporters of the "conspiracy theory" blame the US government for everything, finding more and more evidence of this. In turn, the authorities try not to enter into controversy, preferring to refer to the official version of the events of those days. In the words of both, there are both rational explanations for what happened, as well as obvious inconsistencies, and sometimes frankly delusional assumptions. In any case, whatever goals the true organizers of the September 11 terrorist attack pursued, they clearly did not cost the lives of those almost 3 thousand people who became victims of someone else's hatred or ambition.
On September 11, 2001, a series of terrorist attacks were carried out in the United States, which resulted in the death of 2977 people. According to the official version, the devastating attacks were carried out by members of the al-Qaeda* group, but there are facts that can refute the generally accepted point of view.
Fast Version
This is the official version of what happened. Early on the morning of September 11, 2001, four passenger Boeings were hijacked mid-air by Arab terrorists. The hijackers were armed only with clerical knives and gas cartridges. Two aircraft attacked the twin towers of the World Trade Center, located in the southern part of Manhattan, the third plane was sent to the Pentagon building, the fourth did not reach the Capitol and crashed in the middle of a field in Pennsylvania.
This version was formed just a few days after the tragedy, and the American government has not changed it again. Such hasty conclusions suggest that Washington was preparing for this in advance.
We have already encountered a situation where the White House "knew for sure" that Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction, Muammar Gaddafi was sponsoring international terrorism, and Bashar al-Assad was using chemical weapons.
None of these allegations have ever been substantiated. However, these suspicions have become a pretext for the US-sanctioned use of military forces in Iraq, Libya and Syria. It is expected that after the events of September 11, the Americans stepped up military operations in Afghanistan.
Immediately after the explosions, the head of Al Qaeda * Osama bin Laden declared his non-involvement in the attacks. Unusual behavior for a man who has always been happy to take responsibility for the terrorist attacks he was involved in. Later, bin Laden nevertheless admitted his involvement in the events of September 11, however, according to some, this was a person only similar to the leader of Al Qaeda *.
Strange destruction
Probably, not everyone knows that during the attack on New York, three buildings of the World Trade Center (WTC) collapsed. In addition to the well-known twin towers No. 1 and No. 2, there was also a skyscraper No. 7. The government commission set up to investigate the events of September 11 preferred to keep silent about this fact. House number 7 is a 47-story high-rise, noticeably inferior to its twin brothers in growth.
In particular, it housed the New York branch of the CIA headquarters. This building avoided being hit by an aircraft, but by 5 pm it collapsed in the same way as the twin towers.
According to authorities, the cause of the collapse of the building was burning fragments that fell on it from collapsing skyscrapers, as well as the ensuing fire. However, WTC buildings numbered 3, 4, 5 and 6 were much closer to the towers, and they all survived. Maybe the fall of the 7th house had another reason?
As for the twin towers, researchers are still concerned about a curious question: why did not only the upper floors of the building collapse, but also the lower ones? The official version is inexorable: when the building was destroyed, the top carried away the rest of it.
However, here too there is a problem. Parts of the tower structure did not fall in different directions, but formed right under the base, like a house of cards.
The designers of the World Trade Center unanimously declare that when building skyscrapers, the possible hit of an aircraft was taken into account, as is the case with all skyscrapers. If a catastrophic scenario does occur, then, they say, it cannot lead to devastating consequences of this magnitude.
The footage of the disaster clearly shows that the planes crash into buildings in completely different ways: the liner “entered” the northern tower right in the center, the southern one at an acute angle, cutting off the edge of the skyscraper. At the same time, the destruction of the towers was surprisingly uniform and symmetrical, as in a prepared explosion. And then a strange thing happens: the south tower, less affected by the explosion, collapses first, and only half an hour later the north tower falls, where the consequences of the disaster should have been more impressive.
Experts analyzed the video of the collapse of the towers and almost unanimously stated that this is how the industrial demolition of buildings takes place. And indeed, if you carefully look at the slow-motion footage of the disaster, you can see how explosive waves run through the entire height of the building at equal distances - as if a pre-laid charge had detonated.
Here are two more facts that will make you think. Shortly before the attack, the floors into which the planes subsequently flew were closed for repairs. And a few weeks before the tragedy, the owner of the twin towers, Larry Silverstein, insured them for $ 3 billion, and insurance against terrorist attacks was prescribed as a separate item.
Electoral fire
According to the official conclusions, hundreds of thousands of tons of steel structures melted in a monstrous fire, and hundreds of tons of concrete were erased into dust.
Is it possible that ignited aviation kerosene, the combustion temperature of which is less than 1000 ° C, caused hardened steel to “tremble”, which melts at no less than 2000 ° C. At the same time, there was a critical loss of strength of 50 massive load-bearing beams at once, which is possible only if the fuel is evenly spilled over all areas of the floor.
As a result of the explosions, charred and unrecognizable body particles remained from the passengers of both Boeings. Meanwhile, the passport of Mohammed Atta, one of the hijackers, which became one of the main pieces of evidence in favor of the guilt of al-Qaeda *, turned out to be completely unscathed. According to the commission, the document miraculously survived a powerful explosion, fell out of the plane and landed safely near the building.
The US government was in such a hurry to come to the right conclusion that it was not even going to pay attention to such incidents. Further more.
The Commission of Inquiry announced the identification of some of the passengers and crew members of the aircraft by the "remains of DNA." And this is after the fire actually completely destroyed the body of the liner, made of aircraft-grade aluminum resistant to high temperatures.
It is curious that despite the “remnants of DNA” preserved in a fantastic way, the black boxes were recognized as completely destroyed by fire. Looking at this, it only remains to believe that the fire acted selectively, completely not guided by the laws of the physical world.
No trace
The third hijacked Boeing, flying American Airlines Flight 77, crashed into the Pentagon, according to official figures. In order to inflict the most sensitive damage to the building and people, the terrorists sent the liner along the lowest possible trajectory. It is known that the height of the Boeing 757 is 13 meters, the Pentagon - 24 meters.
Based on this, the final kilometers of the flight of the liner had to pass at a height of only a few meters above the ground, which is an almost impossible task for pilots who have just completed express courses.
Moreover, such a maneuver was absolutely unjustified, since, according to many experts, it would not lead to such damage as when falling at an angle. In this case, it would be difficult even for an inexperienced pilot to miss, given the impressive area of \u200b\u200bthe Pentagon - 117,363 sq.m. It turns out that the terrorists, who carefully planned the attack, chose a more complicated and less effective path.
However, the main incident is ahead. Independent researchers who studied photographs of the disaster were alerted by the fact that the Boeing did not leave traces of the wings when it hit the building. Their fragments were not found nearby either. Moreover, even inside the destroyed section of the building there were no hints of aircraft fragments. According to official conclusions, they were all destroyed by a powerful explosion and fire, which is very doubtful.
All of these facts suggest another reason for the destruction in the Pentagon - a planned explosion. But if we assume that the Boeing 757 did not crash into the Pentagon, where did the car itself disappear with the passengers and crew of this ill-fated flight?
As for the fourth "Boeing", which did not reach the Capitol and crashed in the fields of Pennsylvania, it is the least of all questions. However, there are still inconsistencies. Authorities claim the ground impact was the cause of the deaths, but no significant number of aircraft fragments have been found at the alleged crash site. Eyewitnesses say that the wreckage was scattered for many kilometers. According to the assumption of researchers who do not share the official point of view, the liner could have been hit in the air by a rocket fired from a fighter.
The official version reads: passengers, by contacting mobile phones with family, learned that two planes had already crashed into buildings in Manhattan and decided to prevent the plans of the hijackers. It was as a result of the struggle ensued on board that the plane went off course and went into a steep dive. However, experts argue that the ability to use cellular communication in flight appeared only in 2005.
Avoid inconsistencies
Everything in this story is alarming, including the behavior of top American officials. For example, President George W. Bush for a long time ignored the invitation to speak before Congress, but when he agreed to a meeting, he set conditions that seemed incomprehensible at first glance. He insisted on limiting the conversation in time - no more than an hour and the obligatory invitation to the event of Vice President Dick Cheney. At the request of the head of the White House, only two people were to be present from the commission investigating the tragedy.
After a long debate, it was still possible to agree on the participation of 10 members of the commission and remove the time limit. During the meeting, everyone expected to hear from the president exhaustive, and most importantly, reliable information about what had happened, but everything turned out to be much more complicated. Bush did not allow the meeting to be videotaped, audiotaped, or even transcribed. In addition, Bush and Cheney refused to take an oath that could assure listeners of the veracity of what was said.
In April 2004, the performance finally took place. However, to this day it is not known what Bush and Cheney said to the congressmen. Many draw attention to the absurdity of this situation. It looks like this if one witness agreed to speak in court only in the presence of another witness. Why is this needed? Probably in order to avoid inconsistency in testifying.
Every year, the belief grows stronger in the world that the attacks were planned by the US intelligence agencies in order to justify the actions of the US military in the Middle East. But final conclusions do it prematurely. So far, we can say with certainty only the following: if the US authorities did not stage the attacks themselves, then at least they did not interfere with their planning.
* Al-Qaeda is a terrorist group, banned in the territory of the Russian Federation
Having received no support in Congress, the head of state in early March 2011 ordered the resumption of military trials against suspected terrorists held in Guantanamo Bay prison.
In early April 2011, US Attorney General Eric Holder confirmed that defendant Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other defendants in the 9/11 case would not face trial. civil court United States, and in front of a special military commission at the Guantanamo Bay base.
On May 31, 2011, the US Military Attorney's Office again charged five suspects, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, with involvement in the September 11, 2001 attacks.
On May 5, 2012, a military tribunal officially charged five suspects with involvement in organizing the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack in the United States. They are accused of organizing a conspiracy, attacking civilians, intentionally causing physical harm, murder, violating the laws of war, causing destruction, hijacking and terrorism.
All five defendants refused to answer whether they plead guilty.
New York District Judge George Daniels ruled in absentia, ordering Iran to pay $7.5 billion to the families and other members of those who died at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The judge determined that the Iranian authorities must pay another three billion to insurers who covered property damage and other material losses. Earlier, Judge Daniels ruled that Tehran could not prove its non-involvement in assisting the organizers of the attack, and therefore the Iranian authorities bear a share of responsibility for the damage caused during it.
On the site of the destroyed Twin Towers in New York on September 11, 2011 was the World Trade Center Memorial. It consists of two square pools-fountains, located right at the bases of the former twin towers, along the inner walls of which water streams cascade down, leaving into square holes located at the bottom of each of the pools.
The names of the 2,983 victims of the attacks (including the six who died in the 1993 World Trade Center attack) are carved on the bronze slabs that line the parapets of both fountains.
The new World Trade Center complex was opened. It is the fourth tallest skyscraper in the world - its height is 541 meters. Construction began in April 2006 on the corner of a 65,000-square-meter site where the twin towers of the demolished mall used to stand.
Celebrated in the United States as Patriot Day, since 2009, after the approval of Act 111-13 of the General Law of the United States, this date is also referred to as the nationwide Day of Service and Remembrance.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources
