9/11 Attacks: Facts, Background and Impact

September 11, 2001 was a day that changed American history forever. It was a day that anyone old enough to remember will never forget. The most significant terrorist attack on American Soil. The twin towers once stood as the tallest building in the United States. The first plane hit the North Tower of the world trade center, many people didn’t think it was an attack at first, they thought it was an accident. Until the second plane hit the South tower of the world trade center. The heat of the second plane exploded upon impact of the South tower. America was now under attack, a third plane had hit the pentagon. The people responsible for the attacks had hijacked the planes and took over. The fourth plane never made it to its intended destination. The people on the plane attacked the terrorists who had hijacked the plane and crashed in a field in pensylvannia. Both towers at the World Trade Center came down within minutes, all first responders available were on cite, making sure they could save everyone they could even if it meant risking their own life. Thousands of people died on this tragic day.

The targets population was American men and women. The terrorist who planned this attack were from Saudi Arabia. The terrorists were easily able to smuggle box cutters and knives through security. Soon after takeoff the terrorist took over the plane and took complete control of them. The attacks on the twin towers took place in New York City as two of the seven buildings of the World Trade Center. The third attack happened at the pentagon in Washington D.C. The fourth plane, fortunately never made it to its destination because the passengers on the plane were brave enough to attack the terrorist. Unfortunately, all the passengers on that flight were killed. Osama Bin Laden takes responsibly for the attacks on December 13, 2001. On May 2, 2011 Osama Bin Laden is killed by U.S. special forces by a raid under the Obama administration. DNA and facial recognition are used to identify Bin Laden along with confirmation of one of his wives (Death of Osama Bin Laden, 2018)

Next, the known facts are that the attack wasn’t an accident. The attacks killed 2,977 people and injured thousands of people. Rescue operations began almost immediately. There was about $10 billion worth of damage to all the infrastructures. The attack was organized by al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. As of October 2019, only 1,645 (60%) of the 2,753 people who died in the world trade center’s bodies have been identified. As a direct result of 9/11 many first responders and people who around the towers in New York City, now have cancer as a direct result from breathing the air on 9/11. Singer, Donna Summer, passed away because she inhaled dust particles. More than 18,000 people have claimed to have fallen ill because of inhaling dust particles with most of the problems stemming from respiratory problems. On the morning of September 11th President George Bush had been visiting an Elementary school in Florida when he was informed of the attacks. To keep the president safe, he was flown back to Washington D.C. and on that evening, he addressed the nation, he said “We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.” There was no doubt in anyones mind that President Bush wanted justice.

Other than health effects of the aftermath of 9/11, there were so many more outcomes to this tragedy. First of all, Americans were scared. Fearful that another attack might happen, the nation was weary. Mostly every tall building in the U.S.A. was evacuated in fear that another plane might hit them. Once all the planes in the sky were on the ground, no plane was seen in the sky. “Officials at the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration did the only thing they could think of to try to control the situation: ordering every aircraft in U.S. airspace, about 4,000 of them, to land somewhere, anywhere, immediately (Cain 2016)”. Terrorism created fear and anxiety in the United States.

PTSD was diagnosed in many people after 9/11. As a nation everyone was affected. “In the years immediately following 9/11, several epidemiological studies examined the nationwide psychological consequences of this trauma (Schlenger et al., 2002; Schuster et al., 2001; Silver, Holman, McIntosh, Poulin, & Gil-Rivas, 2002)”. It was hypothesized that in this study that 9/11 would leave a measurable psychological legacy on the American populace. It’s been 18 years since 9/11 and its still a prevalent day for America. In one study its stated that families who received the remains of the victims felt more at peace then families who received parts of the remains and even no remains. After 9/11, there was much fear in the nation on immigrants and people who resembled the attackers. Children during this time were especially vulnerable. They experienced the same PTSD symptoms that adults did. “After 9/11, media exposure led some New York City children to mistrust immigrants, a phenomenon observed even among youth whose parents were immigrants (Gershoff et al., 2010)”.

Many precautions were taken after 9/11. Flying on an airplane was never the same. The cockpit was a place where children on a flight could go and look at during the flight and experience what the pilots saw. After 9/11 the cockpit was to remain closed at all times. Still to this day, every flight you go on that part of the plane is completely inaccessible. The routine at airports changed. Back then security at the airport was definitely not as strict as it is now. After 9/11 security was intensified, ID is required every time you fly, and it must match your ticket. Shoes, jewelry and anything personal like laptops and cell phones must be removed and checked through screening. Absolutely no liquid is allowed before over 3.4 ounces are allowed through security, thus making travel size items okay. “TSA can further pat you down at any random time for further security (Seaney 2017)”. There was talk about making security not as tight, but people still find a way to sneak illegal items such as drugs, large amounts of money through the airport, so it might not be the best idea. This was as a precaution for any future events, so that it would never happen again.

The economic impact of 9/11 was super severe. Wall street crashed, and the market went down completely. There was around 60 million dollars of damages at ground zero. Nobody wanted to fly after the attacks. According to History.com editors, from 2001 to 2004 the families of 9/11 victims were given $7 billion in compensation and those injured as a result of the attacks. In 2011, funding started again, President Barack Obama Barack Obama signed The James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act into law. Named after James Zadroga a police officer who died of raspatory problems from 9/11. $7.4 billion was given to those affected with a 9/11 related disease and funded is to be stopped in December of 2020.

Many countries around the world showed support to the United States. Countries such as Great Britain sang the national anthem, Brazil’s Christ statue outlined the New York City skyline and Japan sent the U.S. a bouquet of flowers. After the first anniversary of 9/11 two bright columns of lights were shot up where the twin towers once stood. This was seen from about sixty miles away. A 9/11 memorial and museum were made in honor of the victims. The park is about 8-acres. There are two reflecting pools where the twin towers were. The pools have waterfalls rushing down and all of the names of engraved in the pools. The memorial was opened on September 11, 2011 on the 10th anniversary of the attacks.

The real-life heroes of 9/11 were the victims. Betty Ong was a passenger on United flight 11 and she was able to contact the airline to warn them that it was a terrorist attack. The airline was on the phone with her until the plane hits the North tower. There are many stories of heroes on 9/11. There are also many stories of the people who passed on. There are videos of children who are yearning for their moms or dads and leaving them voicemail messages. At least 3,000 children lost a parent on 9/11. There’s a video on Youtube that takes a look at the journey one of these kids, his name is Matt Van Auken. Matt lost his father on 9/11 and he explains how hard it was to visit the memorial cite, but that it gave him closure. Matt was just 14 years old when he lost his dad and this is just one example of the many kids. There were many kids who never even got a chance to meet their dads because their mom was pregnant at the time of September 11. In the article “losing a family member in act of terror” one family member describes how awful it was to lose a family member in the public eye versus in private. She said that everytime she would turn on the news the video or pictures of the planes hitting the towers were everywhere.m

The United States is a strong nation. Even after all of this happened, Americans stood together and overcame this tragic situation together. Reassuring the world that we are a nation that doesn’t give in to terrorist threats. Since 9/11 there has only been one terrorist attack and that was the Boston marathon bombing.