MINISTERUL EDUCAŢIEI CERCETĂRII ŞI TINERETULUI

Profesor coordonator : Realizator :

POPA IULIANA CATANĂ ALINA

2008

Contents

Chapter I : The descriptions of World Trade Center

1.1 Planning and construction …………………………………31.2 The complex ……………………………………………….6

1.3 Life of the World Trade Center ……………………………8

1.3.1. February 13, 1975 fire………………………………..91.3.2. Bombing of February 26,1993 ………………………91.3.3. Lease ………………………………………………...131.3.4. September 11, 2001 …………………………………14

Chapter II : The attacks of the 11th september 2001

2.1. The attacks………………………………………………..152.1.1. Fatalities……………………………………….17

2.1.2. Damage………………………………………..18

2.1.3. Survivors………………………………………18

2.2. Responsibility

2.2.1. The hijackers…………………………………..19

2.2.2. Other potential hijackers………………………19

2.2.3. Osama bin Laden……………………………...20

2.2.4. Other al-Qaeda members……………………...21

2.2.5. Motive…………………………………………21

2.3. Reactions

2.3.1. International reaction…………………………23

2.3.2. Public response……………………………….24

2.3.3. Muslim American reaction…………………...24

2.4. U.S. Gonernement response2.4.1. Rescue,recovery,and compensation…………….252.4.2. Immediate national response…………………...25

2.4.3. The War on Terrorism………………………….262.4.4. Domestic response……………………………...262.4.5. Investigations…………………………………...26

Chapter III : The effects of the dissaster

3.1. Long term effects…………………………………………..28

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3.2. Memorials …………………………………………………30

3.3. Film and media…………………………………………….30

3.4. Rebuilding the World Trade Center………………………..31

Bibliography …………………………………………….33

Annexe……………………………………………………34

Chapter I : The descriptions of World Trade Center

The World Trade Center in New York City, United States, (sometimes informally referred to as the WTC or the Twin Towers) was a complex of seven buildings in Lower Manhattan, mostly designed by architect Minoru Yamasaki and engineer Leslie Robertson and developed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. It was initiated in 1960 by a Lower Manhattan Association created and chaired by David Rockefeller, who had the original idea of building the center, with strong backing from the then-New York governor, his brother Nelson Rockefeller.The World Trade Center, New York, like most World Trade Centers located around the globe, belonged to the family of World Trade Centers Association. Prior to its destruction, Larry Silverstein held the most recent lease to the complex, the Port Authority having leased it to him in July 2001.The complex, located in the heart of New York City's downtown financial district, contained 13.4 million square feet (1.24 million m²) of office space, almost four percent of Manhattan's entire office inventory at that time.

Best known for its iconic 110-story twin towers (101 usable floors, eight engineering-only "service" floors on top of a lobby which was three stories high) the World Trade Center was beset by a fire on February 13, 1975 and a bombing on February 26, 1993.

All seven original buildings in the complex were destroyed by terrorists linked to Al-Qaeda on September 11, 2001. Three of the buildings collapsed: One World Trade Center (1 WTC, the North Tower), Two World Trade Center (2 WTC, the South Tower), and 7 World Trade Center (7 WTC). The Marriott World Trade Center (3 WTC) was crushed by the collapses of 1 WTC and 2 WTC. 4 World Trade Center (4 WTC), 5 World Trade Center (5 WTC), and 6 World Trade Center (6 WTC) were damaged beyond repair and later demolished. Three buildings not part of the complex were also destroyed: St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church was destroyed by the collapse of 2 WTC. The Deutsche Bank Building and Borough of Manhattan Community College's Fiterman Hall were damaged beyond repair by the collapse of 7 WTC; these are currently being deconstructed.

1.1 Planning and construction

During the post-World War II period, the United States thrived economically, with increasing international trade. At the time, economic growth in New York City was concentrated in Midtown Manhattan, with Lower Manhattan left out. To help stimulate urban renewal, David Rockefeller, with support from his brother, New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, suggested

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that the Port Authority should build a "world trade center" in Lower Manhattan.[6] Initial plans, made public in 1961, identified a site along the East River for the World Trade Center. Objections to the plan came from New Jersey Governor Robert B. Meyner, who resented that New York would be getting this $335 million project. Meanwhile, New Jersey's Hudson and Manhattan Railroad (H&M) was facing bankruptcy. Port Authority executive director, Austin J. Tobin agreed to take over control of the H&M Railroad, in exchange for support from New Jersey for the World Trade Center project.

With this acquisition, the Port Authority would obtain the Hudson Terminal, and decrepit buildings located above the terminal in Lower Manhattan. The Port Authority decided to demolish these buildings, and use this site along the Hudson River for the World Trade Center.The towers in the complex were designed by architect Minoru Yamasaki with Antonio Brittiochi and Emery Roth & Sons as associate architects. The World Trade Center was one of the most striking American implementations of the architectural ethic of Le Corbusier, as well as the seminal expression of Yamasaki's gothic modernist tendencies.

a. Structural design (see annexe 1.1. a)

The World Trade Center included many structural engineering innovations in skyscraper design and construction. The towers were designed as framed tube structures. There was a frame of closely-spaced columns tied together by deep spandrel beams along the exterior perimeter. The interior had 47 columns, all concentrated in the core. Engineer Felix Samuely used a similar concept in his "Mullion wall" buildings in the early 1950s as did Eero Saarinen in his US Embassy, London (1955-60); but these projects were low to medium rise and may not have been influences.

The perimeter columns supported virtually all lateral loads, such as wind loads, and shared the gravity loads with the core columns. All columns were founded on bedrock, which unlike Midtown Manhattan, where the bedrock is shallow, is at 65 feet (20m) below the surface. Above the seventh floor there were 59 perimeter columns along each face of the building. The perimeter columns had a square cross section, 14 inches on a side (36 cm), and were constructed of welded steel plate. The thickness of the plates and grade of steel were varied over the height of the tower, ranging from 36 ksi to 100 ksi, with the steel strength and plate thickness decreasing with height. The perimeter structure was constructed with extensive use of prefabricated modular pieces, which consisted of three columns, three stories tall, connected together by spandrel plates. The spandrel plates were welded to the columns at the fabrication shop. The modular pieces were typically 52 inches (1.3 m) deep, and extended for two full floors and half of two more floors.

Adjacent modules were bolted together, with the splices occurring at mid-span of the columns and spandrels. The spandrel plates were located at each floor, and served to transmit shear flow between columns, thus allowing them to work together in resisting lateral loads. The joints between modules were staggered vertically, so the column splices between adjacent modules were not at the same floor.

The building's core housed the elevator and utility shafts, restrooms, three stairwells, and other support spaces. The core in 1 WTC was oriented with the long axis east to west, while that of 2 WTC was oriented north to south. The core of each tower was a rectangular area 87 by 135 feet (27 by 41 m) and contained 47 steel columns running from the bedrock to the top of the tower. The columns tapered with height, and consisted of welded box sections at lower floors and rolled wide-flange sections at upper floors. All of the elevators and stairwells were located in the core.

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The large, column-free space between the perimeter and core was bridged by prefabricated floor trusses. The floors supported their own weight, as well as live loads, provided lateral stability to the exterior walls, and distributed wind loads among the exterior walls. The floors consisted of 4 inch (10 cm) thick lightweight concrete slabs laid on a fluted steel deck. A grid of lightweight bridging trusses and main trusses supported the floors. The trusses had a span of 60 feet (18.2 m) in the long-span areas and 35 feet (11.0 m) in the short span area. The trusses connected to the perimeter at alternate columns, and were therefore on 6 foot 8 inch (2.03 m) centers. The top chords of the trusses were bolted to seats welded to the spandrels on the exterior side and a channel welded to the core columns on the interior side. The floors were connected to the perimeter spandel plates with vicsoelastic dampers, which helped reduce the amount of sway felt by building occupants. The trusses supported a 4-inch (10 cm) thick lightweight concrete floor slab, with shear connections for composite action.

Hat trusses (or "outrigger truss") located from the 107th floor to the top of the buildings were designed to support a tall communications antenna on top of each building, though only 1 WTC (north tower) actually had an antenna. The truss system consisted of six trusses along the long axis of core and four along the short axis. This truss system allowed some load redistribution between the perimeter and core columns and supported the transmission tower.

b. Design innovations

To solve the problem of wind sway or vibration in the construction of the towers, chief engineer Leslie Robertson took a then unusual approach — instead of bracing the buildings corner-to-corner or using internal walls, the towers were essentially hollow steel tubes surrounding a central core and perimeter columns sharing the loads. The 208 feet (63.4 m) wide facade was, in effect, a prefabricated steel lattice, with columns on 39 inch (100 cm) centers acting as wind bracing to resist all overturning forces; the central core took the majority of the gravity loads of the building. A very light, economical structure was built by keeping the wind bracing in the most efficient area, the outside surface of the building, thus not transferring the forces through the floor membrane to the core, as in most curtain-wall structures. The core supported the weight of the entire building and the outer shell containing 240 vertical steel columns called around the outside of the building, which were bound to each other using ordinary steel trusses. In addition, 10,000 dampers were included in the structure. With the large core and high load-bearing perimeter for structural integrity, Robertson created a tower that was extremely light for its size.

The buildings were also the second supertall buildings to use sky lobbies, after the John Hancock Center in Chicago. Skylobbies are floors where commuters can switch from an express elevator that goes only to the sky lobbies to a local elevator that goes to each floor in a section. The local elevators were stacked on top of each other, within the same elevator shaft. Located on the 44th and 78th floors of each tower, the sky lobbies enabled the elevators to be used efficiently while taking up a minimum of valuable office space. Altogether, the World Trade Center had 95 express and local elevators. This system was inspired by the New York City Subway system, whose lines include local stations where local trains stop and express stations where all trains stop.[

The site of the World Trade Center was located on landfill, with the bedrock located 65 feet (20 m) below.[12] In order to construct the World Trade Center, it was necessary to build the "bathtub", with the slurry wall along the West Street side of the site, which serves the purpose of keeping water from the Hudson River out. The slurry method involves digging a trench, and as excavation proceeds, filling the space with a "slurry" mixture, composed of bentonite, which plugs holes and keeps water out. When the trench was dug out, a steel cage was

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inserted, with concrete poured in, forcing the "slurry" out. The "slurry" method was devised by the Port Authority's chief engineer, John M. Kyle, Jr.

c. Construction

Groundbreaking for the construction of the World Trade Center was on August 5, 1966.[13] The construction was under the auspices of the semiautonomous Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Thirteen square blocks of low rise buildings in Radio Row, some of which predated the American Civil War, were razed to clear the site for construction.

The excavation of the foundations of the WTC complex, known as the Bathtub, was particularly complicated since there were two subway tubes close by needing protection without service interruption. A six-level basement was built in the foundations. The excavation of about 1 million cubic yards (760,000 m³) of earth and rock created a $90 million real estate asset for the project owner, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which helped offset the enormous loss in revenues which came from the tax breaks given to the Trade Center itself. The soil was used to create 23 acres (93,000 m²) of landfill in the Hudson River next to the World Trade Center site, which became the site of Battery Park City (still under development).

In 1970, construction was completed on One World Trade Center, with its first tenants moving into the building in December 1970. Tenants first moved into Two World Trade Center in January 1972. When the World Trade Center twin towers were completed, the total costs to the Port Authority had reached $900 million. The ribbon cutting ceremony was on April 4, 1973.

d. Architectural criticism

Although the towers became an undeniable symbol of New York City, they were not without flaws and were handicapped in many ways. Initially conceived (as the name suggests) as a complex dedicated to companies and organizations directly taking part in "world trade," they at first failed to attract the expected clientele. During the early years, various governmental organizations became key tenants of the World Trade Center, including the State of New York. It was not until the 1980s that the city's perilous financial state eased, after which an increasing number of private companies — mostly financial firms tied to Wall Street — became tenants.

Moreover, the trade center's "superblock", which replaced a more traditional, dense neighborhood, was regarded by some critics as an inhospitable environment that disrupted the complicated traffic network typical of Manhattan. For example, in his book The Pentagon of Power, the technical historian Lewis Mumford denounced the center as an "example of the purposeless giantism and technological exhibitionism that are now eviscerating the living tissue of every great city." On the other hand, Mr. Yamasaki saw the expanse as a focal point of serenity amidst the chaos of the city. The twin towers' narrow office windows, only 18 inches (460 mm) wide, were also disliked by many for impairing the view from the buildings. This design element reflected on Yamasaki's fear of heights and desire to make building occupants secure with narrow windows.

For many years, the immense Austin J. Tobin Plaza was unwelcoming, and often beset by brisk winds at the ground level. In 1999, the outdoor plaza reopened after undergoing $12 million renovations, which involved replacing marble pavers with gray and pink granite stones, adding new benches, planters, new restaurants and food kiosks, and outdoor dining areas. In later years, the plaza became a center for outdoor concerts and other activities.

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1.2 The complex

a. The Twin Towers

Ultimately the complex came to consist of seven buildings, but its most notable features were the main twin towers. Each of the WTC towers had 110 stories. 1 WTC (the North Tower, which featured a massive 360-foot (110 m) high TV and radio antenna added in 1978) stood 1,368 feet (417 m) high, and 2 WTC (the South Tower, which contained the observation deck) was 1,362 feet (415 m) highThe length and breadth of the towers were 208 feet (63.4 m) x 208 feet (63.4 m). Although only Tower 1 featured an antenna, the structure of each building was designed to carry a broadcast mast, and in the basement of the complex, The Mall at the World Trade Center was Manhattan's largest mall until 9-11

When completed in 1972, 1 WTC became the tallest building on Earth, unseating the Empire State Building after a 40 year reign. 2 WTC became the second tallest building in the world when completed in 1973. The difference in height between the two towers was because of a Port Authority request to have two floors, the 43rd and the 67th, in 1 WTC raised, the lower of the taller floors being a cafeteria for PANY workers. 2 WTC did not need these facilities, so it remained 1,362 feet (415 m). Regardless, the WTC towers held the height record only briefly. As the building neared completion in 1973, work had already begun on Chicago's Sears Tower, which ultimately reached 1,450 feet (442 m). With the World Trade Center's destruction, the Empire State Building again became the tallest building in New York, after spending almost 30 years as the third-tallest in the city.

The towers' sheer size was the subject of a joke during a press conference unveiling the landmarks. Minoru Yamasaki was asked: "Why two 110-story buildings? Why not one 220-story building?" His response was: "I didn't want to lose the human scale". Another popular joke among New York urbanites that died out late in the 1970s from overtelling was that the towers looked like the boxes in which the Chrysler Building and Empire State Building were packaged.

Of the 110 stories, eight were set aside for technical services (mechanical floors) Level B6/B5, Floors 7/8, 41/42, 75/76 and 108/109, in four two-floor areas evenly spread up the building. All the remaining floors were free for open-plan offices. Each floor of the towers had 40,000 square feet (3,700 m²) of space for occupancy. Each tower had 3.8 million square feet (350,000 m²) of office space. Altogether the entire complex of seven buildings had 11.2 million square feet (1.04 km²) of space.

During the 1990s, approximately 500 companies had offices in the complex, including many financial companies such as Morgan Stanley, Aon Corporation, Salomon Brothers, as well as the Port Authority itself. Electrical service to the towers was supplied by Consolidated Edison (ConEd) at 13,800 volts. This service passed through the World Trade Center Primary Distribution Center (PDC) and sent up through the core of the building to electrical substations located on the mechanical floors. The substations "stepped" the 13,800 primary voltage down to 480/277 volt secondary power and further to 120/208 volt general power and lighting service. The complex also was served by emergency generators located in the sublevels of the towers and on the roof of 5 WTC.

The 110th Floor of 1 WTC (North Tower) housed commercial and public service radio & television transmission equipment. The roof of 1 WTC contained a vast array of transmission

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antennas, including the 360 ft (approx 110m) center antenna mast, which was rebuilt in 1999 by Dielectric Inc. to accommodate DTV. The center mast contained the television signals for almost all NYC television broadcasters: WCBS-TV 2, WNBC-TV 4, WNYW 5, WABC-TV 7, WWOR-TV 9 Secaucus, WPIX 11, WNET 13 Newark, WPXN-TV 31, and WNJU 47. It also had four NYC FM broadcasters on it as well: WPAT-FM 93.1, WNYC 93.9, WKCR 89.9, and WKTU 103.5. Access to the roof was controlled from the WTC Operations Control Center (OCC) located in the B1 level of 2 WTC.

The World Trade Center complex was protected by an extensive fire detection and voice evacuation paging system upgraded after the 1993 bombing. Fire Command Stations, staffed by Fire Safety Directors were located in the lobbies of each building and the Operations Control Center (OCC) monitored these systems. An extensive study of the performance of World Trade Center Fire Protection Systems was conducted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) following 2001-09-11.

b. Observation deck and Windows on the World

Although most of the space in the WTC complex was off-limits to the general public, 2 WTC (South Tower) featured a public observation area named "Top Of The World." When visiting the observation deck, visitors would first pass through security checks added after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Next, visitors were whisked to the 107th floor indoor observatory at a height of 1,310 feet (399 m) and greeted with a 360 degree view of the New York City skyline, and exhibitions including a three-dimensional scale model of Manhattan, and a simulated helicopter ride around the city. Weather permitting, visitors could take two short escalator rides up from the 107th floor and visit what was the world's highest outdoor viewing platform. At a height of 1,377 feet (420 m), visitors were able to take in a view of the North Tower and New York City unlike any other. On a clear day, visitors could see up to 49 miles (78 km) in any given direction. An anti-suicide fence was placed on the roof itself, with the viewing platform set back and elevated above it, requiring only an ordinary railing and leaving the view unobstructed, unlike the observation deck of the Empire State Building.

The North Tower (1 WTC) had a restaurant on the 107th floor called Windows on the World, which was an elegant restaurant known as a place for big celebrations, such as weddings. In its last full year of operation, 2000, Windows on the World reported revenues of $37.5 million, making it the highest-grossing restaurant in the United States.

c. The other buildings

Five smaller buildings stood around the 16 acre (65,000 m²) block. One was the 22-floor Vista Hotel (3 WTC) at the southwest corner of the site, that was crushed between the two towers. Three low-rise buildings (4 WTC, 5 WTC, and 6 WTC) in the same hollow tube design as the towers also stood around the plaza. 6 World Trade Center, at the north west corner, housed the United States Customs Service and the U.S. Commodities Exchange. 5 World Trade Center was located at the northeast corner, above the PATH station, and 4 World Trade Center was at the southeast corner. In 1987, a 47-floor office building called 7 WTC was built north of the block. Beneath the World Trade Center complex was an underground shopping mall, which in turn had connections to various mass transit facilities, including the New York City Subway system and the Port Authority's own PATH trains connecting Manhattan to Jersey City, Hoboken, and Newark.

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One of the world's largest gold depositories was stored underneath the World Trade Center, owned by a group of commercial banks. The 1993 bomb detonated close to the vault, but it withstood the explosion, as did the towers. Seven weeks after the September 11th attacks, $230 million in precious metals were removed from basement vaults of 4 WTC, which included 3,800 100-Troy-ounce registered gold bars and 30,000 1,000-ounce silver bars.

1.3 Life of the World Trade Center

On a typical weekday 50,000 people worked in the towers, with another 200,000 passing through as visitors. The complex was so large that it had its own zip code, 10048. The towers offered spectacular views from the observation deck (located on top of the South Tower) and the Windows on the World restaurant (located on top of the North Tower). The Twin Towers became known worldwide, appearing in movies, TV shows, postcards, merchandise, magazines and much more, and became a New York icon, such as the Empire State Building, or Statue of Liberty. French high wire acrobatic performer Philippe Petit walked between the towers on a tightrope in 1974, and Brooklyn toymaker George Willig scaled the south tower in 1977.

1.31. February 13, 1975 fire

On February 13, 1975, the WTC North Tower was beset by a fire which spread over nearly half of the 11th floor. The fire spread to other floors through openings in the floor slabs which were used to carry phone wires. The fires on other floors were extinguished almost immediately, and the main fire was put out in a few hours. Fireproofing protected the steel from melting and there was no structural damage to the tower. This event led to the installation of a sprinkler system in both towers. Firefighters claim that had the sprinklers been installed when the tower was built, the fire probably would not have spread as much as it did. Other than the damage caused by the fire, a few floors below suffered water damage from the extinguishing of the fires above.

1.3.2. 1993 World Trade Center bombing

In the 1993 World Trade Center bombing (February 26, 1993) a car bomb was detonated below Tower One of the World Trade Center in New York City. The 1,500-lb (680 kg) urea nitrate-hydrogen gas enhanced device[1] was intended to knock the North Tower (Tower One) into Tower Two, bringing both towers down and killing thousands of people. It failed to do so, but did kill six people and injured 1,042.

The attack was planned by a group of conspirators including Ramzi Yousef, Mahmud Abouhalima, Mohammad Salameh, Nidal Ayyad, Abdul Rahman Yasin and Ahmad Ajaj. They received financing from al-Qaeda memberKhaled Shaikh Mohammed, Yousef's uncle. In March 1994, four men were convicted of carrying out the bombing: Abouhalima, Ajaj, Ayyad and Salameh. The charges included conspiracy, explosive destruction of property and interstate transportation of explosives. And in November 1997, two more were convicted: Yousef, the mastermind behind the bombings, and Eyad Ismoil, who drove the truck carrying the bomb.

The bomb exploded in the underground garage at 12:18 P.M., generating a pressure estimated over one GPa and opening a 30-meter-wide hole through four sublevels of concrete. The detonation velocity of this bomb was about 15,000 ft/s (4.5 km/s). a quote from the claim of responsibility letter written by one of the terrorists, "We are, the Liberation Army fifth battalion, again. Unfortunately, our calculations were not very accurate this time. However, we promise

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you that next time it will be very precise and World Trade Center will continue to be one [of] our targets unless our demands have been met.

Planning and organization

Ramzi Yousef, born in Kuwait, began in 1991 to plan a bombing attack within the United States. Yousef's uncle Khalid Shaikh Mohammed Ali Fadden, who later was considered "the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks," gave him advice and tips over the phone, and funded him with a US$660 wire transfer.

Yousef entered the United States with a false Iraqi passport in 1992. Police found instructions on making a bomb in Yousef's partner; Ahmed Ajaj's luggage. The name Abu Barra, an alias of Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, appeared in the manuals. Yousef's partner was arrested on the spot for his false passport and his bombmaking instructions. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) holding cells were overcrowded, and Yousef, claiming political asylum, was given a hearing date.

Yousef set up residence on Nicole Pickett Avenue in Jersey City, New Jersey, traveled around New York and New Jersey and called Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, a controversial blind Muslim cleric, via cell phone. After being introduced to his co-conspirators by Abdel Rahman at the latter's Al-Farooq Mosque in Brooklyn, Yousef began assembling the 1,500-lb urea nitrate-hydrogen gas enhanced device for delivery to the WTC. He ordered chemicals from his hospital room when injured in a car crash - one of three accidents caused by Salameh in late 1992 and early in 1993.

El Sayyid Nosair, one of the blind sheik's men, was arrested in 1991 for the murder of Rabbi Meir Kahane. According to prosecutors, "the Red" Mahmud Abouhalima, also convicted in the bombing, told Wadih el Hage to buy the .38 caliber revolver used by Nosair in the Kahane shooting. In the initial court case in NYS Criminal Court Nosair was acquitted of murder but convicted of gun charges. (In a related and followup case in Federal Court, he was convicted). Dozens of Arabic bomb-making manuals and documents related to terrorist plots were found in Nosair's New Jersey apartment, with manuals from Army Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, secret memos linked to Joint Chiefs of Staff, and 1440 rounds of ammunition. (Lance 2004 26 )

Bomb characteristics

Yousef was assisted by Iraqi bomb maker Abdul Rahman Yasin .Yasin's complex 1310 lb (600 kg) bomb was made of a urea nitrate main charge with aluminum, magnesium and ferric oxide distributed throughout, and several "booster" explosive components.He also used three tanks of bottled hydrogen to enhance the fireball and afterburn of the bomb. The use of compressed gas cylinders in this type of attack closely resembles the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing 10 years earlier.

The Ryder van used in the bombing had 295 ft³ (8.3 m³) of space, which would hold up to a ton (907 kg) of explosives. However, the van was not filled to capacity. Yousef used four 20 ft (6 m) long fuses, all covered in surgical tubing. Yasin calculated that the fuse would trigger the bomb in twelve minutes after he had used a cigarette lighter to light the fuse.

Yousef wanted the smoke to remain in the tower, therefore catching the public eye by smothering people inside, killing them slowly. He anticipated Tower One collapsing onto Tower Two after the blast.

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Yousef's view of the attack

According to the journalist Steve Coll, Yousef mailed letters to various New York newspapers just before the attack, in which he claimed he belonged to 'Israel's Army, Fifth Battalion'. These letters made three demands: an end to all US aid to Israel, an end to US diplomatic relations with Israel, and a demand for a pledge by the United States to end interference "with any of the Middle East countries interior affairs." He stated that the attack on the World Trade Center would be merely the first of such attacks if his demands were not met. In his letters Yousef admitted that the World Trade Center bombing was an act of terrorism, but that this was justified because "the terrorism that Israel practices (which America supports) must be faced with a similar one."

Connection to Mujahideen and US training

The perpetrators of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing used a manual written by the CIA for the mujahideen fighters in Afghanistan on how to make explosives. Sheik Abdel Rahman was allowed to come to the U.S. to recruit Arab-Americans to fight in Afghanistan against the Soviets. The early foundations of al-Qaida were built in part on relationships and weaponry that came from the substantial U.S. support for the Afghan mujahideen during the war to expel Soviet forces from that country. The role of the U.S. in arming, training, and supporting the radical Islamic Mujahideen of Afghanistan in the 1980s has been called the model for state-sponsored terrorist.The attacks on the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the attack on the USS Cole, and the attacks of 11 September all have been linked to individuals and groups that at one time were armed and trained by the United States and/or its allies.

The attack

The bomb exploded in the underground garage at 12:17 pm, generating a pressure estimated over one GPa and opening a 30-meter-wide (98 foot) hole through four sublevels of concrete. The detonation velocity of this bomb was about 15,000 ft/s (4.5 km/s). Contrary to popular belief there was no cyanide gas attached to the bomb, although Yousef had considered adding cyanide to the bomb, and is said to have regretted not doing so in Peter Lance's book 1000 Years For Revenge.

Six people were killed and 1,040 others were injured, most during the evacuation that followed the blast. The towers were not destroyed as Yousef intended. However, the WTC’s architect would later tell jurors that if the van had been left closer to the poured concrete foundations, they would have succeeded; the tower would have toppled.Yousef escaped to Pakistan several hours later.

The bomb cut off the center's main electrical power line and cut off telephone service for much of lower Manhattan. The bomb caused smoke to rise up to the 93rd floor of both towers, and cut off the towers' four stairwells and emergency lighting system. Also as a result of the loss of electricity most of New York City's radio and television stations lost their over-the-air broadcast signal for almost a week, with television stations only being able to broadcast via cable and satellite via a microwave hookup between the stations and three of the New York area's largest cable companies, Cablevision, Comcast, and Time Warner Cable.

Aftermath and arrests

Agents and bomb technicians of the U.S. Treasury Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) responded to the scene of the blast. An ATF bomb technician subsequently

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found the axle in the bomb crater with the VIN of the Ryder truck that was used to contain the explosives. Further investigation by ATF found that the vehicle had been rented by a Palestinian named Mohammad Salameh. Yousef's friends reported the van was stolen in an attempt to slow investigators down.

On March 4, 1993 authorities announced the capture of Salameh. In a sweep the same day, Salameh's arrest led to the apartment of Abdul Rahman Yasin in Jersey City, New Jersey, which Yasin was sharing with his mother, in the same building as Ramzi Yousef's apartment. Yasin was taken to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) headquarters in Newark, New Jersey, and was then released. The next day, he flew back to Iraq, via Amman, Jordan. Yasin was later indicted for the attack, and in 2001 he was placed on the initial list of the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists, on which he remains a fugitive today. He disappeared prior to 2003's U.S. coalition invasion in Operation Iraqi Freedom. In March 1994, Salameh, Nidal Ayyad, Mahmud Abouhalima and Ahmad Ajaj were each convicted for the World Trade Center bombing. In May 1994, they were sentenced to life imprisonment.

The capture of Salameh and Yasin led authorities to Ramzi Yousef's apartment, where they found bomb-making materials and a business card from Mohammed Jamal Khalifa. Khalifa was arrested in relation to the crime on December 14, 1994, and was deported to Jordan by the INS on May 5, 1995. He was acquitted by a Jordanian court and lived as a free man in Saudi Arabia until his death in 2007.

Impact

Despite its relatively low death toll, the bombing shocked the American public .According to testimony in the bomb trial, only once before the 1993 attack had the FBI recorded a bomb that used urea nitrate.[12][13] The FBI has recorded a total of about 73,000 explosions.

Memorial

A granite memorial fountain honoring the six victims of the bombing was designed by Elyn Zimmerman and dedicated in 1995 on Austin J. Tobin Plaza, directly above the site of the explosion. It contained the names of the six people who perished in the attack as well as an inscription that read:

"On February 26, 1993, a bomb set by terrorists exploded below this site. This horrible act of violence killed innocent people, injured thousands, and made victims of us all."

The fountain was destroyed during the September 11, 2001 attacks. A recovered fragment from the 1993 bombing memorial with the text "John" (from John DiGiovanni, a victim) is being used as the centerpiece of a new memorial honoring the victims of the 2001 attack.

Allegations of FBI foreknowledge

In the course of the trial it was revealed that the FBI had an informant, a former Egyptian army officer named Emad A. Salem. Salem claims to have informed the FBI of the plot to bomb the towers as early as February 6, 1992. Salem's role as informant allowed the FBI to quickly pinpoint the conspirators out of the hundreds of possible suspects.

Salem, initially believing that this was to be a sting operation, claimed that the FBI's original plan was for Salem to supply the conspirators with a harmless powder instead of actual

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explosive to build their bomb, but that the FBI chose to use him for other purposes instead. He secretly recorded hundreds of hours of telephone conversations with his FBI handlers.

In December 1993, James M. Fox, the head of the FBI's New York Office, denied that the FBI had any foreknowledge of the attacks. The 1993 WTC sting operation was depicted as a false flag operation and was a plot device for the 1996 fictional movie The Long Kiss Goodnight with Geena Davis.] Allegations of Iraqi involvement

In October 2001 in a PBS interview, former Clinton CIA Director James Woolsey argued a supposed link between Ramzi Youssef and the Iraqi intelligence services. He suggested the grand jury investigation turned up evidence pointing to Iraq that the Clinton Justice Department "brushed aside." Neil Herman, who headed the FBI investigation, noted that despite Yasin's presence in Baghdad, there was no evidence of Iraqi support for the attack. "We looked at that rather extensively," he told CNN terrorism analyst Peter L. Bergen. "There were no ties to the Iraqi government." Bergen writes, "In sum, by the mid-'90s, the Joint Terrorism Task Force in New York, the F.B.I., the U.S. Attorney's office in the Southern District of New York, the C.I.A., the N.S.C., and the State Department had all found no evidence implicating the Iraqi government in the first Trade Center attack."

Claims that Saddam Hussein was behind the bombing are based on the research of Laurie Mylroie of the conservative American Enterprise Institute. Her research has been heavily criticized and terrorism experts consider her argument utterly baseless. Bergen, for example, calls her a "crackpot" who claimed that "Saddam was not only behind the '93 Trade Center attack, but also every anti-American terrorist incident of the past decade, from the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania to the leveling of the federal building in Oklahoma City to September 11 itself." Daniel Benjamin, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, points out that "Mylroie's work has been carefully investigated by the CIA and the FBI.... The most knowledgeable analysts and investigators at the CIA and at the FBI believe that their work conclusively disproves Mylroie's claims.... Nonetheless, she has remained a star in the neoconservative firmament." Dr. Robert Leiken of the Nixon Center comments on the lack of evidence in her work: "Laurie has discovered Saddam’s hand in every major attack on US interests since the Persian Gulf War, including U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and even the federal building in Oklahoma City. These allegations have all been definitively refuted by the FBI, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and other investigatory bodies...."

Legal responsibility

The victims are suing the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for damages connected to the bombings. A decision was handed down in 2006, assigning liability for the bombings to the Port Authority. The decision declared that the agency was 68 percent responsible for the bombing, and the terrorists bore only 32 percent of the responsibility. In January 2008, the Port Authority asked a five-judge panel of Appellate Division of State Supreme Court in Manhattan to throw out the decision, describing the jury’s verdict as "bizarre".

1.3.3. Lease

In 1998, plans were approved by the Port Authority to privatize the World Trade Center. In 2001, the Port Authority sought to lease the World Trade Center to a private entity. Bids for the lease came from Vornado Realty Trust, a joint bid between Brookfield Properties Corporation and Boston Properties, and a joint bid by Silverstein Properties and The Westfield Group. By privatizing the World Trade Center, it would be added to the city's tax rolls. The lease

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was also intended to raise funds for other Port Authority projects. On February 15, 2001, the Port Authority announced that Vornado Trust Realty had won the lease for the World Trade Center, paying $3.25 billion for the 99-year lease. Vornado Realty outbid Silverstein by $600 million, though Silverstein upped his offer to $3.22 billion. However, Vornado insisted on last minute changes to the deal, including a shorter 39-year lease, which the Port Authority considered nonnegotiable. Vornado later withdrew and Silverstein's bid for the lease to the World Trade Center was accepted on April 26, 2001, and closed on July 24, 2001.

1.3.4 . September 11, 2001

On September 11, 2001 at 8:46 a.m. Eastern Time, Al Qaeda suicide hijackers crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into the northern facade of the North Tower. Seventeen minutes later, at 9:03 a.m., a second team of hijackers crashed United Airlines Flight 175 into the South Tower,[36][37] which collapsed and disintegrated at 9:59 a.m. At 10:28 a.m., the North Tower collapsed and disintegrated. At 5:20 p.m., 7 World Trade Center collapsed as a result of damage from the North Tower's collapse. The four remaining buildings in the WTC plaza sustained heavy damage from debris, and were ultimately demolished.

At the time of the incident, media reports suggested that tens of thousands might have been killed in the massacre, as on any given day upwards of 50,000 people could be inside the towers. Ultimately, 2,750 death certificates were filed relating to the 9/11 attacks, as of May 23, 2007. Of these, 1,614 (59%) were identified from recovered physical remains. 340 Emergency personnel and 60 police officers were killed in the collapse of the Twin Towers. Morgan Stanley was the largest tenant in the World Trade Center, with approximately 2,500 employees in the South Tower and 1,000 in the North Tower. For the following 8½ months, the World Trade Center site cleanup and recovery continued 24 hours a day and involved thousands of workers. The massive pile of debris smoked and smoldered for 99 days.

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Chapter II : The attacks of 11th september 2001

The September 11, 2001 attacks (often referred to as 9/11) were a series of coordinated suicide attacks by al-Qaeda upon the United States.

On that morning, nineteen terrorists affiliated with al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners. Each team of hijackers included a member who had undergone some pilot training. The hijackers intentionally crashed two of the airliners (American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175) into the World Trade Center in New York City, one plane into each tower (1 WTC and 2 WTC), resulting in the collapse of both buildings soon afterward and extensive damage to nearby buildings. The hijackers crashed a third airliner (American Airlines Flight 77) into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, near Washington, D.C. Passengers and members of the flight crew on the fourth aircraft (United Airlines Flight 93) attempted to retake control of their plane from the hijackers; that plane crashed into a field near the town of Shanksville in rural Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

Aside from the 19 hijackers, 2,974 people died as an immediate result of the attacks, and the death of at least one person from lung disease was ruled by a medical examiner to be a result of exposure to WTC dust.Another 24 people are missing and presumed dead, bringing the total number of victims to 2,998, the overwhelming majority of whom were civilians. The dead included nationals from over 80 different countries.

2.1. The attacks ( see annexe 2.1 )

Four commercial airliners were hijacked en route to California from Logan International, Dulles International, and Newark airports. Each of the airliners had a jet fuel capacity of nearly 24,000 U.S. gallons (91,000 liters). Two of the airliners were flown into the World Trade Center, one each into the North and South towers, one was flown into the Pentagon, and the fourth, whose ultimate target was probably either the White House or the U.S. Capitol building, crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767-200[8] wide-body aircraft, crashed into the northern side of the North Tower of the World Trade Center (WTC) at 8:46:30 a.m. local time (Eastern Daylight Time, 12:46:30 UTC), hitting at the 94-98th floors

United Airlines Flight 175, a Boeing 767-200, crashed into the 78-85th floors of the South Tower at 9:02:59 a.m. local time (13:02:59 UTC), an event covered live by

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television broadcasters and amateur filmers from around the world who had their cameras trained on the buildings after the earlier crash.

American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757-200, crashed into the Pentagon at 9:37:46 a.m. local time (13:37:46 UTC).

United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757-200, crashed in a field in southwest Pennsylvania just outside of Shanksville, about 150 miles (240 km) northwest of Washington, D.C., at 10:03:11 a.m. local time (14:03:11 UTC). The crash in Pennsylvania resulted from the passengers of the airliner attempting to regain control from the hijackers.

Three buildings in the World Trade Center Complex collapsed due to structural failure on the day of the attack. The south tower (2 WTC) fell at approximately 9:59 a.m., after burning for 56 minutes in a fire caused by the impact of United Airlines Flight 175. The north tower (1 WTC) collapsed at 10:28 a.m., after burning for approximately 102 minutes. A third building, 7 World Trade Center (7 WTC) collapsed at 5:20 p.m. as a result of debris damage from 1 WTC and subsequent fire.

Tommy Dunn, a firefighter on the scene described the collapse of the tower. "I looked up and I could very clearly see that the entire top section of the tower had begun to collapse and was falling down on us. … The best I can compare it to is when you were a kid and you were in the water and you ducked down, down, down and let a wave come over your head. That's what the debris was like. It was spread so far that you were not gonna outrun this."

During the hijacking of the airplanes, some passengers and crew members were able to make phone calls using the cabin GTE airphone service and mobile phones. They reported that several hijackers were aboard each plane.

The terrorists reportedly took control of the aircraft by using knives and box-cutter knives to kill flight attendants and at least one pilot or passenger, including the captain of Flight 11, John Ogonowski.

Some form of noxious chemical spray, such as tear gas or pepper spray, was reported to have been used on American 11 and United 175 to keep passengers out of the first-class cabin. Bomb threats were made on three of the aircraft, but not on American 77. According to the 9/11 Commission Report, the bombs were probably fake. The 9/11 Commission established that two of the hijackers had recently purchased Leatherman multi-function hand tools.

On United Airlines Flight 93, black box recordings revealed that crew and passengers attempted to seize control of the plane from the hijackers after learning through phone calls that similarly hijacked planes had been crashed into buildings that morning. According to the transcript of Flight 93's recorder, one of the hijackers gave the order to roll the plane once it became evident that they would lose control of the plane to the passengers. Soon afterward, the aircraft crashed into a field near Shanksville in Stonycreek Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania, at 10:03:11 a.m. local time (14:03:11 UTC). Al-Qaeda leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed mentioned in a 2002 interview with an Al Jazeera journalist that Flight 93's target was the United States Capitol, which was given the code name "the Faculty of Law."

The attacks created widespread confusion across the United States. All international civilian air traffic was banned from landing on US soil for three days; aircraft already in flight were either turned back or redirected to airports in Canada or Mexico. Unconfirmed and often contradictory reports were aired and published throughout the day. One of the most prevalent of these reported that a car bomb had been detonated at the U.S. State Department's headquarters, the Harry S Truman Building in Foggy Bottom, Washington, D.C. This erroneous report, picked

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up by the wire services, was reported on CNN and in a number of newspapers published that day. Soon after reporting for the first time on the Pentagon crash, CNN and other media also briefly reported that a fire had broken out on the Washington Mall. Another report went out on the AP wire, claiming that a Delta 767—Flight 1989—had been hijacked. This report, too, turned out to be in error; the plane was briefly thought to represent a hijack risk, but it responded to controllers and landed safely in Cleveland, Ohio.

Chairman Rudman of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) Committee released in a press statement that it was not necessary to activate the EAS due to near immediate coverage by News Media. Rudman kept the 34 main PEP stations on high alert if needed, but as time passed, using the EAS was no longer necessary.

2.1.1 Fatalities

There were 2,974 fatalities, not including the 19 hijackers: 246 on the four planes (no one on board of the hijacked aircrafts survived), 2,603 in New York City in the towers and on the ground, and 125 at the Pentagon.Lieutenant General Timothy Maude was the highest ranking military official killed at the Pentagon. John P. O'Neill was a former assistant director of the FBI who assisted in the capture of Ramzi Yousef and was the head of security at the World Trade Center when he was killed trying to rescue people from the South Tower. An additional 24 people remain listed as missing.

1,366 people died who were at or above the floors of impact in the North Tower (1 WTC). According to the Commission Report, hundreds were killed instantly by the impact while the rest were trapped and died after the tower collapsed. As many as 600 people were killed instantly or were trapped at or above the floors of impact in the South Tower (2 WTC). Only about 18 managed to escape in time from above the impact zone and out of the South Tower before it collapsed. At least 200 people jumped to their deaths from the burning towers (as depicted in the photograph "The Falling Man"), landing on the streets and rooftops of adjacent buildings hundreds of feet below. To witnesses watching, a few of the people falling from the towers seemed to have stumbled out of broken windows. Some of the occupants of each tower above its point of impact made their way upward toward the roof in hope of helicopter rescue, but no rescue plan existed for such an eventuality. The roof access doors were locked and thick smoke and intense heat would have prevented rescue helicopters from landing.

A total of 411 emergency workers who responded to the scene lost their lives as they attempted to implement rescue and fire suppression efforts. The New York City Fire Department lost 341 firefighters and 2 FDNY Paramedics. The New York City Police Department lost 23 officers. The Port Authority Police Department lost 37 officers. Private EMS units lost 8 additional EMTs and paramedics.

Cantor Fitzgerald L.P., an investment bank on the 101st–105th floors of One World Trade Center, lost 658 employees, considerably more than any other employer. Marsh Inc., located immediately below Cantor Fitzgerald on floors 93–101 (the location of Flight 11's impact), lost 295 employees, and 175 employees of Aon Corporation were killed.

The dead included 8 children: 5 on American 77 ranging in age from 3 to 11, 3 on United 175 ages 2, 3, and 4. The youngest victim was a 2 year-old child on Flight 175, the oldest an 82 year-old passenger on Flight 11. In the buildings, the youngest victim was 17 and the oldest was 79. After New York, New Jersey was the hardest hit state, with the town of Hoboken sustaining

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the most fatalities All of the fatalities were civilians except for some of the 125 victims in the Pentagon.

According to the Associated Press, the city identified over 1,600 bodies but was unable to identify the rest (about 1,100 people). They report that the city has "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 as workers prepared the damaged Deutsche Bank Building for demolition. The average age of all the dead in New York City was 40.

2.1.2 Damage.

In addition to the 110-floor Twin Towers of the World Trade Center itself, numerous other buildings at the World Trade Center site were destroyed or badly damaged, including 7 World Trade Center, 6 World Trade Center, 5 World Trade Center, 4 World Trade Center, the Marriott World Trade Center and St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church. The Deutsche Bank Building across Liberty Street from the World Trade Center complex was later condemned due to the uninhabitable, toxic conditions inside the office tower, with deconstruction once scheduled for completion in September 2007. The Borough of Manhattan Community College's Fiterman Hall at 30 West Broadway was also condemned due to extensive damage in the attacks, and is slated for deconstruction. Other neighboring buildings including 90 West Street and the Verizon Building suffered major damage, but have since been restored. World Financial Center buildings, One Liberty Plaza, the Millenium Hilton, and 90 Church Street had moderate damage.Communications equipment, such as broadcast radio, television and two-way radio antenna towers, were damaged beyond repair. In Arlington County, a portion of the Pentagon was severely damaged by fire and one section of the building collapsed.

2.1.3 Survivors

According to the 9/11 Commission, approximately 16,000 people were below the impact zones in the World Trade Center complex at the time of the attacks. About 92% of those below the impact areas survived, evacuating before the towers collapsed.

2.2. Responsibility

Al Qaeda's origins date back to 1979 when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Soon after the invasion, Osama bin Laden traveled to Afghanistan and with American government assistance, helped organize Arab mujahideen, creating Maktab al-Khidamat (MAK), to resist the Soviets. In 1989, as the Soviets withdrew, MAK was transformed into al-Qaeda, as a "rapid reaction force" in jihad against governments across the Muslim world.Under guidance of Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama became more radical.In 1996, Bin Laden issued his first fatwā which called for "American soldiers to get out of Saudi Arabia".A second fatwa, issued by bin Laden in 1998, "directed his followers to kill Americans anywhere". In the fatwa, bin Laden outlined his objections to American foreign policy towards Israel, as well as the continued presence of American troops in Saudi Arabia after the Gulf War.

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As media covered the 9/11 attacks unfolding, many quickly speculated that Bin Laden was behind the attacks. Within hours of the attacks, the FBI was able to determine the names and in many cases details such as dates of birth, known and/or possible residences, visa status, and specific identity of the suspected pilots and hijackers. Few had made any attempt to disguise their names on flight and credit card records, and they were some of the few people of Arabic descent on the flights. Mohamed Atta's luggage, which did not make the connection from his Portland flight onto American Airlines Flight 11, contained papers that revealed the identity of all 19 hijackers, and other important clues about their plans, motives, and backgrounds. On the day of the attacks, the National Security Agency intercepted communications that pointed to Osama bin Laden, as did German intelligence agencies.

The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States was formed by the United States government and was commonly called the 9/11 Commission. It released its report on July 22, 2004, concluding that the attacks were conceived and implemented by members of al-Qaeda. The Commission stated that "9/11 plotters eventually spent somewhere between $400,000 and $500,000 to plan and conduct their attack, but that the specific origin of the funds used to execute the attacks remained unknown." To date, only peripheral figures have been tried or convicted in connection with the attacks. Bin Laden has not yet been formally indicted for the attacks.

2.2.1 The hijackers

Nineteen men boarded the four planes, five each on American Airlines Flight 11, United Airlines Flight 175 and American Airlines Flight 77, four on United Airlines Flight 93. Fifteen of the attackers were from Saudi Arabia, two from the United Arab Emirates, one from Egypt, and one from Lebanon.

The group consisted of six core organizers, which included the four pilots, and thirteen others. In sharp contrast to the standard profile of suicide bombers, the hijackers were well-educated, mature adults, whose belief systems were fully formed.

2.2.2 Other potential hijackers

27 members of al-Qaeda attempted to enter the United States to take part in the September 11 attacks, but only 19 participated. Other would-be hijackers are often referred to as the 20th hijacker.

Zacarias Moussaoui

Buildings surrounding the World Trade Center were heavily damaged by the debris and massive force of the falling twin towers.

Zacarias Moussaoui was reportedly considered as a replacement for Ziad Jarrah, who at one point threatened to withdraw from the scheme because of tensions amongst the plotters. Plans to include Moussaoui were never completed because the al-Qaeda hierarchy allegedly had doubts about his reliability. He was arrested on August 16, 2001, about four weeks before the attacks, ostensibly for an immigration violation, but FBI agents suspected he had violent intentions after receiving flight training earlier that year. In April 2005, Moussaoui pleaded guilty to conspiring to hijack planes, and to involvement with al-Qaeda, but he denies foreknowledge of the 9/11 attacks. Moussaoui, at his sentencing hearing in March 2006, claimed

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that, upon the personal directive of Osama bin Laden, he and Richard Reid were due to hijack a fifth plane and fly it into the White House.

His defense lawyers dismissed this as fantasy on the part of Moussaoui, saying that he was not an operative in al Qaeda, but only a "hanger-on." In a video tape released in May 2006, Osama bin Laden claimed that Moussaoui had "no connection whatsoever with the events of September 11" and that he knows this because "he was responsible for entrusting the 19 brothers" who carried out the attacks. On May 3, 2006, a federal jury rejected the death penalty and sentenced Moussaoui to six life terms in prison without parole.

At Moussaoui's sentencing trial, FBI agent Greg Jones testified that prior to the attacks, he urged his supervisor, Michael Maltbie, "to prevent Zacarias Moussaoui from flying a plane into the World Trade Center." Jones said it had been a "lucky guess." Maltbie had refused to act on 70 requests from another agent, Harry Samit, to obtain a warrant to search Moussaoui's computer.

Potential hijackers denied entry into U.S.

Ramzi Binalshibh allegedly meant to take part in the attacks, but he was repeatedly denied a visa for entry into the U.S. Mohamed al-Kahtani, a Saudi Arabian citizen, may also have been planning to join the hijackers, but U.S. Immigration authorities at Orlando International Airport refused his entry into the U.S. in August 2001. He was later captured in Afghanistan and imprisoned at the U.S. military prison known as Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Other names of potential hijackers

Other al-Qaeda members who may have attempted, but were unable, to take part in the attacks include Saeed al-Ghamdi (not to be confused with the successful hijacker of the same name), Mushabib al-Hamlan, Zakariya Essabar, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, and Tawfiq bin Attash. According to the 9/11 Commission Report, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the attack's mastermind, wanted to remove at least one member—Khalid al-Mihdhar—from the operation, but he was overruled by Osama bin Laden.[

2.2.3 Osama bin Laden ( see annexe 2.2.3 )

On September 27, 2001, the FBI released photos of the 19 hijackers, along with information about the possible nationalities and aliases of many. The FBI investigation into the September 11, 2001 attacks, code named operation PENTTBOM, was the largest and most complex investigation in the history of the FBI, involving over 7,000 special agents. The United States government determined that al-Qaeda, headed by Osama bin Laden, bore responsibility for the attacks, with the FBI stating that evidence linking Al-Qaeda and bin Laden to the attacks of September 11 is clear and irrefutable. The Government of the United Kingdom reached the same conclusion, regarding Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden's culpability for the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Osama bin Laden's declaration of a holy war against the United States, and a Fatwā signed by bin Laden and others calling for the killing of American civilians in 1998, are seen by many as evidence of his motivation to commit such acts.

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Bin Laden initially denied, but later admitted involvement in the incidents. On September 16, 2001, bin Laden denied any involvement with the attacks by reading a statement which was broadcast by Qatar's Al Jazeera satellite channel: "I stress that I have not carried out this act, which appears to have been carried out by individuals with their own motivation." This denial was broadcast on U.S. news networks and worldwide.

In November 2001, U.S. forces recovered a videotape from a destroyed house in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, in which Osama bin Laden is talking to Khaled al-Harbi. In the tape, bin Laden admits foreknowledge of the attacks. The tape was broadcast on various news networks from December 13, 2001.

On December 27, 2001, a second bin Laden video was released. In the video, he stated "Terrorism against America deserves to be praised because it was a response to injustice, aimed at forcing America to stop its support for Israel, which kills our people," but he stopped short of admitting responsibility for the attacks.

Shortly before the U.S. presidential election in 2004, in a taped statement, bin Laden publicly acknowledged al-Qaeda's involvement in the attacks on the U.S, and admitted his direct link to the attacks. He said that the attacks were carried out because, "We are a free people who do not accept injustice, and we want to regain the freedom of our nation."

In a videotape aired on Al Jazeera, on October 30, 2004, bin Laden said he had personally directed the 19 hijackers. In the video, Bin Laden said "we had agreed with the Commander-General Muhammad Atta, Allah have mercy on him, that all the operations should be carried out within 20 minutes, before Bush and his administration notice.Another video obtained by Al Jazeera in September 2006 shows Osama bin Laden with Ramzi Binalshibh, as well as two hijackers, Hamza al-Ghamdi and Wail al-Shehri, as they make preparations for the attacks.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

The idea for the September 11 plot came from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who first presented the idea to Bin Laden in 1996. At that point, Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda were in a period of transition, having just relocated back to Afghanistan from Sudan. The 1998 African Embassy bombings marked a turning point, with Bin Laden intent on attacking the United States. In late 1998 or early 1999, Bin Laden gave approval for Mohammed to go forward with organizing the plot. A series of meetings occurred in spring of 1999, involving Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Osama bin Laden, and his deputy Mohammed Atef.[ Bin Laden provided leadership for the plot, along with financial support. Bin Laden was also involved in selecting people to participate in the plot, including choosing Mohamed Atta as the lead hijacker. Mohammed provided operational support, such as selecting targets and helping arrange travel for the hijackers. Bin Laden overruled Mohammed, rejecting some potential targets such as the U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles.

In a 2002 interview with Al Jazeera journalist Yosri Fouda, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed admitted his involvement, along with Ramzi Binalshibh, in the "Holy Tuesday operation".Mohammed was arrested on March 1, 2003 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan Mohammed ultimately ended up at Guantanamo Bay. During US hearings in March 2007, which have been "widely criticized by lawyers and human rights groups as sham tribunals",Mohammed again confessed his responsibility for the attacks, "I was responsible for the 9/11 operation, from A to Z."

2.2.4 Other Al-Qaeda members

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In "Substitution for Testimony of Khalid Sheik Mohammed" from the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, five people are identified as having been completely aware of the operations details. They are: Osama bin Laden, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi Binalshibh, Abu Turab Al-Urduni and Mohammed Atef.

On September 26, 2005, the Spanish high court directed by judge Baltasar Garzón sentenced Abu Dahdah to 27 years of imprisonment for conspiracy on the 9/11 attacks and as part of the terrorist organization Al Qaeda. At the same time, another 17 Al Qaeda members were sentenced to penalties of between 6 and 12 years. On February 16, 2006, the Spanish Supreme Court reduced the Abu Dahdah penalty to 12 years because it considered that his participation in the conspiracy was not proven.

2.2.5 Motive

The September 11 attacks were consistent with the overall mission statement of al-Qaeda, as set out in a 1998 fatwā issued by Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Ahmed Refai Taha, Mir Hamzah, and Fazlur Rahman. In the fatwa, Bin Laden directed his followers "to kill Americans anywhere".He also outlined his objections to American foreign policy towards Israel, as well as U.S. aggression against the Iraqi people, the ensuing sanctions against Iraq, as well as the continued presence of American troops in Saudi Arabia after the Persian Gulf War. The fatwa also specifically condemns the U.S. for "plundering" the resources of the region, oppressing the people by supporting abusive regimes in the region, and dictating policy to legitimate leaders. It also opposes the presence of U.S. military bases and installations in the region, especially on Muslim holy land, which are used to "threaten" Muslim countries, while fomenting disunity and strife. By a similar token, it decries the continued refusal to address the occupation of Palestine.[111] The fatwa uses Islamic texts to exhort violent action against American military and citizenry until the alleged grievances are reversed, stating "ulema have throughout Islamic history unanimously agreed that the jihad is an individual duty if the enemy destroys the Muslim countries."

Statements of al-Qaeda recorded after 9/11 add weight to the U.S account of who was responsible for the attacks. In a 2004 video, apparently acknowledging responsibility for the attacks, bin Laden states that he was motivated by the 1982 Lebanon War, for which he held the U.S. partially responsible. In the video, bin Laden also claims that he wants to "restore freedom to our nation," to "punish the aggressor in kind," and to inflict economic damage on America. He declared that a continuing objective of his holy war was to "bleed America to the point of bankruptcy." Bin Laden said, "We swore that America would not live in security until we live it truly in Palestine. This showed the reality of America, which puts Israel's interest above its own people's interest. America will not get out of this crisis until it gets out of the Arabian Peninsula, and until it stops its support of Israel."

The 9/11 Commission Report determined that the animosity towards the United States felt by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the "principal architect" of the 9/11 attacks, stemmed "not from his experiences there as a student, but rather from his violent disagreement with U.S. foreign policy favoring Israel." The same motivation was shared by the two pilots who flew into the WTC: Mohamed Atta was described by Ralph Bodenstein—who traveled, worked and talked with him—as "most imbued actually about... U.S. protection of these Israeli politics in the region." "When someone asked why he and Atta never laughed, Shehhi retorted,"How can you laugh when people are dying in Palestine?" Mohammed Atta is described in Lawrence Wright's account to have committed himself to martyrdom in immediate response to the Israeli strikes at the beginning of Operation Grapes of Wrath. Abdulaziz al-Omari, a hijacker aboard Flight 11 with Mohammed Atta, said in his video will, "My work is a message those who heard me and to

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all those who saw me at the same time it is a message to the infidels that you should leave the Arabian peninsula defeated and stop giving a hand of help to the coward Jews in Palestine."

Statements by others

The motives of al-Qaeda have also been extensively analyzed by other parties, including politicians, academics, and media commentators. In a 2001 speech, U.S. President George W. Bush explained the general motivations of the perpetrators as "They hate ... a democratically elected government. ... They hate our freedoms -- our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other."[116] However, this view has been criticized by experts such as Former CIA Bin Laden Unit Chief Michael Scheuer, who explain that "politicians really are at great fault for not squaring with the American people. We're being attacked for what we do in the Islamic world, not for who we are or what we believe in or how we live."

Many of the eventual findings of the 9/11 Commission with respect to motives have been supported by other experts. For instance, Counter-terrorism expert Richard A. Clarke, explains that foreign policy decisions including "confronting Moscow in Afghanistan, inserting the U.S. military in the Persian Gulf," and "strengthening Israel as a base for a southern flank against the Soviets" contributed to al-Qaeda's motives. Others, such as Jason Burke, focus on a more political aspect to the motive, stating that "Bin Laden is an activist with a very clear sense of what he wants and how he hopes to achieve it. Those means may be far outside the norms of political activity [[..]] but his agenda is a basically political one."

A variety of scholarship has also focused on bin Laden's overall strategy as a motive for the attacks. For instance, Peter Bergen argues that the attacks were part of a plan to cause the United States to increase its military and cultural presence in the Middle East, thereby forcing Muslims to confront the "evils" of a non-Muslim government and establish conservative Islamic governments in the region. Michael Scott Doran further emphasizes the "mythic" use of the term "spectacular" in bin Laden's response to the attacks, explaining that he was attempting to provoke a visceral reaction in the Middle East and ensure that Muslim citizens would react as violently as possible to an increase in U.S. involvement in their region

2.3. Reactions

2.3.1 International reaction ( see annexe 2.3.1)

A solitary firefighter stands amid the rubble and smoke in New York City. Days after the Sept. 11 attack, fires still burned at the site of the World Trade Center.

The attacks had major global political ramifications. They were denounced by mainstream media and governments worldwide, with the headline of France's Le Monde newspaper summing up the international mood of sympathy: "We Are All Americans" (Nous sommes tous Américains). The most publicized exception was that some Palestinians celebrated jubilantly upon hearing about 9/11. There was a report by a journalist about public demonstrations of enthusiasm for the attacks conducted by Chinese students in Beijing, China during the night after the attacks. Although the journalist was not in China on the day of 9/11, he reported the event on the 5th anniversary of 9/11 based on accounts he had learned from his sources. Leaders in most Middle Eastern countries, including Afghanistan, condemned the attacks. Iraq was a notable exception, with an immediate official statement that "the American cowboys are reaping the fruit of their crimes against humanity."

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Approximately one month after the attacks, the United States led a broad coalition of international forces in the removal of the Taliban regime for harboring the al-Qaeda organization. The Pakistani authorities moved decisively to align themselves with the United States in a war against the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Pakistan provided the U.S. a number of military airports and bases for its attack on the Taliban regime and arrested over 600 supposed al-Qaeda members, whom it handed over to the U.S.

Numerous countries, including the UK, India, Australia, France, Germany, Indonesia, China, Canada, Russia, Pakistan, Jordan, Mauritius, Uganda and Zimbabwe introduced "anti-terrorism" legislation[128] and froze the bank accountsof businesses and individuals they suspected of having al-Qaeda ties.

Law enforcement and intelligence agencies in a number of countries, including Italy, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines arrested people they labeled terrorist suspects for the stated purpose of breaking up militant cells around the world. In the U.S., this aroused some controversy, as critics such as the Bill of Rights Defense Committee argued that traditional restrictions on federal surveillance (e.g. COINTELPRO's monitoring of public meetings) were "dismantled" by the USA PATRIOT Act; civil liberty organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union and Liberty argued that certain civil rights protections were also being circumvented.

The United States set up a detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to hold what they termed "illegal enemy combatants". The legitimacy of these detentions has been questioned by, among others, the European Parliament,the Organization of American States, and Amnesty International.

In the United Kingdom, outrage swelled in the media when Jo Moore, a special adviser to Transport Secretary Stephen Byers, sent an email to staff an hour after the attacks, but before the towers had collapsed, suggesting that "It is now a very good day to get out anything we want to bury. Councillors' expenses?" Moore faced calls for her resignation, but after apologising and receiving backing from Byers and Downing Street, she remained in her job until February 2002, when a further 'burying bad news' scandal finally led to her resignation.

2.3.2 Public response

The 9/11 attacks had immediate and overwhelming effects upon the people of the United States. Gratitude toward uniformed public-safety workers (dubbed "first responders"), and especially toward firefighters, was widely expressed in light of both the drama of the risks taken on the scene and the high death toll among the workers. Many police officers and rescue workers elsewhere in the country took leaves of absence to travel to New York City to assist in the grim process of recovering bodies from the twisted remnants of the Twin Towers. Blood donations also saw a surge in the weeks after 9/11.

Numerous incidents of harassment and hate crimes were reported against Middle Easterners and other "Middle Eastern-looking" people, particularly Sikhs, due to the fact that Sikh males usually wear turbans, which are stereotypically associated with Muslims in the United States. There were reports of verbal abuse, attacks on mosques and other religious buildings (including the firebombing of a Hindu temple) and assaults on people, including one murder; Balbir Singh Sodhi was fatally shot on September 15. He, like others, was a Sikh who was mistaken for a Muslim.

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Following the attacks, President Bush's job approval rating soared to 86%. On September 20, 2001, the U.S. president spoke before the nation and a joint session of the United States Congress, regarding the events of that day, the intervening nine days of rescue and recovery efforts, and his intent in response to those events. In addition, the highly visible role played by New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani won him high praise nationally and in New York.

2.3.3 Muslim American reaction

Top Muslim organizations in the United States were swift to condemn the attacks on 9/11 and called "upon Muslim Americans to come forward with their skills and resources to help alleviate the sufferings of the affected people and their families". Top organizations include: Islamic Society of North America, American Muslim Alliance, American Muslim Council, Council on American-Islamic Relations, The Islamic Circle of North America, and the Shari'a Scholars Association of North America. In addition to massive monetary donations, many Islamic organizations launched blood drives and provided medical assistance, food, and residence for victims.

Conspiracy theories

Various conspiracy theories have emerged subsequent to the attacks suggesting that individuals inside the United States knew the attacks were coming and deliberately chose not to prevent them, or that individuals outside of the terrorist organization Al Qaeda planned or carried out the attacksThe community of civil engineers generally accepts the mainstream account that the impacts of jets at high speeds in combination with subsequent fires, rather than controlled demolition, led to the collapse of the Twin Towers.

2.4. U.S. Government response

2.4.1 Rescue, recovery, and compensation

The FDNY deployed 200 units (half of the department) to the site, whose efforts were supplemented by numerous off-duty firefighters.

NYPD Emergency Service Units (ESU) and other police personnel, along with numerous EMTs rushed to the scene. NYPD helicopters were soon at the scene, reporting on the status of the burning buildings. Though, FDNY commanders lacked communication with the NYPD, as well as with 9-1-1 dispatchers to provide good situation awareness. FDNY commanders also had difficulties communicating evacuation orders to firefighters inside the towers due to malfunctioning repeater systems in the World Trade Center.

Within hours of the attack, a massive search and rescue (SAR) operation was launched. Initially, only a handful of wounded people were found at the site, and in the weeks that followed it became evident that there were no survivors to be found. Rescue and recovery efforts took months to complete. It took several weeks to simply put out the fires burning in the rubble of the buildings, although there was smoldering and smoke for 99 days, before the fire was completely out. The clean-up was not completed until May 2002. Temporary wooden "viewing platforms"

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were set up for tourists to view construction crews clearing out the gaping holes where the towers once stood. All of these platforms were closed on May 30, 2002.

Many relief funds were immediately set up to assist victims of the attacks, with the task of providing financial assistance to the survivors and the families of victims. By the deadline for victim's compensation, September 11, 2003, 2,833 applications had been received from the families of those killed.

2.4.2 Immediate national response

For the first time in history, all nonemergency civilian aircraft in the United States and several other countries including Canada were immediately grounded, stranding tens of thousands of passengers across the world. Any international flights were closed to American airspace by the Federal Aviation Administration, causing flights to be redirected to other countries, such as Canada.

Contingency plans for the continuity of government and the evacuation of leaders were also implemented almost immediately after the attacks. Congress, however, was not told that the US was under a continuity of government status until February 2002.

2.4.3 The War on Terrorism

In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, the Bush administration declared a war on terrorism, with the stated goals of bringing Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda to justice and preventing the emergence of other terrorist networks. These goals would be accomplished by means including economic and military sanctions against states perceived as harboring terrorists and increasing global surveillance and intelligence sharing. Immediately after the September 11 attacks U.S. officialsspeculated on possible involvement by Saddam Hussein; although unfounded, the association contributed to public acceptance for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The second-biggest operation of the U.S. Global War on Terrorism outside of the United States, and the largest directly connected to terrorism, was the overthrow of the Taliban rule from Afghanistan, by a U.S.-led coalition. The U.S. was not the only nation to increase its military readiness, with other notable examples being the Philippines and Indonesia, countries that have their own internal conflicts with Islamist terrorism.

Because the attacks on the United States were judged to be within the parameters of its charter, NATO declared that Article 5 of the NATO agreement was satisfied on September 12, 2001.[158]

2.4.4 Domestic response

Within the United States, Congress passed and President Bush signed the Homeland Security Act of 2002, creating the Department of Homeland Security, representing the largest restructuring of the U.S. government in contemporary history. Congress passed the USA PATRIOT Act, stating that it would help detect and prosecute terrorism and other crimes. Civil liberties groups have criticized the PATRIOT Act, saying that it allows law enforcement to invade the privacy of citizens and eliminates judicial oversight of law-enforcement and domestic intelligence gathering. The Bush Administration also invoked 9/11 as the reason to initiate a secret National Security Agency operation, "to eavesdrop on telephone and e-mail communications between the United States and people overseas without a warrant.

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Following the attacks, 80,000 Arab and Muslim immigrants were fingerprinted and registered under the Alien Registration Act of 1940. 8,000 Arab and Muslim men were interviewed, and 5,000 foreign nationals were detained under Joint Congressional Resolution 107-40 authorizing the use of military force "to deter and prevent acts of international terrorism against the United States."

2.4.5 Investigations

9/11 Commission

The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Commission), chaired by former New Jersey Governor Thomas Kean, was formed in late 2002 to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the attacks, including preparedness for, and the immediate response to, the attacks. On July 22, 2004, the 9/11 Commission issued the 9/11 Commission Report. The Commission and report have been subject to various forms of criticism, on a number of different bases.

Collapse of the World Trade Center

A federal technical building and fire safety investigation of the collapses of the Twin Towers and 7 WTC has been conducted by the United States Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The goals of this investigation, completed on April 6, 2005, were to investigate the building construction, the materials used, and the technical conditions that contributed to the outcome of the WTC disaster. The investigation was to serve as the basis for:

Improvements in the way in which buildings are designed, constructed, maintained, and used

Improved tools and guidance for industry and safety officials Revisions to building and fire codes, standards, and practices Improved public safety

The report concludes that the fireproofing on the Twin Towers' steel infrastructures was blown off by the initial impact of the planes and that, if this had not occurred, the towers would likely have remained standing. The fires weakened the trusses supporting the floors, making the floors sag. The sagging floors pulled on the exterior steel columns to the point where exterior columns bowed inward. With the damage to the core columns, the buckling exterior columns could no longer support the buildings, causing them to collapse. In addition, the report asserts that the towers' stairwells were not adequately reinforced to provide emergency escape for people above the impact zones. NIST stated that the final report on the collapse of 7 WTC will appear in a separate report. This was confirmed by an independent study by Purdue University.

Although potential improvements were found, Gene Corley, the director of the original investigation, commented that the original towers did quite well overall.

"Our report points out that the towers really did amazingly well," Corley said. "The terrorist aircraft didn’t bring the buildings down; it was the fire which followed. It was proven that you could take out two thirds of the columns in a tower and the building would still stand."

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Nonetheless, additional fireproofing and improvements to stairwells will certainly be priorities for the reconstruction of the towers.

Internal review of the CIA

The Inspector General of the CIA conducted an internal review of the CIA's pre-9/11 performance, and was harshly critical of senior CIA officials for not doing everything possible to confront terrorism, including failing to stop two of the 9/11 hijackers, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, as they entered the United States and failing to share information on the two men with the FBI.

Senators from both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party in May, 2007 drafted legislation that would openly present an internal CIA investigative report. One of the backers, Senator Ron Wyden stated "The American people have a right to know what the Central Intelligence Agency was doing in those critical months before 9/11.... I am going to bulldog this until the public gets it." The report investigates the responsibilities of individual CIA personnel before and after the 9/11 attacks. The report was completed in 2005, but its details have never been released to the public

Chapter III : The effects of the dissaster

3.1. Long-term effects

Economic aftermath

The attacks had a significant economic impact on the United States and world markets. The Federal Reserve temporarily had reduced contact with banks because of outages of switching equipment in the lower NY financial district. Contact and control over the money supply, including immediate liquidity for banks, was restored within hours. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the American Stock Exchange and NASDAQ did not open on September 11 and remained closed until September 17. NYSE facilities and remote data processing sites were not damaged by the attack, but member firms, customers and markets were unable to communicate due to major damage to the telephone exchange facility near the World Trade Center. When the stock markets reopened on September 17, 2001, after the longest closure since the Great Depression in 1929, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (“DJIA”) stock market index fell 684 points, or 7.1%, to 8920, its biggest-ever one-day point decline. By the end of the week, the DJIA had fallen 1,369.7 points (14.3%), its largest one-week point drop in history. U.S. stocks lost $1.2 trillion in value for the week. As of 2007, Wall and Broad Streets near the New York Stock Exchange remained barricaded and guarded to prevent a physical attack upon the building.

The economy of Lower Manhattan, which by itself is the third-largest business district in the United States (after Midtown Manhattan and the Chicago Loop) was devastated in the immediate aftermath. Thirty percent (31.2 million sq ft, 2.7 million m³) of Lower Manhattan office space was either damaged or destroyed. The 41-story Deutsche Bank Building, neighboring the World Trade Center, was subsequently closed because extensive damage made it unfit for habitation or restoration and it was scheduled for demolition. Power, telephone, and gas were cut off in much of Lower Manhattan. People were not permitted to enter the SoHo and

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Lower Manhattan area without extensive inspection. Much of what was destroyed was valuable Class-A space. The pre-2001 trend of moving jobs out of Lower Manhattan to Midtown and New Jersey was accelerated. Many questioned whether these lost jobs would ever be restored, and whether the damaged tax base could ever recover. Economic studies of the effects of 9/11 have confirmed that the impact of the attacks on the Manhattan office market as well as on office employment was more limited than initially expected because of the strong need for face-to-face interaction in the financial services industry.

The rebuilding has been inhibited by a lack of agreement on priorities. For example, Mayor Bloomberg had made New York's bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics the core of his capital development plan from 2002 until mid-2005, and Governor Pataki largely delegated his role to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation which has been widely criticized for doing little with the enormous funding directed to the rebuilding efforts. On the sites of the totally destroyed buildings, one, 7 World Trade Center, has a new office tower which was completed in 2006. The Freedom Tower is currently under construction at the site and at 1,776 ft (541 m) upon completion in 2010, will become the tallest building in North America and one of the tallest in the world. Three more towers are expected to be built between 2007 and 2012 on the site, and will be located one block east of where the original towers stood.

North American air space was closed for several days after the attacks and air travel decreased significantly upon its reopening. The attacks led to nearly a 20% cutback in air travel capacity, and severely exacerbated financial problems in the struggling U.S. airline industry.

Potential health effects

The thousands of tons of toxic debris resulting from the collapse of the Twin Towers consisted of more than 2,500 contaminants, more specifically: 50% nonfibrous material and construction debris; 40% glass and other fibers; 9.2% cellulose; and 0.8% asbestos, lead, and mercury. There were also unprecedented levels of dioxin and PAHs from the fires which burned for three months. Some of the dispersed substances (crystalline silica, lead, cadmium, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) are carcinogenic; other substances can trigger kidney, heart, liver and nervous system deterioration.

This has led to debilitating illnesses among rescue and recovery workers, which many claim to be directly linked to debris exposure. For example, NYPD Officer Frank Macri died of lung cancer that spread throughout his body on September 3, 2007; his family contends the cancer is the result of long hours on the site and they have filed for line-of-duty death benefits, which the City has yet to rule on. Health effects have also extended to some residents, students, and office workers of Lower Manhattan and nearby Chinatown.

On May 24, 2007, for the first time a death was linked to the toxic dust caused by the World Trade Center's collapse. Felicia Dunn-Jones died of lung disease five months after Sept. 11. Dunn-Jones will be listed on the Sept. 11 memorial when it opens in 2009. The death of a retired police detective, James Zadroga, who died in January 2006, has been ruled by the New Jersey medical examiner to be "directly related" to his work at ground zero on and after Sept. 11. His name, as of yet, has not been added to the list of the attack victims, and the New York City medical examiner's office strongly disputed the conclusion.

Legal disputes over the attendant costs of illnesses related to the attacks are still in the court system. On October 17, 2006, federal judge Alvin Hellerstein rejected New York City's refusal to pay for health costs for rescue workers, allowing for the possibility of numerous suits against the city.

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There is also scientific speculation that exposure to various toxic products and the pollutants in the air surrounding the Towers after the WTC collapse may have negative effects on fetal development. Due to this potential hazard, a notable children's environmental health center is currently analyzing the children whose mothers were pregnant during the WTC collapse, and were living or working near the World Trade Center towers. The staff of this study assesses the children using psychological testing every year and interviews the mothers every six months. The purpose of the study is to determine whether there is significant difference in development and health progression of children whose mothers were exposed, versus those who were not exposed after the WTC collapse.

Government officials have been faulted for urging the public to return to lower Manhattan in the weeks shortly following the attacks. U.S. President Bush has been faulted for interfering with the EPA interpretations and pronouncements regarding air quality. Mayor Giuliani has also been criticized for urging financial industry personnel to return to the greater Wall Street area.

3.2. Memorials ( see annexe 3.2 )

In the days immediately following the attacks, many memorials and vigils were held, including candlelight vigils in New York on September 12 and September 14, and a candlelight procession in Washington on September 14. In Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, over 100,000 people attended a memorial service on Parliament Hill, while all across Europe a three-minute silence was held at noon, Central European Time. The United Kingdom paid special homage on September 13, 2001, pausing the changing of the guard for two minutes in silence, then playing the American national anthem.

In addition, pictures were placed all over Ground Zero. Mark Sigmund described it by saying, "In the nearby area, you can’t get away from faces of innocent victims who were killed. Their pictures are everywhere, on phone booths, street lights, walls of subway stations. Everything reminded me of a huge funeral, people quiet and sad, but also very nice. Before, New York gave me a cold feeling; now people were reaching out to help each other.”

Temporary memorials were quickly erected at the three sites, with permanent memorials in the planning stages, or under construction. One of the first was the Tribute in Light, an installation of 88 searchlights at the footprints of the World Trade Center towers which projected two vertical columns of light into the sky. It initially ran from March 11 to April 14, 2002, but has since been re-lit every year on the anniversary of the attacks. In New York, the World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition was held to design an appropriate memorial on the site. The winning design, Reflecting Absence, was selected in August 2006, and consists of a pair of reflecting pools in the footprints of the towers, surrounded by a list of the victims' names in an underground memorial space.Plans for a museum on the site have been put on hold, following the abandonment of the International Freedom Center after criticism from the families of many victims.

At the Pentagon, an outdoor memorial is currently under construction, which will consist of a landscaped park with 184 benches facing the Pentagon. When the Pentagon was rebuilt in 2001-2002, a private chapel and indoor memorial were included, located at the spot where Flight 77 crashed into the building. A temporary memorial is located 500 yards (450 meters) from the Flight 93 crash site near Shanksville. A permanent Flight 93 National Memorial is in planning stages, which will include a sculpted grove of trees forming a circle around the crash site,

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bisected by the plane's path, while wind chimes will bear the names of the victims. Many other permanent memorials are being constructed around the world and a list is being updated as new ones are completed.

In addition to physical monuments, scholarships and charities have been established by the victims' loved ones, along with many other organizations and private figures. Numerous public benefits and concerts have been held to raise money for the families of victims. In addition, the Raoul Wallenberg Award was given to New York City in 2001 "For all of its citizens who searched for the missing, cared for the injured, gave comfort to loved ones of the missing or lost, and provided sustenance and encouragement to those who searched through the rubble at ground zero.

3.3. Film and media

The World Trade Center was an iconic structure and has been featured in numerous films, as well as appearing in many television shows, cartoons, comic books, computer/video games and music videos. The Twin Towers have appeared in popular television shows such as Friends, Sex and the City, New York Undercover, NYPD Blue, the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Mr. Bill Show, The Simpsons and Family Guy. The Twin Towers have also appeared prominently in popular films such as Three Days of the Condor, Escape From New York, Godspell, the 1976 King Kong, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, New Jack City, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Die Hard: With a Vengeance, Daylight, Sleepless in Seattle, The Wiz, Armageddon, Independence Day, Artificial Intelligence (A.I.), Crocodile Dundee and Crocodile Dundee II. The Towers have also been featured in music videos by popular musicians such as Janet Jackson, The Spice Girls, Madonna, Blondie, Linkin Park, Depeche Mode, and Ryan Adams.

The events surrounding September 11 are portrayed in several documentaries and movies, including two major motion pictures made in 2006, Oliver Stone's World Trade Center and Paul Greengrass' United 93. Several movies released shortly after 9/11 digitally erased the Twin Towers from skyline shots, such as Spider-Man (film).As of 2007 most reruns of popular television shows have chosen to leave the Twin Towers in airings of the show such as cut scenes in Friends and episodes of The Simpsons.

In his novel, Underworld (1997), Don DeLillo cites the Towers on several occasions, once even having his protagonist ponder the metaphysical (prescient and eerie) connection between the Towers and the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island (where the debris from the WTC site was taken). In Part 4 of the novel, however, subtitled "Summer 1974," the Center is described as still being under construction.

3.4. Rebuilding the World Trade Center

The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the agency charged with coordinating the reconstruction of the World Trade Center site, selected the master plan, Memory Foundations

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by Daniel Libeskind,[40] which includes the 1,776 ft (541 m) Freedom Tower. The height of 1,776 feet (541 m) was chosen as a reference to the year of American independence. A new 7 World Trade Center office building, which was not part of the site master plan, officially opened on May 23, 2006.

The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation sponsored the World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition, an international design competition for the World Trade Center Memorial in spring 2003. The winning design, Michael Arad and Peter Walker's Reflecting Absence, was chosen in January 2004.

The World Trade Center name will continue to be used as name of the site, as will the New York City Subway and PATH train stations that serve the complex. A temporary PATH station, largely following the layout of the original, is the first part of the complex to have reopened.

On November 22, 2004, New York Governor George Pataki named the living former presidents as honorary members of the board rebuilding the World Trade Center.

On May 18, 2005, Donald Trump, long-time opponent of the Freedom Tower, proposed the Twin Towers II plan to rebuild the Twin Towers with various safety, structural, and technological improvements.

On June 29, 2005, a redesigned Freedom Tower was unveiled which more closely resembled the character of the fallen towers. The new design also boasted several safety improvements over previous proposals.

On December 15, 2005, Sir Norman Foster was announced as the architect who will design the second of five new office towers planned for the site.

On March 13, 2006 workers arrived at the World Trade Center site to remove remaining debris and start surveying work. This marks the official start of construction of the WTC Memorial and Museum.

In April 2006, a tentative agreement was reached by the owner of the site, The Port Authority, and private developer Larry Silverstein. The main elements of that agreement are that Silverstein ceded rights to develop the Freedom Tower and Tower Five in exchange for financing with Liberty Bonds for Tower Two, Three, and Four which are considered to be the most marketable properties of the site. On April 27, 2006, a ground breaking ceremony was held for the Freedom Tower.[

In May 2006, architects Richard Rogers and Fumihiko Maki were announced as the architects for Towers Three and Four, respectively.

The final designs for Towers Two, Three and Four were unveiled on September 7, 2006. Tower Two, or 200 Greenwich Street, will have a roof height of 1,254 feet (382 m) and a 96-foot (29 m) tripod spire for a total of 1,350 feet (411 m). Tower Three, or 175 Greenwich Street will have a roof height of 1,155 feet (352 m) and an antennae height of 1,255 feet (383 m). Tower Four, or 150 Greenwich Street, will have an overall height of 946 feet (288 m).

As of late 2007, work at the World Trade Center site continued. Foundation work has started on the Freedom Tower, Calatrava Hub, and the memorials.

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On June 22, 2007 the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced that JP Morgan Chase will build Tower 5, a 42 story building on Site 5 currently occupied by the Deutsche Bank Building. Kohn Pedersen Fox was officially chosen as the architect for the building on July 17, 2007.

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Annexe

1.1 World Trade Center

1.1a .Design inovations

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2.1 The attacks

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2.2.3 Osama ben Laden

2.3.1 InternationalReactions

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3.2 The Tribute in Light viewed from Jersey City on the anniversary of the attacks in 2004

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