DATE AND TIME PUBLISHED: 29/6/2021 (TUESDAY), 11:27 AM
WRITTEN BY: KAM2284D
1. NOR NADIA BINTI AZMAN (2020899318)
2. INTAN NAZIFA BINTI JONID (2020899312)
3. SITI NAJIHA BINTI SHAIFUL NIZAM (2020862062)
4. MUHAMMAD ILHAM BIN MOHD AZHARI (2020608314)
5. AZREEN SHAHIRA BINTI MD ASRI (2020483726)
TOPIC: THE SEPTEMBER 2018 ATTACKS BY AL-QAEDA
1.0 INTRODUCTION
The abbreviation "9/11" refers to four coordinated terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda, an Islamist extremist organisation, on September 11, 2001. Nineteen al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial jets, slamming two of them into the upper floors of the World Trade Centre complex's North and South Towers and a third plane into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. Because of the damage caused by the collisions and the subsequent flames, the Twin Towers eventually fell. Passengers aboard the fourth hijacked jet, Flight 93, fought back after learning of the other attacks, and the plane crashed into an empty field in western Pennsylvania, roughly 20 minutes by air from Washington, D.C.
The assaults claimed the lives of 2,977 individuals from 93 countries. There were 2,753 people murdered in New York, 184 people died in the Pentagon, and 40 people killed on Flight 93 (n.d., 2021). It was the most serious attack on US soil since the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour in 1941. This sparked massive US counter-terrorism measures and helped define George W. Bush's administration.
After the Taliban refused to hand up Osama Bin Laden, the architect of the attacks, Operation Enduring Freedom started on October 7, 2001, with American and British bombing operations in Afghanistan against al Qaeda and Taliban troops. Allied troops faced with a tenacious Taliban insurgency, infrastructure restoration, and corruption within the Afghan National Army, Afghan National Police, and Afghan Border Police for a long time after the Taliban were ousted from power and al Qaeda was severely damaged. Bin Laden would be forced to flee the country for over a decade.
On May 2, 2011, US Navy SEALs raided Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, at night, murdering the al Qaeda leader. Although coalition soldiers remained on the ground to assist with the training of Afghan security forces, Operation Enduring Freedom officially concluded on December 28, 2014. In September 2021, American soldiers are scheduled to leave Afghanistan. ( U.S. Navy, 2021)
2.0 WHAT, WHY, WHERE, WHO (INCIDENT)
The September 11 Attacks or know as 9/11 by Al-Qaeda is actually a sequence of four arranged terrorist attacks against United States. The Attack happened on the morning of Tuesday, 11th September 2001 which the plane that from the Northeastern United States were hijacked in mid-flight by 19 Al-Qaeda terrorists. The four planes that were hijacked were two from United Airlines and one each from American Airlines and United Airlines. The Attack that happened amazingly for the first time in the history of 21st Century, also referred to as "9/11" or "9-11" and popularly known as "WTC Attack" was a very spectacular event in which many lives were lost. The day of September 11 went down in History as one of the most tragic, devastating, horrible and inhuman attack ever happen on the people of America. The events were so intense that it made everyone around the Globe to gape their eyes wide open and left them speechless.
The crashed of the two planes on the North and South Towers has caused another 110 story towers to collapse as well. Not only that, the collapse of the World Trade Centre has become the start of the collapse of the other structures. The other plane was hijacked over Ohio which has crashed the west side of the Pentagon that is the headquarters of American military and another two planes were crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvannia and one plane was crash into White House.
The perpetrators that been suspected is Al-Qaeda. It has been said so as US formally launch War on Terror and invade Afghanistan to get rid the Taliban as well as Al-Qaeda. The attack was carried out due to US action which supports Israel, support of Philippines in Moro Conflict, support Russian in Chechnya about atrocities against Muslims, support Indian that does oppression against Muslims in Kashmir, having US troops in Saudi Arabia and has make sanctions against Iraq. Therefore Al-Qaeda has used strategy such as aircrafts hijackings, suicide attacks, and mass murder kind of attacks which has caused 2996 of death and about 25,000 people that injured on that day.
The attack that been carried out has cost large loss for United State especially in term of economic, health issues, cultural influence and policies towards terrorism.
3.0 REVIEW
3.1 CHALLENGES
3.1.1 HIGH NUMBER OF CIVILIAN DEATHS AND INJURIES
The 9/11 attacks by al-Qaeda terrorists have left many innocent civilians dead and thousands injured. A total of 2,977 victims and all 19 hijackers were killed in the attack. According to the New York State Department of Health, as of June 2009, a total of 836 people who acted to provide assistance for the tragedy, including firefighters and police had died. Among the 2,752 victims killed in the attack at the World Trade Center were 343 firefighters and 60 police officers from New York City and the Port Authority. Another 184 people were killed in the attack on the Pentagon. Most of the victims were civilians, including citizens of 70 countries.
The total of 6000 people have been identified as also injured from the incident. this incident was very heartbreaking when the family members of the victim felt very shocked and some are still traumatized to this day. This is one of the most horrific events that has ever happened. The us government also lamented and admitted they could do nothing about the incident other than help out the victims who were in distress.
3.1.2 SEVERE INFRASTRUCTURE DAMAGE
The incident not only claimed lives, but also damaged the city's infrastructure. This damage to infrastructure has worried the US government because it can cause problems to the country's administrative system. The hijackers deliberately crashed two planes towards the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. Both towers collapsed within an hour and 42 minutes, causing nearby buildings to be destroyed or damaged. They also crashed a third plane toward the Pentagon building in Arlington, Virginia, in Washington. The fourth plane crashed near the town of Shanksville in the state of Pennsylvania.
The buildings and structures belonging to the World Trade Center complex, the North Tower (1 World Trade Center), the South Tower (2 World Trade Centers), the Marriott Hotel (3 World Trade Centers) and 7 World Trade Centers were completely destroyed, while 4 World Trade Center, 5 World Trade Center, One Liberty Plaza, U.S. Customs Office (6 World Trade Center), and both pedestrian bridges were badly damaged. The Deutsche Bank building at 130 Liberty Street suffered partial damage and had to be demolished later. Furthermore, both World Financial Center buildings were also damaged. This damage has made it one of the largest damage that has occurred causing concern to countries around the world because it also involves the world bank.
3.1.3 FAILED TO IDENTIFY THE SYSTEMATIC PLANS OF THE AL-QAEDA
Great criticism has been given to the US military system for failing to identify the very meticulous plans made by the terrorist group. This is because the United States is a strong country from all angles including their security control system. Unfortunately, they failed to track down the plans made by the group.
Khalid that involves in 9/11 attacks took the first steps in assembling the body of intelligence that would make the attacks possible. Relying on open source intelligence, Khalid compiled data from Western aviation magazines, telephone directories for U.S. cities, airline timetables, and conducted Internet searches on U.S. flight schools. This intelligence was supplemented by flight simulator software and information gleaned from movies depicting hijackings. Some of these early intelligence efforts may have been an attempt to generate ideas and identify possible vulnerabilities. Khalid, therefore, organized a short course for the operatives in Karachi, which included techniques on how to conduct reconnaissance on flights. Although rudimentary in nature, these instructions proved critical in bringing the attack to fruition by encouraging the operatives to probe for vulnerabilities in the routine behavior of the flight crew. This such detailed plans have paid off for the terrorist forces and left the us government as a nation that have weak security system.
3.2 SIGNIFICANCE
Bin Laden gave his public fatwa on February 23, 1998. The wording had been negotiated for a long time as part of Bin Laden's organization's merger with Zawahiri's Egyptian Islamic Jihad. On May 7, Mohammed Atef, the deputy chairman of al Qaeda's military council, sent a fresh fatwa issued by a group of sheikhs in Afghanistan to Bin Laden's London headquarters.
It was published a week later in Al Quds al Arabi, the same Arabic-language journal in London that had originally published Bin Laden's February fatwa, with the identical message: "It is the responsibility of Muslims to wage holy war against the enemies of Islam and remove the Americans from the Gulf area."
Bin Laden gave a recorded interview to ABC News two weeks later, repeating the same phrases and adding, "We do not distinguish between those clothed in military clothes and civilians. This fatwa has them all as targets.” (National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, n.d.)
As the terrorists lacked the military capability to harm the US, they chose symbolic targets instead. As the World Trade Center's centrepieces, the Twin Towers represented globalisation as well as America's economic strength and wealth. As the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, the Pentagon serves as a symbol of American military might. Flight 93 was believed to be on its way to the Capitol, the seat of American legislative power.
Al-Qaeda thought that by assaulting these symbols of American power, they would instil widespread panic across the country and severely erode the US's position in the international community, therefore advancing its political and religious aims in the Middle East and the Muslim world. (n.d., 2021)
3.3 FACTORS
3.3.1 Provocation against the actions of the United States
After competing with Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, Saudi nationalist Osama bin Laden organized an unconventional network of fighters known as Al-Qaeda. Bin Laden believes that U.S. military deployments in Saudi Arabia during the 1990-1991 Gulf War violated the sacred spaces around Mecca and Medina, and in 1996, he essentially declared war on the United States. From shelters in Sudan and then Afghanistan, bin Laden and his allies organized a series of terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York in 1993, American military barracks in Saudi Arabia in 1996, U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and ships US Navy in Aden Harbor in 2000 (Insights, 2019).
In addition, after the attack, bin Laden and Al-Zawahiri released additional video footage and audio footage, some of which reiterated the reasons for the attack. Two very important publications were Laden's 2002 "Letter to America" by Laden and bin Laden's 2004 videotape. In an interview in December 1999, bin Laden said that he felt that Americans were “too close to Mecca” and used this as a provocation to the rest of the Muslim world (Reuters., 2019.). The attack had a profound and lasting impact on the country, the special content of U.S. policy and domestic Pres. George W. Bush declared a global “war on terror,” and long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq followed. Meanwhile, security measures in the United States were tightened, especially at airports. To aid the recovery of the domestic response (Bergen, n.d.). Several analysts, including Mearsheimer and Walt, also claim that supporting the United States against Israel was one of the motives for the attack (Reuters., 2019.).
3.4 IMPACTS
3.4.1 Many Innocent Lives Were Sacrificed
When the 9/11 attack took place, a total of 2,996 victims as well as 19 terrorists that hijacked the aeroplanes were killed during the attack. Here, citizens from 78 different countries died in locations such as New York, Washington as well as Pennsylvania (History, 2018).
At location known as World Trade Center, a total of 2763 had died when the two aeroplanes collided into the twin towers. Public officials were sacrificed here such as a total of 343 firefighters as well as paramedics, a total of 23 New York officers and a total of 37 police from Port Authority died during the evacuation process of the buildings and to safe some of the workers that were trapped on top floors (History, 2018). At location known as Pentagon, a total of 189 people died which included 64 American who were on board using American Airlines Flight 77. On the other hand, Flight number 93 had caused the lives of 44 people to be dead when the plane landed badly in location located in Pennsylvania (History, 2018).
3.4.2 Operation To Find Osama Bin Laden Was Decided (Operation Enduring Freedom)
At approximately 9 PM, former United States President, George W. Bush had declared that the 9/11 attacks by the terrorist can leave an impact on the foundation of America’s biggest building, but the terrorist will not be able to touch the America foundation. An operation called Operation Enduring Freedom was a response from the 9/11 attacks. The operation is known as the international effort led by American to force out the regime of Taliban located in Afghanistan as well as to abolished Osama Bin Laden’s network of terrorist based in Afghanistan. This operation had begun on October 7, 2001. The mastermind behind September 11 attacks, Osama Bin Laden was tracked down on May 2, 2011 and was killed by the United States forces at a hideout located in Abbottabad, Pakistan (History, 2018).
3.4.3 The Establishment of Department of Homeland Security
Due to the security fears caused by the 9/11 attacks as well as the letters that was exposed to anthrax which had killed two as well as 17 people were infected by the Anthrax. This is known as the act of bioterrorism. Due to these factors, the Department of Homeland Security was established in November 25, 2002. In the current world, the Department of Homeland Security plays an important role to prevent the attacks from terrorists, protect border security, customs and immigrations as well as the relief and prevention of disaster. Two days later on November 27, 2002, the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks was formed in the United States. The commission was assigned to investigate on matters pertaining to 9/11 attacks (History, 2018).
3.4.4 Economical Impact
The United States had suffered from negative economy impacts due to the 9/11 attacks. Quite a number of institutions which included the New York Stock exchange were evacuated when the attack took place. During the first day trading after the attacks, the market had decreased to 7.1% which is similar to a total of 684 points. Many people had suffered from lost of jobs which were a total of 143,000 jobs within a month and a total of 2.8 billion dollar wages. This lasted for about 3 months. The agency that suffered huge lost were the finance and air transportation which had resulted in 60% of unemployment. The World Trade Center had caused a huge amount of money in order to cope with the damage. This damage had cost $60 billion. In order to clean debris located at Grounded Zero, the cost was $750 million (History, 2018).
3.4.5 Compensation Fund Was Created
Many people had been affected by the 9/11 attack especially those living and working in Manhattan which was near to Ground Zero. These people had been exposed to fumes of toxic as well as particles caused by the burned buildings. In 2018, a total number of 10,000 people were confirmed to suffer from cancer related to 9/11.
In 2001 until 2004, a huge compensation amounted to $7 billion dollars were passed to those affected by the tragedy of 9/11 which includes the victims’ families, and a total of 2,680 people who suffered from injuries due to the attack. This funding was then renewed on 2 January 2011. This renewal, “The James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act into law was signed by the former United States President, Barack Obama. In the year 2015, a funding treatment for 9/11 illness has been renewed for the duration of five more years which amounted to $7.4 billion. The compensation fund was officially set in order to stop receiving claims in 2020 (History, 2018).
3.5 RECOMMENDATIONS
3.5.1 Sharing Information
The government of United States was exposed with various kinds of access to information. However, the government had a weak system when it comes to processing and utilising certain things. The “need to know” kind of system needs to be replaced to “need to share” kind of system.
The leader which was the President needs to be in charged of the government-wide effort in order to put the institutions of major national security into a revolution of information. This means, changing the main system into a network which is decentralised. It is impossible for every organisations to resolve the problems encountered by themselves. In order to build a good network, an effort such as beat divides, resolved legal and policy issues that are common effectively. Thus, to tackle information problems, everyone in every agency needs to show effort in sharing and show unity with one and another (Zelikow, Kojm, & Marcus, 2004).
3.5.2 Biometric Screening System
When tourist travels to other countries, they will need to apply for visa or passport. Tourist will stop at counters such as ticket counters, gates as well as exits at airports. When the tourists arrived, they will undergo inspections process at points of inspection. Each of these points of inspection will be placed with a biometric screening system. This will give the officers the chance in analysing or investigating if the tourist is who he or she claimed to be. Biometrics screening system will identify physical characteristics which includes facial recognition, fingerprints as well as iris scans. The person who should be in charged of this biometric inspection are immigration or law enforcement officers and these officials will be equipped with trainings in order to run the biometric screening system. This biometric screening will not exclude Americans. Their identities need to be verified first when entering or exiting the border (Zelikow, Kojm, & Marcus, 2004). By using biometric system, members of terrorist will not be able to enter the flight and hijack it.
4.0 CONCLUSION
It can be concluded, this attack is a devastating attack that causes death as well as damage. This has been a lesson to all parties quite always be vigilant and vigilant to areas that are capable of being vulnerable to terrorist activities. The 9/11 attacks provide strong evidence of the capacity of intelligence and counterintelligence to lead to outcomes consistent with Al Qaeda’s strategic and symbolic objectives. These critical operational tools allowed Al Qaeda to accurately evaluate its operating environment and construct plans that could lead to a carefully crafted and choreographed act of violence. In other words, the government needs to be more efficient and always consistent in governing the country so that such incidents do not happen again.
5.0 REFERENCES
Britannica. (2019, September 18). September 11 attacks - The attacks. Encyclopedia jhsjshdBritannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/September-11-attacks/The-attacks
History.com Editors. (2020, October 16). September 11 Attacks. HISTORY. shshshhttps://www.history.com/topics/21st-century/9-11-attacks
Wikipedia contributors. (2021, June 13). September 11 attacks. Wikipedia. shsjhjhhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks
Gaetano Joe Ilardi (2009) The 9/11 Attacks—A Study of Al Qaeda's Use of Intelligence and gshsshsCounterintelligence, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 32:3, 171-187, DOI: shshshs10.1080/10576100802670803. Retrieved from: shsshshhttps://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10576100802670803
Bergen, P. L. (n.d.). September 11 attacks. Retrieved from www.britannica.com: https://www.britannica.com/event/September-11-attacks
Insights, O. S. (2019, August). What caused 9/11 — and the consequences that linger. Retrieved from insights.osu.edu: https://insights.osu.edu/politics/causes-9-11
Reuters. (2019., July 29). September 11 attacks. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks#Motives
History. (2018, August 25). September 11 Attacks. Retrieved from History: https://www.history.com/topics/21st-century/9-11-attacks
Zelikow, P., Kojm, C. A., & Marcus, D. (2004). The 9/11 Commission Report. United States: National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States.
U.S. Navy. (2021, May 13). September 11th Terrorist Attack. Retrieved from Naval History and Heritage Command: https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/wars-conflicts-and-operations/sept-11-attack.html
n.d. (2021). 9/11 FAQs. Retrieved from 9/11 Memorial & Museum: https://www.911memorial.org/911-faqs
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. (n.d.). THE 9/11 COMMISSION REPORT. Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
6.0 APPENDIX
Figure 1 : September 11 attacks
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