September 11, 2001, was the day 19 al-Qaida terrorist group members hijacked four commercial airliners and claimed the lives of 2,996 people. This photo was taken just as United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City at 9:03 a.m.
On Aug. 6, 2001, President George W. Bush received a classified review of the threats posed by Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network, Al Qaeda. That morning’s “presidential daily brief” — the top-secret document prepared by America’s intelligence agencies — featured the now-infamous heading: “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.” A few weeks later, on 9/11, Al Qaeda accomplished that goal.
9.10.2012 The Deafness Before the Storm
September 11, 2001 attacks topics.
World Trade Center
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At 8:46 a.m. on Tuesday, 19 Islamist terrorists affiliated with al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners.
American Airlines Flight 11 was crashed into the World Trade Center's North Tower, followed by United Airlines Flight 175 which hit the South Tower at 9:03 a.m.
Another group of hijackers flew American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m.
A fourth flight, United Airlines Flight 93, whose ultimate target was thought to be either the United States Capitol or White House, but after some passengers tried to revolt and take the plane back from the terrorists, it crashed in a field into Shanksville, Pennsylvania at 10:03 a.m. Continue
Inside 9/11: zero hour (Part 1)
Inside 9/11: zero hour (Part 2)
Inside 9/11: zero hour (Part 3)
Inside 9/11: zero hour (Part 4)
10.22.11: Saudi Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz al Saud has died, Saudi TV says. The crown prince was King Abdullah's half-brother and first in line to the Saudi throne. He was also minister of defence and aviation. He was in his eighties and was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2004. He is thought to have died at a New York hospital.
The family's close relationship with the United States, however, had its costs. Prince Sultan was key in allowing U.S. troops to launch the 1991 Gulf War on Iraq from Saudi territory. The presence of American troops in the home of the holiest shrines of Islam was a chief reason the terrorist group al-Qaida said it targeted the United States and Saudi Arabia.
The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait under Saddam Hussein on August 2, 1990, put the Saudi kingdom and the House of Saud at risk, with Iraqi forces on the Saudi border and Saddam's appeal to pan-Arabism potentially inciting internal dissent. Bin Laden met with King Fahd, and Saudi Defense Minister Sultan, telling them not to depend on non-Muslim assistance from the United States and others, offering to help defend Saudi Arabia with his mujahideen. Bin Laden's offer was rebuffed, and after the Saudi monarchy invited the deployment of U.S. troops in Saudi territory, Bin Laden publicly denounced Saudi Arabia's dependence on the U.S. military.
Bin Laden believed the presence of foreign troops in the "land of the two mosques" (Mecca and Medina) profaned sacred soil. Bin Laden's criticism of the Saudi monarchy led that government to attempt to silence him. Shortly after Saudi Arabia invited U.S. troops into Saudi Arabia, bin Laden turned his attention to attacks on the West .
" There have been three people tried and convicted by the last administration in military courts. Two are walking the street right now. There have been over 300 tried in federal courts by the last administration and by us. They're all in jail now." - VP Joe Biden
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5.1.11: President Obama Announces Bin Laden's Death.
5.5.11: Pres. Obama says the U.S. will never forget September 11, 2001. Bin Laden has been captured and killed - read all about it.
9.10.11 Ten years later .
The destruction of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 in the deadliest act of air terrorism against Americans until the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, according to the FBI. American and British investigators who painstakingly pieced together the wreckage of the Pan Am 103 found it had been destroyed by a bomb, and they accused al Megrahi and another man of planting it. Al Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, died in Tripoli Sunday 5/20/12.
