9/11

Laura Thomas

What Caused It• There are a few reasons as to why the attacks happened :• Sanctions imposed on Iraq by United states- Sanctions were imposed in 1990 after Iraq

invaded Kuwait. The purpose was to get Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait, pay reparations to Kuwait, and to get rid of weapons of mass destruction. After the gulf war, economic sanctions were imposed on Iraq, which banned all trade and financial resources except for medicine and "in humanitarian circumstances" foodstuffs. They were considered the toughest sanctions in world history. The sanctions resulted in increased child mortality, poverty and suffering of the Iraqi people. Estimated deaths from sanctions range from 170,000 to 1.5 million, most of them children.

• Presence of U.S Military in Saudi Arabia- After the Gulf War 5000 troops remained in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has the holiest sites is Islam, Mecca and Medina, and many Muslims were upset about the military presence. The continued presence of American troops in Saudi Arabia is one of the states reasons for the 9/11 attacks, in the 1998 fatwa (a ruling on a point of Islamic law that is given by a recognized authority), Al-Qaeda wrote " for over seven years the United States has been occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of places, the Arabian Peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing its neighbors, and turning its bases in the Peninsula into a spearhead through which to fight the neighboring Muslim peoples.”

What Caused It• Support of Israel By Unites States- In his 2002 “Letter to America” Osama bin

Laden describes Unites States support of Israel as a motivation for the attacks. • The best proof of this is their eagerness to destroy Iraq, the strongest

neighboring Arab state, and their endeavor to fragment all the states of the region such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Sudan into paper state lets and through their disunion and weakness to guarantee Israel's survival and the continuation of the brutal crusade occupation of the Peninsula.”

Overview of What Happened• The September 11th attacks were a number of coordinated suicide attacks by al Qaeda.

Four planes were planned to be part of the attacks, with 19 hijackers aboard in total.

• The First Plane- An American Airlines flight from Boston to Los Angeles, crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Centre at 8:46 am, between the 95th and 103rd floors.

• The Second Plane- A United Airlines flight from Boston to Los Angeles crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Centre at 9:03 am, at about the 80th floor.

• The Third Plane- An American Airlines flight from Washington to Los Angeles. Terrorists took control of the plane, flew it back to Washington and crashed it into the Pentagon causing a 5 story sector to crumble.

• The Fourth Plane- Terrorists took control on a United 93 flight from San Francisco, forty six minutes after takeoff, 35 000 feet above Ohio. Voice recording transcripts concluded that passengers avoided another terrorist attack that was set for a Washington DC target. At 10:10 am, that plane had crashed into Shanks Ville, Pennsylvania.

Reactions• Citizens from 78 countries were victims from the attacks. People all over the world

mourned the attacks.

• But there were many people who were not sympathetic at all, some believed the attacks were a result of Americas interfering in the middle east. The leader of the Islamic militant group Hamas announced that "no doubt this is a result of the injustice the U.S. practices against the weak in the world."

• NATO (North Atlantis Treaty Organization) stated that the attacks on the United States were an attack on all of the member nations.

• The United Stated invaded Iraq because they thought Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, but none were ever found. There are still U.S. troops in the Middle East today.

Death Toll and Damages• There wear a total of 2 996 deaths- 19 hijackers and 2 977 victims.

• There were 246 causalities on the four planes (no survivors), 2 606 in New York (from the towers and on the ground), 125 at the Pentagon. All the deaths from the attacks were civilians except the 55 military officials lost at the Pentagon.

• Damages: The 110 floor twin towers completely collapsed, along with the damage done to the Pentagon. Various other buildings were damaged such as the 7,6,5,4 world trade center buildings, World Financial Centre, St Nicholas Orthodox Church, and others.

Map of World Trade Centers

Reflecting Absence Memorial• The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) selected a design for a World Trade

Centre Memorial: “Reflecting Absence” by architect Michael Arad and landscape architect Peter Walker. The point of the memorial is to create a space where people can remember the people whose died on this historic day.

• “The design strives to make visible what is absent,” Michael Arad said. “The primary responsibility we have is to those we lost that day”. The memorial will have forest and two large voids that serve as a reminder of the absence of the people that were lost.

Reflecting Absence Memorial

Absence Memorial

Video

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv4s3fn8jDc

Links• http://jeanne_and_trev.tripod.com/america/id67.html• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_sanctions#Effect_of_the_sanctions_on_the_Iraqi_people• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motives_for_the_September_11_attacks• http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=y3d&rls=org.mozilla:en-

US:official&defl=en&q=define:fatwa&sa=X&ei=hkPtTJ7BDs2SnwfvttXPAQ&ved=0CBUQkAE• http://www.history.com/topics/international-reaction-to-9-11• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks#Casualties• http://www.renewnyc.com/images/Memorial/birdseye_06-06.jpg• http://rlisu.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/reflecting_absence_memorial_rendition.jpg• http://averydesigninteriors.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/wtc-memorial-reflecting-absence.jpg?

w=288&h=550• http://cache1.asset-cache.net/xc/51872837.jpg?

v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=77BFBA49EF878921F7C3FC3F69D929FDC3A31C1F7793046A8F2F94A4AFF63300FDB3ED1B0C68406AF06BF04B24B4128C

• http://astoriedcareer.com/9_11.jpg• http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/profiles/images/9-11_1.jpg• http://drscoundrels.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/9-11-pic1.jpg• http://www.corkfpc.com/9-11%5B1%5D.jpg• http://www.awesomestories.com/disasters/america-attacked/story-preface