Off The Editor’s Desk – 9-11-2019
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send your username and password to you.
Do you remember where you were 18 years ago?
Eighteen years ago, today, (September 11, 2001) changed the way we live in America. It was the terrorist attacks that killed almost 3,000 people and thrust the United States into a global war against groups that are hell bent on seeing the death of the United States.
Nineteen militants associated with the Islamic extremist group hijacked four airlines and crashed two of them into the two World Trade Center buildings in New York, one into the Pentagon, with the fourth airliner crashing into a field in Pennsylvania as passengers were able to keep it away from where the terrorists planned to crash it into the Capitol or the White House.
I remember that morning as I was walking down Oak Street to the café. Irma Lindholm, stopped and inquired if I had heard about a plane crashing into one of the World Trade Center buildings. I had not and I thought about the Air Force plane that crashed into the Empire State building back in 1945 killing 14.
But I quickly learned that it was no accident and that more suffering was to come, and by the end of the day 2,977 innocent people plus the 19 hijackers were dead. The incident was especially hard on rescue crews of New York City.
But, America quickly picked herself up and rebuilding was underway and the investigations were quickly made to find out who and why we were attacked.
The following information about September 11, 2001 came from Wikipedia:
“Two weeks after the attacks, the FBI connected the hijackers to al-Qaeda, a global, decentralized terrorist network. It is believed that Osama bin Laden, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Mohammed Atef were the ones who plotted the attacks after a meeting in 1999. It was also believed Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was the one who planned the attacks and that Atef was the one who organized the hijackers.
“The FBI investigation into the attacks were able to indentify the 19 hijackers within days, as they made little effort to conceal their names on flights, credit card and other records.
“Two flight attendants on American Airlines Flight 11, Betty Ong and Madeline Amy Sweeny, contacted airline personnel on the ground. Sweeney provided the seat numbers of the hijackers, and descriptions of the men, identifying Mohamed Atta as one of the hijackers.
“United Airlines Flight 172 attendant called a United Airlines mechanic and reported that hijackers had killed the crew. While the hijacking was in progress on American Airlines Flight 77, several passengers, including a flight attendant, Renee May, contacted and reported details of the hijacking to persons on the ground.
“Sales clerks identified two individuals to whom they sold tickets on flight 77 as the hijackers Hani Hanjour and Majed Moqed. During the hijacking of United Airlines Flight 93, Jeremy Glick identified the hijackers as Arabic-looking and carrying box-cutters.
“Mohamed Atta’s luggage did not make the connection from his Portland flight to American Airlines Flight 11. In his suitcase, authorities found a handwritten letter in Arabic. When examining Mohamed Atta’s left-behind luggage, the FBI found important clues about the hijackers and their plans. Atta’s luggage contained instructional videotapes for flying large aircraft, a fuel consumption calculator, and a flight plan, along with a copy of the Quran. His luggage also contained papers that revealed the identity of all 19 hijackers, along with a copy of Atta’s last will and testament.”
So what happened to the three that masterminded the attacks of September 11th?
Osama bin Laden, born March 10, 1957 was a member of the wealthy bin Laden family and was killed by American soldiers at his compound near Islamabad, Pakistan on May 2, 2011.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, born March 1, 1964, a Pakistani Islamist militant was held at Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp under terrorism related charges. He was arrested on March 1, 2003 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. He is set for trial on January 11, 2021.
Mohammed Atef, born in Egypt in 1944, was the military chief of al-Qaeda, and was considered one of Osama bin Laden’s two deputies. He was killed in a US air strike on November 16, 2001, in Kabul, Afghanistan.
The 911 Commission stated in its final report that the “911 plotters eventually spent somewhere between $400,000 and $500,000 to plan and conduct the attacks, but the origin of the funds remains unknown.”
The cost to the United States has been put at about $40 billion in insurance losses. It took nearly nine months to clean up the mess of the downed two towers of the World Trade Center with about 1.8 million tons of rubble. There were 20 survivors pulled from the Trade Center mess.
Still today we are paying the cost of those attacks with more security and guards at airports. So please remember what the cost in lives that were taken by those who profess “Death to America”.
Thanks for reading! ~Carlton