How the events of 9/11 connect the United States to the presence

in Afghanistan 10+ years later

How the events ofSeptember 11, 2001,

effected us (the U.S.) then, and how we are effected by them

now years later.

On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, nineteen terrorists affiliated or connected with al-Qaeda, a terrorist network, hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners. Each team of hijackers included a trained pilot.

American Airlines Flights 11 & 77 United Airlines Flights 93 & 175

All planes were scheduled to fly across the country and land in the cities of San Francisco or Los Angeles in the state of California.

But each plane’s cockpit was overtaken by a terrorist and never made it to their destination. If you follow the arrows, you can see where each plane ended its course.

East Coast West Coast Flight Animation

Copy and paste link into URL to view east-west coast travel in a 24 hour period https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76GckSUJRAw#action=share

American Airlines Flight 11• First to crash• Departed Boston,

Massachusetts at 7:59 a.m.• Destination: Los Angeles,

California• Detoured to New York City,

New York• Crashed into World Trade

Center North Tower (1WTC) at 8:46 a.m.

• 81 passengers, 7 flight attendants, 2 pilots

New York City is located at the southern tip of New York state

The World Trade Center (WTC) was located in the financial district of Manhattan. Manhattan is 1 of 5 of NYC’s boroughs.

Manhattan with the Twin Towers of the WTC before 9/11

The Twin TowersLeft: a bird’s eye view Right: at night

Filmmaker, Jules Naudet captured the only clear footage of the first jet, American Airlines Flight 11, hitting the North tower of the World Trade Center. The footage shot in 2001 would become the 2002 documentary, 9/11.

WTC 1 or North Tower

World Trade Center (WTC) On September 11th, all 7 buildings were destroyed. 110-story

WTC 1 and 2, and 47-story WTC 7 were leveled. WTC 3, 4, 5, and 6 were severely damaged, with large portions being crushed.

President George W. Bush was visiting Booker Elemen-tary School in Sarasota, Florida when he received word of the attack.

United Airlines Flight 175

• Second to crash• Departed from Boston,

Massachusetts @ 7:58 a.m.

• Original destination: Los Angeles, California

• Hit South Tower of WTC in NYC at 9:03 a.m.

• 56 passengers , 7 flight attendants, 2 pilots

Airplane approach to the Twin Towers

Anyone who worked on the floors above where the planes went in were not able to get out. 99% of the people who worked below these floors, survived. The elevators could not be used, burning jet fuel engulfed them.

South Tower

Rudy Giuliani: New York City’s Mayor during the 9/11 attacks

Each year, Time magazine features and profiles a person, group, idea or object that “for better or for worse…has done the most to influence the events of the year".

The recipient of TIME magazine’s “Person of the Year, 2001” was Rudy Giuliani. He was chosen because he symbolize America’s response to the 9/11 attacks.

President George W. Bush & the NYFD at “Ground Zero”, where the towers went down.

Ground Zero Memorials & Museum Looking down from above

Ground Zero Memorials & Museum

One of the Ground Zero Memorials

Memorial at Ground ZeroCopy and paste link into URL to view the two short video clips.http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/08/30/us/sept-11-reckoning/ground-zero.html?_r=0

A design contest was held for a new tower to replace WTC’s 1 & 2. Architect, Daniel Libeskind won. The new tower is called “One World Trade Tower”. Architect Daniel Libeskind “One World Trade Tower”

Libeskind interview

Copy and paste the link below to view a video clip where architect, Daniel Libeskind explains his design of Ground Zero & the towers.

“Rebuilding Ground Zero: The Master Plan”

http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/the-rising/videos/rebuilding-ground-zero-the-master-plan/

Source: www.discovery.com

American Airlines Flight 77• Departed from

Washington Dulles Airport in Fairfax, Virginia @ 8:10 a.m.

• Destination: Los Angeles, California

• Crashed into Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia @ 9:39 a.m.

• 184 killed; 59 passengers, & 125 on the ground

The PENTAGON is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense. It is located in Washington, D.C. It contains the branches of the military: Army, Air Force, & Navy

Pentagon Memorial BenchesThese benches memorialize or honor the memory of those who died at the Pentagon on September 11th. The benches are made of granite and steel, and arranged from the youngest (3 yrs.) victim to oldest (71 yrs.) Names of the people who were on the plane face west. Name of the people who were in the Pentagon face the building.

Names are etched on the end of each wing-shape bench. A small tranquil pond gurgles beneath. Maple trees planted next to each bench provide shade.

“American Heroes Memorial” A room inside the Pentagon

A sample of 9/11 quilts which line the halls within the Pentagon.

United Airlines Flight 93• Departed from Newark, New Jersey @ 8:42 a.m.

• Destination: San Francisco, California

• Crashed into a field in Stony Creek Township near Shanksville, Pennsylvania

• Terrorists planned to fly plane into either the White House or the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

• 38 passengers, 5 flight attendants, 2 pilots, 4 hijackers

• The passengers, aware of the other crashes, voted to confront the terrorists. At 9:45 a.m., passenger Todd Beamer ends a phone conversation with, “Let’s roll”.

• At 9:58 another passenger says he’s seen an explosion and smoke

• Debate: plane shot down by a missile or flown into ground @ 10:06 a.m.

Was Flight 93 heading to the White House, home of the President or…

North view of White House South view of White House

the United States Capitol, the work place of 100 Senators & 435 House Representatives?

Flight 93 crash siteWho or what caused Flight 93 to crash? Was it someone from inside the plane or

something from outside the plane?

Distance from debris (bottom right) to crash site was 8 miles. Is it possible to crash a plane and have debris 8 miles away?

Todd Beamer 9/11 Hero

Deliberated with other Flight 93 passengers and decided to take on the terrorist.

His last words heard on the phone were, “Let’s Roll”.

Passengers aboard Flight 93, aware of the other three downed aircraft, decided to take matters into their own hands and fought the terrorists. Four of the heroes:Jeremy Glick, Mark Bingham, Todd Beamer, Todd Burnett

Flight 93 Timelines with witness reports and mention of

another plane or missileRight click each link & “open hyperlink”

http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?day_of_9/11=complete_911_timeline_shanksville__pennsylvania&timeline=complete_911_timeline

http://www.fromthewilderness.com/timeline/AAflight93.html

Ten years after 9/11, former Vice President Dick Cheney in a television interview, says this about downing Flight 93: “it was necessary”… “once one of the aircraft was hijacked, it became, was a weapon”… “We’d seen already by that time, three other planes go into the Pentagon and the WTC in NY. As a result, thousands died. And if we had been in a position to intercept one of those planes and keep it from striking its target, would we have done it? Absolutely.”

View the 1:14 minute YouTube video clip: “Cheney admits he gave the order to shoot down Flight 93”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5GgZa9V0A8

Flight 93 Memorial BenchesThese were the first memorial benches put on the site. On the back of each bench were two of the passengers or flight crew names.

Flight 93 MemorialTemporary memorial fence & plaque

New Flight 93 MemorialWall of names (daylight) Wall of names (dusk)

Who was responsible for 9/11 and the killing of 3,497 people?

Answer: al Qaeda

All 19 hijackers/terrorists were from a region in Asia known as the Middle East:

15 were from SAUDI ARABIA 1 was from EGYPT 1 was from LEBANON 2 were from the UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

The MIDDLE EASTArrows indicate where the terrorists came from

What and Who are al-Qaeda?• Al-Qaeda is a worldwide, terrorist network • Founded by Osama bin Laden• The majority of militants

(fighters with weapons) are Arab (from the Middle East)

• They kidnap or forcibly recruit children to be fighters, human shields for adult fighters, or carry out suicide missions as suicide bombers

• Their noblest deed is Jihad, a holy war

• They get their heroin from the Taliban. The Taliban gets opium to make heroin from the poor Afghanistan farmer.

• Their goals are to overthrow Muslim governments that are corrupt and drive out “Western” influence (U.S.)

Al-Qaeda terroristsalso known as Muslim extremists

An extremist is a person who holds extreme or fanatical political or religious views, especially one who resorts to or

advocates extreme action.

Al-Qaeda and the Taliban’s: Religion is Islam

Their God is called Allah.

Their Prophet is Muhammad

Their sacred book is called the Koran / Quran; it is written in Arabic. Followers of the Islam religion, are known as Muslims but they are known as Muslim extremists. Follow Sharia (pronounced sha-ree-ah) law

“Allah” in Arabic. Koran / Quran

Sharia Lawpronounced sah/ree/uh

Is the law used by the al Qaeda and the Taliban. It is very strict and unforgiving. Women have very few rights.Some of the laws:Theft is punishable by amputation of the right hand.• Criticizing or denying any part of the Quran is punishable by death.• Criticizing or denying Muhammad is a prophet is punishable by death.• Criticizing or denying Allah, the moon god of Islam is punishable by death.• A Muslim who becomes a non-Muslim is punishable by death.

Osama bin Laden• From Saudi Arabia• Founder of al-Qaeda• From 2nd richest family in

Saudi Arabia• Was kicked out of his

country• Was almost captured in

the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan in 2001

• Was found & killed in Pakistan on May 2, 2011 by U.S. Navy Seals

AFGHANISTANthe country where the U.S. went to find Osama bin

Laden, fought the Taliban, and still have troops.

Afghanistanand surrounding Middle East countries

Tora Bora: a mountainous region in northeast Afghanistan where the United States almost captured Osama bin Laden in 2001

Fictitious (imaginary) or Real?Reports of a bin Laden hideaway surfaced.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammedthe “mastermind” behind the 9/11 attacks

It was his idea to attack the United States. Osama bin Laden gave his approval.

He’s presently imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Cuba is 90 miles south of Florida.

Guantanamo Bay, CubaDetention Center/Prison

Khalid S. Mohammed was water-boarded 183x in one year. Although referred to as an “enhanced interrogation technique”, water boarding is torture and is illegal to perform.

Who are the Taliban?• Muslim fighters• They live in Afghanistan and

Pakistan

• The United States military has been fighting against them since 2001.

• The U.S. believed the Taliban was hiding Osama bin Laden.

• The Taliban supplies al Qaeda with heroin. Heroin is made from opium which comes from the poppy plant/flower. The plants are grown by poor Afghanistan farmers.

• Afghanistan supplies 93% of the world’s opium to make heroin.

Afghanistan produces more heroin than any other country in the world. Opium taken from the seed bulb of the poppy plant is used to make heroin.

Countries (Allies) that helped the United States fight in Afghanistan

For years the U.S. looked for Osama bin Laden in eastern Afghanistan & believed the Taliban was hiding him. But it was bin Laden’s courier, (message carrier), an al Qaeda member, that hid bin Laden in his house/compound in Pakistan.

Navy Seals Team 6 raid on Osama bin Laden’s compoundMay 2, 2011

bin Laden’s compoundAbbottabad, Pakistan

The compound was destroyed afterwards. Plans are to make the area into a park.

NAVY SEALS The United States Navy's Sea, Air and Land Teams