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At 8:46 a.m., Flight 11 was deliberately crashed into the north face of the World Trade Center's North Tower (1 WTC),[122] although the initial presumption by many was that this was merely an accident.[123] At 8:51 a.m., American Airlines Flight 77 was also taken over by another group of five who forcibly entered the cockpit 31 minutes after takeoff.[124] Although the hijackers on this flight were equipped with knives,[125] there were no reports of anyone on board being stabbed, nor did the two people who made phone calls mention the use of mace or a bomb threat.
Seventeen minutes after the first plane crashed into the North Tower, Flight 175 was flown into the South Tower's southern facade (2 WTC)[126] at 9:03 a.m.,[f] demonstrating that the first crash was not an accident, but rather a terrorist attack.[127][128] Four men aboard Flight 93 struck suddenly, killing at least one passenger, after having waited 46 minutes to make their move—a holdup that proved disastrous for the terrorists when combined with the delayed takeoff from the runway;[129] they stormed the cockpit and seized control of the plane at 9:28 a.m., turning the plane eastbound and setting course for Washington, D.C.[130] Much like their counterparts on the first two flights, the fourth team also used bomb threats and filled the cabin with mace.[131] Nine minutes after Flight 93's hijacking, Flight 77 was crashed into the west side of the Pentagon.[132] Because of the two delays,[133] the passengers and crew of Flight 93 had time to be made aware of the previous attacks through phone calls to the ground, and as a result an uprising was hastily organized to take control of the aircraft at 9:57 a.m.[134] Within minutes, passengers had fought their way to the front of the cabin and began breaking down the cockpit door.
Fearing their captives would gain the upper hand, the hijackers rolled the plane and pitched it into a nosedive,[135][136] crashing into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh, at 10:03 a.m. The plane was about twenty minutes away from reaching D.C. at the time of the crash, and its target is believed to have been either the Capitol Building or the White House.[113][134] Some passengers and crew members who called from the aircraft using the cabin air phone service and mobile phones provided details: several hijackers were aboard each plane; they used mace, tear gas, or pepper spray to overcome attendants; and some people aboard had been stabbed.[137] Reports indicated hijackers stabbed and killed pilots, flight attendants, and one or more passengers.[112][138] According to the 9/11 Commission's final report, the hijackers had recently purchased multi-function hand tools and assorted Leatherman-type utility knives with locking blades (which were not forbidden to passengers at the time), but these were not found among the possessions left behind by the hijackers.[139][140] A flight attendant on Flight 11, a passenger on Flight 175, and passengers on Flight 93 said the hijackers had bombs, but one of the passengers said he thought the bombs were fake.
The FBI found no traces of explosives at the crash sites, and the 9/11 Commission concluded that the bombs were probably fake.[112] On at least two of the hijacked flights—American 11 and United 93—the terrorists claimed over the PA system that they were taking hostages and were returning to the airport to have a ransom demand met, a clear attempt to prevent passengers from fighting back.
Both attempts failed, however, as both hijacker pilots in these instances (Mohamed Atta[141] and Ziad Jarrah,[142] respectively) keyed the wrong switch and mistakenly transmitted their messages to ATC instead of the people on the plane as intended, tipping off the flight controllers that the planes had been hijacked.
Three buildings in the World Trade Center collapsed due to fire-induced structural failure.
Although the South Tower was struck 17 minutes after the North Tower, the plane's impact zone was far lower, at a much faster speed, and into a corner, with the unevenly-balanced additional structural weight causing it to collapse first at 9:59 a.m.,[144]: 80 [145]: 322 having burned for 56 minutes[h] in the fire caused by the crash of United Airlines Flight 175 and the explosion of its fuel.
The North Tower lasted another 29 minutes before collapsing at 10:28 a.m.,[i] one hour and forty-two minutes[g] after being struck by American Airlines Flight 11.
When the North Tower collapsed, debris fell on the nearby 7 World Trade Center building (7 WTC), damaging the building and starting fires.
These fires burned for nearly seven hours, compromising the building's structural integrity, and 7 WTC collapsed at 5:21 p.m.[149][150] The west side of the Pentagon sustained significant damage.
At 9:42 a.m., the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded all civilian aircraft within the continental U.S., and civilian aircraft already in flight were told to land immediately.[151] All international civilian aircraft were either turned back or redirected to airports in Canada or Mexico, and were banned from landing on United States territory for three days.[152] The attacks created widespread confusion among news organizations and air traffic controllers.
Among unconfirmed and often contradictory news reports aired throughout the day, one of the most prevalent claimed a car bomb had been detonated at the U.S. State Department's headquarters in Washington, D.C.[153] Another jet (Delta Air Lines Flight 1989) was suspected of having been hijacked, but the aircraft responded to controllers and landed safely in Cleveland, Ohio.[154] In an April 2002 interview, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Ramzi bin al-Shibh, who are believed to have organized the attacks, said Flight 93's intended target was the United States Capitol, not the White House.[155] During the planning stage of the attacks, Mohamed Atta (Flight 11's hijacker and pilot) thought the White House might be too tough a target and sought an assessment from Hani Hanjour (who hijacked and piloted Flight 77).[156] Mohammed said al-Qaeda initially planned to target nuclear installations rather than the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, but decided against it, fearing things could "get out of control".[157] Final decisions on targets, according to Mohammed, were left in the hands of the pilots.[156] If any pilot could not reach his intended target, he was to crash the plane.[113] The attack on the World Trade Center's North Tower single-handedly[j] made 9/11 the deadliest act of terrorism in world history.[160] Taken together, the four crashes caused the deaths of 2,996 people (including the hijackers) and injured thousands more.[161] The death toll included 265 on the four planes (from which there were no survivors); 2,606 in the World Trade Center and in the surrounding area; and 125 at The Pentagon.[162][163] Most who died were civilians, as well as 343 firefighters, 72 law enforcement officers, 55 military personnel, and the 19 terrorists.[164][165] After New York, New Jersey lost the most state citizens.[166] More than 90 countries lost citizens in the attacks.[167] In New York City, more than 90% of the workers and visitors who died in the towers had been at or above the points of impact.
In the North Tower, between 1,344[168] and 1,402[169] people were at, above or one floor below the point of impact and all died.
Hundreds were killed instantly the moment the plane struck.[170] The estimated 800 people[171] who survived the impact were trapped and died in the fires or from smoke inhalation; fell or jumped from the tower to escape the smoke and flames; or were killed in the building's collapse.
The destruction of all three staircases in the North Tower when Flight 11 hit made it impossible for anyone from the impact zone upward to escape.
107 people not trapped by the impact died.[172] When the plane struck between floors 93 and 99, the 92nd floor was also rendered inescapable when the crash severed all elevator shafts while debris falling from the impact zone blocked the stairwells, ensuring the deaths of all 69 workers on the floor below the point of impact.
In the South Tower, around 600 people were on or above the 77th floor when Flight 175 struck and few survived.
As with the North Tower, hundreds were killed at the moment of impact.
Unlike those in the North Tower, the estimated 300 survivors[171] of the crash were not technically trapped by the damage done by Flight 175's impact, but most were either unaware that a means of escape still existed or were unable to use it.
One stairway, Stairwell A, narrowly avoided being destroyed as Flight 175 crashed through the building, allowing 14 people located on the floors of impact (including Stanley Praimnath, a man who saw the plane coming at him) and four more from the floors above to escape.
New York City 9-1-1 operators who received calls from people inside the tower were not well informed of the situation as it rapidly unfolded and as a result, told callers not to descend the tower on their own.[173] In total, 630 people died in the South Tower, fewer than half the number killed in the North Tower.[172] Of the 100–200 people witnessed jumping or falling to their deaths that morning,[174] only three recorded sightings were from the South Tower.[175]: 86 Casualties in the South Tower were significantly reduced because some occupants decided to leave the building immediately following the first crash, and because Eric Eisenberg, an executive at AON Insurance, made the decision to evacuate the floors occupied by AON (floors 92 and 98–105) in the moments following the impact of Flight 11.
The 17-minute gap allowed over 900 of the 1,100 AON employees present on-site to evacuate from above the 77th floor before the South Tower was struck; Eisenberg was among the nearly 200 who did not escape.
Similar pre-impact evacuations were carried out by companies such as Fiduciary Trust, CSC, and Euro Brokers, all of whom had offices on floors above the point of impact.
The failure to order a full evacuation of the South Tower after the first plane crash into the North Tower was described by USA Today as "one of the day's great tragedies".[176] As exemplified in the photograph The Falling Man, more than 200 people fell to their deaths from the burning towers, most of whom were forced to jump in order to escape the extreme heat, fire and smoke.[177] Some occupants of each tower above the point of impact made their way toward the roof in the hope of helicopter rescue, but the roof access doors were locked.[178] No plan existed for helicopter rescues, and the combination of roof equipment, thick smoke and intense heat prevented helicopters from approaching.[179] At the World Trade Center complex, a total of 414 emergency workers died as they tried to rescue people and fight fires, while another law enforcement officer was separately killed when United 93 crashed.
The New York City Fire Department (FDNY) lost 343 firefighters, including a chaplain and two paramedics.[180][181][182] The New York City Police Department (NYPD) lost 23 officers.[183] The Port Authority Police Department (PAPD) lost 37 officers.[184] Eight emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and paramedics from private emergency medical services (EMS) units were killed.[185] Almost all of the emergency personnel who died at the scene that day were killed as a result of the towers collapsing, with the exception of one who was struck by a civilian falling from the upper floors of the South Tower.[186] Cantor Fitzgerald L.P. (an investment bank on the North Tower's 101st–105th floors) lost 658 employees, considerably more than any other employer.[187] Marsh Inc., located immediately below Cantor Fitzgerald on floors 93–100, lost 358 employees,[188][189] and 175 employees of Aon Corporation were also killed.[190] The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) estimated that about 17,400 civilians were in the World Trade Center complex at the time of the attacks.
Turnstile counts from the Port Authority suggest 14,154 people were typically in the Twin Towers by 8:45 a.m.[191][page needed][192] Most people below the impact zone safely evacuated the buildings.[193] In Arlington County, Virginia, 125 Pentagon workers died when Flight 77 crashed into the building's western side.
70 were civilians and 55 were military personnel, many of whom worked for the United States Army or the United States Navy.
The Army lost 47 civilian employees; six civilian contractors; and 22 soldiers, while the Navy lost six civilian employees; three civilian contractors; and 33 sailors.
Seven Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) civilian employees died, and one Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) contractor.[194][195][196] Lieutenant General Timothy Maude, an Army Deputy Chief of Staff, was the highest-ranking military official killed at the Pentagon.[197] Weeks after the attack, the death toll was estimated to be over 6,000, more than twice the number of deaths eventually confirmed.[198] The city was only able to identify remains for about 1,600 of the World Trade Center victims.
The medical examiner's office collected "about 10,000 unidentified bone and tissue fragments that cannot be matched to the list of the dead".[199] Bone fragments were still being found in 2006 by workers who were preparing to demolish the damaged Deutsche Bank Building.
In 2010, a team of anthropologists and archaeologists searched for human remains and personal items at the Fresh Kills Landfill, where 72 more human remains were recovered, bringing the total found to 1,845.
DNA profiling continues in an attempt to identify additional victims.[200][201][202] The remains are being held in storage in Memorial Park, outside the New York City Medical Examiner's facilities.
It was expected that the remains would be moved in 2013 to a repository behind a wall at the 9/11 museum.[needs update][203] In July 2011, a team of scientists at the Office of Chief Medical Examiner continued efforts to identify remains, in the hope that improved technology will allow them to identify other victims.[202] In August 2017, the 1,641st victim was identified as a result of newly available DNA technology,[204] and a 1,642nd during July 2018.[205] Three more victims were identified in October 2019,[206] two in September 2021[207] and an additional two in September 2023.[208] As of September 2023, 1,104 victims remain unidentified,[208] amounting to 40% of the deaths in the World Trade Center attacks.[207] On September 25, 2023, the FDNY reported that with the death of EMT Hilda Vannata and retired firefighter Robert Fulco, marking the 342nd and 343rd deaths from 9/11-related illnesses, the department had now lost the same number of firefighters, EMTs, and civilian members to 9/11-related illnesses as it did on the day of the attacks.[209][210] Along with the 110-floor Twin Towers, numerous other buildings at the World Trade Center site were destroyed or badly damaged, including WTC buildings 3 through 7 and St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church.[211] The North Tower, South Tower, the Marriott Hotel (3 WTC), and 7 WTC were destroyed.
The U.S. Customs House (6 World Trade Center), 4 World Trade Center, 5 World Trade Center, and both pedestrian bridges connecting buildings were severely damaged.
The Deutsche Bank Building (still popularly referred to as the Bankers Trust Building) on 130 Liberty Street was partially damaged and demolished some years later, starting in 2007.[212][213] The two buildings of the World Financial Center also suffered damage.[212] The last fires at the World Trade Center site were extinguished on December 20, exactly 100 days after the attacks.[214] The Deutsche Bank Building across Liberty Street from the World Trade Center complex was later condemned as uninhabitable because of toxic conditions inside the office tower, and was deconstructed.[215][216] The Borough of Manhattan Community College's Fiterman Hall at 30 West Broadway was condemned due to extensive damage from the attacks, and then reopened in 2012.[217] Other neighboring buildings (including 90 West Street and the Verizon Building) suffered major damage but have been restored.[218] World Financial Center buildings, One Liberty Plaza, the Millenium Hilton, and 90 Church Street had moderate damage and have since been restored.[219] Communications equipment on top of the North Tower was also destroyed, with only WCBS-TV maintaining a backup transmitter on the Empire State Building, but media stations were quickly able to reroute the signals and resume their broadcasts.[211][220] The PATH train system's World Trade Center station was located under the complex.
As a result, the station was demolished when the towers collapsed, and the tunnels leading to Exchange Place station in Jersey City, New Jersey, were flooded with water.[221] The station was rebuilt as the $4 billion World Trade Center Transportation Hub, which reopened in March 2015.[222][223] The Cortlandt Street station on the New York City Subway's IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line was also in close proximity to the World Trade Center complex, and the entire station, along with the surrounding track, was reduced to rubble.[224] The latter station was rebuilt and reopened to the public on September 8, 2018.[225] The Pentagon was extensively damaged by the impact of American Airlines Flight 77 and the ensuing fires, causing one section of the building to collapse.[226] As the airplane approached the Pentagon, its wings knocked down light poles and its right engine hit a power generator before crashing into the western side of the building.[227][228] The plane hit the Pentagon at the first-floor level.
The front part of the fuselage disintegrated on impact, while the mid and tail sections kept moving for another fraction of a second.[229] Debris from the tail section penetrated the furthest into the building, breaking through 310 feet (94 m) of the three outermost of the building's five rings.[229][230] The New York City Fire Department (FDNY) deployed more than 200 units (approximately half of the department) to the World Trade Center.[231] Their efforts were supplemented by numerous off-duty firefighters and emergency medical technicians.[232][231][233] The New York City Police Department (NYPD) sent its Emergency Service Units and other police personnel and deployed its aviation unit.[234] The NYPD aviation unit assessed the situation and decided that helicopter rescues from the towers were not feasible.[235] Numerous police officers of the Port Authority Police Department (PAPD) also participated in rescue efforts.[236] Once on the scene, the FDNY, the NYPD, and the PAPD did not coordinate efforts and performed redundant searches for civilians.[232][237] As conditions deteriorated, the NYPD aviation unit relayed information to police commanders, who issued orders for personnel to evacuate the towers; most NYPD officers were able to safely evacuate before the buildings collapsed.[237][238] With separate command posts set up and incompatible radio communications between the agencies, warnings were not passed along to FDNY commanders.[239] After the first tower collapsed, FDNY commanders issued evacuation warnings.
Due to technical difficulties with malfunctioning radio repeater systems, many firefighters never heard the evacuation orders.
9-1-1 dispatchers also received information from callers that was not passed along to commanders on the scene.[231] The 9/11 attacks resulted in immediate responses to the event, including domestic reactions; closings and cancellations; hate crimes; Muslim-American responses to the event; international responses to the attack; and military responses to the events.
Shortly after the attacks, a U.S. government fund that was created by an Act of Congress named the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.[240][241] The purpose of the fund was to compensate the victims of the attacks and their families with the quid pro quo of their agreement not to file lawsuits against the airline corporations involved.[242] Legislation authorizes the fund to disburse a maximum of $7.375 billion, including operational and administrative costs, of U.S. government funds.[243] The fund was set to expire by 2020 but was in 2019 prolonged to allow claims to be filed until October 2090.[244][245] At 8:32 a.m., FAA officials were notified Flight 11 had been hijacked and they, in turn, notified the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
NORAD scrambled two F-15s from Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts and they were airborne by 8:53 a.m. Because of slow and confused communication from FAA officials, NORAD had nine minutes' notice, and no notice about any of the other flights before they crashed.
After both of the Twin Towers had already been hit, more fighters were scrambled from Langley Air Force Base in Virginia at 9:30 a.m.[246] At 10:20 a.m., Vice President Dick Cheney issued orders to shoot down any commercial aircraft that could be positively identified as being hijacked.
These instructions were not relayed in time for the fighters to take action.[246][247][248] Some fighters took to the air without live ammunition, knowing that to prevent the hijackers from striking their intended targets, the pilots might have to intercept and crash their fighters into the hijacked planes, possibly ejecting at the last moment.[249] For the first time in U.S. history, the emergency preparedness plan called Security Control of Air Traffic and Air Navigation Aids (SCATANA) was invoked,[250] thus stranding tens of thousands of passengers across the world.[251] Ben Sliney, in his first day as the National Operations Manager of the FAA,[252] ordered that American airspace would be closed to all international flights, causing about 500 flights to be turned back or redirected to other countries.
Canada received 226 of the diverted flights and launched Operation Yellow Ribbon to deal with the large numbers of grounded planes and stranded passengers.[253] The 9/11 attacks had immediate effects on the American people.[254] Police and rescue workers from around the country took a leave of absence from their jobs and traveled to New York City to help recover bodies from the twisted remnants of the Twin Towers.[255] Blood donations across the U.S. surged in the weeks after 9/11.[256][257] The deaths of adults in the attacks resulted in over 3,000 children losing a parent.[258] Subsequent studies documented children's reactions to these actual losses and to feared losses of life, the protective environment in the attacks' aftermath, and the effects on surviving caregivers.[259][260][261] Following the attacks, President George W.
Bush's approval rating increased to 90%.[262] On September 20, 2001, he addressed the nation and a joint session of Congress regarding the events of September 11 and the subsequent nine days of rescue and recovery efforts, and described his intended response to the attacks.
New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani's highly visible role resulted in praise in New York and nationally.[263] Many relief funds were immediately set up to assist the attacks' victims, with the task of providing financial assistance to the survivors of the attacks and to the victims' families.
By the deadline for victims' compensation on September 11, 2003, 2,833 applications had been received from the families of those who were killed.[264] Contingency plans for the continuity of government and the evacuation of leaders were implemented soon after the attacks.[251] Congress was not told that the United States had been under a continuity of government status until February 2002.[265] In the largest restructuring of the U.S. government in contemporary history, the United States enacted the Homeland Security Act of 2002, creating the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Congress also passed the USA PATRIOT Act, saying it would help detect and prosecute terrorism and other crimes.[266] Civil liberties groups have criticized the PATRIOT Act, saying it allows law enforcement to invade citizens' privacy and that it eliminates judicial oversight of law enforcement and domestic intelligence.[267][268][269] In an effort to effectively combat future acts of terrorism, the National Security Agency (NSA) was given broad powers.
NSA commenced warrantless surveillance of telecommunications, which was sometimes criticized as permitting the agency "to eavesdrop on telephone and e-mail communications between the United States and people overseas without a warrant".[270] In response to requests by various intelligence agencies, the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court permitted an expansion of powers by the U.S. government in seeking, obtaining, and sharing information on U.S. citizens as well as non-U.S. people from around the world.[271] Six days after the attacks, President Bush made a public appearance at Washington, D.C.'s largest Islamic Center and acknowledged the "incredibly valuable contribution" that millions of American Muslims made to their country and called for them "to be treated with respect".[272] Numerous incidents of harassment and hate crimes against Muslims and South Asians were reported in the days following the attacks.[273][274][275] Sikhs were also subject to targeting due to the use of turbans in the Sikh faith, which are stereotypically associated with Muslims.
There were reports of attacks on mosques and other religious buildings (including the firebombing of a Hindu temple), and assaults on individuals, including one murder: Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh mistaken for a Muslim, who was fatally shot on September 15, 2001, in Mesa, Arizona.[275] Two dozen members of Osama bin Laden's family were urgently evacuated out of the country on a private charter plane under FBI supervision three days after the attacks.[276] According to an academic study, people perceived to be Middle Eastern were as likely to be victims of hate crimes as followers of Islam during this time.
The study also found a similar increase in hate crimes against people who may have been perceived as Muslims, Arabs, and others thought to be of Middle Eastern origin.[277] A report by the South Asian American advocacy group known as South Asian Americans Leading Together documented media coverage of 645 bias incidents against Americans of South Asian or Middle Eastern descent between September 11 and 17, 2001.
Various crimes such as vandalism, arson, assault, shootings, harassment, and threats in numerous places were documented.[278][279] Women wearing hijab were also targeted.[280] A poll of Arab-Americans, conducted in May 2002, found that 20% had personally experienced discrimination since September 11.
A July 2002 poll of Muslim Americans found that 48% believed their lives had changed for the worse since September 11, and 57% had experienced an act of bias or discrimination.[280] Following the September 11 attacks, many Pakistani Americans identified themselves as Indians to avoid potential discrimination and obtain jobs (Pakistan was created as a result of the partition of India in 1947).[281] By May 2002, there were 488 complaints of employment discrimination reported to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
301 of those were complaints from people fired from their jobs.
Similarly, by June 2002, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) had investigated 111 September 11th-related complaints from airline passengers purporting that their religious or ethnic appearance caused them to be singled out at security screenings.
DOT investigated an additional 31 complaints from people who alleged they were completely blocked from boarding airplanes on the same grounds.[280] Muslim organizations in the United States were swift to condemn the attacks 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".[282] These organizations included the Islamic Society of North America, American Muslim Alliance, American Muslim Council, Council on American-Islamic Relations, Islamic Circle of North America, and the Shari'a Scholars Association of North America.
Along with monetary donations, many Islamic organizations launched blood drives and provided medical assistance, food, and shelter for victims.[283][284][285] Curiosity about Islam increased after the attacks.
As a result, many mosques and Islamic centers began holding open houses and participating in outreach efforts to educate non-Muslims about the faith.
In the first 10 years after the attacks, interfaith community service increased from 8 to 20 percent and the percentage of U.S. congregations involved in interfaith worship doubled from 7 to 14 percent.[286] The attacks were denounced by mass media and governments worldwide.
Across the globe, nations offered pro-American support and solidarity.[287] Leaders in most Middle Eastern countries, as well as Libya and 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".[288] The government of Saudi Arabia officially condemned the attacks, but privately many Saudis favored bin Laden's cause.[289][290] Although Palestinian Authority (PA) president Yasser Arafat also condemned the attacks, there were reports of celebrations of disputed size in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem.[291][292] Palestinian leaders discredited news broadcasters that justified the attacks or showed celebrations,[293] and the Authority claimed such celebrations do not represent the Palestinians' sentiment, adding that it would not allow "a few kids" to "smear the real face of the Palestinians".[294][295] Footage by CNN[vague] and other news outlets were suggested by a report originating at a Brazilian university to be from 1991; this was later proven to be a false accusation, resulting in a statement being issued by CNN.[296][297] As in the United States, the aftermath of the attacks saw tensions increase in other countries between Muslims and non-Muslims.[298] United Nations Security Council Resolution 1368 condemned the attacks and expressed readiness to take all necessary steps to respond and combat all forms of terrorism in accordance with their Charter.[299] Numerous countries introduced anti-terrorism legislation and froze bank accounts they suspected of al-Qaeda ties.[300][301] Law enforcement and intelligence agencies in a number of countries arrested alleged terrorists.[302][303] British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Britain stood "shoulder to shoulder" with the United States.[304] A few days later, Blair flew to Washington, D.C., to affirm British solidarity with the United States.
In a speech to Congress nine days after the attacks, which Blair attended as a guest, President Bush declared "America has no truer friend than Great Britain".[305] Subsequently, Prime Minister Blair embarked on two months of diplomacy to rally international support for military action; he held 54 meetings with world leaders and traveled more than 40,000 miles (60,000 km).[306] The U.S. set up the Guantanamo Bay detention camp to hold inmates they defined as "illegal enemy combatants".
The legitimacy of these detentions has been questioned by the European Union and human rights organizations.[307][308][309] On September 25, 2001, Iran's fifth president, Mohammad Khatami, meeting British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, said: "Iran fully understands the feelings of the Americans about the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on September 11".
He said although the American administrations had been at best indifferent about terrorist operations in Iran (since 1979), the Iranians felt differently and had expressed their sympathetic feelings with bereaved Americans in the tragic incidents in the two cities.
He also stated that "Nations should not be punished in place of terrorists".[310] According to Radio Farda's website, when the news of the attacks was released, some Iranian citizens gathered in front of the Embassy of Switzerland in Tehran, which serves as the protecting power of the United States in Iran (U.S. interests-protecting office in Iran), to express their sympathy, and some of them lit candles as a symbol of mourning.
This piece of news at Radio Farda's website also states that in 2011, on the anniversary of the attacks, the United States Department of State published a post at its blog, in which the Department thanked the Iranian people for their sympathy and stated that it would never forget Iranian people's kindness on those harsh days.[311] After the attacks, both the President[312][313] and the Supreme Leader of Iran, condemned the attacks.
The BBC and Time magazine published reports on holding candlelit vigils for the victims by Iranian citizens on their websites.[314][315] According to Politico Magazine, following the attacks, Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, "suspended the usual 'Death to America' chants at Friday prayers" temporarily.[316] In September 2001, shortly after the attacks, some fans of AEK Athens burned an Israeli flag and unsuccessfully tried to burn an American flag.
Though the American flag did not catch fire, the fans booed during a moment of silence for victims of the attacks.[317] At 2:40 p.m. on September 11, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was issuing rapid orders to his aides to look for evidence of Iraqi involvement.
According to notes taken by senior policy official Stephen Cambone, Rumsfeld asked for, "Best info fast.
Judge whether good enough hit S.H. [Saddam Hussein] at same time.
Not only UBL" [Osama bin Laden].[318] Cambone's notes quoted Rumsfeld as saying, "Need to move swiftly – Near term target needs – go massive – sweep it all up.
Things related and not".[319][320] In a meeting at Camp David on September 15 the Bush administration rejected the idea of attacking Iraq in response to the September 11 attacks.[321] Nonetheless, they later invaded the country with allies, citing "Saddam Hussein's support for terrorism".[322] At the time, as many as seven in ten Americans believed the Iraqi president played a role in the 9/11 attacks.[323] Three years later, Bush conceded that he had not.[324] The NATO council declared that the terrorist attacks on the United States were an attack on all NATO nations that satisfied Article 5 of the NATO charter.
This marked the first invocation of Article 5, which had been written during the Cold War with an attack by the Soviet Union in mind.[325] Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who was in Washington, D.C., during the attacks, invoked Article IV of the ANZUS treaty.[326] The Bush administration announced a war on terror, with the stated goals of bringing bin Laden and al-Qaeda to justice and preventing the emergence of other terrorist networks.[327] These goals would be accomplished by imposing economic and military sanctions against states harboring terrorists, and increasing global surveillance and intelligence sharing.[328] On September 14, 2001, the U.S. Congress passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists.
It is still in effect, and grants the President the authority to use all "necessary and appropriate force" against those whom he determined "planned, authorized, committed or aided" the September 11 attacks or who harbored said persons or groups.[329] On October 7, 2001, the War in Afghanistan began when U.S. and British forces initiated aerial bombing campaigns targeting Taliban and al-Qaeda camps, then later invaded Afghanistan with ground troops of the Special Forces.[citation needed] This eventually led to the overthrow of the Taliban's rule of Afghanistan with the Fall of Kandahar on December 7, 2001, by U.S.-led coalition forces.[330] Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who went into hiding in the White Mountains, was targeted by U.S. coalition forces in the Battle of Tora Bora,[331] but he escaped across the Pakistani border and would remain out of sight for almost ten years.[331] In an interview with Tayseer Allouni in 21 October 2001, Bin Laden stated: "The events proved the extent of terrorism that America exercises in the world.
Bush stated that the world has to be divided in two: Bush and his supporters, and any country that doesn't get into the global crusade is with the terrorists.
What terrorism is clearer than this?
Many governments were forced to support this "new terrorism."..
America wouldn't 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 won't get out of this crisis until it gets out of the Arabian Peninsula, and until it stops its support of Israel.[332] The Philippines and Indonesia, among other nations with their own internal conflicts with Islamic terrorism, also increased their military readiness.[333][334] The military forces of the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran cooperated with each other to overthrow the Taliban regime, which had had conflicts with the government of Iran.[316][335] Iran's Quds Force helped U.S. forces and Afghan rebels in the 2001 uprising in Herat.[336][337][338] Hundreds of thousands of tons of toxic debris containing more than 2,500 contaminants and known carcinogens were spread across Lower Manhattan when the Twin Towers' collapsed.[341][342] Exposure to the toxins in the debris is alleged to have contributed to fatal or debilitating illnesses among people who were at Ground Zero.[343][344] The Bush administration ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue reassuring statements regarding air quality in the aftermath of the attacks, citing national security, but the EPA did not determine that air quality had returned to pre-September 11 levels until June 2002.[345] Health effects extended to residents, students, and office workers of Lower Manhattan and nearby Chinatown.[346] Several deaths have been linked to the toxic dust, and victims' names were included in the World Trade Center memorial.[347] Approximately 18,000 people have been estimated to have developed illnesses as a result of the toxic dust.[348] There is also scientific speculation that exposure to various toxic products in the air may have negative effects on fetal development.[citation needed] A study of rescue workers released in April 2010 found that all those studied had impaired lung functions, and that 30%–40% were reporting little or no improvement in persistent symptoms that started within the first year of the attack.[349] Years after the attacks, legal disputes over the costs of illnesses related to the attacks were still in the court system.
On October 17, 2006, a federal judge rejected New York City's refusal to pay for health costs for rescue workers, allowing for the possibility of numerous suits against the city.[350] Government officials have been faulted for urging the public to return to lower Manhattan in the weeks shortly after the attacks.
Christine Todd Whitman, administrator of the EPA in the attacks' aftermath, was heavily criticized by a U.S. District Judge for incorrectly saying that the area was environmentally safe.[351] Mayor Giuliani was criticized for urging financial industry personnel to return quickly to the greater Wall Street area.[352] On December 22, 2010, the United States Congress passed the James L.
Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, which President Barack Obama signed into law on January 2, 2011.
It allocated $4.2 billion to create the World Trade Center Health Program, which provides testing and treatment for people suffering from long-term health problems related to the 9/11 attacks.[353][354] The WTC Health Program replaced preexisting 9/11-related health programs such as the Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program and the WTC Environmental Health Center program.[354] In 2020, the NYPD confirmed that 247 NYPD police officers had died due to 9/11-related illnesses.
In September 2022, the FDNY confirmed that the total number of firefighters that died due to 9/11-related illnesses was 299.
Both agencies believe that the death toll will rise dramatically in the coming years.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department (PAPD), the law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over the World Trade Center due to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey owning the site confirmed that four of its police officers have died of 9/11-related illnesses.
The chief of the PAPD at the time, Joseph Morris, made sure that industrial-grade respirators were provided to all PAPD police officers within 48 hours and decided that the same 30 to 40 police officers would be stationed at the World Trade Center pile, drastically lowering the number of total PAPD personnel who would be exposed to the air.
The FDNY and NYPD had rotated hundreds, if not thousands, of different personnel from all over New York City to the pile, which exposed many of them to dust that would give them cancer or other diseases years or decades later.
Also, they weren't given adequate respirators and breathing equipment that could have prevented future diseases.[355][356][357][358] The attacks had a significant economic impact on United States and world markets.[359][360] The stock exchanges did not open on September 11 and remained closed until September 17.
Reopening, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) fell 684 points, or 7.1%, to 8921, a record-setting one-day point decline.[361] By the end of the week, the DJIA had fallen 1,369.7 points (14.3%), at the time its largest one-week point drop in history.
In 2001 dollars, U.S. stocks lost $1.4 trillion in valuation for the week.[362] In New York City, about 430,000 job-months and $2.8 billion in wages were lost in the first three months after the attacks.
The economic effects were mainly on the economy's export sectors.[363][364][365] The city's GDP was estimated to have declined by $27.3 billion for the last three months of 2001 and all of 2002.
The U.S. government provided $11.2 billion in immediate assistance to the Government of New York City in September 2001, and $10.5 billion in early 2002 for economic development and infrastructure needs.[366] Also hurt were small businesses in Lower Manhattan near the World Trade Center (18,000 of which were destroyed or displaced), resulting in lost jobs and wages.
Assistance was provided by Small Business Administration loans; federal government Community Development Block Grants; and Economic Injury Disaster Loans.[366] Some 31,900,000 square feet (2,960,000 m2) of Lower Manhattan office space was damaged or destroyed.[367] Many wondered whether these jobs would return, and if the damaged tax base would recover.[368] Studies of 9/11's economic effects show the Manhattan office real-estate market and office employment were less affected than first feared, because of the financial services industry's need for face-to-face interaction.[369][370] North American air space was closed for several days after the attacks and air travel decreased upon its reopening, leading to a nearly 20% cutback in air travel capacity, and exacerbating financial problems in the struggling U.S. airline industry.[371] The September 11 attacks also led to the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq,[372] as well as additional homeland security spending, totaling at least $5 trillion.[373] If there are Americans clamoring to bomb Afghanistan back to the Stone Age, they ought to know that this nation does not have so far to go.
This is a post-apocalyptic place of felled cities, parched land and downtrodden people.
— Barry Bearak, The New York Times, September 13, 2001[374] Most of the Afghan population was already going hungry at the time of the September 11 attacks.[375] In the aftermath of the attacks, tens of thousands of people attempted to flee Afghanistan due to the possibility of military retaliation by the United States.
Pakistan, already home to many Afghan refugees from previous conflicts, closed its border with Afghanistan on September 17, 2001.[376] Thousands of Afghans also fled to the frontier with Tajikistan, although were denied entry.[377] The Taliban leaders in Afghanistan themselves pleaded against military action, saying "We appeal to the United States not to put Afghanistan into more misery because our people have suffered so much", referring to two decades of conflict and the humanitarian crisis attached to it.[374] All United Nations expatriates had left Afghanistan after the attacks and no national or international aid workers were at their post.
Workers were instead preparing in bordering countries like Pakistan, China and Uzbekistan to prevent a potential "humanitarian catastrophe", amid a critically low food stock for the Afghan population.[378] The World Food Programme stopped importing wheat to Afghanistan on September 12 due to security risks.[379] The Wall Street Journal suggested the creation of a buffer zone in an inevitable war, similarly as in the Bosnian War.[380] Approximately one month after the attacks, the United States led a broad coalition of international forces to overthrow the Taliban regime from Afghanistan for their harboring of al-Qaeda.[376] Though Pakistani authorities were initially reluctant to align themselves with the United States against the Taliban, they permitted the coalition access to their military bases, and arrested and handed over to the U.S. over 600 suspected al-Qaeda members.[381][382] In a speech by the Nizari Ismaili Imam at the Nobel Institute in 2005, Aga Khan IV stated that the "9/11 attack on the United States was a direct consequence of the international community ignoring the human tragedy that was Afghanistan at that time".[383] In 2011, the U.S. and NATO under President Obama initiated a drawdown of troops in Afghanistan finalized in 2016.
During the presidencies of Donald Trump and Joe Biden in 2020 and 2021, the United States alongside its NATO allies withdrew all troops from Afghanistan completing the withdrawal of all regular U.S. troops on August 30, 2021, 12 days before the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks,[148][384][385] The withdrawal marked the end of the 2001–2021 War in Afghanistan.