September 11: On This Day in World History … briefly
Bin Laden orchestrated the attacks and initially denied involvement but later recanted his false statements.
2001: America under siege
The United States became the victim of the worst terrorist attack ever launched. A hijacked American Airlines Boeing 767 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, killing all passengers on board and causing an enormous explosion. Fifteen minutes later, a second hijacked plane crashed into the South Tower, a third plane was flown at the Pentagon in Washington and a fourth crashed in Pennsylvania after hijackers were overpowered.
Suspicion quickly fell on al-Qaeda. The United States responded by launching the War on Terror and invading Afghanistan to depose the Taliban, which had failed to comply with U.S. demands to extradite Osama bin Laden and expel al-Qaeda from Afghanistan. Many countries strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation and expanded the powers of law enforcement and intelligence agencies to prevent terrorist attacks. Although Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda’s leader, initially denied any involvement, in 2004 he claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Bin Laden said he had personally directed his followers to attack the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. A video obtained by Al Jazeera in September 2006 shows bin Laden with Ramzi bin al-Shibh, as well as two hijackers, Hamza al-Ghamdi and Wail al-Shehri, as they make preparations for the attacks. The US never formally indicted bin Laden for the 9/11 attacks, but he was on the FBI’s Most Wanted List for the bombings of the US Embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya. After a 10-year manhunt, bin Laden was killed by American special forces in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 2, 2011.
Weeks after the attack, the death toll was estimated to be over 6 000, more than twice the number of deaths eventually confirmed. The city was only able to identify remains for about 1 600 of the World Trade Center victims. The medical examiner’s office collected ‘about 10 000 unidentified bone and tissue fragments that cannot be matched to the list of the dead’. Bone fragments were still being found in 2006 by workers who were preparing to demolish the damaged Deutsche Bank Building. In 2010, a team of anthropologists and archaeologists searched for human remains and personal items at the Fresh Kills Landfill, where 72 more human remains were recovered, bringing the total found to 1 845. DNA profiling continues in an attempt to identify additional victims.
The remains are being held in storage in Memorial Park, outside the New York City Medical Examiner’s facilities. It was expected that the remains would be moved in 2013 to a repository behind a wall at the 9/11 museum. In July 2011, a team of scientists at the Office of Chief Medical Examiner was still trying to identify remains, in the hope that improved technology will allow them to identify other victims. On August 7, 2017, the 1 641st victim was identified as a result of newly available DNA technology and a 1 642nd on July 26, 2018. A further 1 111 victims are yet to be identified.
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
HAVE YOUR SAY
Like the South Coast Herald’s Facebook page, follow us on Twitter and Instagram
To receive our FREE email newsletter, click HERE
