The Suicide Attacks - Essay Example

Introduction Tuesday, September 11, 2001 is one of the highly unforgettable days in the US calendar and for the whole world at large. It is the day when the world witnessed and experienced rude shock, great sorrow, inconceivable pain and one of the greatest evils America has ever suffered in the hands of terrorists. Everyone woke up on that day with great expectations, hoping that this would be just another day in their busy lives, probably better. Some citizens went to their offices as early as they could, some to their businesses, others to school while others drove to the airports to catch their flights without knowing that their fate and destiny had already been decided by a group of self-centered notorious criminals, that is the al-Qaeda terrorist network. By the end of the day, close to 3000 people had lost their lives and the government had declared a war on the terrorist groups, in what could be termed as a paradigm shifting moment in US history (David, 2007). This paper is a critical evaluation of the events which occurred on this day and the aftermath. The suicide attacks on September 11, 2001 September 11 attacks, also known as 911 attacks, will always linger in the minds of Americans, who were the direct victims of 4 coordinated suicide assaults, which took place in two cities i.e. New York and Washington, in the morning of September 11, 2001 (David, 2007). At first, there were beliefs that the attacks were orchestrated by the al-Qaeda terrorist network but these were later confirmed by the then leader of this network, Osama bin Laden, who had denied those allegations at first. This was a unique occurrence based on the fact that they defied the norm with regard to the manner in which the network carried it out. The most common suicide attacks involved individuals delivering explosives and detonating them once they were at the enclosure of their target. In this case, they opted to utilize hijacked air planes as their weapon of destruction. 4 planes were hijacked by the terrorists meaning that they had already identified 4 possible targets and as it later turned out, they included the Pentagon, the world trade center which had twin towers i.e. the north and south towers, and another target, which was alleged to be the white house (David, 2007). The hijacked airplanes comprised of; American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, which were traveling from Boston to Los Angeles, American Airlines Flight 77, which was travelling from Dulles to Los Angeles and United Airlines Flight 93 from Newark to San Francisco (Lee, 2002). According to reports, these air planes combined had a total of approximately 246 passengers, 19 hijackers and approximately 33 crew members, figures which are said to be extremely low based on the fact that the planes had a total carrying capacity of approximately 694 passengers. Some reports tend to suggest that there was a possibility that the booking process had been manipulated allegedly to reduce the number of casualties (Spiegel, 2002). At approximately 08.46 hrs local time, flight 11 was crashed into the 96th floor of the north tower, killing all those on board while flight 175 was crashed into the south tower at around 9:30 am, which was about 44 minutes after the first crash. Flight 77 on the other hand was crashed into pentagon at around 9:37 am while flight 93 clashed in Pennsylvania at around 10:30 am. Apparently, passengers aboard flight 93 wrestled with the hijackers in an attempt to seize the control of the flight as they had become aware of the crashes that took place earlier during the day but on realizing their mission had been compromised, the terrorists decided to crash the plane so to avoid losing its control and probably get arrested by the US government (Lee, 2002). The north tower of the world trade center succumbed to the crash and collapsed after approximately 1hour 20 min from the time of impact, while the south tower burned for approximately 1 hour before giving in and collapsing. The result of these attacks was that 2996 people lost their lives, including the 19 hijackers and the passengers of the four planes. It may be important also to mention that more than 400 rescuers from different government agencies died as they were trying to save lives. As an immediate response, mostly to prevent more crashes, all moving airplanes were ordered to land whereas all the operations especially involving international airlines were suspended for three days (Spiegel, 2002). The 19 militants who hijacked the airplanes are confirmed as being members of al-Qaeda terrorist network, which is an extremist Islamic organization. According to reports, 15 of them were of Saudi Arabian nationality, two were citizens of United Arab Emirates, and one was a Lebanese while the other was from Egypt (Gunaratna, 2002). It is believed that these people managed to enter into the country beginning as early as January 2000, when Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi, hijackers of flight 77, made their entry into the country without attracting any significant attention from US authorities. This show of inefficiency and incompetence by the security organs made it possible for these two terrorists and others such as Atta, Marwan and Ziad among others to enroll in aviation colleges and English classes allegedly in California. Khalid and Hazmi are said to have had far much experience in military combat as they had fought in Bosnia and Chechnya and this is perceived as the reason why Osama may have entrusted them to spearhead the operations inside the US (Gunaratna, 2002). However, it is noted that these two terrorists did not perform well in mastering piloting and as a result, it is said that they ended up playing the masculine role of subduing passengers while piloting was conducted by other experienced terrorists in their group. It is important to note that 3 planes had 5 hijackers each while the fourth one, flight 93, had 4. The question why al-Qaeda committed the 911 attacks on innocent civilians still lingers in the minds of the direct victims as well as all peace loving people around the world. What have the American people done to deserve such a heinous atrocity against them not withstanding the fact that countries allied to the US have also been victims of such assaults. For example, the buildings housing the US embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, were bombed simultaneously with those in the Tanzanian capital in 1998, leading to extensive destruction of property and the death of more than 300 people (Hoffman, 2003). To begin, with, the US, as a world’s superpower has for a long time continued to interfere with domestic politics of other nations especially in the Arab world. In his letter to America, Osama bin Laden stated out rightly that one of the reasons why America is being attacked is because it has attacked and has continued to attack his people i.e. Islamic nations (Gunaratna, 2002). From this statement, one can tell that al-Qaeda was motivated by the need for revenge. In this context, the creation of Israel is viewed as a historical injustice by the Arab world, including al-Qaeda, especially since the US was instrumental in this process (Ball, 1992). Israel was created out of Palestine due to the need at that time, 1948, to have an independent country for the Jews. Over a long period, the Arab Palestine has continued to engage in war with Israel and according to al-Qaeda, the weapons and money spent by Israel to sustain the conflict comes from the US government, which has Israel as its closest ally in the Middle East. US citizens in this context are the ones who carry the blame and will therefore remain the targets based on the fact that it is their money, what they pay in the form of taxes, which is used by their government to fund such Israeli activities. Israel is a Jewish country and through their involvement with western countries such as the US, they have been labeled as unclean and non believers (Abbas, 2004). The US army’s presence in Saudi Arabia since the gulf war of 1991 is also viewed as a motivation factor for the 911 attacks. It is believed that this country is the home of what are perceived as the holiest mosques and Muslims especially in al-Qaeda felt that the US army was infringing on their territorial integrity (Williams, 2005). The presence of the US army was also seen as a strategy by the US to control oil resources in the country and this continued to promote hostility between the US and Al-Qaeda, who felt that they had the obligation, with regard to misinterpretation of Prophet Muhammad’s teachings, to chase away the infidels as per Osama bin Laden’s words. Since there was no way to forcibly remove the US army, al-Qaeda, as a jihadist group, took upon itself to plan numerous attacks on the soldiers through suicide bombings, which culminated into September 11 attacks (Stern, 2004). The attackers also blamed the US government for its world wide campaigns against terrorism and insurgency, which has mostly been directed at Muslims especially of Arab origin. By doing so, Muslims and Islam have been held in suspicion and this is one reason why most of the countries have refused to allow and accommodate Shariah law, which is believed to promote violence and extremist ideologies such as those of al-Qaeda, which include jihad. This terrorist network believes that Shariah law is the only just law and Islam is the only religion and as such, if you are not a Muslim then you are a non believer (Stern, 2004). In his letter to America, Osama criticized the US for its efforts to open up democracy and promoting freedom, which has generated a lot of immorality in the country such as prostitution, adultery, gambling, drug trafficking among others, which are not condoned in Islam. It is for this reason that he invited the Americans to do away with their religion and embrace Islam as a way of ending the conflict between the two entities. Other motives for the 911 attacks also include, among others, the resolution 661 of 1990 made by the UN Security Council against Iraq. The resolution imposed economic sanctions on Iraq as a result of its aggression against Kuwait. As a result, the cost of living in Iraq hit the ceiling due to inflation and consequently, poverty and malnutrition became a major source of dilemma for the inhabitants. The resolution 661, after the war with Kuwait was over, was replaced with resolution 687, which was based on the assumption that Iraq was holding weapons of mass destruction. Some reports indicate that approximately 1 million children died from malnutrition, a reason which motivated Osama to declare Jihad on America and its allies in 1998 (Hoffman, 2003). The attacks had far reaching effects on the US economy as well as the society at large. For example, insurance companies lost an approximated figure of $40 billion as a result of the destructions and business interruptions which were caused by the events of that day (Lee, 2002). It is important to mention that the collapsing of the two towers of the world trade center resulted to destruction of other buildings and property within their surroundings. It is estimated that more than 18000 businesses in the area surrounding the world trade center were affected. Some were destroyed completely while others were displaced as a result of debris from the collapsed buildings. Such losses in the country can only be compared to those in the aftermath of hurricane Andrew of 1992, which is estimated as having caused damages worth $26.5 billion. As a result, most of the insurance companies refrained from covering losses arising form terrorism though some continued providing their customers with that policy but at a higher rate (Lee, 2002). This implies that the Americans especially those in business have to dig deeper into their pockets in order to acquire such insurance policies, which are essential especially based on the fact that America, even with the death of Osama, is still vulnerable to acts of terrorism. The tourism sector also lost significantly especially due to the grounding of flights immediately after the attacks as well as general fear by the public of the possibility of another attack. It is estimated that hotel occupancy went below the 40% mark meaning that there was no much activity in the sector, which contributed to the loss of more than 3000 jobs in only one week (Lee, 2002). This may be understandable based on the fact that whenever such an occurrence happens, people tend to remain in their houses and with their families for security purposes. Furthermore, it is difficult to find people celebrating in such a time when the rest of the country is mourning the death of the 911 victims. This also affected the airline industry as some of the companies in this sector closed down as a result of bankruptcy. Others were saved by the federal government through loan guarantees while some were provided with small funds as a short time measure. In addition, the taxpayer was made to pay more in order to facilitate war on terrorism, which was given a face lift and which was declared by the then president George Bush immediately after the attacks. The government, for example, spent approximately $5 trillion in attacking terrorist hideouts such as Afghanistan and Iraq as well as other institutions such as the homeland security (David, 2007). Health complications which were common in the aftermath of 9/11 included post traumatic stress, which has been noted to occur in victims who were exposed to dust as the building were collapsing, especially those people who occupied the Manhattan area. It has also been credited to the witnessing of the horrific events by the reported patients, who may also have lost their relatives and friends in the attacks. The prevalence of asthma and other respiratory complications showed an upward trend especially in the first 1 year after the attacks. This has also been attributed to the heavy clouds of dust and smoke that arose after the collapsing of the buildings. People especially rescue workers at ground zero as well as those involved in the clean up exercise have been noted as the ones who have the highest possibility of acquiring these health conditions (National Center for Health Statistics, 2009). After the 9/11 attacks, several new government policies were adopted in a measure to increase surveillance and to control the psychological impacts of the incidence. For example, the government introduced censorship of audiovisual entertainment products. Any production of movies and television programs showing the world trade center or carrying the theme of terrorism or the activities that occurred in that day had to be edited or suspended. The government also approved the monitoring of electronic communications such as emails, voice calls, social networks and internet at large. However, this policy commonly referred to as stellar wind has been questioned on the basis of its legality as it infringes on the citizen’s rights to privacy. The curriculum in universities and colleges were also adjusted to accommodate subjects on domestic security (David, 2007). However, despite the numerous negative outcomes of the attack, one may be compelled to acknowledge the fact that the bombings forced the US government to act. Through its response for example, most of the highly feared terrorists have either been captured or killed. These are for example, Osama bin Laden, who has spent the majority of his last 10 years struggling to create havoc and planning how to cause more death of innocent civilians. With his exit, al-Qaeda has lost grip and cannot at the moment boast of a highly effective network as it used to be. Other nations around the world have also learnt from the attacks and are now investing satisfying amounts of funds in protecting their citizens against terrorism. The world has come together with a common purpose, i.e. to fight terrorism despite the fact that it was America which was hit and this has helped to make the world a better place for everyone (Kitfield, 2011). References Abbas, H. (2004). Pakistans Drift into Extremism: Allah, then Army, and Americas War Terror. M.E. Sharpe Ball, G. (2000). The Passionate Attachment: Americas Involvement with Israel, 1947 to the Present. New York: W.W. Norton David, R. (2007). Terror in Black September. New York: Palgrave Macmillan Gunaratna, R. (2002). Inside Al Qaeda. Columbia University Press Hoffman, B. (2003). Inside Terrorism. Columbia University Press Kitfield, J. (2011). After bin Laden: Is the War on Terror Winding Down? National Journal. Retrieved October 13, 2011, from http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/after-bin-laden-is-the-war-on-terror-winding-down--20110505 Lee, N. (2002). A Nation Challenged: A Visual History of 9/11 and Its Aftermath. Callaway Publishing National Center for Health Statistics. (2009). Health, United States, 2008 with Chart book. Hyattsville, MD: U.S Department of Health and Human Services Spiegel, D. (2002). Inside 9-11: What Really Happened? St. Martins Paperbacks Stern, J. (2004).Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill. Harper Perennial Williams, P. (2005).The Al Qaeda Connection: International Terrorism, Organized Crime, and the Coming Apocalypse. Prometheus Books Read More