Ms Gupta

1. INTRODUCTION
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four
coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by the militant
Islamic extremist network al-Qaeda against the United States on
Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists
hijacked four commercial airliners scheduled to travel from the
North-eastern United States to California. The hijackers crashed the
first two planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in
New York City, and the third plane into the Pentagon (the
headquarters of the United States military) in Arlington County,
Virginia. The fourth plane was intended to hit a federal government
building[e] in Washington, D.C., but crashed in a field following a
passenger revolt. The attacks killed nearly 3,000 people and
instigated the global war on terror. The first impact was that of
American Airlines Flight 11. It was crashed into the North Tower of
the World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan at 8:46 a.m.
Seventeen minutes later, at 9:03, the World Trade Center’s South
Tower was hit by United Airlines Flight 175. Both 110-story
skyscrapers collapsed within an hour and forty-two minutes,
precipitating the collapse of other World Trade Center structures
including 7 World Trade Center, and damaging nearby buildings. A
third flight, American Airlines Flight 77, crashed into the west side of
the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, at 9:37 a.m., causing a
partial collapse. The fourth and final flight, United Airlines Flight 93,
flew in the direction of Washington, D.C. Alerted of the previous
attacks, the plane's passengers fought back in an attempt to gaing
control of the aircraft, but the hijackers ultimately crashed the plane
in a field in Stonycreek Township, Pennsylvania, near Shanksville at
10:03 a.m. Investigators determined that Flight 93 was targeting
either the U.S. Capitol or the White House. Within hours of the

2. attacks, suspicion quickly fell onto al-Qaeda. The United States
formally responded by launching the war on terror and invading
Afghanistan to depose the Taliban, which had not complied with U.S.
demands to expel al-Qaeda from Afghanistan and extradite its
leader, Osama bin Laden. The U.S.'s invocation of Article 5 of NATO—
its only usage to date—called upon allies to fight al-Qaeda. As U.S.
and NATO ground forces swept through Afghanistan, bin Laden fled
to the White Mountains, where he narrowly avoided capture by U.S.-
led forces. Although bin Laden initially denied any involvement, in
2004 he formally claimed responsibility for the attacks. Al-Qaeda's
cited motivations included U.S. support of Israel, the presence of U.S.
troops in Saudi Arabia, and sanctions against Iraq. After evading
capture for almost a decade, bin Laden was killed by the U.S. military
on May 2, 2011. The attacks resulted in 2,977 non-hijacker fatalities,
an indeterminate number of injuries, and substantial long-term
health consequences, in addition to at least $10 billion in
infrastructure and property damage. It remains the deadliest
terrorist attack in human history and the single deadliest incident for
firefighters and law enforcement officers in U.S. history, with 343
and 72 killed, respectively. The destruction of the World Trade
Center and its environs seriously harmed the New York City economy
and induced global market shocks. Many other countries
strengthened anti-terrorism legislation and expanded their powers
of law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Cleanup of the World
Trade Center site (colloquially "Ground Zero") took eight months and
was completed in May 2002, while the Pentagon was repaired within
a year. After delays in the design of a replacement complex, the One
World Trade Center began construction in November 2006 and
opened in November 2014. Memorials to the attacks include the
National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York City, the

3. Pentagon Memorial in Arlington County, Virginia, and the Flight 93
National Memorial at the Pennsylvania crash site.
NEED OF STUDY
The need of study about 9/11 attack is important. In that attack On
September 11, 2001, nineteen terrorists associated with al-Qaeda,
an Islamist extremist group hijacked four commercial airplanes
scheduled to fly from the East Coast to California. In a coordinated
attack that turned the planes into weapons, the terrorists
intentionally flew two of the planes into the Twin Towers of the
World Trade Center, a global business complex in New York City,
causing the towers to collapse. They also flew a third plane into the
Pentagon, the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense, in
Arlington, Virginia. Passengers and crew members on the fourth
plane launched a counterattack, forcing the hijacker pilot—who was
flying the airplane toward Washington, D.C.—to crash the plane into
a field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, near the town of
Shanksville. The 9/11 attacks killed 2,977 people. This was the single
largest loss of life resulting from a foreign attack on American soil.
The attacks caused the deaths of 441 first responders, the greatest
loss of emergency responders on a single day in American history.
OBJECTIVE OF STUDY
The main objectives of study are:
 Understand the history and impact of the 9/11 attacks
 Construct critical questions around the anniversary of 9/11 and its
present-day context
 Evaluate & reflect on personal understanding of 9/11 through
critical questions

4. ATTACK ON THE PENTAGON ON 9/11
In the immediate aftermath of the attacks on 11 September, the
Department of Defense and all of the branches of the Armed Forces
began efforts to document the attacks. The Naval Historical Center
(the predecessor of NHHC) activated its reserve unit, Navy Combat
Documentation Detachment 206 (DET 206) to assist in the
documentation efforts. Over the next ten months, DET 206 reservists
and NHC Historians interviewed hundreds of individuals who were in
the Pentagon on the day of the attack or were directly involved in
the Navy’s response and the work that followed. The Navy Archives
has received permission to release a portion of the oral histories to
the public for the first time since they were recorded. The oral
histories that have been authorized for release can be found at the
link above.
WHAT CAUSED 9/11?
9/11 resulted from the confluence of multiple factors.
Islamic extremism was stirred by the Iranian Revolution, the Soviet
invasion of Afghanistan and the assassination of the Egyptian
president. That extremism turned anti-American because of U.S.
support for Israel and repressive and secular Arab regimes.
Soaring birthrates and limited economic opportunities generated
social pressures. Extremist thinking embraced violence because local
regimes left no other options for peaceful, democratic reform.
The proliferation of weapons gave activists the means to inflict harm,
and innovation in communications facilitated worldwide publicity
about their deeds — which served the psychological warfare
objective of unsettling western populations.

5. VARIOUS STAKEHOLDERS AND EFFECT
When America was attacked by terrorists on September 11, 2001,
the entire business community felt the blow. Stock markets
immediately nosedived, and almost every sector of the economy was
damaged economically. The U.S. economy was already suffering
through a moderate recession following the dotcom bubble, and the
terrorist attacks added further injury to the struggling business
community. Miraculously, however, the markets and business in
general bounced back in a relatively short time. By the end of the
year, the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the total value of all
goods and services, had increased over the previous year about 1%,
to more than $10 trillion, demonstrating that the economy had not
been critically hurt by the 9/11 attacks. In fact, according to the
Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), GDP increased 2.7% in the fourth
quarter of 2001.
Market Reaction
Anticipating market chaos, panic selling and a disastrous loss of value
in the wake of the attacks, the NYSE and the Nasdaq remained closed
until September 17, the longest shutdown since 1933. Moreover,
many trading, brokerage, and other financial firms had offices in the
World Trade Center and were unable to function in the wake of the
tragic loss of life and collapse of both towers. On the first day of
NYSE trading after 9/11, the market fell 684 points, a 7.1% decline,
setting a record at the time for the biggest loss in exchange history
for one trading day (this has since been eclipsed by the market
reaction during the global coronavirus pandemic). At the close of
trading that Friday, ending a week that saw the biggest losses in
NYSE history, the Dow Jones was down almost 1,370 points,
representing a loss of over 14%. The Standard and Poor's (S&P) index

6. lost 11.6%. An estimated $1.4 trillion in value was lost in those five
days of trading.
Major stock sell-offs hit the airline and insurance sectors as
anticipated when trading resumed. Hardest hit were American
Airlines and United Airlines, carriers whose planes were hijacked for
the terrorist attacks. The immediate impact on business was
significant. Gold prices leaped from $215.50 an ounce to $287,
reflecting the uncertainty and flight to safety of nervous investors.
Gas and oil prices also shot upward as fears emerged that oil imports
from the Middle East would be curtailed. Within a week, however,
these prices retreated to their approximate pre-attack levels as no
new attacks occurred and deliveries of crude oil to the U.S. from its
usual sources continued unabated. Gold prices also dropped back for
the same reasons.
Business Takes a Hit
The immediate impact on some business sectors was significant.
The insurance industry was hit with 9/11-related claims estimated at
some $40 billion, although most firms held adequate cash reserves
to cover these obligations. As a result of the fallout from the 9/11
attacks on the insurance industry, the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act
was passed to share losses between the federal government and the
insurance industry. This legislation became necessary as premiums
were becoming too costly or simply unavailable due to perceptions
of increased risk. No financial formula can perfectly gauge the risks
of a terrorist attack in terms of the scope of damage. Following 9/11,
many insurance companies were refusing to cover damages
stemming from terrorist activities. The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act
enabled insurers to once again include. Terrorism insurance as a part
of their coverage. Without this legislation, the cost of coverage

7. against terrorism acts would be too steep for most businesses to
purchase.
9/11 Not to Blame for Subsequent Problems
The U.S. economy is legendary for its strength and resilience, and the
national character is persistently optimistic. No more than weeks had
elapsed before the Dow Jones, the Nasdaq, and the S&P had
regained their pre-9/11 price levels. Yet the size, scope, and strength
of the U.S. economy was so immense that, when all the calculations
had been concluded, the damage was relatively small. The most
severe effects were felt in a geographically limited area—Manhattan,
Washington, D.C., and Virginia—so the economic damage didn't
ripple out too far from Ground Zero. A variety of serious economic
problems hit the U.S. in the years following 9/11, many of which the
economy is struggling with currently. But the tragic 9/11 attacks,
cited by the late terrorist leader Osama Bin-Laden as an effort to
destroy the American economy, did not produce the desired effect.
HYPOTHESES
In exploring the political change of 9/11 families and neighbours
relative to comparison groups, I examined hypotheses bearing on
two dimensions: activation and directionality. The activation
hypothesis is that individuals who lost someone on 9/11 will have
become more politically engaged. Although 9/11 brought out a high
level of civic activity among the population at large, there is a general
tendency of victims of war violence and crime to engage politically,
for reasons including a desire to prevent future tragedies of the kind
that befell them, a psychological demand for solidarity with other
victims, an increased reliance on public institutions for support, and
general downstream effects of “posttraumatic growth”. The
longevity of an activation effect has not been thoroughly assessed in

8. prior research, but I tested for change in participation up to 11 years
following the attack.
The primary directional hypothesis is that close relations of 9/11
victims will have become more politically conservative following the
attack. Past research indicates increases in feelings of threat,
authoritarianism, and conservatism following 9/11. [However,
individuals who reported personally knowing victims were also found
to have high levels of anxiety, which correlated with more dovish
political preferences. An alternative hypothesis of “ideological
intensification” suggests that individuals engage more intensely with
their preexisting political dispositions following events like 9/11, with
liberals becoming more intensely liberal and conservatives becoming
more intensely conservative. Although 9/11 had no lasting
perceptible effect on the policy positions or ideological dispositions
of typical Americans, the lasting effects on victims’ families and
neighbours are heretofore unexamined.
TIMELINE
September 11, 2001
5:45 AM – Mohamed Atta and Abdul Aziz al-Omari, two of the
intended hijackers, pass through security at the Portland
International Jetport in Maine. They board a commuter flight to
Boston Logan International Airport, they then board American
Airlines Flight 11.
7:59 AM – Flight 11 takes off from Boston, headed for Los Angeles,
California. There are 76 passengers, 11 crew members, and 5
hijackers on board.

9. 8:15 AM – United Airlines Flight 175 takes off from Boston, also
headed for Los Angeles. There are 51 passengers, 9 crew members,
and 5 hijackers on board.
8:19 AM – A flight attendant on Flight 11, Betty Ann Ong, alerts
ground personnel that a hijacking is underway and that the cockpit is
unreachable.
8:20 AM – American Airlines Flight 77 takes off from Dulles, outside
of Washington, DC, headed for Los Angeles. There are 53 passengers,
6 crew members, and 5 hijackers on board.
8:24 AM – Mohamed Atta, a hijacker on Flight 11, unintentionally
alerts air controllers in Boston to the attack. He meant to press the
button that allowed him to talk to the passengers on his flight.
8:37 AM – After hearing the broadcast from Atta on Flight 11, Boston
air traffic control alerts the US Air Force’s Northeast Defense Sector,
who then mobilize the Air National Guard to follow the plane.
8:42 AM – United Flight 93 takes off from Newark, New Jersey, after
a delay due to routine traffic. It was headed for San Francisco,
California. There are 33 passengers, 7 crew members, and 4 hijackers
are on board.
8:46 AM – Flight 11 crashes into the World Trade Center’s North
Tower. All passengers aboard are instantly killed, and employees of
the WTC are trapped above the 91st floor.
9:03 AM – Flight 175 crashes into the WTC’s South Tower. All
passengers aboard are killed instantly and so are an unknown
number of people in the tower.
9:05 AM – President George W. Bush, in an elementary school
classroom in Florida, is informed about the hit on the second tower.

10. His chief of staff, Andrew Card, whispers the chilling news into the
president’s ear. Bush later wrote about his response: “I made the
decision not to jump up immediately and leave the classroom. I
didn’t want to rattle the kids. I wanted to project a sense of calm… I
had been in enough crises to know that the first thing the leader has
to do is to project calm.” (Miller Center)
9:28 AM – Hijackers attack on Flight 93.
9:37 AM – Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon. All passengers aboard
are instantly killed and so are 125 civilian and military personnel in
the building.
9:45 AM – US airspace is shut down under Operation Yellow Ribbon.
All civilian aircraft are ordered to land at the nearest airport.
9:55 AM – Air Force One with President George W. Bush aboard
takes off from Florida.
9:57 AM – Passengers aboard Flight 93 begin to run up toward the
cockpit. Jarrah, the pilot, begins to roll the plane back and forth in an
attempt to destabilize the revolt.
9:59 AM – The South Tower of the World Trade Center collapses.
10:02 AM – Flight 93 plows into an empty field in Shanksville,
Pennsylvania. Although its ultimate target is unknown, it was likely
heading for either the White House or the US Capitol.
10:18 AM – President Bush authorizes any non-grounded planes to
be shot down. At that time, all four hijacked planes had already
crashed but the president’s team was operating under the
impression that Flight 93 was still in the air.
10:28 AM – The North Tower of the World Trade Center collapses.

11. 10:53 AM – Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld orders the US
military to move to a higher state of alert, going to DEFCON 3.
11:45 AM – Air Force 1 lands at Barksdale Air Force Base near
Shreveport, Louisiana.
12:15 PM – Airspace in the United States is completely free of all
commercial and private flights.
1:30 PM – Air Force 1 leaves Barksdale.
2:30 PM – Rudy Giuliani, the mayor of New York City, visits the fallen
Twin Towers of the World Trade Center at what becomes known as
Ground Zero.
3:00 PM – Air Force 1 lands at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, and
President Bush is immediately taken to a secure bunker that is
capable of withstanding a nuclear attack.
4:30 PM – Air Force 1 leaves Offutt and heads back toward Andrews
Air Force base near Washington, DC.
5:30 PM – Building 7 of the World Trade Center collapses.
8:30 PM – President Bush addresses the nation.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INTERNET
TEACHER
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/
https://www.911memorial.org/
https://www.encyclopedia.com/
https://www.pnas.org/doi/

12. https://www.wikipedia.org/
https://www.youtube.com/