Category: 9/11

According to the BBC and British newspapers, several of the nineteen men are still alive and have been spotted. A father of one of the supposed terrorists said in an interview that he had spoken to his son after the attack saying that he was fine. The father stated that his son’s passport was taken and he is either now in hiding or has been kidnapped by the FBI. This interview provides further evidence that the terrorists were framed by the FBI however, it could be argued that the father is in denial that his son may have participated in a terrorist attack. Nonetheless, every person involved or found responsible has come forward to say that they were framed but there are no interviews nor official statements so we can only speculate. Despite the overwhelming amount of questions from the nation and world, no new information nor denial of the statements from the ‘terrorists’ saying that they were framed has been released. Does this mean that the government did use these attacks as a justification to invade Iraq and Afghanistan to secure oil interests? Again, we can only speculate.

Additionally, to support the claim that the 9/11 terror attacks were a government cover-up and that the motive was also to profit from ‘insider trading’ and manipulation for stock values of United Airlines and American Airlines is the collapse of World Trade Centre 7. Seven hours after the two towers fell, the 47 story World Trade Centre 7 collapsed. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, also known as FEMA, reported that the collapse of World Trade Centre 7 was primarily due to fire. However, WTC-7 does not fall sideways nor does it collapse unevenly, as it would if it was a fire. For this to have happened, all of the buildings’ vertical support must have given way at exactly the same time. Furthermore, it has been claimed by theorists that the video footage clearly shows that it was not a collapse subsequent to a fire, but it was a controlled demolition instead. Suspicions also have been raised that this was a planned collapse as the BBC news channel reported the fall of WTC-7 20 minutes before it happened. However, this could have simply been due to a miscommunication or set up ahead of time. Larry Silverstein has been blamed for having insider information and suspiciously was not at World Trade Centre 7 on the day of the attacks. He has been said to have purchased the buildings as he knew that a terrorist attack was going to happen so he wanted to purchase WTC 7 in order to gain the insurance from it. Silverstein did also mention in an interview that WTC-7 was destroyed by a controlled demolition but investigators reported the reason for its collapse was primarily due to fire. A put option is a stock market instrument that gives the holder the right to sell an asset at a specified price by a given date to the writer of the put. Conspiracy theorists state that just before the events of 9/11, an exceptional amount of put options were placed on the United Airlines and American Airlines stocks, allowing people to form theories that insiders may have known in advance the imminent events of 9/11, accordingly placing their bets. In the days leading up to 9/11, analysis shows an upsurge in the put to call ratio for United Airlines and American Airlines, the two airlines from which planes were hijacked on 9/11. Between September 6th and 7th, the Chicago Board Options Exchange recorded purchases of 4,744 ‘put’ option contracts in UAL and 396 call options. In Chicago on September 10th, there was more trading in the purchase of ‘4,516 put options in American Airlines, the other airline involved in the hijackings, with a mere 748 call options in American purchased that day. It is said that not a single airline company, other than United Airlines and American Airlines, had an unusual put to call ratio in the days leading up to the attacks. The 9/11 Commission determined that all these abnormal patterns in trading were purely coincidental. It was estimated that the trader or traders would have realised a five-million-dollar profit. The Securities and Exchange Commission instigated an insider trading investigation within which ‘Osama bin Laden was a suspect after receiving information from at least one Wall Street Firm’.

1.0

In this project paper I have chosen to write about terrorism, more specifically about the attack in September 11, 2001. Terrorism is the use of violence against civilians to achieve a desired effect by spreading fear. While physical terrorist acts cause increased fear, the underlying fear that such acts will be brought to life is an important – psychological – element of terrorism. Terror therefore has both a physical and a mental side. I’m going to write about the 9/11 attack and I’ll go into some details about what happened, who was behind it and the consequences.

1.1

I have chosen to write about his topic because I find this exiting, especially after seeing the documentary Fahrenheit 9/11. Another reason is that my dad was living in New York when this happened which made me want to dig a bit deeper into this to know more about what really happened and how people felt and what the consequences and response were to these attacks.

To complete this project paper, I have done some research using serious websites, documentaries and interviewing my father.

1.2

The September 11, 2001 terrorist attack was the most extensive terrorist attack om American soil, killing nearly 3000 people. The morning of September 11, 2001, a total of four passenger aircrafts were hijacked by 19 Al-Qaida suicide bombers and used as bombs. Two of the planes took off from Boston, one from Newark and one from Dulles, Virginia. Two of the planes hit the twin towers at the WTC in Manhattan, New York, which began to collapse in flames. Most people who were on the floors below the aircraft’s entry point had managed to get to safety but many people who were the points of impact chose to jump rather than to wait for the towers to collapse. Falling materials and fire caused extensive damage to buildings in a larger area. A 47-storey high building, the WTC 7, which was not hit by the planes, collapsed several hours later as a result of fire. The third aircraft was crashed into the United States Department of Defence building, Pentagon. And the fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania before reaching its goal (presumably the White House or Congress). A public investigative commission concluded that the hijackers crashed the fourth plane to avoid attacking passengers taking control. According to the National Memorial Centre for 9/11, in addition to the 19 hijackers, 2979 people died in the terrorist attack; all 265 aboard the four planes, 2606 in the towers and 125 in the Pentagon. Among the dead were 343 firefighters and 71 policemen. 25 Manhattan buildings were damaged in connection with the attack, including a church and two subway stations. All seven buildings that made up the WTC collapsed in connection with the attack or were badly damaged that they had to be removed. Later it was decided that two more buildings will be removed. During the attack on the Pentagon, a part of the building was burned and parts of it collapsed. The terrorist attack was covered directly on television after the first plane crashed in the WTC, making it known worldwide as soon it became a fact.

The hijackers were identified within a few hours, it was possible because they had made no attempt to hide their identity, however, the main source of information was the leader Mohammed Atta’s baggage which was supposed to be with the American Airlines Flight but was sent to another airport by mistake. Due to the hijackers’ background and other information, it was natural to assume that Islamic extremists were behind the attacks, and Al Qaida was designated to be responsible. Osama bin Laden, the Al Qaida leader, went out early and denied that they had had any involvement in the attacks, but later admitted that it was an Al-Qaida operation.

What was the consequences and the response to the 9/11 attack in the US and the Middle East?

2.0 Consequences

The twin towers in the WTC were damaged by the air crashes, but the damage was not so great that the buildings would collapse because of this alone. The NIST states that the fire-retardant material had been sitting on central building components, the buildings would have stood today. In other words, it was subsequent fires that were the main cause of the collapse of towers, not the air crashes per se. The south tower collapsed 56 minutes and the north tower 102 minutes after the crash, respectively. The Pentagon was also seriously injured. After the terrorist attack, President George Bush decided that the United States should attack Afghanistan as a first step in the war on terror. The next US war in the fight against terrorism was the war in Iraq that began in the first half of 2003.

In the US, in the time following the attack, a strong but transient, national of belonging arose. The flag became particularly a significance as a unifying symbol, with the widespread use of jackets with the American flag on and countless houses with large flags hanging from windows and terraces. Over time, this symbolic use became more common to maintain on the political right.

The attacks left deep traces in American politics and social life. US foreign policy was turned against what Bush came to call the “war on terrorism”. The New York suburb, referred to as “ground zero”, was later transformed into an extensive, national memorial site with its own museum. In 2014, a new skyscraper named One WTC was opened just off the site of the original towers. Like other scandalous incidents, the attacks have been subject of speculation that the authorities themselves did not tell the whole truth about who was behind it. The speculation in common is that they are not documented in ways that cannot be refuted by widely available information.

The events of 9/11 had major global consequences. They were the direct cause of the October 2001 attack on Afghanistan, which led to the fall of the Taliban regime. They also intensified the fight against international terror and tightened security and surveillance laws in many countries. In addition, contributed to the US decision to attack Iraq in 2003. The United States’ intelligence cooperated with the country’s armed forces to arrest suspected members of Al-Qaida, both in Afghanistan as well as elsewhere in the world. Several hundred suspects were jailed without trial and placed in a prison camp at the US military base in Cuba.

Furthermore, the US’s growing deficit and government debt aroused concern among economists. The Iraq war, war on terror and security growth provided a major explanation for the spending side of the budget deficits, but Bush’s comprehensive tax cuts in 2002 also contributed to an immediate revenue decline.

2.1 American response

After the 9/11 attacks, the US government responded with immediate action, investigations, jurisdictive changes, soldierly actions and renovation projects. Many relief funds were set up to support victims of the attacks, with the tsk of providing financial support to the survivors of the attacks and to the families of the victims. By the deadline for victim’s compensation on 9/11 2003, there have been 2,833 applications received from the victim’s families.

Shortly after the attacks, Bush made an attendance at the largest Islamic Centre in Washington, D.C and called out to treat the Muslims with respect. Several incidents of harassment and hate crimes against Muslims and South Asians were reported in the days following the attacks. There were reports of attacks on mosques, and assaults on people including one murder; a Sikh who was mistaken for a Muslim. The whole Bin Laden family were urgently evacuated out of the US on a private plane just days after the attacks under FBI supervision.

According to some sources, many Muslim Americans celebrated the attacks, but on the other hand, the largest proportion of the Muslim American population showed sympathy and support.

“I worked at a super marked owned by a Muslim, it was a very ordinary Tuesday until I got the news from the boss, that the US was under attack from all over the world and that there was war against the United States. I remember people being in complete panic and everyone was anxious, no one thought the towers would collapse as the damage was so high up in the buildings. The super market I worked at showed the support by deducting a proportion of each item purchased that went to support the relatives and restoration.” (Lway Zaben)

Investigations led up to the announcement of War on Terrorism which led to enduring military actions in Afghanistan then Iraq and Bush promised to take Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, something h never managed, on the other hand, in Bush’s statement after the attacks says that “Islam is peace”. In an interview, which was done in connection with a documentary for National Geographic; Bush says that he never wanted to be a president at war, admitting he had no strategy. Decisions were taken day by day, and often in the “war”, he says. As a result, civilians and children were killed.

The attacks and the war in Afghanistan and Iraq brought great stress to both living there and the hundreds of thousands of soldiers and their families, and US relations with allies were severely strained at times. At home, Americans were increasingly divided in their view of both foreign policy and domestic counterterrorism measures, in a way that reinforced the level of conflict and polarization on party politics.

The American people turned to their faith to help them understand and make sense of the attacks. “We join our fellow Americans in prayer for the killed and injured,” the imam at the Al-Abidin mosque told his people. Billy Graham implored his listeners at the WNC “not to implode and disintegrate emotionally and spiritually as a people and a nation,” but to “choose to become stronger through all the struggle to rebuild on a solid foundation.”

2.2 Middle East response

Almost all Muslim political and religious leaders in the Middle East condemned the attacks. Among the leaders who strongly condemned the attacks were the leaders of Egypt (Hosni Mubarak), Palestine (Yasser Arafat), Libya (Muammar Gaddafi), Syria (Bashar al-Assad), Iran (Muhammad Khatami), and Pakistan (Pervez Musharraf). The only exception is Iraq, when Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said that “American cowboys reap the benefits of their crimes against humanity.” Saddam later expressed sympathy for the Americans who were killed in the attacks. Although Iraq was not guilty in the events of September 11 and was not involved in one way or another in the attacks such as the case of Afghanistan, which the US invaded, due to the presence of Al-Qaida camos there, Iraq paid a heavy price for the 9/11 events.

On the other hand, a group of Palestinians was photographed on the street after hearing local news report of the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the death of thousands of Americans. Fox news reported that in Ain al-Hilweh, the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, the revellers fired weapons in the air, as similar to the ceremonial gunfire was heard in the Rashidiyeh camp near the southern city of Tire as well. Yasser Arafat and almost all leaders of the Palestinian National Authority condemned the attacks and tried to censor and distort radio broadcasts and other Palestinian news reports that justify the attacks in America where many newspapers, magazines, websites and wired services published pictures of Palestinian public celebration. The Palestinian National Authority claimed that such celebrations were not representative of the feelings of the Palestinian people, and information minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said that the Palestinian National Authority would not allow “a few children” to distort the true face of the Palestinians.

In the wake of the attacks, thousands and thousands of people try to escape Afghanistan due to the possibility of US military response. The 17th of September 2001 Pakistan closes the border with Afghanistan, who is already home to many Afghan refugees due to earlier conflicts.

In 2008, John Esposito and Dalia Mujahid published the results of a six-year effort to survey and interviewed tens of thousands of Muslims in more than 35 countries about reactions to the September 11 attacks. 23.1% of those surveyed said that the attacks were somehow justified and that 7% considered them as “completely justified”. According to Pew Research, most Muslims do not believe in the official 9/11 story.

2.3 International response

Reactions to the attacks includes condemnation from world leaders, other political and religious representatives, and the international media, as well as numerous memorials and monuments around the world. World governments have condemned the attacks widely, including those that are traditionally hostile to the United States, such as Cuba, Iran, Libya, and North Korea. However, in a few cases, celebrations of the attacks were reported, and some groups and individuals have accused the US of actually carrying out the attacks on themselves, and as in the US, the outcome of the attacks increased tensions in other countries between Muslims and non-Muslims. UN SCR condemned the attacks and stated willingness to take all necessary steps to answer and fight all forms of terrorism in accord with their agreement. Several nations introduced “anti-terrorism” lawgiving and froze bank accounts of assumed Al-Qaida ties. Law enforcement and intelligence agencies in many countries arrested alleged terrorists.

The British Prime Minister, Blair stated that Britain stood “shoulder to shoulder” with the US. To confirm the British solidarity with the US, Prime Minister Blair flew to W.C.D. “America has no true friend than the United Kingdom.”, stated P. Bush. P.M. Tony Blair launched two months of diplomacy to assembly international support for military action.

Aga Khan stated in a speech at the Nobel Institute that “the 9/11 attacks on the US was direct consequence of the international community ignoring the human tragedy that was Afghanistan at that time.”

3.0 Conclusion

All in all, in the after math of the 9/11 attacks, the US started a war on terror. As a part of this comprehensive war on terror, over 1,5 million US soldiers were positioned in Afghanistan to fight Taliban and in Iraq when it was assumed of producing weapons of mass destruction. Almost 7000 US soldiers died because of these invasions, and many more retuned injured or suffering from depression and post-traumatic stress.

Since the attacks on September 11, the Muslim society in the United States has become a goal of discrimination. Islam began to relate to terror and violence, which led to an increase in hate-crimes across the country. Fear of terrorists and future terrorist attacks penetrated the US, leading to improved Islamophobia and racism, and has also caused significantly an increase in deportations since the attacks in 2001. Additionally, these fears had long-term effects that can be seen today, for instance in President Trump’s approaches to national security – he tried to stop immigration or even travel from Muslim-majority countries over several authority orders, in 2017.

4.0 Sources

1. https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010917-11.html
2. https://www.history.com/topics/21st-century/9-11-attacks#section_7
3. https://historienet.no/kriminalitet/terrorisme/9-11-terrorangrepet-11-september-2001
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks#Muslim_American_response
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fIpMi7xC9k
6. National geographic: Inside 9/11
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsibility_for_the_September_11_attacks
8. https://qz.com/1074258/911-video-and-text-of-george-w-bushs-islam-and-peace-speech/
9. https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/30/world/a-nation-challenged-the-family-fearing-harm-bin-laden-kin-fled-from-us.html
10. https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87860378&t=1582071886222
11. https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/september-11-twin-towers-world-trade-centre-new-york-i-knew-muslims-who-celebrated-naive-a7238081.html
12. Lway Zaben (my father)

· (Picture):

1. https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/defining-images-from-the-9-11-attacks-idUSRTS2Q0UX

Due to the wake of September 11th, Middle Easterners from all over the world have come under particular scrutiny, especially those in the United States. Americans consider the events of September 11 to be a historical event that transformed the conveniently targeted acts of aggression toward the Middle Eastern community.

In this case, through the argument of Puar and Rai that ‘Queery-ing’ Arab-Muslim subjective is ‘central to the creation of certain knowledge of terrorism’ this argument is able to conceptualise racism within the post-9/11 environment (Naber,2006). The argument is that propaganda displayed throughout midtown Manhattan a few days after the attacks articulate the ‘turbaned caricature of bin Laden being anally penetrated by the Empire State Building’ (Puar and Rai,2002). The posters’ citation further read ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ and ‘So you like skyscrapers, huh, bitch?’ Other forms of aggression were explored through the use of media and websites, virtual propaganda and aggression led to a ‘series of weapons at the disposal’ of White Nationalist. This resulted in higher numbers of Arab and Muslim victims, contributing to the ongoing racial profiling and discrimination faced. A mass number of Arabs and Muslims were attacked and harassed due to the media’s perception of what a terrorist is. The media was able to manufacture images of Middle Easterners and Muslims with cartoon bombs that had Muslim turbans (Bowman,2006) as well as suicide bombers, aeroplane hijackings such as the 9/11 terror attacks and skyscraper terrorism (Aswad,2013). Through the article by Susan M. Akram “The Aftermath of September 11th 2001” she was able to expose to the media that ‘39% of white Americans had harboured some form of prejudice against the Arabs and Muslims after 9/11’ (Akram,2002). Akram (2002) further explored the impact on Arabs and Muslims stating that those interviewed revealed their ‘fear of heat crimes, threats of their safety and future, isolation and loss of community and stigmatization.’ This ultimately, revealed that the White Nationalist had a great impact on the perception and depiction of Arabs and Muslims throughout the United States.

Similarly, the Middle Easterns in Europe are facing the same issues as the Middle Easterns in the United States. Professor Peter Mandaville states that: “For many Muslims in Europe, Islam is indeed an important reference point for self- identity, but one whose strength and meaning are contingent on circumstance rather than fixed” (Mandaville,2009). In many circumstances, just like the United States, stereotypes have continued to circulate to the European countries which had led to the hate-motivated violence toward Middle Easterns, In the United Kingdom alone, 193 anti-Arab crimes have been recorded, from murders to attacks against Mosques (Abdelkader,2017). Both the United States and Europe had a significant role to play after the terror attacks of 9/11 leading to the significance to people of Middle Eastern backgrounds who reside in Western Countries.

How were Middle Easterners treated due to the subsequent rise of white nationalism?

Through the years post 9/11, the rise of White Nationalism has become more prominent, identifying and exploiting that through White Nationalism White Supremacy has also risen to lead to the rise of Islamophobia. This is evident as Steven Salaita states that; “Islamophobia appears to be the equivalent to Muslims of what anti-Semitism is to Jews, at least in its current usage” (Salaita, 2006).

In response to the September 11 attacks, there was a rise in nationalism, White Nationalism was the term that had originated from white supremacists. From time to time white supremacists had tried to recognise the meaning further by highlighting the term white nationalist as; “a country or region by white racial identity and which seeks to promote the interests of whites exclusively, typically at the expense of people of other backgrounds” (Ruben,2019). After the attacks of 9/11, reports have depicted that white nationalists have eliminated more victims than any other type of extremists. However, white nationalism is not a current occurrence, Eren Waters has stated that; White nationalists and white extremists are deeply rooted into the American political system as well as their social construct (Waters,2019). However, due to the media delving deeper into the ‘political polarization’ white nationalists are experiencing the feelings of distrust and fear among their victims (Waters,2019).

The Klu Klux Klan had also played a major role in making sure no Middle Easterner or Muslim were safe, fearing for their lives. The Klu Klux Klan is a group of white supremacists who had spread terror, they were founded during the time of the Civil War and lasted till 1877 till they had regained power back in 1915 and still remain present till this day. In October 2018, eight individuals had posed in Ku Klux Klan uniforms outside of an Islamic Mosque during the weekend of Belfast (Weaver,2018). Iman Atta states that: “Standing outside a mosque with KKK hoods sends a message that Muslims are not only unwelcome but that they should beware. The police need to find these individuals and haul them into court to send a message that such hate will not be accepted” (Atta,2018).

However, it is not just White Supremacist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan who have racial tenancies, due to the evolution of White Nationalism and the attacks of 9/11, racial slurs such as; Sand Nigger, carpet pilot, firecracker, towel head, rag head, sand rat etc. Most of the racial slurs such as ‘carpet pilot’ had circulated after the terror attacks of 9/11. Ilir Disha, James C. Cavendish and Ryan D. King had conducted research on the impact of 9/11 and their findings had included that hate crimes such as racial slurs have increased by 1,600 per cent since the terror attacks in 2001(Disha, Cavendish, King, 2011).

As can be seen through the points above, the significance of the September 11th attack has resulted in the issues faces by Middle Easterns such as discrimination and stereotypes. Labels such as ‘terrorist’ and ‘enemy’ have also become more prevalent throughout the Western Countries. The growth of racism toward the immigrants of the Western world had also become more prevalent, revealing the perception and depiction of Arabs and Muslims. The use of media and websites, virtual propaganda and aggression of White Nationalists towards Arabs and Muslims had increased, resulting in higher numbers of Arab and Muslim victims, contributing to the ongoing racial profiling and discrimination faced. Finally, the significance of the treatment of Middle Easterns due to the subsequent rise of White Nationalists.

The September 11 attacks were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda against the United States on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001. The attacks killed 2,977 people, injured over 6,000 others, and caused at least $10 billion in infrastructure and property damage. Additional people have died of 9/11-related cancer and respiratory diseases in the months and years following the attacks.

Four passenger airliners operated by two major U.S. passenger air carriers —all of which departed from airports in northeastern United States bound for San Francisco and Los Angeles—were hijacked by 19 al-Qaeda terrorists. Two of the planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, were crashed into the North and South towers, respectively, of the World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan. Within an hour and 42 minutes, both 110-story towers collapsed. Debris and the resulting fires caused a partial or complete collapse of all other buildings in the World Trade Center complex, including the 47-story 7 World Trade Center tower, as well as significant damage to ten other large surrounding structures. A third plane, American Airlines Flight 77, was crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, which led to a partial collapse of the building’s west side. The fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, was initially flown toward Washington, D.C., but crashed into a field in Stonycreek Township near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after its passengers thwarted the hijackers. 9/11 is the single deadliest terrorist attack in human history and the single deadliest incident for firefighters and law enforcement officers in the history of the United States, with 343 and 72 killed, respectively.

Suspicion quickly fell on al-Qaeda. The United States responded by launching the War on Terror and invading Afghanistan to depose the Taliban, which had failed to comply with U.S. demands to extradite Osama bin Laden and expel al-Qaeda from Afghanistan. Many countries strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation and expanded the powers of law enforcement and intelligence agencies to prevent terrorist attacks. Although Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda’s leader, initially denied any involvement, in 2004 he claimed responsibility for the attacks. Al-Qaeda and bin Laden cited U.S. support of Israel, the presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, and sanctions against Iraq as motives. After evading capture for almost a decade, bin Laden was located in Pakistan and killed by SEAL Team Six of the U.S. Navy in May 2011.

The destruction of the World Trade Center and nearby infrastructure seriously harmed the economy of Lower Manhattan and had a significant effect on global markets, which resulted in the closing of Wall Street until September 17 and the civilian airspace in the U.S. and Canada until September 13. Many closings, evacuations, and cancellations followed, out of respect or fear of further attacks. Cleanup of the World Trade Center site was completed in May 2002, and the Pentagon was repaired within a year. On November 18, 2006, construction of One World Trade Center began at the World Trade Center site. The building opened on November 3, 2014. Numerous memorials have been constructed, including the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York City, the Pentagon Memorial in Arlington County, Virginia, and the Flight 93 National Memorial in a field in Stonycreek Township near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Although not confirmed, there is evidence of alleged Saudi Arabian involvement in the attacks. Given as main evidence in these charges are the contents of the 28 redacted pages of the December 2002 Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities before and after the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001, conducted by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. These 28 pages contain information regarding the material and financial assistance given to the hijackers and their affiliates leading up to the attacks by the Saudi Arabian government.

As a consequence of the attacks, the United States has been in a state of national emergency ever since 2001.

Background

Al-Qaeda

The origins of al-Qaeda can be traced to 1979 when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Osama bin Laden traveled to Afghanistan and helped organize Arab mujahideen to resist the Soviets. Under the guidance of Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden became more radical. In 1996, bin Laden issued his first fatwā, calling for American soldiers to leave Saudi Arabia.

In a second fatwā in 1998, bin Laden outlined his objections to American foreign policy with respect to Israel, as well as the continued presence of American troops in Saudi Arabia after the Gulf War. Bin Laden used Islamic texts to exhort Muslims to attack Americans until the stated grievances are reversed. Muslim legal scholars ‘have throughout Islamic history unanimously agreed that the jihad is an individual duty if the enemy destroys the Muslim countries’, according to bin Laden. Al Jazeera broadcast a statement by bin Laden on September 16, 2001, stating, ‘I stress that I have not carried out this act, which appears to have been carried out by individuals with their own motivation.’ In November 2001, U.S. forces recovered a videotape from a destroyed house in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. In the video, bin Laden is seen talking to Khaled al-Harbi and admits foreknowledge of the attacks. On December 27, 2001, a second bin Laden video was released. In the video, he said: but he stopped short of admitting responsibility for the attacks. The transcript refers several times to the United States specifically targeting Muslims.

Shortly before the U.S. presidential election in 2004, bin Laden used a taped statement to publicly acknowledge al-Qaeda’s involvement in the attacks on the United States. He admitted his direct link to the attacks and said they were carried out because:

Bin Laden said he had personally directed his followers to attack the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Another video obtained by Al Jazeera in September 2006 shows bin Laden with Ramzi bin al-Shibh, as well as two hijackers, Hamza al-Ghamdi and Wail al-Shehri, as they make preparations for the attacks. The U.S. never formally indicted bin Laden for the 9/11 attacks, but he was on the FBI’s Most Wanted List for the bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya. After a 10-year manhunt, bin Laden was killed by American special forces in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 2, 2011.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

Journalist Yosri Fouda of the Arabic television channel Al Jazeera reported that in April 2002 Khalid Sheikh Mohammed admitted his involvement in the attacks, along with Ramzi bin al-Shibh. Mohammed was also an adviser and financier of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the uncle of Ramzi Yousef, the lead bomber in that attack.

Mohammed was arrested on March 1, 2003, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, by Pakistani security officials working with the CIA. He was then held at multiple CIA secret prisons and Guantanamo Bay where he was interrogated and tortured with methods including waterboarding. During U.S. hearings at Guantanamo Bay in March 2007, Mohammed again confessed his responsibility for the attacks, stating he ‘was responsible for the 9/11 operation from A to Z’ and that his statement was not made under duress.

A letter presented by the lawyers of Khaled Sheikh Mohammed in the U.S. District Court, Manhattan on 26 July 2019, indicated that the prime accused mastermind was interested in testifying against Saudi Arabia’s role in the 9/11 attacks and helping the victims and families of the victims of 9/11. However, as per the letter, Mohammed’s agreement upon the same in “the present time” isn’t certain. James Kreindler, one of the lawyers for the plaintiff also raised question over the usefulness of Mohammed.

Other al-Qaeda members

In ‘Substitution for Testimony of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’ from the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, five people are identified as having been completely aware of the operation’s details. They are bin Laden, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Abu Turab al-Urduni, and Mohammed Atef. To date, only peripheral figures have been tried or convicted for the attacks.

On September 26, 2005, the Spanish high court sentenced Abu Dahdah to 27 years in prison for conspiracy on the 9/11 attacks and being a member of the terrorist organization al-Qaeda. At the same time, another 17 al-Qaeda members were sentenced to penalties of between six and eleven years. 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.

Also in 2006, Moussaoui—who some originally suspected might have been the assigned 20th hijacker—was convicted for the lesser role of conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism and air piracy. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole in the United States. Mounir el-Motassadeq, an associate of the Hamburg-based hijackers, served 15 years in Germany for his role in helping the hijackers prepare for the attacks. He was released in October 2018, and deported to Morocco.

The Hamburg cell in Germany included radical Islamists who eventually came to be key operatives in the 9/11 attacks. Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi, Ziad Jarrah, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, and Said Bahaji were all members of al-Qaeda’s Hamburg cell.

Introduction

The attacks on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, are two of the most significant events in American history. Both incidents shook the nation to its core and had a profound impact on the collective psyche of the American people. This essay will compare and contrast the attacks on Pearl Harbor and 9/11, examining their historical context, the nature of the attacks, and their long-term consequences.

Historical Context

The first paragraph will provide a brief overview of the historical context surrounding the two events. Pearl Harbor occurred during World War II when the United States was drawn into the global conflict, while 9/11 took place in a time of relative peace, with the United States as a dominant global superpower. Understanding the historical backdrop is essential in comprehending the differing circumstances in which the attacks occurred.

Nature of the Attacks

In this paragraph, we will discuss the nature of the attacks on Pearl Harbor and 9/11. Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Japanese on a U.S. naval base, aimed at crippling America’s Pacific Fleet. The attack involved conventional warfare tactics, with aerial bombings and torpedo strikes. On the other hand, 9/11 involved a series of coordinated terrorist attacks by the extremist group Al-Qaeda. The attacks targeted iconic symbols of American power, including the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon, using hijacked airplanes as weapons.

Casualties and Destruction

The third paragraph will compare the casualties and destruction caused by the two attacks. The attack on Pearl Harbor resulted in the deaths of over 2,400 Americans, with numerous naval vessels and aircraft destroyed or damaged. In contrast, the 9/11 attacks claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 people, including both civilians and first responders. The destruction of the World Trade Center towers and the subsequent collapse had a significant impact on the physical landscape of Lower Manhattan.

National Response and Unity

This paragraph will focus on the national response and unity that emerged in the aftermath of the attacks. Pearl Harbor served as a catalyst for the United States’ full entry into World War II, mobilizing the nation’s resources and unifying the country against a common enemy. Similarly, 9/11 brought Americans together in a spirit of solidarity, with a renewed sense of patriotism and determination to combat terrorism. Both events evoked a strong national response, with citizens demonstrating resilience and a collective commitment to rebuilding and seeking justice.

Long-term Consequences

The final paragraph will explore the long-term consequences of the attacks on Pearl Harbor and 9/11. Pearl Harbor propelled the United States into a global conflict that ultimately reshaped the geopolitical landscape and solidified the nation’s position as a superpower. It led to significant changes in foreign policy, military strategy, and the economy. Similarly, 9/11 had far-reaching effects, including the launch of the global War on Terror, increased security measures, and a reevaluation of national priorities. The attacks changed the way Americans view national security and shaped their interactions with the world.

Conclusion

While the attacks on Pearl Harbor and 9/11 occurred in different historical contexts and employed different methods, they share similarities in terms of their impact on the nation. Both events shattered the sense of security and invincibility, leaving scars that endure to this day. Pearl Harbor and 9/11 serve as reminders of the resilience and strength of the American people in the face of adversity. By comparing and contrasting these two infamous attacks, we gain a deeper understanding of their historical significance and the ways they continue to shape the nation’s narrative.

September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks rocked the U.S. in a profound way, dramatically disrupting the understanding of national security within U.S. borders. Every business or economy sector, more than the airline industry, felt the impacts of these events. The sector has been negatively affected by both the immediate reaction to the attacks and the long-term consequences.

Directly after the terrorist attacks on 9/11, airports were closed by the federal government, cancelling thousands of flights at direct airlines price. Nevertheless, even when the airports reopened, travellers were wary about air travel, and airlines experienced at least a 30% reduction in demand during the initial shock period immediately after the reopening. However, business travel accounts for one of the airline industry ‘ most lucrative segments, and a small number of businesses temporarily suspended non-essential travel for their employees after the attacks.

The week after the attacks, Congress established a law establishing the Air Transportation Stabilization Board, a body allowed to lend up to $10 billion to faltering airlines. Notwithstanding this government-funded initiative, several major American airlines, including US Airways and United Airlines, declared bankruptcy not long after the 9/11 attacks. As a result of massive financial losses due to lack of passenger demand, cancelled flights and increased security expenditure, even airlines with no prior financial issues were forced to renegotiate labour contracts and lay off high numbers of employees, such as the 7,000 American Airlines employees laid off.

Established on November 11, 2001, one of the most significant and long-term consequences of the 9/11 attacks was the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and its reform of airport security procedures. Although the expanded airport security measures do not directly affect airline operations, the new process has resulted in a substantial subset of airline passengers opting for alternative modes of transportation or skipping altogether. A 2007 economic study by Cornell University showed that federal baggage screenings resulted in a 6% reduction in the volume of passengers across the board, with a 9% reduction in the nation’s busiest airports, totalling almost $1 billion in losses for the aviation industry.

Some claim that the airline industry’s negative financial impact after the 9/11 attacks also hastened a sooner or later industry reorganisation. Before these incidents, several airlines, including US Airways, which filed for bankruptcy following the attacks, had long-standing financial problems. Despite better financial times in the 1990s, many airlines had over-stretched, signing plump deals with employers and buying new aircraft. Following 9/11, the drop in passenger demand forced airlines to tighten their belts, renegotiate deals, and ground planes. This trend could also have been caused by increased competition from competitive low-cost airlines over a longer timeline.

Due to their plentifulness and the stun, they caused within the United States and within the world, the assaults of September 11, 2001, made a solid effect on the American tourism and lodging division. The drop in inhabitance rate at American lodgings was prompt taking after September 11 and proceeded over the taking after five months. After a ponder by Renáta Kosová and Cathy A. Enz distributed within the Cornell Hospitality Quarterly in 2012, the inhabitance rate is the pointer that experienced the foremost flagrant drop after the assaults, bringing the Income per accessible room (RevPAR) with it. This is often perception has to be considered inside the setting of 2001 when energetic cost approaches were not however broad all through the lodging industry; it is in this way more the advancement of the RevPAR that permits it to be put back in point of view. In September 2001, America’s national RevPAR dropped by 20% to 25% month to month compared with the final year, and in New York and Washington, the degree fell still more significantly (–30 to –40%), and was struck straightforwardly. The foremost visitor goals all through the nation (Honolulu, San Francisco, Boston, etc.) have endured from the impacts of the assaults more feasible, especially as respects remote entries. This can be moreover genuine for American cities that have tall volumes of commerce visitors, due in specific to a diminish in participation at conferences and traditions, and cancellations. Considering the weight of the American economy, lodgings within the nation were not the as it were businesses affected: the inn industry around the world entered a downturn. But we must keep in mind that September 11 created no less than 2,977 casualties for the worldwide financial leader, which had never experienced such assaults on its own territory, which caused the New York Stock Trade to shut and all airline activity was perturbed.

In New York, contrasts in effect may be watched between the distinctive inn ranges, as the thinks about by Renáta Kosová and Cathy A. Enz remind us. At first, the upscale fragment was particularly affected but was at that point able to re-set its pointers speedier than lodgings in other categories. On the opposite, autonomous lodgings and inns within the economy categories at first endured less from repercussions from the assaults, but their inhabitance rate took longer to return to ordinary.Generally, it wasn’t until January 2002 that there was a bounce-back in movement, meaning that the effect of the assaults on the household lodging industry may well be felt for almost 3 months.

Another identity of the assaults on September 11, 2001 – due to their degree and geopolitical repercussions- was moreover their worldwide effect on tourism around the world. Concurring to figures from the World Tourism Organization, the final four months of the year saw an 11% drop in travellers around the world: the drop was especially checked within the Americas (-24%) and the Middle East (-30%). It would take until 2004 to watch a genuine development recuperation for the stream, with a noteworthy increment in international entries around the world. Within the United States, it is additionally in 2004 that tourism incomes (residential and worldwide guests alike) at long last caught up with their pre-9/11 levels.

MKG Hospitality measured the effect of the 9/11 assaults on France’s hotel industry: the national RevPAR dropped by 6% in September 2001, 13% in October, 7% in November, recently recapturing about steady in late January.

Introduction

It is puzzling to see endless memes and jokes on the internet about something that caused harm to so many people. Can there be something funny regarding nearly 3,000 individuals dying in an attack on the U.S. involving jets flying into buildings? I chose to research why people joke about 9/11 and how these jokes can potentially minimize the long term effect of an attack on American’s perception of terrorists. On September 29, 2001, comedian Gilbert Gottfried joked: ‘I have to leave early tonight. I have to fly to LA but I couldn’t get a direct flight. I have to make a stop at the Empire State Building.’ The audience gasped and booed and one man shouted out, ‘Too soon!’ Years later, it is still an emotional day for the U.S. and many still feel the effects of the attacks. With this in mind, I am wondering if there are any humorous reactions to terrorist attacks that have a positive affect. I will argue yes, there is an element of humor that leads to cultural resistance to a specific terrorist actor.

Through my research I seek to understand how, exactly, there can be a positive outcome from 9/11 jokes and how this can correlate to cultural resistance. In combination with social media, jokes and memes about attackers unite society in a way that allows ordinary people to “attack” those who have attacked us. My goal is to answer the following question: Why humor targeting terrorists should be considered a means of cultural-resistance. To do so, I will be analyzing how the continuation of 9/11 jokes has impacted people’s perception of the terrorists. Further, I will be researching the significance of laughing at terrorists and how humor minimizes the long-term cultural effect of a terrorist attack.

I found that jokes about 9/11 have continued to be popular despite the attack being over eighteen years ago and it seems to be a common conception that these jokes are a way to cope with the attacks. While I do believe these jokes encourage people to come to terms with the attacks, I think it is more important to distinguish how humor impacts the nation’s overall perception of terrorists and how this perception minimize the terrorists lasting impact.

My research has found that some people do agree that humor is a means to cope with terrorism and some found that humor is a way to weaken a terrorists reputation, yet what these arguments seem to miss however, is a deeper analysis into the lasting impact on American’s perception of that terrorist. To begin, I will define cultural resistance, the rise of social media, and the specific type of humor I will be analyzing. I will then use articles that individually discuss social media, cultural resistance, and dark humor jokes to confirm that humor is an effective response to terrorists. I will, however, go further to combine these ideas, because each article lacks something I believe to have a crucial element to my argument. Additionally, I will emphasis the difference between jokes about terrorists, which I will confirm are appropriate, and jokes about victims and the actual attacks, which are not appropriate. To conclude, I will summarize my findings and reiterate why it goes one step further than previous research done on this topic in hopes of proving that humor should be considered a means of cultural resistance.

Background

Social media has many consequences on the status quo. It has given us a way to not only communicate with those across the state, but also unify with them against a common enemy. Social media, from its introduction, has shown that it’s ability to facilitate and encourage change. The sudden rise in social media usage and its entry into mainstream culture is a sign that it’s a robust tool for people to share their ideas and unify against ideas they do not agree with. Online humor, like memes, is clearly an important hallmark of democratic culture, with message receivers being granted democratic privileges to voice their opposition. Thus, general people become active producers of the web content, specifically, content that can lead to a unified resistance against a terrorist or events of a terrorist attack.

Thanks to the advances of social media, cultural resistance has become more accessible and it is easier to unify in resistance to terrorism. Cultural resistance is a mode of expression that voices, on a wide range of platforms, opposition to, or criticism of certain political events or actors. Cultural resistance focuses on raising awareness of a problem and calls for justice; it does not exist for the sake of pity or sympathy. This resistance, I will argue, however, is not always an obvious means of social unity. It can come in the forms of memes and jokes that target a political actor or event such as 9/11. The popularity and escalation of these jokes send a message to the target of the jokes and/or the groups who follow that leader.

Jokes about terrorist attacks, as with most other disasters, have their own genre of humor; dark humor, appears to be a broader development that encompasses gibbet humor, because the recent discussions tacitly recommend. Dark humor is also same to aim at creating fun of things typically considered tragic, like death, sickness, disability, and extreme violence, or of the individuals concerned or subject to them. There are many social implications of humor and it has capacity to communicate ideologies have been widely discussed in sociocultural studies of humor in public discourse. “As many authors have argued, humor is a vehicle for relevant observations on the current sociopolitical events, which helps to communicate meanings on thorny, sensitive topics. The contemporary epitome of such topics is terrorism attributed to radical Islamic fundamentalists” (Dynel & Poppi 2018).

I will use a research paper titled “In tragoedia risus: Analysis of dark humour in post-terrorist attack discourse,” by Marta Dynel and Fabio Poppoi to elaborate on dark humor and why it is important to label it as such. They investigated the dark humor of on-line comments in response to a act of terrorism. They found that disaster jokes on the net are not the only humorous response to the tragic events of 9/11. They consider late-night television shows and cartoon strips in the post-9/11 United States, as “presenting humor as an instrument of resistance to the dominant discourses, whose hypocrisy it debunks” (Dynel & Poppi 2018). Overall, they concluded that dark humorous commentaries communicate ideologies concerning the sociopolitical scenario similar to thousands of non-humorous commentaries, in fact, many different studies report on the utilization of humor to spice up a message’s attractiveness. While this article does emphasize that jokes are not the only form of making fun of terrorists, it lacks a claim of cultural resistance. I do agree that there are other mediums of humor, but I believe it will be imperative to connect these to a means of cultural resistance which I will do when I present my theory.

In chapter two of “A Decade of Dark Humor,” Giselinde Kuipers analyzes the functions of laughter after 9/11 and how humor had changed after the attacks. Through research, Kuipers found three main ways 9/11 affected American humor: the suspension of humor, the call of humor as a means to cope, jokes about the attacks. Kuipers article correctly determines that songs and parodies like this shape American’s perception of the terrorist, what she missed however, was how this perception affects terrorists groups. Social media and the internet have given Americans the opportunity to connect, specifically, connect via memes. Like with the song above, as a culture, we find humor in events that have devastated our society.

In their research on laughter’s impact on terrorists, Charlotte Heath-Kelly and Lee Jarvis found that laughter performs “multiple social and psychological functions” and that laughter “emerges to fill a void of discourse” (Heath-Kelly, Javis). What is important in understanding the humor is the separation of the subject and object of the joke. “We laugh at the object of the joke, rendering it intelligible through its entrance into the field of knowledge. And, by laughing and appreciating the aesthetic qualities of the joke, we participate in terrorism’s consolidation as a particular form of threat: one that is variously depoliticized, tamed, and ridiculed” (Heath-Kelly, Jarvis).

In Politics, Religion & Ideology, Rawl describes the ways in which humor is used to resist terrorist threats as a society. “In addition to its entertainment quality, humor, in general, vents negative emotions and provides liberating feelings because it empowers people in expressing their frustrations towards the shortcomings of the political, religious, or social system” (Rawl 59). He argues that shows and jokes that mock terrorist groups function as “cultural, religious, and political resistance” to the terrorist group’s ideologies and their attempt to extend into the US (Rawl 61). Media may be considered a symbolic type of power attributable to its role in shaping reality within the minds of individuals. He further elaborates here by stressing that media may be a difficult human process attributable to its “symbolic power of constructing reality.’’

Thus, studies and research has been done on aspects of my argument as we can see above, however the lacking elements can be found in a combination of these ideas with a few additions that I will discuss.

My Theory

Cultural resistance is manifested within the use of mediated humor, especially dark humor. It treats a morbid topic like 9/11 and its mediated savagery in an entertaining manner. During and after times of crisis, people tend to express their fears in generally comical ways like the case of popular culture in post 9/11 America. Indeed, media is considered an emerging social power as a result of the infrastructure of our modern society depends more and more on the quick circulation of data and pictures. In alternative words, media outlets are used as potential vehicles for power and counter-power. The internet provides a forum for those that are silenced or marginalized to express their views publicly in ways in which wouldn’t otherwise be available. Indeed, humor is considered an effective means of non-violent resistance, and it is a universal trait as the use of humor to express political and cultural struggle.

When Bin Laden died, teenagers started a meme for asking who Bin Laden was, jokes like this effectively combat the goal of 9/11 of having a lasting-impact on society. Of course, 9/11 will forever be a tragedy in America, however, joking about Bin Laden himself, has effectively served as a form of cultural resistance to many long-term effects of his actions. Thus, I will combine psychological evidence with media examples to confirm that dark humor targeting terrorists should be considered an effective means of cultural-resistance.

Evidence

According to Daryl Bem’s self-perception theory, we interpret our own actions the way we interpret others’ actions, and our actions are often socially influenced and not produced out of our own free will, as we might expect (Bem 1972). A number of studies since have confirmed that self-perception theory exists, and furthermore, influences us in many unexpected contexts. An example that came to my mind was the following: one person borrows another’s phone and sees a message come through, that message is a negative meme about the person borrowing the phone. Whatever that message is, that person, per the self-perception theory, will not only impact how other people see that person but also how they view themselves. Thanks to social media, this severity can be multiplied infinitely. Now, a meme can be seen by billions of people within minutes, this has a much larger impact on one’s self perception than does a message seen by only a few.

As mentioned above, Dynel and Poppoi’s research shows that there are more than just jokes on the internet. I wanted to provide a specific example in order to show why this strengthens my argument. They focused primarily on jokes about the attacks to explain their effects on American’s views of terrorists which brought to mind a specific parody song that has been extremely popular over the last few years: “Finest Girl.” The Lonely Island, a comedic band led by Andy Samberg, has a very popular song that makes fun of his death. The lyrics describe a sexual fantasy of a woman who asks the singer to “f*** her like we f***ed Bin Laden.” Another line of the inappropriate song is the following, “she wanted to f*** me harder than the US government f***ed Bin Laden” which directly makes fun of the death of the terrorist by the government attack. This internet has become an outlet for ridiculing terrorists, this song that makes a joke out of a terrorist’s death, which for most, minimizes the threats these terrorists pose.

Even after his death, jokes like this continue to impact people’s perception of Bin Laden by minimizing the idea that he and his group are a powerful group we should live in fear of. In combination with the self-perception theory, followers of Bin Laden, and those who may have sought to do something similar, likely feel the embarrassment this song elicits. The song along with the years of jokes, mocks Bin Laden’s death rendering him as a joke. This has two benefits that I will mention. One, this likely impacts the goals of Bin Laden’s followers as the will not want to be hunted as such. Two, the farther we get from the attack, the generations who were not around for 9/11 will feel for the attack and it’s victims, but will more so find humor in this song and jokes that came from the attack.

Case Study on Adolf Hitler

Memes about Hitler Paragraph

Similarly to Hitler, Bin Laden will be a meme rather than something that elicits fear. In fact, a humorous law was created on the internet because of how frequently jokes and memes about Hitler are brought up. Godwin’s law, is the theory that “as an online discussion progresses, it becomes inevitable that someone or something will eventually be compared to Adolf Hitler, regardless of the original topic” (Godwin 1956). Based on the origin of this law and the growing popularity of joking about 9/11, the farther we get from 9/11 the closer we will be to having a similar law about Bin Laden.

Continuing with the comparison to Hitler, I will do a case study regarding a play and film, both very similar in everything but the name, that aim to mock Hitler. The play, Mein Kampf and the movie, Mein Führer, depict Adolf Hitler and use a satirical approach to relay a few broadly known facts. However, they both deviate from historical facts in order to allow viewers to engage more with the humorous representation of the Holocaust. Both works characterize Hitler as weak and pitiful and mock his reign.

In both works, it is the Jews who prevail and come out laughing. In Mein Kampf the play, wit and word play foreshadows the Holocaust without directly addressing the event. The absurdity of the plot serves as a contrast to actual historic events. The humor in the play is created by the absurdities of the situation and by the obvious allusions to history. The plot is loosely based on Hitler’s younger years in Vienna where was denied from the art school he dreamed of attending. The character transforms from a failed artist to a humorous dictator. The character begins to more closely mirror Hitler’s actual role in history, however it never directly makes note of the tragic event. The dark humor throughout the play allows the readers to laugh at Hitler’s character and offers an alternative way to study the historical events. It provides a mix of absurdity with historical facts, very similarly to the lyrics of Finest Girl. The rest of the song goes on to describe different aspects of Bin Laden’s killing that are accurate, but are mixed with an absolutely absurd story line. This, similarly to Mein Kampf, provide the audience with a new perspective on terrorists.

As seen evidenced above, I argue that humor plays an imperative role as a tool for discussing the Hitler and Bin Laden as well as for its remembrance for those affected by the tragic events led by these two actors. By mocking Hitler, they are making those who were inferior in the tragic event, feel superior when evaluating the aftermath, very similar to the song by The Lonely Island that I presented above. In both cases, humor is used to put a spin on an act of terrorism that helps the audience percieve those actors as pitiful and weak; “humor, particularly positive humor, can help us manage fear when we something frightening or disturbing” (No Kidding).

The psychology of humor includes the function of coping before the presence of fear. “If you are able to teach people to be more playful, to look at the absurdities of life as humorous, you see some increase in wellbeing,” says Andrea Samson, a postdoctoral student at Stanford University working with James Gross, professor of psychology.The Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) is the most recent model that incorporates success and failure of fear appeals. The EPPM suggests that individuals perceive threats in three ways: the disregard of the message, fear appeal message acceptance, and fear message rejection . According to the EPPM, “fear control processes are defined as primarily emotional processes where people respond to and cope with their fear, not to the danger” (Abril 2017). So, humor, as seen in both the works about Hitler and the song about Bin Laden, can be considered a message rejection, and thus a fear control response.

There are claims that the air force was ordered to stand down after no fighter jets were scrambled to help even though there were 28 Air Force bases within close range of the four hijacked flights. however, this isnt all true as on the day of 9/11 among the 48 neighbouring states there were only 14 fighter jets on alert. As well as this there is an assumption that there is an automatic alert that gets sent to the North American Air Defence Command (NORAD) in regard to missing planes but this isnt the case as the civilian Air Traffic Control have to literally pick up the phone and dial them in order for them to be made aware. Boston Center called NORAD’s Northeast Air Defence Sector (NEADS) three times: the first call was made at 8:37 am EST to inform NEADS that Flight 11 was hijacked; the next at 9:21 am to notify the agency, incorrectly, that Flight 11 was headed for Washington (by which point the plane had already hit the tower); and again at 9:41 am to (mistakenly) identify Delta Air Lines Flight 1989 from Boston as a possible hijacking. At the same time the plane slammed into the South Tower the New York Air traffic control then also called NEADS at 9:03 am to report that United Flight 175 had been hijacked. Within minutes of that first call from Boston Center, NEADS scrambled 5 aircrafts in total.

Air traffic control had to examine 4500 identical radar blips in order to try and track down the hijacked planes this is due to the hijackers turning off the planes’ transponders, which broadcast identifying signals. NORAD’s sophisticated radar was also unable to track down the planes. This is due to it looking outward for threats, not inward. ‘It was like a doughnut,’ Martin says. ‘There was no coverage in the middle.’ Before 9/11, NORAD wasn’t prepared to track flights that flew between States as they were not seen as threats.

‘It has been standard operating procedures for decades to immediately intercept off-course planes that do not respond to communications from air traffic controllers,’ says the Web site oilempire.us. ‘When the Air Force ‘scrambles’ a fighter plane to intercept, they usually reach the plane in question in minutes.’

In reality, in the decade prior to 9/11, golfer Payne Stewart’s Lear jet was the only plane that NORAD had intercepted. Although the plane lost radio contact it remained in transponder contact until it crashed. Nonetheless, it took a fighter aircraft 1 hour and 22 minutes to reach the plane. Guidelines that were in place back then, meant that on 9/11, supersonic flights were prohibited on intercepts.

Due to America being considered one of the most secure country, it was mysterious to the general public how the security systems in place weren’t tight enough to prevent the hijacks from taking place in the first place and on top of that not being able to intercept amateur hijackers. This rings alarm bells in the public’s eye as it makes them question the level of trust and safety that the government claims they have. However it is important to remember that the attacks took place in 2001, so although technology was somewhat advanced, It is nowhere near the levels it has reached now, as well as this attacks weren’t a regular occurrence which means although the system did have loopholes and weaknesses this can’t have been noticed until the 9/11 attacks took place. Improved collaboration between NORAD and the FAA was encouraged after 9/11. NORAD has additionally expanded its fighter coverage and has installed radars in order to monitor airspace over the land. Overall, this theory doesn’t add any value when swaying the general public as to if the attacks on 9/11 ere internal government conspiracies, due to the evidence not being accurate, the claims provided don’t provide valid data meaning they cant be deemed credible, as the general public rely on hard evidence and facts. Which is what is needed when making a claim that involves the government being in control of the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians.

9/11 occurred on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. 9/11 was an extremely unprepared for event and caused for the United States of America to be a very vulnerable target. The morning of September 11, 2001, 19 terrorists were able to hijack four planes that were departing from the Boston’s Logan airport, they choose planes that had farther journey’s ahead of them knowing that they would be filled with enough fuel to carry out their attack. The terrorist’s main mission was to disable the USA’s main centers which included the White House, the Pentagon and Wall Street where the World’s Trade Center is located. The 9/11 attack caused for airport security to improve, the Afghanistan War to be launched, a large impact on Canada and a powerful effect on the economy. 9/11 created a very negative impact not only in New York and the USA but the whole world.

When 9/11 occurred the USA’s economy was severely damaged, and this caused for others around the world to suffer due to the attack. Al-Qaeda ( Translation: Database ) was founded by the leader of the attacks Osama bin Laden, The author from The Balance states that “While it cost Al-Qaeda approximately $500,000 to plan and carry out the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, The New York Times say it cost the USA $3.3 trillion, or $7 million for every dollar that Al-Qaeda spent” (Kimberly Amadeo). This excessive amount of money that the government had to spend lead to larger problems in the long run such as debt. After the attack the 2001 recession began which created an eight-month economic down fall. Oil prices too which were at a very low price, heightened to a total cost of 45$, Paul Solman says that “U.S. oil exports are up to 1.6 million barrels a day, according to a recent Reuters report.” (Paul Solman). This caused for places and countries that were supplied by the USA to have to pay extremely high prices for oil. The extensive spending put USA into a debt crisis that affected lots of people. The debt crisis created less jobs to be created and thousands of workers were laid off due to not being able to support them. To this day debt in the USA continues to grow since the 9/11 terrorists attack and hasn’t been able to get back from the debt it put them in. The economy also took a hit when the stock market closed, the reason the government closed the stock market was to avoid repeating history and the events that the Great Depression had created already once created. There for the economy suffered greatly not only in USA but all over the world.

When 9/11 occurred airport- security was very limited and did not take much caution when letting people through and checking bags. Due to USA’s and the whole world’s lack of safety and security the attack was easily accomplished. The attack caused for things such as tourism and travel to come to a stop, many civilians became extremely terrified of traveling anywhere after the attack which caused places like airports to lose lots of money. This caused for many companies to lose money all over the world. The Transportation Security Administration took action to making airports and borders safer just months after the incident by improving pat downs, all baggage’s had to be checked and much more. This attack brought some positive to the airlines pushing them to become more secure, but the airline should have already been secure enough to prevent this from happening. Fare compare stated in their article “It all depends on the world situation, which is ever-changing. On the tenth anniversary of 9/11, there was talk of easing up on some of the rules, but little has changed.” (Fare Compare). The ultimate pause on tourism and airports caused for lots of money to be lost and many to be without an income for a few months this affected the whole world.

Although 9/11 did not happen in Canada, Canada was seriously impacted from the attack. Due to USA shutting down its air ports after the attack tons of planes with lots of passengers had to change their course of travel to Canadian airports. With so many uncalled-for passengers caused some problems in Canada, every passenger had to be security checked, play to stay, fed. The lack of warning of all the passengers forced Canada to find building such as schools and large halls to accompany so many people. Canada also lost 24 Canadians in the attack, this was a very hard thing for families and friends this didn’t only affect Canada families and friends everywhere lost people and some even managed to have last conversations with their loved ones when they found out their fate, such as the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania who tried to overcome the terrorist. Without the help of Canada many passengers and the USA would have been in bigger trouble.

Shortly after the attack President Bush decided that he need to take action and launched the War on Terror. Many nations came together to fight against Osama bin Laden’s terrorist group Al-Qaeda. The war brought many tragedies over 100,000 soldiers lost their lives in this war, meaning families lost uncles, mothers and brothers. The war affected not only the soldiers fighting overseas but the Homefront also. Presidents Bush’s goal of the war was to bring justice to Osama bin Laden, but it didn’t come without a cost for the USA. $36.7 billion dollars was funded in emergency funding for the War on Terror in the first year, but in the following years the prices continued to grow by the end of Bush’s time in office over $1.164 trillion dollars was spent on the war. Due to the USA’s debt crisis the war did not help, although the War of Terror got its justice on May 2, 2011 over 10 years since the war had begun. The whole world was affected by this war allies of USA who had to fight, prisoners living in terror from Osama bin Laden and families.

9/11 created a very negative impact not only on New York and the USA but the whole world. The economy of the USA was put in an excessive amount of debt which to this day they have been incapable to get out of. Many who lost their jobs causing for businesses to close down or slow production rate affected people all over the world who exported and imported goods. Airport security was changed for the better to avoid another attack like this to reoccur and is still progressing to this day. Without Canada’s help in this attack 9/11 would have been very differently. The War of Terror brought many tragedies, but the mission was fulfilled, and Osama bin Laden was brought to justice. Therefore 9/11 was a very defining moment which affected the whole world.

Reference Page

1. Al-Qaeda. (2019, January 16). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Qaeda
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3. Davis, M. (2017, September 11). How September 11 Affected The U.S. Stock Market. Retrieved from https://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0911/how-september-11-affected-the-u.s.-stock-market.aspx
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Introduction:

It is undeniable that the September 11 (9-11) attacks were an extremely significant event. Specifically, 9-11 refers to the attacks on September 11 where al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked airliners and flew them into the World Trade Centre and Pentagon (Manar 2014). However, the significance 9-11 had and continues to have across a multitude of areas in not abundantly clear. Thus, what is the significance of 9-11? This paper will seek to explain what said significance is, exploring a number of areas that were significantly impacted and affected by 9-11. The impacts 9-11 had in areas such as security, trade, crime, counterterrorism and its influence on terrorism will be examined in both short-term and long-term contexts. Through exploring these areas affected by 9-11, it is clear what the significance of 9-11 is.

A summary of the events of 9-11:

Firstly however, it must be understood what exactly 9-11 was. On September 11 members of the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda hijacked 4 separate airliners in the United States (Manar 2014). The terrorist groups targeted the World Trade Centre in New York, the Pentagon in Virginia and a third unknown target (Nacos 2002). The hijackers were successful in their attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon but failed to attack their third target as passengers on that plane were able to force the plane to crash in Pennsylvania (Bergen 2019). Ultimately, nearly 3000 people were killed due to the attacks, by far the deadliest terrorist attack on US soil (Williams and McDonald 2018). The 9-11 attacks are categorised as fourth wave attacks (Rapoport 2002). This fourth wave is categorised by terrorist groups that target military and government installations, frequently those belonging to the United States (Rapoport 2002). Ultimately, the scale of 9-11 was unprecedented and has had a significant impact on the world in a number of areas, thus revealing 9-11s significance.

Security:

The events of 9-11 have greatly affected security across the globe. Both national security and human security have been significantly affected by 9-11. National security refers to a nations ability to prevent adversaries from harming their people or national interests (Sarkesian et al 2008), whilst human security refers to a person’s ability to live “without having their survival threatened or their dignity impaired” (Sen 2000). The significance 9-11 had in correlation to national security is most evident when examining the United States. Following 9-11, major changes were undertaken by the United States to prevent further attacks. Greater emphasis was placed on national security by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security was established, and the Department of Defence increased its activity in attempting to identify terrorist threats in the United States (Waxman 2009). Furthermore, at local and state levels there was a change towards preventative measures and preparations in the event of further attacks (Waxman 2009). Evidently, 9-11 holds a large amount of significance pertaining to national security. Perhaps of most significance was the 2003 invasion of Iraq, a war against terrorism (Webster 2011). The invasion of Iraq was justified by the US as they claimed Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, an obvious threat to national security. The main reason behind the invasion however was to subdue al-Qaeda forces in Iraq, the same group responsible for 9-11, and remove Saddam Hussein from power (Webster 2011). Human security too was significantly affected. Human security encompasses a number of aspects, most fundamentally freedom from fear (Reinert 2018). The United States invasion of Iraq was thus an attempt to improve human security too. 44% of Americans believed the perpetrators of 9-11 to be Iraqi (none actually were), and 64% believed the Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein to be linked with al-Qaeda (Webster 2011). Thus, the US believed an invasion was also in the interests of human security, to act and prevent further fear stemming. Therefore, it is evident that 9-11 holds a large amount of significance in relation to security, both national and human.

Trade:

9-11 also holds a large significance in relation to global trade. In essence, the 9-11 attacks drastically undermined any procedures and protocols in place to prevent such attacks. Many new policies and procedures were implemented, many of which significantly affected trade (Liebman 2003). One such change was the implementation of the Homeland Security Act which encompassed areas related to trade including customs (Liebman 2003). The position of Secretary for Border and Transportation Security was also established to oversee customs (Liebman 2003). Following this, customs also adopted the roles of import specialists, international trade specialists and more (Leibman 2003). The impact 9-11 had on trade is perhaps most apparent when examining trade between Canada and the United States in the years after 9-11. Immediately after the attacks, trade between the two nations crashed. It was only until 2005 that exports from the US to Canada returned to a normal level (Globerman 2006). Furthermore, imports into the US from Canada hadn’t even returned to normal levels by that time (Globerman 2006). This is evident in the fact that by 2003, US imports to Canada were 26% lower than normal and by 2005, imports into the US from Canada were still 12% lower than usual (Globerman 2006). There were also additional measures taken shortly after the events of 9-11 in relation to trade, such as the deployment of the National Guard to border crossings (not just for Canada) to manage trade and provide security (Globerman 2006). Thus, the significance 9-11 has in relation to trade is clear.

Hate Crimes:

The significance of 9-11 pertaining to crime rates is evident, specifically in the correlation between 9-11 and hate crime rates. Hate crimes can generally be described as crimes committed against an individual due to the group affiliation of the victim, this generally being race or ethnicity (Hall 2013). Thus, in the wake of 9-11, several groups became the targets of those looking to commit hate crimes in deluded acts of vengeance. These hate crimes can be divided into two categories of motivation, these being defensive and thrill (Levin 2014). Defensive hate crimes encompass crimes where an individual seeks to protect their land, community or other people from someone they perceive as a threat (Levin 2014). Thrill hate crimes are crimes committed by individuals seeking excitement or enjoyment from the act of committing the crime (Levin 2014). The events of 9-11 saw a significant rise in hate crimes, mostly defensive motivated ones (Levin 2014). In the year 2000, there were almost no hate crimes targeting Muslims and Arabs in America. However, following 9-11, 60% of all hate crimes were anti-Islamic focused (Levin 2014). This is reflected in a 1600% rise in anti-Islamic motivated hate crimes post 9-11 (Levin 2014). Notably, Arabs and Muslims were not the only groups to increasingly become the victims of hate crimes, as Latinos, African Americans and immigrants regardless of ethnicity all were increasingly targeted (Levin 2014). Ultimately, any group perceived as being outside of the mainstream was more likely to be a target of a hate crime, defensive or thrill motivated post 9-11 (Levin 2014). The impact 9-11 has had regarding hate crimes still remains, as anti-Islamic motivated hate crime rates still remain five times higher than they were in 2000 (Disha et al 2014). These anti-Islamic views are further seen in the controversy that arose when the construction of a mosque was proposed at a location not far from the site of the World Trade Centre’s, known as Ground Zero (Disha et al 2014). Overall, the anti-Islamic views that developed following 9-11 are still present in many Western nations today, most notably in the United States. These views are thus responsible for inciting hate crimes. Therefore, the significance 9-11 has in relation to hate crimes is evident.

Counterterrorism:

The significance of 9-11 is also apparent in relation to the change it triggered in counterterrorism efforts around the world. The most obvious counterterrorism response to 9-11 was Americas ‘War on Terror’ (Bossong 2013). America’s response was thus action orientated and was an immediate response to the al-Qaeda led attacks on September 11 (Bossong 2013). European nations, such as Germany and France responded differently however (Bossong 2013). Their response was not as direct as Americas and involved counterterrorism operations to stop terrorist activities before they actually occurred. This was achieved through the establishment of EU Counter-terrorism Strategy and the EU Plan of Action on Combatting Terrorism, created in 2005 and 2004 respectively (Bossong 2013). Thus, it is evident that the events of 9-11 triggered large and significant change regarding counterterrorism. However, not all these changes were so apparent in their implementation. More secretive responses also took place which also aimed to disrupt terrorist activity. Law enforcement agencies are heavily utilized when engaging in counterterrorist activities (Waxman 2009). For example, the New York Police Department had undercover officers monitor protesters who were members of religious groups, when the Republic National Convention was held in New York in 2004 (Waxman 2009). The United Nations Security Council also had a large response following 9-11 (Roach 2011). The Security Council responded by enacting Resolution 1373 just a few weeks after 9-11 occurred (Roach 2011). Resolution 1373 aims to hinder terrorist activity by criminalizing the funding of terrorism (Roach 2011). The resolution notes that respecting people’s human rights is essential, however it also defends nations who use repressive laws in an attempt to curb terrorism (Roach 2011). Ultimately, nations across the world and global bodies such as the United Nations had and continue to have large counterterrorism responses post 9-11. Thus, the significance 9-11 poses to counterterrorism is clear.

Influence on Terrorism:

The attacks carried out by al-Qaeda on September 11 have influenced many other terrorist groups. 9-11 remains the deadliest and most destructive terrorist attack to date on US soil (Mueller and Stewart 2012). Previous terrorist attacks such as the 1972 Munich Games Massacre (Large 2009) and the bombing of the World Trade Centres in 1993 (Asaeda 2008) were small in comparison. Thus, through the success of their attacks, al-Qaeda has had a significant influence on other terrorist organisations across the globe. One such terrorist group is Islamic State (ISIS). Following the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to 9-11, anti-American sentiment grew drastically among Muslims in the Middle East (Webster 2011). This resulted in many joining al-Qaeda to fight against the United States (Hove 2018). One such man who fought against the United States was Ahamd Fadhil Nazzal al-Khalaylah, more commonly known as Al-Zarqawi (Hove 2018). Al-Zarqawi fought with al-Qaeda against the United States in Iraq and also led the terrorist group, al-Qaeda in Iraq known as AQI. (Hove 2018). However, Al-Zarqawi was killed in an air strike in June of 2006 but was succeeded by Abu Ayyoub al-Masri (Hove 2018). AQI then became Islamic State in Iraq and later, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham or ISIS in 2013 (Hove 2018). Ultimately, the success of the 9-11 attacks by al-Qaeda enabled the group to gain support and resulted in the establishment of ISIS through Al-Zarqawi and Abu Ayyoub al-Masri. Therefore, the significance 9-11 has regarding its influence on other terrorist organisations is evident

Conclusion:

Thus, it is clear that 9-11 holds a large amount of significance to a number of areas. These areas that hold a large amount of significance in relation to 9-11 include security, trade, hate crimes, counterterrorism and its influence on terrorism. The long-lasting impacts and influences the 9-11 attacks had on these areas thus reveals the significance the attacks had and continue to have. Therefore, it is evident what the significance of 9-11 is.