clash of the twin towers

8/8/2019 Clash of the Twin Towers

1/35


2/35


3/35

Clash of the Twin Towers

Location: New York City;Arlington County, Virginia; andnear Shanksville,

Pennsylvania. Date :Tuesday, September 11,

2001 8:46 am

Attack type: Aircrafthijacking, mass murder,

suicide attack, Terrorism Death(s) :2,976 victims and

19 hijackers

Injured: 6,000+

Belligerent: Al-Qaeda led byOsama bin Laden.


4/35

Introduction to Twin towersIntroduction to Twin towers TheWorld Trade Center (WTC) was a complex of seven buildings in

New York City.

The original World Trade Center was designed by Minoru Yamasaki inthe early 1960s using a tube-frame structural design for the twin 110-story towers.

In gaining approval for the project, the Port Authority ofNew York andNew Jersey agreed to take over the Hudson & Manhattan Railroadwhich became the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH).

The North Tower (1) was completed in December 1970 and the SouthTower (2) was finished in July 1971.

The construction project involved excavating a large amount ofmaterial which was used in making Battery Park City on the west sideof Lower Manhattan.

The complex was located in the heart ofNew York City's andcontained 13.4 million square feet(1.24 million m) of office space.


5/35

The Windows on the World restaurant was located on the 106th

and 107th floors of 1 World Trade Center (the North Tower)whilethe Top of the World observation deck was located on the 107thfloor of 2 World Trade Center (the South Tower).

Other World Trade Center buildings included the Marriott WorldTrade Center; 4 World Trade Center; 5 World Trade Center; 6

World Trade Center, which housed the United States Customs. All of these buildings were built between 1975 and 1981.

The final building constructed was 7 World Trade Center, whichwas built in 1985.

The World Trade Center experienced a fire on February 13, 1975

and a bombing on February 26, 1993. In 1998, the Port Authority decided to privatize the World Trade

Center, leasing the buildings to a private company to manage, andawarded the lease to Silverstein Properties in July 2001.


6/35

Planning and ConstructionPlanning and Construction The idea of establishing a World Trade Center in New York City was first

proposed in 1946.

The New York State Legislature passed a bill authorizing New YorkGovernor Thomas E. Dewey to begin developing plans for the project butthe plans were put on hold in 1949.

During the late 1940s and 1950s, economic growth in New York City wasconcentrated in Midtown Manhattan, while Lower Manhattan was left out.To help stimulate urban renewal, David Rockefeller suggested that the PortAuthority build a World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan.

Initial plans, made public in 1961, identified a site along the East River for

the World Trade Center. As a bi-state agency, the Port Authority required approval for new projects

from the governors of both New York and New Jersey. New Jersey GovernorRobert B. Meyner objected to New York getting a $335 million project andat the end of 1961, he was pushed to a situation to accept the project.


7/35

The Port Authority also decided to move the World Trade Centerproject to the Hudson Terminal building site on the west side of

Lower Manhattan. With the new location and Port Authority acquisition of the

H&M Railroad, New Jersey agreed to support the World TradeCenter project.

Approval was also needed from New York City Mayor John

Lindsay and the New York City Council. Disagreements with the city centered on tax issues.

On August 3, 1966, an agreement was reached that the PortAuthority would make annual payments to the City in lieu oftaxes for the portion of the World Trade Center leased to private

tenants. In subsequent years, the payments would rise as the real estate

tax rate increased.


8/35

Architectural DesignArchitectural Design On September 20, 1962, the Port Authority announced the selection of

Minoru Yamasaki as lead architect and Emery Roth & Sons asassociate architects.

Yamasaki devised the plan to incorporate twin towers; Yamasaki'soriginal plan called for the towers to be 80 stories tall.

To meet the Port Authority's requirement for 10 million square feet(930,000 m) of office space, the buildings would each have to be 110stories tall.

A major limiting factor in building height is the issue of elevators.

Yamasaki and the engineers decided to use a new system with sky

lobbies; floors where people could switch from a large-capacityexpress elevator which serves the sky lobbies, to a local elevator thatgoes to each floor in a section.

Altogether, the World Trade Center had 95 express and local elevators.


9/35

Yamasaki's design for the World Trade Center, unveiled to thepublic on January 18, 1964, called for a square plan

approximately 207 feet(63 m) in dimension on each side. The buildings were designed with narrow office windows

18 inches (46 cm) wide, which reflected Yamasaki's fear ofheights as well as his desire to make building occupants feelsecure.

Yamasaki's design included building facades sheathed inaluminum-alloy.

In addition to the twin towers, the plan for the World TradeCenter complex included four other low-rise buildings whichwere built in the early 1970s.

The 47-story 7 World Trade Center building was added in the1980s to the north of the main complex.

Altogether, the main World Trade Center complex occupied a16 acres (65,000 m2).


10/35

World Trading Centre Site Building ArrangementsWorld Trading Centre Site Building Arrangements


11/35

ConstructionConstruction In March 1965, the Port Authority began acquiring property at

the World Trade Center site.

Demolition work began on March 21, 1966 to clear thirteensquare blocks of low rise buildings in Radio Row forconstruction of the World Trade Center.

The site of the World Trade Center was located on landfill withthe bedrock located 65 feet(20 m) below.

To construct the World Trade Center, it was necessary to build abathtub with a slurry wall around the West Street side of the

site, to keep water from the Hudson River out. It took fourteen months for the slurry wall to be completed.


12/35

In January 1967, the Port Authority awarded $74 million in

contracts to various steel suppliers, and Karl Koch was hired to erect

the steel. Tishman Realty & Construction was hired in February1967 to oversee construction of the project.

Construction work began on the North Tower in August 1968;

construction on the South Tower was underway by January 1969.

The topping out ceremony of 1 WTC (North Tower) took place on

December 23, 1970, while 2 WTC's ceremony (South Tower)occurred later on July 19, 1971.

When the World Trade Center twin towers were completed, the

total costs to the Port Authority had reached $900 million.

The ribbon cutting ceremony was on April 4, 1973.


13/35

Typical Floor Layout and Elevator ArrangementsTypical Floor Layout and Elevator Arrangements


14/35

The AttackThe Attack The September 11 attacks were a series of coordinated suicide attacks. On that morning, 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial passenger

jet airliners. The hijackers intentionally crashed two of the airliners into theTwin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, killing everyone onboard and many others working in the buildings.

Both buildings collapsed within two hours, destroying nearby buildings and

damaging others. The hijackers crashed a third airliner into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia,

just outside Washington, D.C.

The fourth plane crashed into a field near Shanksville in rural Pennsylvaniaafter some of its passengers and flight crew attempted to retake control of the

plane, which the hijackers had redirected toward Washington, D.C.


15/35

There were no survivors from any of the flights.


16/35

Early on the morning of September 11, 2001, nineteen hijackerstook control of four commercial airliners en route to SanFrancisco and Los Angeles from Boston, Newark, andWashington, D.C. (Washington Dulles International Airport).

At 8:46 a.m., American Airlines Flight 11 was crashed into theWorld Trade Center's North Tower, followed by United Airlines

Flight 175 which hit the South Tower at 9:03 a.m. Another group of hijackers flew American Airlines Flight 77 into

the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m.

A fourth flight, United Airlines Flight 93 crashed nearShanksville, Pennsylvania at 10:03 a.m, after the passengers on

board engaged in a fight with the hijackers.


17/35

During the hijacking of the airplanes, the hijackers usedweapons to stab and kill aircraft pilots, flight attendants andpassengers.

Reports from phone callers from the planes indicated thatknives were used by the hijackers to stab attendants and in atleast one case, a passenger, during two of the hijackings.

Some passengers were able to make phone calls using the cabinairphone service and mobile phones, and provide details,including that several hijackers were aboard each plane, thatmace or other form of noxious chemical spray, such as tear gasor pepper spray was used, and that some people aboard had

been stabbed.


18/35

DamageDamage

Along with the 110-floor Twin Towers of the World Trade Centeritself, numerous other buildings at the World Trade Center sitewere destroyed or badly damaged, including 7 World TradeCenter, 6 World Trade Center, 5 World Trade Center, 4 WorldTrade Center, the Marriott World Trade Center (3 WTC), and theWorld Financial Center complex and St. Nicholas Greek

Orthodox Church. The fall of the Twin Towers represented the only examples oftotal progressive collapse of steel-framed structures in history.

The Pentagon damaged by fire and partly collapsed. The Deutsche Bank Building across Liberty Street from the

World Trade Center complex was later condemned due to the

uninhabitable, toxic conditions inside the office tower, and isundergoing deconstruction.

The Borough of Manhattan Community College's Fiterman Hallat 30 West Broadway was also condemned due to extensivedamage in the attacks, and is slated for deconstruction.


19/35

Other neighboring buildings including 90 West Street and theVerizon Building suffered major damage, but have since been

restored.World Financial Center buildings, One Liberty Plaza, the

Millenium Hilton, and 90 Church Street had moderate damage.

They have since been restored. Communications equipment on

top of the North Tower, including broadcast radio, television andtwo-way radio antenna towers, was also destroyed, but mediastations were quickly able to reroute signals and resumebroadcasts.

In Arlington County, a portion of the Pentagon was severely

damaged by fire and one section of the building collapsed.


20/35

Rescue and RecoveryRescue and Recovery

The Fire Department ofNew York City (FDNY) quickly deployed200 units (half of the department) to the site, whose effortswere supplemented by numerous off-duty firefighters.

The New York Police Department(NYPD) sent EmergencyService Units (ESU) and other police personnel, along with

deploying its aviation unit. Once on the scene, the FDNY, NYPD, and Port Authority police

did not coordinate efforts, and ended up performing redundantsearches for civilians.

As conditions deteriorated, the NYPD aviation unit relayedinformation to police commanders, who issued orders for itspersonnel to evacuate the towers; mostNYPD officers were ableto safely evacuate before the buildings collapsed.


21/35

With separate command posts set up and incompatible radiocommunications between the agencies, warnings were notpassed along to FDNY commanders.

After the first tower collapsed, FDNY commanders did issueevacuation warnings, however, due to technical difficulties withmalfunctioning radio repeater systems, many firefighters never

heard the evacuation orders. 9-1-1 dispatchers also receivedinformation from callers that was not passed along tocommanders on the scene.

Within hours of the attack, a substantial search and rescueoperation was launched.

After months of around-the-clock operations, the World TradeCenter site was cleared by the end of May 2002.


22/35

Attackers and their backgroundAttackers and their backgroundWithin hours of the attacks, the FBI was able to determine the

names and in many cases the personal details of the suspectedpilots and hijackers.

Mohamed Atta, from Egypt, was the ringleader of the 19hijackers and one of the pilots.

Atta died in the attack along with the other hijackers, but hisluggage, which did not make the connection from his Portlandflight onto Flight 11, contained papers that revealed the identityof all 19 hijackers (all men), and other important clues abouttheir plans, motives, and backgrounds.

By midday, the National Security Agency had interceptedcommunications that pointed to Osama bin Laden, as didGerman intelligence agencies.


23/35

On September 27, 2001, the FBI released photos of the 19hijackers, along with information about the possible

nationalities and aliases of many. Fifteen of the hijackers werefrom Saudi Arabia, two from the United Arab Emirates, one fromEgypt(Atta), and one from Lebanon.

Author Laurie Mylroie, writing in the conservative politicalmagazine The American Spectator in 2006, argues that Khalid

Sheikh Mohammed and his family are the primary architects of9/11 and similar attacks, and that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed'sassociation with Osama bin Laden is secondary and that al-Qaeda's claim of responsibility for the attack is after the fact andopportunistic.


24/35

Motive for the attacks

The motives for the attacks include the presence of the U.S. inSaudi Arabia, the support ofIsrael by the U.S., and the sanctionsagainstIraq.

These motives were explicitly state by Al-Qaeda inproclamations before the attacks.

After the attacks, bin Laden and al-Zawahiri publishedadditional video tapes and audio tapes, some of which repeatedthose reasons for the attacks.

Two particularly important publications were bin Laden's 2002

"Letter to America "and a 2004 video tape by bin Laden. In addition to direct pronouncements by bin Laden and Al-

Qaeda, numerous political analysts have postulated motivationsfor the attacks.


25/35

The continued presence of US troops after the Gulf War in SaudiArabia was one of the stated motivations behind the September

11th terrorist attacks, the Khobar Towers bombing. In 1996, Bin Laden issued a fatwa, calling for American troops to

get out of Saudi Arabia.

In the 1998 fatwa, Al-Qaeda wrote " for over seven years theUnited States has been occupying the lands ofIslam in theholiest of places, the Arabian Peninsula, plundering its riches,dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing itsneighbors, and turning its bases in the Peninsula into aspearhead through which to fight the neighboring Muslimpeoples."

In the December 1999 interview with Rahimullah Yusufzai, binLaden said he felt that Americans were "too near to Mecca" andconsidered this a provocation to the entire Muslim world.


26/35

In his November 2002 "Letter to America", Bin Laden described theUnited States' support ofIsrael as a motivation: "The creation and

continuation ofIsrael is one of the greatest crimes, and you are theleaders of its criminals. And of course there is no need to explain andprove the degree of American support for Israel. The creation ofIsraelis a crime which must be erased. Each and every person whose handshave become polluted in the contribution towards this crime must payits price, and pay for it heavily.

In the 1998 fatwa, Al Qaeda identified the Iraq sanctions as a reason tokill Americans: "despite the great devastation inflicted on the Iraqipeople by the crusader-Zionist alliance, and despite the huge numberof those killed, which has exceeded 1 million... despite all this, theAmericans are once against trying to repeat the horrific massacres, asthough they are not content with the protracted blockade imposedafter the ferocious war or the fragmentation and devastation....On thatbasis, and in compliance with Allah's order, we issue the followingfatwa to all Muslims:The ruling to kill the Americans and their alliescivilians and militaryis an individual duty for every Muslim..."


27/35

In 2004 and 2010, Bin Laden again repeated the connectionbetween the September 11 attacks and the support ofIsrael bythe United States.

In addition to the motives published by Al Qaeda, analysts havesuggested other motives, including humiliation resulting fromthe Islamic world falling behind the Western world - this

discrepancy made especially visible due to recent globalisation. Another speculated motive was the desire to provoke the U.S.

into a broader war against the Islamic world, with the hope ofmotivating more allies to support Al Qaeda


28/35

Planning of the attacksPlanning of the attacks The idea for the September 11 plot came from Khalid Sheikh

Mohammed, who first presented the idea to Osama bin Laden in 1996.

At that point, Bin Laden and al-Qaeda were in a period of transition,having just relocated back to Afghanistan from Sudan. The 1998 AfricanEmbassy bombings and Bin Laden's 1998 fatw marked a turning

point, with bin Laden intent on attacking the United States. In December 1998, the Director of Central Intelligence

Counterterrorist Center reported to the president that al-Qaeda waspreparing for attacks in the USA, including the training of personnel tohijack aircraft.

In late 1998 or early 1999, bin Laden gave approval for Mohammed togo forward with organizing the plot.

A series of meetings occurred in spring of 1999, involving KhalidSheikh Mohammed, Osama bin Laden, and his deputy Mohammed Atef.


29/35

Mohammed provided operational support for the plot, includingtarget selections and helping arrange travel for the hijackers.

Bin Laden overruled Mohammed, rejecting some potentialtargets such as the U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles because"there was not enough time to prepare for such an operation".

Bin Laden provided leadership for the plot, along with financial

support, and was involved in selecting participants for the plot. Bin Laden initially selected Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-

Mihdhar, both experienced jihadists who fought in Bosnia.

Hazmi and Mihdhar arrived in the United States in mid-January2000, after traveling to Malaysia to attend the Kuala Lumpur al-

Qaeda Summit.


30/35

In spring 2000, Hazmi and Mihdhar took flying lessons in SanDiego, California, but both spoke little English, did not do well

with flying lessons, and eventually served as "muscle" hijackers. In late 1999, a group of men from Hamburg, Germany arrived in

Afghanistan, including Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi, ZiadJarrah, and Ramzi Binalshibh.

Bin Laden selected these men for the plot, as they were

educated, could speak English, and had experience living in thewest.

New recruits were routinely screened for special skills, whichallowed Al Qaeda leaders to also identify Hani Hanjour, whoalready had a commercial pilot's license, for the plot.

Hanjour arrived in San Diego on December 8, 2000, joiningHazmi.

They soon left for Arizona, where Hanjour took refreshertraining.


31/35

Marwan al-Shehhi arrived at the end of May 2000, while Attaarrived on June 3, 2000, and Jarrah arrived on June 27, 2000.

Binalshibh applied several times for a visa to the United States,but as a Yemeni, he was rejected out of concerns he wouldoverstay his visa and remain as an illegal immigrant.

Binalshibh remained in Hamburg, providing coordinationbetween Atta and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. The three

Hamburg cell members all took pilot training in south Florida. In spring 2001, the muscle hijackers began arriving in the United

States.

In July 2001, Atta met with Binalshibh in Spain, where they

coordinated details of the plot, including final target selection. Binalshibh also passed along Bin Laden's wish for the attacks to

be carried out as soon as possible.


32/35

Plan FlowPlan Flow


33/35


34/35

The Future World Trade CentreThe Future World Trade Centre


35/35

World Trade Centre-Construction Site 2010World Trade Centre-Construction Site 2010

clash of the twin towers

Documents