Events of 9/11 - Term Paper Example

? Events of 9/11 Insert Insert Grade Insert Insert Introduction Events of September 11, 2001 refers to the events that took place when 19 militants who were associated with the Islamic extremist group Al- Qaeda hijacked four aircrafts and they carried out a suicide attack against their targets in the US. Two planes were directed towards (World Trade Centre) New York City while the third plane was used to hold an attack against the Pentagon which was just outside Washington, D.C. The other plane crashed in the field in Pennsylvania. This was one of the deadliest days in the history of America as more than 3000 people were killed during the attacks in Washington, D.C. and in New York City and more than 400 law enforcers and fire fighters were killed. Thesis statement The chronology of events on the attacks that were conducted in the US soil on September 11, 2001 and the aftermath of the events are the main areas of discussion in this essay. Events of 9/11 It was in the morning at around 7:59 am when a Boeing 767 (an American Airlines Flight 11), which had 92 people on board took off from the Boston’s Logan International Airport headed to Los Angeles. At around 8:14am, it is reported that a Boeing 767 of the US Airlines Flight 175 which had 65 people on board also took off from Boston headed to Los Angeles (A&E Television Networks, 2013). Five minutes later, the Flight attendants aboard Flight 11 alerted the ground person about the hijacking of the plane and the FBI were notified about the same by the American Airliners. A Boeing 757 which had 64 people on board and headed to Los Angeles took off from Dulles International Airport which is outside Washington D.C. at around 8:20 am. At around 8:24 am, Mohammed Atta who was one of the hijackers made the first two accidental transmissions from Flight 11 to the ground control trying to communicate with the planes cabin. At around 8:40 am, the FAA alerted NEADS and NORADS about the hijacking of Flight 11. Unfortunately, after NEADS scrambled the two fighter planes at Cape Cods Otis Air National Guard Base in order to locate and trail Flight 11, the Boeing 757 crashed on the North Tower before they were on air (A&E Television Networks, 2013). At 8:41am it was reported that the Boeing 757 (a United Airlines Flight 93), took off from Newark global Airport and it had 44 people on board. This was the time around the other hijacked flights. The Flight 11 is reported to crash into the 93-99 floors of the North Tower of the World Trade Centre at around 8:46 am killing everyone on board and hundreds of other people in the building. After a few seconds, NYPB and FDNY forces dispatched units to the World Trade Centre and immediate evacuation was started by the (Port) authority control division officers who were on the site. At 8:50 am, President George W. Bush who was visiting an elementally school at Sarasota (Florida) was alerted about the attack on the WTC by the White House boss, Andrew Card. The Port Authority announced the evacuation of the people from the South tower of the World Trade centre at around 9:02 am where more than 11000 people were on the process of evacuation. It is reported that 1 minute after the announcement, the United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into 75-85 floors of the South Tower of the World Trade Centre killing everyone on board and hundreds of people in the building. At 9.08 am, a ban was put on all takeoffs of flights going to New York City or the air space around the city by FAA. All tunnels and bridges were closed by the Port Authority around the New York City area at around 9:21 am whereas NEADS were informed about the suspected hijacking of Flight 77 by the FAA at 9:24 am. This was after the crew aboard and some passengers were able to inform the family members on the ground. At 9:31 am, president Bush addressed the public and called the events that were happening at New York as apparent terrorists attack in the country whereas 6 minutes later, it was reported that the hijackers who were on board of Flight 77 crashed the plane into the western facade of the Pentagon in Washington D.C. They killed 59 populace on board and 125 civilian and military personnel who were inside the building. Later, FAA grounded all the flights over or bound for continental United States. This happened at 9:42 am and about1200 private flights and 3,300 commercial flights were guided to airports in the US and Canada. There was the evacuation at the U.S Capitol Building and the White House as there were rumors of another attack that were going around at 9:45 am. It was reported that the South part of the WTC collapsed at 9:47 am. Later, it was reported that the hijacked Flight 93 was deliberately crashed by the hijackers into a field at (Somerset County) Pennsylvania and all the 40 passengers and crew on board were killed (Carey, 2001). This is reported to have occurred at 10:07am when the passengers and the crew on board were able to inform their friends and relatives about the planned hijacking. The WTC North Tower was reported to collapse at 10:28 am which marked 102 minutes after it was hit by the Flight 11. Mayor Giuliani called for the evacuation of more than1 million workers at (Lower Manhattan) south passage Street at around 11am in order to allow the efforts of searching for survivors at the World Trade Center’s site to continue throughout the afternoon. At 1:00pm, President Bush announced that the U.S Military Forces were on high alert worldwide while at the U.S Air force Base at Louisiana. The missile destroyers were dispatched to New York and Washington D.C by the U.S Navy at 2:51 pm. After burning for hours, the 47-storey collapsed at 5:20 pm. This forced the rescue workers to flee for their lives as evacuation had been done in the morning and that there were no casualties that were reported. President Bush returned to the White House at 6:58 pm after he made some stops at the military bases at Louisiana and Nebraska. He also addressed the nation at 8:30 pm and called the attacks as evil and despicable acts of terror and he declared that America and all the allies will stand together in order to win the war against terrorism. September 11, 2001 was a day of great tragedy for the US. There were a lot of uncertainties, anxiety and concern in people. A few hours later after the attack, the prices of the essential services increased dramatically which included services like rental cars, gasoline, and hotel rooms. This is because there were very long queues of cars at the gas stations and they feared that the stock that they had would get depleted. As the levels of consumer frustrations increased, the public became angry due to the increased prices for essential commodities and the government agencies were called upon in order to take action against the states that had changes in the prices. For example, the Attorney (Jim Ryan) filed a civil suit for the consumers at Illinois (Rottier et al, 2003). There were many events that followed the September 11, 2001 attacks. These included the creation of the Homeland Security section, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, which were led by the U.S troops in order to remove the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and to destroy the Osama Bin Laden terrorist network that were based there. The U.S troops were able to effectively remove the Taliban from operational power after two months when the wars started but the war continued. Osama Bin Laden remained at large until May 2, 2011 when he was tracked down and killed by the U.S Forces at his hideout at Abbottabad. Osama was the mastermind behind the attacks of September 11. Also, it was observed that hate crimes against the Arabs and Muslims in the months that followed September 11 increased dramatically in the counties that had a bigger percentage of Muslims in the US (Disha et al, 2011). This war led to killing of many people in the Arab countries which are Afghanistan and Iraq and also destruction of properties in these nations. The events of September 11, 2001 also provoked many artistic responses, heroism, images of grief and confusion that came up due to the occurrence of the attacks. The first of these artistic styles include photography which took the advantage of images since many people in Manhattan who witnessed the events were quick to take photos of the planes crashing into the World Trade Center, the fleeing of the shocked and injured residents of New York and the collapsing of the tower. Paintings focusing on the planes, rescue -workers heroes and the towers were also produced by the skilled artists. Sculptures and murals were also made and an example was that of “Tumbling Woman” that was made by Eric Fischl in 2002 which was an image of a woman falling from the tower and was mounted at Manhattan. Also, many films and videos have been created that focuses on the events of this day. Thus, the events led to creation of many artistic works (Graham, 2006). Conclusion September 11, 2001 can be termed as one of the deadliest day in the history of the US because there was the loss of over 3000 lives and there were many people who were injured due to attacks. There was also loss of property and destruction of properties that were worth billions of dollars. For example, the collapsing of the World Trade centre marked a great loss for the US. There were the four airplanes that were involved in the plane crashes and this also meant that a lot of loss was incurred. The events also led to the increased prices on the necessary commodities such a gasoline, lodge rooms and rental cars few hours after their occurrences. There was also the contemplation of wars against terrorism, which led to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the formation of Homeland Security division that was started after the events of September 11. The Taliban regime was destroyed after the killing of Osama Bin laden who was the mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks. This means that terrorism has been reduced in great extent in the world as very few cases have been heard after this major attack. Security has been beefed up as they are now being trained more on the tactics of the terror groups after the occurrences of September 11. It was seen that there was increased hate crimes against the Arabs and Muslims who were located in the counties that had a bigger percentages of these two communities in the US. The events of September 11 also provoked many artistic styles which included photography. This is because many people took photographs of the planes crashing into the World Trade Centre, the collapsing of the tower, the falling of the shocked residents from the buildings and the injured residents of New York. Many sculptures and murals were made which reflected the occurrences of the day. Also, paintings were created by talented and artists. Videos and films that had a theme from the events of this day were also composed and produced in the market. Therefore, these events marked a great loss for people and a point of focus for artists all over the world. References A&E Television Networks (2013). 9/11: Timeline of Events. Retrieved from http://www.history.com/topics/9-11-timeline Carey, S. (2001). Aftermath of Terror: Some Questions Jets’ Unchallenged Flights- Erratic Flight- Path Could Have Indicated Need for Air Force Action. The wall street journal, Article 10 of 28; pg A4 Disha et al (2011). Historical Events and Spaces of Hate: Hate Crimes against Arabs and Muslims in Post-9/11 America. Social Problems, 58, (1), p.21-46. Graham, B. (2006). Actions and reaction: The events of 9/11 provoked many artistic responses - images of grief, heroism and confusion over the attacks [SURVEYS EDITION]. Financial Times, [London (UK)], p.34. Rottier et al. (2003). Events of 9/11/2001: Crisis and Consumer Dissatisfaction Response Styles. Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior, 16, (1), p. 222-232. Read More