Twentieth anniversary of September 11. The plot, the events and the aftermath of the terrorist attack on the USA
Twentieth anniversary of September 11. The plot, the events and the aftermath of the terrorist attack on the USA

Summary/Abstract: The series of terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001 in the USA, the largest in the history of the world, was carried out by 19 people. Among them were 15 Saudis, two UAE nationals, a Lebanese and an Egyptian. Three of the four formed the Hamburg cell, which was the backbone of the entire plot. It was led by the Egyptian Muhammad Atta el-Sayed. He flew Boeing 767 aircraft American Airlines Flight 11, which first struck the North Tower of the WTC. Marwan al-Shehhi was the pilot of Boeing 767 aircraft United Airlines Flight 175, which crashed into the South Tower of the WTC. Hani Hanjour sat at the controls of the Boeing 757 aircraft American Airlines flight 77. It was the third machine to target the Pentagon. The pilot of the fourth plane - Boeing 757 aircraft United Airlines Flight 93 - Ziad Jarrah failed to reach his destination, possibly the Capitol, because the passengers decided to take over the control of the plane from the terrorists. The machine crashed in Pennsylvania. In the events of 9/11, a total of 2,996 people were killed, including 19 terrorists, and 6,291 were injured . Six Poles were among the fatalities. 343 firefighters died in the rescue operation.The attacks caused enormous material losses. Particularly high costs were incurred by insurance and reinsurance companies, airlines and aircraft manufacturers, as well as the tourism industry. The huge losses related to the destruction of the New York City World Trade Center and the disruption of the financial system had to be covered by insurance companies involved in the operations on the American market.The terrorist attack on the USA was the impetus for the largest reform of the American secret services since 1947. Washington made a decision regarding the need to create a system that would effectively counteract terrorist threats and effectively warn in the event of their occurrence. This was related to the strengthening of structures with operational and reconnaissance powers, increasing the scope of their tasks and improving their ability to coordinate. Most of the legal regulations were expressed in the document commonly known as the USA Patriot Act of 26 October 2001. The most critical, however, were the international repercussions. By the attacks on the WTC and the Pentagon, al-Qaeda influenced world politics by prompting Washington to declare a “war on terror”. Within its framework, American forces, supporting the so-called Northern Alliance led to the collapse of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, and then entered Iraq, which in the long run turned out to be one of the most spectacular and deadly strategic mistakes in the history of the military.At the same time the September 11 attacks sparked many conspiracy theories. Their propagation in the media, in documentaries, as well as in articles, contributed to undermining trust in the American government. An organization called Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth which boasts 3.3 thousand architects and engineers from all over the United States, is still very active in researching the case of 7 WTC. Its mission is to establish the truth that the twin towers did not collapse due to the impact of terrorist-piloted planes, as well as the destruction of WTC 7 was not a result of the detachment of a fragment of the second plane. In the opinion of members of this organisation, the damage caused by the planes was far from sufficient to lead to such a catastrophe. They believe someone must have planted explosives.

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