September 11, 2001 attacks

The September 11, 2001 attacks (often referred to as 9/11—pronounced "nine eleven") consisted of a series of coordinated terrorist^[1] suicide attacks by Islamic extremists on the United States of America on September 11, 2001.

On the morning of September 11, 2001, nineteen terrorists^[2] affiliated with al-Qaeda^[3] hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners. Each team of hijackers included a trained pilot. The hijackers intentionally crashed two of the airliners (United Airlines Flight 175 and American Airlines Flight 11) 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 irreparable 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;^[4] that plane crashed into a field near the town of Shanksville in rural Somerset County, Pennsylvania. In addition to the 19 hijackers, 2,973 people died; another 24 are missing and presumed dead. The victims were predominantly civilians.

The attacks

Main article: September 11, 2001 timeline for the day of the attacks

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) or 144,000 pounds (65,455 kilograms).^[5] 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 crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

• American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767-223^[6] 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).
• United Airlines Flight 175, a Boeing 767-222,^[7] crashed into the South Tower at 9:02:59 a.m. local time (13:02:59 UTC), an event covered live by 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 757-223,^[8] crashed into the Pentagon at 9:37:46 a.m. local time (13:37:46 UTC).
• United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757-222,^[9] 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 at 9:03 a.m. The north tower (1 WTC) fell at 10:28 a.m., after burning for approximately 102 minutes in a fire caused by the impact of American Airlines Flight 11 at 8:46 a.m. A third building, 7 World Trade Center (7 WTC) collapsed at 5:20 p.m., after being heavily damaged by debris from the Twin Towers when they fell and subsequent fires.^[10][11] Numerous adjacent buildings to the complex also had substantial damage and fires and had to be demolished. The Deutsche Bank Building is the only remaining large structure that suffered damage and fires at ground zero that has yet to be fully demolished, though this is expected to be completed by mid 2007.^[12]

During the hijacking some passengers and crew members were able to make phone calls using the cabin GTE airphone service.^[13][14] 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.^[15]

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.^[16] 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 Shaikh Mohammed mentioned in a 2002 interview with an Al Jazeera journalist that Flight 93's target was the United States Capitol,^[17] which was given the code name "the Faculty of Law."^[18]

The attacks created widespread confusion across the United States. 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 Truman Building in Foggy Bottom, Washington, D.C. This erroneous report, picked 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.^[19]

See also: Communication during the September 11, 2001 attacks

Fatalities

There were 2,973 fatalities, not including the 19 hijackers: 246 on the four planes (no one on board any of the hijacked aircraft survived),^[20] 2,602 in New York City in the towers and on the ground, and 125 at the Pentagon.^[21] Among the fatalities were 343 New York City Fire Department firefighters, 23 New York City Police Department officers, and 37 Port Authority Police Department officers.^[22] An additional 24 people remain listed as missing.^[23]

World Trade Center - 1366 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.^[24]

As many as 600 people were killed instantly or 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.

An estimated 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.^[25] To witnesses watching, a few of the people falling from the towers seemed to have stumbled out of broken windows.^[26] Some of the occupants of each tower above its point of impact made their way upward toward the roof in hope of helicopter rescue, however; 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.^[27]

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, including one on Flight 175. Additionally, Marsh lost 38 consultants. Approximately 400 rescue workers, most of them of the FDNY, died when the towers collapsed.

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."^[34] 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.^[35]

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.^[36] 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.^[37]

In the suburbs around New York City many schools closed for the day, evacuated, or were locked down. Other school districts shielded students from watching television because many of their parents held jobs in the World Trade Center towers. In New Jersey and Connecticut, private schools were evacuated. Children in schools of Maryland, those nearest to DC, were sent home. Scarsdale, New York schools closed for the day. Greenwich, Connecticut, about 20 miles north of the city, had hundreds of school children with direct ties to victims of the attacks. Greenwich and nearby New Canaan, two of the wealthiest towns in the area along with neighboring Darien, had more residents killed, as a percentage of total population, than any other Connecticut town. After New York, New Jersey was the hardest hit state, with the town of Hoboken sustaining the most fatalities.^[35] All of the fatalities were civilians except some of the 125 victims in the Pentagon.^[38]

Damage

In addition to the 110-floor Twin Towers of the World Trade Center itself, five other buildings at the World Trade Center site, including 7 World Trade Center and the Marriott Hotel, two New York City Subway stations, and St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church were destroyed or badly damaged. In total, in Manhattan, 25 buildings were damaged and all seven buildings of the World Trade Center Complex had to be razed. Two additional buildings were later condemned: the Deutsche Bank Building across Liberty Street from the World Trade Center complex, due to the uninhabitable, toxic conditions inside the office tower and Borough of Manhattan Community College's Fiterman Hall at 30 West Broadway due to extensive damage in the attacks. These buildings are both (as of September 2006) slated for deconstruction.^[39]

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.^[40]

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. The vast majority of those below the impact areas survived, evacuating before the towers collapsed.

See also: Survivors of the September 11, 2001 attacks

Responsibility

Main article: Responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks

Al Qaeda's origins date back to 1979 when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.^[41] Soon after the invasion, Osama bin Laden travelled to Afghanistan and helped organize Arab mujahadeen, creating Maktab al-Khadamat (MAK), to resist the Soviets.^[41] 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.^[42] Under guidance of Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama became more radical.^[43] In 1996, bin Laden issued his first fatwa which called for "American soldiers to get out of Saudi Arabia".^[44] A second fatwa, issued by bin Laden in 1998, "directed his followers to kill Americans anywhere".^[45] 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.^[46]

As media covered the 9/11 attacks unfolding, many quickly speculated that Bin Laden was behind the attacks.^[47] 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.^[48][49] 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.^[50] On the day of the attacks, the National Security Agency intercepted communications that pointed to Osama bin Laden,^[51] as did German intelligence agencies.^[52]

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."^[38] To date, only peripheral figures have been tried or convicted in connection with the attacks.

The hijackers

Main article: Organizers of the September 11, 2001 attacks

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. Unlike many stereotypes of hijackers or terrorists, most of the attackers were educated and came from well-to-do backgrounds.

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

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 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.^[53]

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.^[54] On May 3, 2006, a federal jury rejected the death penalty and sentenced Moussaoui to 6 life terms in prison without parole.^[55]

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.^[56]

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.^[57] 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.^[58]

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, Zakariyah Essabar, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, and Tawfiq bin Attash. According to the 9/11 Commission Report, Khalid Shaikh 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.^[59]

Osama bin Laden

On September 27, 2001, the FBI released photos of the 19 hijackers, along with information about the possible nationalities and aliases of many.^[60] 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.^[61] 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.^[62] 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.^[63]

Osama bin Laden's declaration of a holy war against the United States, and a Fatwa 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.^[64]

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."^[65] 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.^[66] 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.^[67]

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.^[68] 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.^[69]

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.^[70] At that point, Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda were in a period of transition, having just relocated back to Afghanistan from Sudan.^[71] The 1998 African Embassy bombings marked a turning point, with Bin Laden intent on attacking the United States.^[71] In late 1998 or early 1999, Bin Laden gave approval for Mohammed to go forward with organizing the plot.^[71] A series of meetings occurred in spring of 1999, involving Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Osama bin Laden, and his deputy Mohammed Atef.^[71] Bin Laden provided leadership for the plot, along with financial support.^[71] Bin Laden was also involved in selecting people to participate in the plot, including choosing Mohamed Atta as the lead hijacker.^[72] Mohammed provided operational support, such as selecting targets and helping arrange travel for the hijackers.^[71] Bin Laden overruled Mohammed, rejecting some potential targets such as the U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles.^[73]

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".^[74] Mohammed was arrested on March 1, 2003 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.^[75] Mohammed ultimately ended up at Guantanamo Bay. During a hearing in March 2007, Mohammed confessed his responsibility for the attacks, "I was responsible for the 9/11 operation, from A to Z."^[76]

Other Al-Qaeda members

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 Sheik Mohammed, Ramzi Binalshibh, Abu Turab Al-Urduni and Mohammed Atef.^[77]

On September 26, 2005, the Spain's high court directed by judge Baltazar Garzon 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.^[78][79] 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.^[80]

Motive

Statements by Al-Qaeda members

According to official U.S. government sources, the September 11 attacks were consistent with the mission statement of al-Qaeda. The overarching motivation for the present al-Qaeda campaign was set out in a 1998 fatwa issued by Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Abu-Yasir Rifa'i Ahmad Taha, Shaykh Mir Hamzah, and the (Amir of the Jihad Movement in Bangladesh, Fazlur Rahman).^[81]

The fatwa lists three "crimes and sins" committed by the Americans:

• U.S. military occupation of the Arabian Peninsula.
• U.S. aggression against the Iraqi people.
• U.S. support of Israel.

The fatwa states that the United States:

• Plunders the resources of the Arabian Peninsula.
• Dictates policy to the rulers of those countries.
• Supports abusive regimes and monarchies in the Middle East, thereby oppressing their people.
• Has military bases and installations upon the Arabian Peninsula, which violates the Muslim holy land, in order to threaten neighboring Muslim countries.
• Intends thereby to create disunion between Muslim states, thus weakening them as a political force.
• Supports Israel, and wishes to divert international attention from (and tacitly maintain) the occupation of Palestine.

The Persian Gulf War, the ensuing sanctions against Iraq and the bombing of Iraq by the United States were cited in 1998 as further proof of these allegations. 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."^[82] 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 Shaikh 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."^[83] The same motivation has been imputed to 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." Marwan al-Shehhi is said to have explained his humorless demeanor with the words: "How can you laugh when people are dying in Palestine?"^[38]

The transcription from Arabic into English of the voice cockpit recorder on United Flight 93 includes the following words spoken by the 9/11 terrorists before the plane crashed: "In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate...In the name of Allah. In the name of Allah. I bear witness that there is no other God but Allah...Allah is the Greatest. Allah is the Greatest. Allah is the Greatest..."^[84]

Statements by others

The Bush administration says that Al-Qaeda was motivated by hatred of the freedom, democracy and civil liberties exemplified by the United States. In a speech in 2001, President Bush said "They hate what we see right here in this chamber -- a democratically elected government. Their leaders are self-appointed. They hate our freedoms -- our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other." (President George W. Bush) Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People In response to this speech ("Bush's claim that we hate freedom"), Bin Laden remarked in 2004, "Let him tell us why we did not strike Sweden."^[85]

In their book The American Nation (2005), Mark C. Carnes and John A. Garraty say that Al-Qaeda's motivation was resentment towards the lifestyle, liberalism, attitude, and ideals exemplified in America and the West; its influence in Muslim countries and on traditional culture; and its offense to traditional Islam^[86] They also suggest that another factor was lasting hostility to the West and the United States due to the former Soviet-Arab alliance or past imperialism.^[86]

According to counter-terrorism expert Richard A. Clarke, internal political conflicts within the Muslim world are the primary causal factors for the attacks of 9/11. Specifically, bin Laden and other residents of Saudi Arabia and Egypt, among other countries of the Middle East, believe that the vast majority of governments in the Middle East are apostate governments.^[87] That is, these governments' collective religiosity does not meet bin Laden's standard of Muslim piety. The primary reason that bin Laden gives for this assertion is that none of these governments is a caliphate. Inspired by the Egyptian theologian and writer Sayyid Qutb, bin Laden believes that it is his duty as a Muslim to establish a caliphate in the Middle East.^[87] Arising directly from these beliefs, bin Laden designed a strategy of attacking the United States in order to establish this caliphate. Terming the United States as the "Far Enemy," bin Laden designed the attacks of 9/11 to cause the U.S. to increase its military and cultural presence in the Middle East.^[88] Bin Laden believes that once Muslim citizens of the Middle East confront the evils of a non-Muslim government, one that is not a caliphate, a popular social and political movement will catalyze around the desire for very conservative and zealous Muslim governments in the Middle East.^[88]

According to Michale Doran, this goal is further demonstrated by bin Laden's use of the term "spectacular" as a noun when talking about the attacks of 9/11. For example, "This spectacular will greatly anger America." He hoped these attacks would provoke a visceral emotional response from the government and citizens of the United States. In so doing, he was attempting to ensure that Muslim citizens in the Middle East would react as violently as possible to an increase in U.S. involvement in their region.^[89]

Reactions

Main article: Aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks

International reaction

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).^[90] The German reaction was profound and remains so, five years later, in 2006.^[91] The most publicized exception was that some Palestinians celebrated jubilantly upon hearing about 9/11.^[92] There were also public demonstrations of enthusiasm for the attacks conducted by Chinese students in mainland China during the night after the attacks.^[93] 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."^[94]

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.^[95] 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.^[96]

Numerous countries, including the UK,