Aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks
Encyclopedia
The September 11 attacks were the transformative incident of the first term of President George W. Bush
and led to what he has called the Global War on Terrorism
, or war against terrorism. The accuracy of describing it as a "war" and the political motivations and consequences are the topic of strenuous debate. The US government increased military operations, economic measures and political pressure on groups it accused of being terrorists, as well as on governments and countries accused of sheltering them. October 2001 saw the first military action initiated by the US. Under this policy, the US invaded Afghanistan
in order to remove the oppressive Taliban regime (which harbored al-Qaeda
) and to capture al-Qaeda forces.
The war, however, is ongoing and has not been won. Critics point out that the Afghan conflict has contributed to the destabilization of neighbouring Pakistan
and Afghanistan itself is far from at peace—Lord Ashdown
, British diplomat and former international High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina
, has gone as far as to describe the country as "a failed state
". The US government has also asserted that the US invasion of Iraq is connected to 9/11.
. The USA PATRIOT Act
of 2001 was passed soon after the attacks, giving law enforcement agencies sweeping search and surveillance
powers over US citizens. This led to the creation in 2002 of the Information Awareness Office
(IAO), led by John Poindexter
. The IAO has initiated a program called Total Information Awareness, amended in May 2003 to Terrorist Information Awareness (TIA), with the aim of developing technology that would enable it to collect and process massive amounts of information about every individual in the United States,and trace patterns of behavior that could help predict terrorist activities. The information the IAO would gather includes Internet activity, credit card purchase histories, airline ticket purchases, car rentals, medical records, educational transcripts
, driver's license
s, utility bills, tax returns, and other available data. Critics of the IAO believe it goes too far in the sacrifice of civil liberties
and privacy
, putting in place an Orwellian
infrastructure prone to abuse. Many major events the United States has hosted since September 11, 2001 have been designated National Special Security Event
s (NSSE), because of concerns of terrorism. Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia
Chief Charles Ramsey
made the point clear before the state funeral of former US president Ronald Reagan
: "In a post 9/11 world we have to be very concerned about that and aware of the potential for something to happen."
In the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks, the United States and other countries around the world were placed on a high state of alert against potential follow-up attacks. Civilian air travel across the US and Canada was—for the first time ever—almost completely suspended for three days with numerous locations and events affected by closures, postponements, cancellations, and evacuations
. Other countries imposed similar security restrictions. In the United Kingdom, for instance, civilian aircraft were forbidden to fly over London for several days after the attack.
The attacks had major worldwide political effects. Many other countries introduced tough anti-terrorism legislation and took action to cut off terrorist finances, including the freezing of bank account
s suspected of being used to fund terrorism. Law enforcement and intelligence agencies stepped up cooperation to arrest terrorist suspects and break up suspected terrorist cells around the world.
The attack prompted numerous memorials and services
all over the world. In Berlin, 200,000 Germans
marched to show their solidarity with America. The French newspaper of record, Le Monde
, ran a front-page headline reading "Nous sommes tous Américains", or "We are all Americans". A national day of mourning
was held in Ireland on Friday, September 14, the only country other than the US to do so. In London, the US national anthem was played at the Changing of the Guard
at Buckingham Palace
. (To mark the Queen's Golden Jubilee
, New York City lit the Empire State Building in purple and gold, to say "thank you" for this action.) In the immediate aftermath, support for the United States' right to defend itself was expressed across the world, and by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1368
. Australian Prime Minister John Howard
was in Washington D.C at the time of the attacks and invoked the ANZUS
military alliance to pledge Australian assistance to America.
Reaction to the attacks in the Muslim world was mixed. Also, shortly after the attack, the media picked up on a number of celebrations of the attacks in the Middle East with images of these celebrations being broadcast on television and published in print. Less publicized were public displays of sympathy, including candlelight vigils in countries like Iran.
Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, George W. Bush's job approval rating soared to 86%. On September 20, 2001, the president spoke before the nation and a joint-session of Congress
, regarding the events of that day, the intervening nine days of rescue and recovery efforts, and his intent in response to those events. In the speech, he characterized the speech itself as being akin to the President's customary State of the Union address.
The attacks also had immediate and overwhelming effects upon the United States population. People began rallying around the popularized phrase, "United We Stand," in hopes of being resilient and keeping the American spirit alive in the face of a devastating attack. Many people joined together to help the victims. Gratitude toward uniformed public-safety workers, and especially toward firefighters, was widely expressed in light of both the drama of the risks taken on the scene and the high death toll among the workers. Many people paid tribute to the police officers and fire fighters by wearing NYPD and FDNY hats. The number of casualties among the emergency service personnel was unprecedented. The highly visible role played by Rudy Giuliani
, the Mayor of New York City, won him high praise nationally and in New York City. He was named Person of the Year
by Time
magazine for 2001, and at times had a higher profile in the US than President George W. Bush
.
Blood donation
s saw a surge in the weeks after 9/11. According to a report by the Journal of the American Medical Association
, "...the number of blood donations in the weeks after the September 11, 2001, attacks was markedly greater than in the corresponding weeks of 2000 (2.5 times greater in the first week after the attacks; 1.3–1.4 times greater in the second to fourth weeks after the attack)."
Two major public reactions to the attacks were a surge of public expressions of patriotism not seen since World War II, marked most often by displays of the American flag; and an unprecedented level of respect, sympathy, and admiration for New York City and New Yorkers as a group by Americans in other parts of the United States. Some criticized this particular reaction, noting that not everyone who died was from New York (for example, some of the passengers on the planes), and that the Arlington, Virginia community also suffered in the attacks. At the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show
that took place in New York in February 2002, a tribute was paid to the search and rescue dogs who not only assisted in locating survivors and bodies from the rubble, but were also inside the World Trade Center buildings before they collapsed.
associated with Muslims by many Americans. Balbir Singh Sodhi
, a Sikh man, was one of the first victims of this backlash; he was shot dead on September 15 at the gas station he owned in Mesa, Arizona
. In many cities there were reports of vandalism against mosques and other Islamic institutions, including some cases of arson.
In 2008, author Moustafa Bayoumi
released the book How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America. The author says mass arrests and deportations of Arabs and Arab Americans were conducted by the various government organizations, including the FBI, often with insufficient evidence to connect them to terrorism; that some were incarcerated indefinitely without notifying the detainee's relatives, as if they had just disappeared. Bayoumi maintains deportation of Arabs and Arab-Americans significantly increased following 9/11, oftentimes at short notice, saying in one case a man was deported without his clothes.
On July 20, 2011 Mark Stroman was executed for killing a Dallas store clerk during a shooting spree taken in revenge for the 9/11 attacks.
in Lower Manhattan
. The majority of the center will be open to the general public and its proponents have said the center will promote interfaith dialogue. It will contain a Muslim prayer space that has controversially been referred to as the "Ground Zero mosque", though numerous commentators noted that it was neither a mosque nor at Ground Zero.
It would replace an existing 1850s Italianate
-style building that was being used as a Burlington Coat Factory
before it was damaged in the September 11 attacks. The proposed multi-faith aspects of the design include a 500-seat auditorium, theater, a performing arts center, a fitness center, a swimming pool, a basketball court, a childcare area, a bookstore, a culinary school, an art studio, a food court, and a memorial to the victims of the September 11 attacks. The prayer space for the Muslim community will accommodate 1,000–2,000 people.
Successful attacks include:
, the American Stock Exchange
and NASDAQ
did not open on September 11 and remained closed until September 17. New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) facilities and remote data processing sites were not damaged by the attack, but member firms, customers and markets were unable to communicate due to major damage to the telephone exchange facility near the World Trade Center. When the stock markets reopened on September 17, 2001, after the longest closure since the Great Depression
in 1933, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
(“DJIA”) stock market index fell 684 points, or 7.1%, to 8920, its biggest-ever one-day point decline, which would not be matched until the Financial Crisis of 2007–2009 where on September 29, 2008 the Dow Jones Industrial Average
lost 777 points or 7.0%. By the end of the week, the DJIA had fallen 1369.7 points (14.3%), its largest one-week point drop in history. US stocks lost $1.2 trillion in value for the week.
to issue reassuring statements regarding air quality in the aftermath of the attacks, citing national security; however, the EPA did not determine that air quality had returned to pre-September 11 levels until June 2002.
Health effects also extended to residents, students, and office workers of Lower Manhattan and nearby Chinatown
. Several deaths have been linked to the toxic dust, and the victims' names will be included in the World Trade Center memorial. Approximately 18,000 people have been estimated to have developed illnesses as a result of the toxic dust. There is also scientific speculation that exposure to various toxic products in the air may have negative effects on fetal development. A notable children's environmental health center is currently analyzing the children whose mothers were pregnant during the WTC collapse, and were living or working nearby. 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.
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. 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 aftermath of the attacks, was heavily criticized by a U.S. District Judge for incorrectly saying that the area was environmentally safe. Mayor Giuliani was criticized for urging financial industry personnel to return quickly to the greater Wall Street
area.
. In April 2004, a jury of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
rejected claims by World Trade Center leaseholder, Larry Silverstein
, that two planes hitting the Twin Towers
should, within the terms of his insurance policies, be considered two separate incidents, which would have entitled him to $7 billion in insurance reimbursements. The insurers, Swiss Reinsurance Co. and others, initially argued successfully that the attacks in New York were one incident and that Silverstein was only entitled to $3.5 billion. In December 2004, a federal jury decided that the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center was, for insurance purposes, two occurrences, which means that Silverstein stood to collect up to $4.6 billion.
In 2003, Judge Alvin Hellerstein
of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York agreed to hear a consolidated master case against three airlines, ICTS International NV and Pinkerton
's airport security firms, the World Trade Center owners, and Boeing
Co., the aircraft manufacturer. The case was brought by people injured in the attacks, representatives of those who died, and entities that suffered property damage. In September 2004, just before the three-year statute of limitations expired, the insurers for the World Trade Center filed suit against American Airlines
, United Airlines
, and Pinkerton's airport security firm, alleging their negligence allowed the planes to be hijacked. Because the Air Transportation Act, which was passed after September 11, limits the liability of airlines aircraft manufacturers, and airports to the amount of their insurance coverage, this case will likely be combined with the consolidated master case filed in 2003.
by parties with foreknowledge of the 9/11 attacks:
took months to complete. It took weeks simply to put out the fires burning in the rubble of the WTC, and the clean-up was not completed until May 2002. Many relief funds were immediately set up to assist victims of the attacks. The task of providing financial assistance
to the survivors and the families of victims is still ongoing.
LiveLeak.com posted a video online showing a large military presence in New York City shortly after the attacks and US troops taking part in the clean-up operations.
A small number of survivors and surprisingly few intact victims' remains were found in the rubble of the WTC. The forces unleashed by the towers' disintegration were so great that many of those trapped in the buildings were pulverized in the collapse. Some victims had to be identified by a few scraps of flesh or individual teeth. Most bodies were never found, presumably because the heat of the fires incinerated them. On January 18, 2002, the last hospitalized survivor of the World Trade Center attack was released from the hospital. As late as April 2006, small fragments of human remains were still being found on adjacent buildings in New York.
Over 1.5 million tons of debris produced by the collapse of the WTC posed unique problems for the cleanup effort. A fully occupied skyscraper had never collapsed before, and the environmental and health consequences of such an event were unknown. About 100 tons of asbestos
used in the construction of the WTC had not yet been fully removed. The attacks released dense clouds of dust containing pulverized cement, glass fibers, asbestos, and other airborne contaminants.
By 2004, nearly half of more than 1,000 screened rescue-and-recovery workers and volunteers reported new and persistent respiratory problems, and more than half reported persistent psychological symptoms. Because of the long latency period between exposure and development of asbestos-related diseases, exposed Manhattan
residents, especially rescue-and-recovery workers, may suffer future adverse health effects. The January 6, 2006 death of NYPD James Zadroga
was ruled by a New Jersey coroner as directly due to clean-up at the WTC site. This ruling was unequivocally rejected in October 2007 by the New York City Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Charles Hirsch, and Medical Examiner Michele Slone.
Six months after the attack, the 1.5 million tons of debris had been removed from the WTC site, and work continued below ground level, despite concerns that the slurry wall
encompassing the site foundation—known as the Bathtub
—might collapse. Ceremonies marking the completion of debris removal took place at the end of May 2002.
In Sarasota, Florida, Emma E. Booker Elementary School
became a part of history because President George W. Bush
was reading to a classroom of children when the attacks happened.
When asked for her thoughts on the attacks, the then first lady
, Laura Bush
, a former school librarian, gave a very strong warning to parents: don't let your children see the pictures over and over, especially young children. She felt it was too frightening for them and warned parents to turn off the televisions so that children don't see the replays over and over. She gave the warning based on how children reacted to the Oklahoma City bombing
. She also composed open letters to children, which she distributed through state education officials. A "Dear Students" letter went to middle and high school students, while elementary school students received one beginning "Dear Children."
George W. Bush's first term as President of the United States
George W. Bush's first term as president of the United States began on January 20, 2001 and continued until his second term commenced on January 20, 2005...
and led to what he has called the Global War on Terrorism
War on Terrorism
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
, or war against terrorism. The accuracy of describing it as a "war" and the political motivations and consequences are the topic of strenuous debate. The US government increased military operations, economic measures and political pressure on groups it accused of being terrorists, as well as on governments and countries accused of sheltering them. October 2001 saw the first military action initiated by the US. Under this policy, the US invaded Afghanistan
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
The War in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001, as the armed forces of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Afghan United Front launched Operation Enduring Freedom...
in order to remove the oppressive Taliban regime (which harbored al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
) and to capture al-Qaeda forces.
The war, however, is ongoing and has not been won. Critics point out that the Afghan conflict has contributed to the destabilization of neighbouring Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
and Afghanistan itself is far from at peace—Lord Ashdown
Paddy Ashdown
Jeremy John Durham Ashdown, Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, GCMG, KBE, PC , usually known as Paddy Ashdown, is a British politician and diplomat....
, British diplomat and former international High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina
High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina
The High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the Office of the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, was created in 1995 immediately after the Dayton Peace Agreement to oversee the civilian implementation of this agreement. The High Representative and the OHR represent the...
, has gone as far as to describe the country as "a failed state
Failed state
The term failed state is often used by political commentators and journalists to describe a state perceived as having failed at some of the basic conditions and responsibilities of a sovereign government...
". The US government has also asserted that the US invasion of Iraq is connected to 9/11.
Security
The September 11 attacks also precipitated a focus on domestic security issues and the creation of a new cabinet-level federal agency, the Department of Homeland SecurityUnited States Department of Homeland Security
The United States Department of Homeland Security is a cabinet department of the United States federal government, created in response to the September 11 attacks, and with the primary responsibilities of protecting the territory of the United States and protectorates from and responding to...
. The USA PATRIOT Act
USA PATRIOT Act
The USA PATRIOT Act is an Act of the U.S. Congress that was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001...
of 2001 was passed soon after the attacks, giving law enforcement agencies sweeping search and surveillance
Surveillance
Surveillance is the monitoring of the behavior, activities, or other changing information, usually of people. It is sometimes done in a surreptitious manner...
powers over US citizens. This led to the creation in 2002 of the Information Awareness Office
Information Awareness Office
The Information Awareness Office was established by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in January 2002 to bring together several DARPA projects focused on applying surveillance and information technology to track and monitor terrorists and other asymmetric threats to national security,...
(IAO), led by John Poindexter
John Poindexter
John Marlan Poindexter is a retired United States naval officer and Department of Defense official. He was Deputy National Security Advisor and National Security Advisor for the Reagan administration. He was convicted in April 1990 of multiple felonies as a result of his actions in the Iran-Contra...
. The IAO has initiated a program called Total Information Awareness, amended in May 2003 to Terrorist Information Awareness (TIA), with the aim of developing technology that would enable it to collect and process massive amounts of information about every individual in the United States,and trace patterns of behavior that could help predict terrorist activities. The information the IAO would gather includes Internet activity, credit card purchase histories, airline ticket purchases, car rentals, medical records, educational transcripts
Transcript (education)
In education, a transcript is an inventory of the courses taken and grades earned of a student throughout a course.- United States :In United States education, a transcript is a copy of a student's permanent academic record which usually means all courses taken, all grades received, all...
, driver's license
Driver's license
A driver's license/licence , or driving licence is an official document which states that a person may operate a motorized vehicle, such as a motorcycle, car, truck or a bus, on a public roadway. Most U.S...
s, utility bills, tax returns, and other available data. Critics of the IAO believe it goes too far in the sacrifice of civil liberties
Civil liberties
Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...
and privacy
Privacy
Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively...
, putting in place an Orwellian
Orwellian
"Orwellian" describes the situation, idea, or societal condition that George Orwell identified as being destructive to the welfare of a free society...
infrastructure prone to abuse. Many major events the United States has hosted since September 11, 2001 have been designated National Special Security Event
National Special Security Event
A National Special Security Event is an event of national or international significance deemed by the United States Department of Homeland Security to be a potential target for terrorism or other criminal activity...
s (NSSE), because of concerns of terrorism. Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia
Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia
The Metropolitan Police Department, also known as the DC Police, DCPD, MPD, and MPDC is the municipal police force in Washington, D.C...
Chief Charles Ramsey
Charles Ramsey
Charles Ramsey may refer to:* Charles H. Ramsey, police commissioner*Charles Ramsey , head coach of the Eastern Michigan Eagles men's basketball team from 2005–2011*Charles Frederic Ramsey, record producer...
made the point clear before the state funeral of former US president Ronald Reagan
Death and state funeral of Ronald Reagan
On June 5, 2004, Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States, died after having suffered from Alzheimer's disease for nearly a decade. His seven-day state funeral followed, spanning June 5–11...
: "In a post 9/11 world we have to be very concerned about that and aware of the potential for something to happen."
In the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks, the United States and other countries around the world were placed on a high state of alert against potential follow-up attacks. Civilian air travel across the US and Canada was—for the first time ever—almost completely suspended for three days with numerous locations and events affected by closures, postponements, cancellations, and evacuations
Closings and cancellations following the September 11, 2001 attacks
Many closings and cancellations followed the September 11th attacks, including major landmarks, buildings, restrictions on access to Lower Manhattan, and postponement or cancellation of major sporting and other events. Landmarks were closed primarily because of fears that they may be attacked. At...
. Other countries imposed similar security restrictions. In the United Kingdom, for instance, civilian aircraft were forbidden to fly over London for several days after the attack.
International reaction
Bank account
A Bank account is a financial account recording the financial transactions between the customer and the bank and the resulting financial position of the customer with the bank .-Account types:...
s suspected of being used to fund terrorism. Law enforcement and intelligence agencies stepped up cooperation to arrest terrorist suspects and break up suspected terrorist cells around the world.
The attack prompted numerous memorials and services
September 11, 2001 attack memorials and services
The first memorials to the victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks began to take shape online, as hundreds of webmasters posted their own thoughts, links to the Red Cross, and other rescue agencies, photos and eyewitness accounts...
all over the world. In Berlin, 200,000 Germans
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
marched to show their solidarity with America. The French newspaper of record, Le Monde
Le Monde
Le Monde is a French daily evening newspaper owned by La Vie-Le Monde Group and edited in Paris. It is one of two French newspapers of record, and has generally been well respected since its first edition under founder Hubert Beuve-Méry on 19 December 1944...
, ran a front-page headline reading "Nous sommes tous Américains", or "We are all Americans". A national day of mourning
National day of mourning
A national day of mourning is a day marked by mourning and memorial activities observed among the majority of a country's populace. They are designated by that nation's government...
was held in Ireland on Friday, September 14, the only country other than the US to do so. In London, the US national anthem was played at the Changing of the Guard
Guard Mounting
Guard Mounting, or Changing the Guard , refers to a formal ceremony in which sentries providing ceremonial guard duties at important institutions are relieved by a new batch of sentries...
at Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
. (To mark the Queen's Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II
The Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II was the international celebration marking the 50th anniversary of the accession of Elizabeth II to the thrones of seven countries, upon the death of her father, George VI, on 6 February 1952, and was intended by the Queen to be both a commemoration of her 50...
, New York City lit the Empire State Building in purple and gold, to say "thank you" for this action.) In the immediate aftermath, support for the United States' right to defend itself was expressed across the world, and by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1368
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1368
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1368, adopted unanimously on September 12, 2001, after expressing its determination to combat threats to international peace and security caused by acts of terrorism and recognising the right of individual and collective self-defense, the Council condemned...
. Australian Prime Minister John Howard
John Howard
John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
was in Washington D.C at the time of the attacks and invoked the ANZUS
ANZUS
The Australia, New Zealand, United States Security Treaty is the military alliance which binds Australia and New Zealand and, separately, Australia and the United States to cooperate on defence matters in the Pacific Ocean area, though today the treaty is understood to relate to attacks...
military alliance to pledge Australian assistance to America.
Reaction to the attacks in the Muslim world was mixed. Also, shortly after the attack, the media picked up on a number of celebrations of the attacks in the Middle East with images of these celebrations being broadcast on television and published in print. Less publicized were public displays of sympathy, including candlelight vigils in countries like Iran.
US public reaction
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
, regarding the events of that day, the intervening nine days of rescue and recovery efforts, and his intent in response to those events. In the speech, he characterized the speech itself as being akin to the President's customary State of the Union address.
The attacks also had immediate and overwhelming effects upon the United States population. People began rallying around the popularized phrase, "United We Stand," in hopes of being resilient and keeping the American spirit alive in the face of a devastating attack. Many people joined together to help the victims. Gratitude toward uniformed public-safety workers, and especially toward firefighters, was widely expressed in light of both the drama of the risks taken on the scene and the high death toll among the workers. Many people paid tribute to the police officers and fire fighters by wearing NYPD and FDNY hats. The number of casualties among the emergency service personnel was unprecedented. The highly visible role played by Rudy Giuliani
Rudy Giuliani
Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani KBE is an American lawyer, businessman, and politician from New York. He served as Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001....
, the Mayor of New York City, won him high praise nationally and in New York City. He was named Person of the Year
Person of the Year
Person of the Year is an annual issue of the United States newsmagazine Time that features and profiles a person, couple, group, idea, place, or machine that "for better or for worse, ...has done the most to influence the events of the year."- History :The tradition of selecting a Man of the Year...
by Time
Time
Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....
magazine for 2001, and at times had a higher profile in the US than President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
.
Blood donation
Blood donation
A blood donation occurs when a person voluntarily has blood drawn and used for transfusions or made into medications by a process called fractionation....
s saw a surge in the weeks after 9/11. According to a report by the Journal of the American Medical Association
Journal of the American Medical Association
The Journal of the American Medical Association is a weekly, peer-reviewed, medical journal, published by the American Medical Association. Beginning in July 2011, the editor in chief will be Howard C. Bauchner, vice chairman of pediatrics at Boston University’s School of Medicine, replacing ...
, "...the number of blood donations in the weeks after the September 11, 2001, attacks was markedly greater than in the corresponding weeks of 2000 (2.5 times greater in the first week after the attacks; 1.3–1.4 times greater in the second to fourth weeks after the attack)."
Two major public reactions to the attacks were a surge of public expressions of patriotism not seen since World War II, marked most often by displays of the American flag; and an unprecedented level of respect, sympathy, and admiration for New York City and New Yorkers as a group by Americans in other parts of the United States. Some criticized this particular reaction, noting that not everyone who died was from New York (for example, some of the passengers on the planes), and that the Arlington, Virginia community also suffered in the attacks. At the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show
Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show
The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is a two-day, all-breed benched conformation show that takes place at Madison Square Garden in New York City every year. The first Westminster show was held in 1877....
that took place in New York in February 2002, a tribute was paid to the search and rescue dogs who not only assisted in locating survivors and bodies from the rubble, but were also inside the World Trade Center buildings before they collapsed.
Backlash and hate crimes
In the weeks following the attacks, there was a surge in incidents of harassment and hate crimes against Middle Easterners and others thought to be "Middle Eastern-looking" people—particularly Sikhs, because Sikh males usually wear turbans, which are stereotypicallyRacism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
associated with Muslims by many Americans. Balbir Singh Sodhi
Balbir Singh Sodhi
Balbir Singh Sodhi , a gas station owner in Mesa, Arizona, was murdered in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the first of several cases across the United States that were reported to the police as acts of retaliation for the terrorist attacks...
, a Sikh man, was one of the first victims of this backlash; he was shot dead on September 15 at the gas station he owned in Mesa, Arizona
Mesa, Arizona
According to the 2010 Census, the racial composition of Mesa was as follows:* White: 77.1% * Hispanic or Latino : 26.54%* Black or African American: 3.5%* Two or more races: 3.4%* Native American: 2.4%...
. In many cities there were reports of vandalism against mosques and other Islamic institutions, including some cases of arson.
In 2008, author Moustafa Bayoumi
Moustafa Bayoumi
Moustafa Bayoumi is an award-winning writer, and associate professor of English at Brooklyn College, City University of New York. Born in Zürich, Switzerland, and raised in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, he currently lives in Brooklyn....
released the book How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America. The author says mass arrests and deportations of Arabs and Arab Americans were conducted by the various government organizations, including the FBI, often with insufficient evidence to connect them to terrorism; that some were incarcerated indefinitely without notifying the detainee's relatives, as if they had just disappeared. Bayoumi maintains deportation of Arabs and Arab-Americans significantly increased following 9/11, oftentimes at short notice, saying in one case a man was deported without his clothes.
On July 20, 2011 Mark Stroman was executed for killing a Dallas store clerk during a shooting spree taken in revenge for the 9/11 attacks.
Park51
Park51 (originally named Cordoba House) is a planned 13-story Muslim community center to be located two blocks from the World Trade Center siteWorld Trade Center site
The World Trade Center site , also known as "Ground Zero" after the September 11 attacks, sits on in Lower Manhattan in New York City...
in Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan is the southernmost part of the island of Manhattan, the main island and center of business and government of the City of New York...
. The majority of the center will be open to the general public and its proponents have said the center will promote interfaith dialogue. It will contain a Muslim prayer space that has controversially been referred to as the "Ground Zero mosque", though numerous commentators noted that it was neither a mosque nor at Ground Zero.
It would replace an existing 1850s Italianate
Italianate architecture
The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...
-style building that was being used as a Burlington Coat Factory
Burlington Coat Factory
Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corporation is a national department store retailer focusing on clothing and shoes, with over 450 stores in 45 states and Puerto Rico.. In 2006, it was acquired by Bain Capital, LLC in a take-private transaction...
before it was damaged in the September 11 attacks. The proposed multi-faith aspects of the design include a 500-seat auditorium, theater, a performing arts center, a fitness center, a swimming pool, a basketball court, a childcare area, a bookstore, a culinary school, an art studio, a food court, and a memorial to the victims of the September 11 attacks. The prayer space for the Muslim community will accommodate 1,000–2,000 people.
9/11 related plots and attacks within the US
Thwarted attacks include:- A similar al-Qaeda plan to crash airplanes into the US Bank Tower (aka Library Tower) in Los Angeles and in other buildings elsewhere in the US as part of a 'second wave' of aircraft hijackings to be in the spring or summer of 2002
- The 2003 plot by Iyman FarisIyman FarisIyman Faris is a Pakistani American former truck driver from Columbus, Ohio who was convicted of providing material support to Al Qaeda, for his role in a plot to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge...
to blow up the Brooklyn BridgeBrooklyn BridgeThe Brooklyn Bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. Completed in 1883, it connects the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn by spanning the East River...
in New York City - The 2004 Financial buildings plot2004 Financial buildings plotThe 2004 financial buildings plot was a plan led by Dhiren Barot to attack a number of targets in the U.S. and the United Kingdom which is believed to have been approved by al-Qaeda....
which targeted the International Monetary FundInternational Monetary FundThe International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...
and World BankWorld BankThe World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
buildings in Washington, DC, the New York Stock ExchangeNew York Stock ExchangeThe New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...
and other financial institutions - The 2004 Columbus Shopping Mall Bombing PlotColumbus Shopping Mall Bombing PlotThe Columbus Shopping Mall Bombing Plot was a plan to blow up an unnamed shopping mall in the city of Columbus in the American state of Ohio. The plot was disclosed by federal authorities on June 14, 2004 when an indictment against Nuradin Abdi was unsealed by the local United States district court...
- The 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot2006 transatlantic aircraft plotThe 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot was a terrorist plot to detonate liquid explosives carried on board at least 10 airliners travelling from the United Kingdom to the United States and Canada...
which was to involve liquid explosives - The 2006 Sears Tower plot
- The 2007 Fort Dix attack plot2007 Fort Dix attack plotThe 2007 Fort Dix attack plot involved a group of six radical Islamist men who conspired to stage an attack against U.S. Military personnel stationed at Fort Dix, New Jersey. The alleged aim of the group was to "kill as many soldiers as possible"....
- The 2007 John F. Kennedy International Airport attack plot2007 John F. Kennedy International Airport attack plotThe 2007 John F. Kennedy International Airport attack plot was an alleged Islamist terrorist plot to blow up a system of jet fuel supply tanks and pipelines that feed fuel to John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York. These pipelines travel throughout the undergrounds of New York...
- The 2010 Times Square car bombing attempt2010 Times Square car bombing attemptThe attempted car bombing of Times Square on May 1, 2010, was a planned terrorist attack that was foiled when two street vendors discovered the car bomb and alerted a NYPD Patrolman to the car bomb threat after they spotted smoke coming from a vehicle...
Successful attacks include:
- The October 2002 sniper attacks in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and VirginiaBeltway sniper attacksThe Washington sniper attacks took place during three weeks in October 2002 in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. Ten people were killed and three others critically injured in various locations throughout the Washington Metropolitan Area and along Interstate 95 in Virginia...
. Ten people were killed and three others were critically wounded in those shootings. - The June 1, 2009, Little Rock recruiting office shooting2009 Little Rock recruiting office shootingThe 2009 Little Rock recruiting office shooting took place on June 1, 2009, when Muslim convert Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, aka Carlos Leon Bledsoe, opened fire with a rifle in a drive-by shooting on soldiers in front of a United States military recruiting office in Little Rock, Arkansas, in a...
. One person was killed and another was wounded. - The November 5, 2009, Fort Hood shooting in TexasFort Hood shootingThe Fort Hood shooting was a mass shooting that took place on November 5, 2009, at Fort Hood, the most populous U.S. military installation in the world, located just outside Killeen, Texas. In the course of the shooting, a single gunman killed 13 people and wounded 29 others...
. 13 people were killed and 30 others were wounded.
Economic aftermath
The attacks had significant economic repercussions for the United States and world markets. The New York Stock ExchangeNew York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...
, the American Stock Exchange
American Stock Exchange
NYSE Amex Equities, formerly known as the American Stock Exchange is an American stock exchange situated in New York. AMEX was a mutual organization, owned by its members. Until 1953, it was known as the New York Curb Exchange. On January 17, 2008, NYSE Euronext announced it would acquire the...
and NASDAQ
NASDAQ
The NASDAQ Stock Market, also known as the NASDAQ, is an American stock exchange. "NASDAQ" originally stood for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations". It is the second-largest stock exchange by market capitalization in the world, after the New York Stock Exchange. As of...
did not open on September 11 and remained closed until September 17. New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) facilities and remote data processing sites were not damaged by the attack, but member firms, customers and markets were unable to communicate due to major damage to the telephone exchange facility near the World Trade Center. When the stock markets reopened on September 17, 2001, after the longest closure since the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
in 1933, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
Dow Jones Industrial Average
The Dow Jones Industrial Average , also called the Industrial Average, the Dow Jones, the Dow 30, or simply the Dow, is a stock market index, and one of several indices created by Wall Street Journal editor and Dow Jones & Company co-founder Charles Dow...
(“DJIA”) stock market index fell 684 points, or 7.1%, to 8920, its biggest-ever one-day point decline, which would not be matched until the Financial Crisis of 2007–2009 where on September 29, 2008 the Dow Jones Industrial Average
Dow Jones Industrial Average
The Dow Jones Industrial Average , also called the Industrial Average, the Dow Jones, the Dow 30, or simply the Dow, is a stock market index, and one of several indices created by Wall Street Journal editor and Dow Jones & Company co-founder Charles Dow...
lost 777 points or 7.0%. By the end of the week, the DJIA had fallen 1369.7 points (14.3%), its largest one-week point drop in history. US stocks lost $1.2 trillion in value for the week.
Health effects
The thousands of tons of toxic debris resulting from the collapse of the Twin Towers contained more than 2,500 contaminants, including known carcinogens. Subsequent debilitating illnesses among rescue and recovery workers are said to be linked to exposure to these carcinogens. The Bush administration ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)United States Environmental Protection Agency
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress...
to issue reassuring statements regarding air quality in the aftermath of the attacks, citing national security; however, the EPA did not determine that air quality had returned to pre-September 11 levels until June 2002.
Health effects also extended to residents, students, and office workers of Lower Manhattan and nearby Chinatown
Chinatown, Manhattan
Manhattan's Chinatown , home to one of the highest concentrations of Chinese people in the Western hemisphere, is located in the borough of Manhattan in New York City...
. Several deaths have been linked to the toxic dust, and the victims' names will be included in the World Trade Center memorial. Approximately 18,000 people have been estimated to have developed illnesses as a result of the toxic dust. There is also scientific speculation that exposure to various toxic products in the air may have negative effects on fetal development. A notable children's environmental health center is currently analyzing the children whose mothers were pregnant during the WTC collapse, and were living or working nearby. 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.
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. 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 aftermath of the attacks, was heavily criticized by a U.S. District Judge for incorrectly saying that the area was environmentally safe. Mayor Giuliani was criticized for urging financial industry personnel to return quickly to the greater Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
area.
Claims
The attack on the World Trade Center led to huge insurance claims, with many insurance companies throughout the world having to disclose the impact of the attack in their financial statementsFinancial statements
A financial statement is a formal record of the financial activities of a business, person, or other entity. In British English—including United Kingdom company law—a financial statement is often referred to as an account, although the term financial statement is also used, particularly by...
. In April 2004, a jury of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York is a federal district court. Appeals from the Southern District of New York are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case...
rejected claims by World Trade Center leaseholder, Larry Silverstein
Larry Silverstein
Larry A. Silverstein is an American businessman, and real estate investor and developer in New York City.Silverstein was born in Brooklyn, and became involved in real estate, together with his father, establishing Silverstein Properties...
, that two planes hitting the Twin Towers
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
should, within the terms of his insurance policies, be considered two separate incidents, which would have entitled him to $7 billion in insurance reimbursements. The insurers, Swiss Reinsurance Co. and others, initially argued successfully that the attacks in New York were one incident and that Silverstein was only entitled to $3.5 billion. In December 2004, a federal jury decided that the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center was, for insurance purposes, two occurrences, which means that Silverstein stood to collect up to $4.6 billion.
In 2003, Judge Alvin Hellerstein
Alvin Hellerstein
Alvin K. Hellerstein is a senior judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and has been involved in several high-profile cases....
of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York agreed to hear a consolidated master case against three airlines, ICTS International NV and Pinkerton
Pinkerton National Detective Agency
The Pinkerton National Detective Agency, usually shortened to the Pinkertons, is a private U.S. security guard and detective agency established by Allan Pinkerton in 1850. Pinkerton became famous when he claimed to have foiled a plot to assassinate president-elect Abraham Lincoln, who later hired...
's airport security firms, the World Trade Center owners, and Boeing
Boeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
Co., the aircraft manufacturer. The case was brought by people injured in the attacks, representatives of those who died, and entities that suffered property damage. In September 2004, just before the three-year statute of limitations expired, the insurers for the World Trade Center filed suit against American Airlines
American Airlines
American Airlines, Inc. is the world's fourth-largest airline in passenger miles transported and operating revenues. American Airlines is a subsidiary of the AMR Corporation and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas adjacent to its largest hub at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport...
, United Airlines
United Airlines
United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees (which includes the entire holding company United Continental...
, and Pinkerton's airport security firm, alleging their negligence allowed the planes to be hijacked. Because the Air Transportation Act, which was passed after September 11, limits the liability of airlines aircraft manufacturers, and airports to the amount of their insurance coverage, this case will likely be combined with the consolidated master case filed in 2003.
Market activity investigations
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also known as the "9/11 Commission") investigated these rumors and found that although some unusual (and initially seemingly suspicious) trading activity did occur in the days prior to September 11, it was all coincidentally innocuous and not the result of insider tradingInsider trading
Insider trading is the trading of a corporation's stock or other securities by individuals with potential access to non-public information about the company...
by parties with foreknowledge of the 9/11 attacks:
Rescue and recovery
Rescue and recovery effortsRescue and recovery effort after the September 11, 2001 attacks
The rescue and recovery effort after the September 11 attacks comprised the local, state and federal agency reaction to the September 11 attacks. The unprecedented events of that day elicited the largest response of local emergency and rescue personnel to assist in the evacuation of the two towers...
took months to complete. It took weeks simply to put out the fires burning in the rubble of the WTC, and the clean-up was not completed until May 2002. Many relief funds were immediately set up to assist victims of the attacks. The task of providing financial assistance
Financial assistance following the September 11, 2001 attacks
Charities and relief agencies raised over $657 million in the three weeks following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the vast bulk going to immediate survivors and victims' families...
to the survivors and the families of victims is still ongoing.
LiveLeak.com posted a video online showing a large military presence in New York City shortly after the attacks and US troops taking part in the clean-up operations.
A small number of survivors and surprisingly few intact victims' remains were found in the rubble of the WTC. The forces unleashed by the towers' disintegration were so great that many of those trapped in the buildings were pulverized in the collapse. Some victims had to be identified by a few scraps of flesh or individual teeth. Most bodies were never found, presumably because the heat of the fires incinerated them. On January 18, 2002, the last hospitalized survivor of the World Trade Center attack was released from the hospital. As late as April 2006, small fragments of human remains were still being found on adjacent buildings in New York.
Over 1.5 million tons of debris produced by the collapse of the WTC posed unique problems for the cleanup effort. A fully occupied skyscraper had never collapsed before, and the environmental and health consequences of such an event were unknown. About 100 tons of asbestos
Asbestos
Asbestos is a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals used commercially for their desirable physical properties. They all have in common their eponymous, asbestiform habit: long, thin fibrous crystals...
used in the construction of the WTC had not yet been fully removed. The attacks released dense clouds of dust containing pulverized cement, glass fibers, asbestos, and other airborne contaminants.
By 2004, nearly half of more than 1,000 screened rescue-and-recovery workers and volunteers reported new and persistent respiratory problems, and more than half reported persistent psychological symptoms. Because of the long latency period between exposure and development of asbestos-related diseases, exposed Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
residents, especially rescue-and-recovery workers, may suffer future adverse health effects. The January 6, 2006 death of NYPD James Zadroga
James Zadroga
James Zadroga was a New York City Police Department officer who died of a respiratory disease that has been attributed to his participation in rescue and recovery operations in the rubble of the World Trade Center following the September 11 attacks...
was ruled by a New Jersey coroner as directly due to clean-up at the WTC site. This ruling was unequivocally rejected in October 2007 by the New York City Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Charles Hirsch, and Medical Examiner Michele Slone.
Six months after the attack, the 1.5 million tons of debris had been removed from the WTC site, and work continued below ground level, despite concerns that the slurry wall
Slurry wall
A slurry wall is a technique used to build reinforced-concrete walls in areas of soft earth close to open water or with a high ground water table. This technique is typically used to build diaphragm walls surrounding tunnels and open cuts, and to lay foundations.A trench is excavated to create a...
encompassing the site foundation—known as the Bathtub
The Bathtub
"The Bathtub" refers to the underground foundation area at the site of the World Trade Center and accompanying buildings in New York City. Despite its title, it does not hold any water, rather it keeps water out and acts as a bathtub in reverse....
—might collapse. Ceremonies marking the completion of debris removal took place at the end of May 2002.
Effects on children
The attacks were regarded by some as particularly disturbing to children, in part because of the frequency with which the images were replayed on television. Many schools closed early, especially those with children whose parents worked in Washington, D.C. and NYC.Emma E. Booker Elementary School
Emma E. Booker Elementary School is an elementary school in Sarasota, Florida which opened in the fall of 1989. It is named for Emma E. Booker, an African-American educator who founded the first black school in Sarasota County, Florida....
became a part of history because President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
was reading to a classroom of children when the attacks happened.
When asked for her thoughts on the attacks, the then first lady
First Lady of the United States
First Lady of the United States is the title of the hostess of the White House. Because this position is traditionally filled by the wife of the president of the United States, the title is most often applied to the wife of a sitting president. The current first lady is Michelle Obama.-Current:The...
, Laura Bush
Laura Bush
Laura Lane Welch Bush is the wife of the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush. She was the First Lady of the United States from January 20, 2001, to January 20, 2009. She has held a love of books and reading since childhood and her life and education have reflected that interest...
, a former school librarian, gave a very strong warning to parents: don't let your children see the pictures over and over, especially young children. She felt it was too frightening for them and warned parents to turn off the televisions so that children don't see the replays over and over. She gave the warning based on how children reacted to the Oklahoma City bombing
Oklahoma City bombing
The Oklahoma City bombing was a terrorist bomb attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. It was the most destructive act of terrorism on American soil until the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Oklahoma blast claimed 168 lives, including 19...
. She also composed open letters to children, which she distributed through state education officials. A "Dear Students" letter went to middle and high school students, while elementary school students received one beginning "Dear Children."
See also
- 9/11 Commission Report9/11 Commission ReportThe 9/11 Commission Report, formally named Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, is the official report of the events leading up to the September 11, 2001 attacks...
- 9/11 conspiracy theories9/11 conspiracy theories9/11 conspiracy theories are theories that disagree with the widely accepted account that the September 11 attacks were perpetrated solely by al-Qaeda. These theories arose because of what proponents of the conspiracy theories believe to be inconsistencies in the official conclusions or some...
- Class of 9/11Class of 9/11The Class of 9/11 is a term coined by National Public Radio for the high school graduating class of 2005. These students were freshmen when the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks occurred, and have had to cope with the many aspects of the aftermath during teenage life and high school...
- Fahrenheit 9/11Fahrenheit 9/11Fahrenheit 9/11 is a 2004 documentary film by American filmmaker and political commentator Michael Moore. The film takes a critical look at the presidency of George W. Bush, the War on Terror, and its coverage in the news media...
– a documentary by Michael MooreMichael MooreMichael Francis Moore is an American filmmaker, author, social critic and activist. He is the director and producer of Fahrenheit 9/11, which is the highest-grossing documentary of all time. His films Bowling for Columbine and Sicko also place in the top ten highest-grossing documentaries... - Health effects of September 11, 2001 attacks
- September 11 attacks
- War games in progress on September 11, 2001
External links
- The Arab and Iranian Reaction to 911
- "Complete 911 Timeline" from Nov 2001 through present – Provided by the Center for Cooperative Research.
- "Environmental impact of 911 attacks" – Provided by the Center for Cooperative Research.