The Day: Tuesday, September 11
The Day: Tuesday, September 11 2001
AKA: Al-Qaeda:“The Base”
Founder: Osama Bin Laden
Ideological and current Leader: Ayman al-Zawahiri
Major Base: Afghanistan
Founded: Late 1980’s
Zawahiri joined Bin Laden in 1998
AL QAEDA
Took responsibility for 9/11 attacks which lead American into a war with Afghanistan
“Al Qaeda is the first truly global terrorist organization in history” (Riedel, pg. ix)
Had a new idea: multiple operations in different locales carried out at the same time (Riedel, 60).
The BRAINS AND IDEOLOGICAL Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri
Born: June 19, 1951 in Cairo, Egypt
Defining moment: Sadat’s assassination (Riedel, 19)
Head of Islamic Jihad (or Al-Jihad)
Not very charismatic
Became leader of Al Qaeda after bin Laden death .
https://www.newsweek.com/biden-touts-killing-al-qaeda-leader-9-11-message-we-will-not-rest-1741864
The Sheik, Founder, Financial Backer and Charismatic leader : Osama bin Laden
December 13, 2001 - The US government releases a tape in which Osama bin Laden takes responsibility for the attacks.
Born January 22, 1958 in Riyadh, SA – 17th son. Osama means “the Lion”. Moved to Medina at age of 6 months.
By July 1958, M. Bin Laden had fathered 41 children – 21 sons & at least 20 daughters.
M.Bin Laden Financial Empire
Bin Laden Affiliated Companies
Binladen Kaiser – engineering & construction
Binladen Emco – pre-cast concrete
Al-Midhar Telecommunications Company – consulting
Bin Laden Telecom Company
Binladen Brothers for Contracting & Industry
Saudi Binladin Group – registered in 1990 with over 36,000 employees in 30 countries
Mosque Renovations
Grand Mosque in Mecca
Prophets Mosque in Medina
The Bin Laden Family
22 wives
54 children
Mohammed Bin Laden Organization
No known record on the size of the estate.
Estimated - $150 million
Kingdom outstanding debts to M. Bin Laden estimated to be $100 million in payments.
Saudi Government sets up trust fund for children.
INHERITANCE
Sharia Law – sons to receive twice as much as the daughters.
4 current wives at the time of death to split 1/8 of the shares. Former wives to receive no inheritance, however their children would.
Sons, to include Osama, to receive 2.27% of the company’s shares. Roughly $20 million each.
Daughters to receive roughly 1%
Total inheritance breakdown –
Sons – 50%
Daughters – 30%
Current Widows – Rest of the shares.
The MASTERMIND: Kahlid Sheikh Mohammed(KSM)
Mastermind behind 9/11
Had planned to blow up jumbo jets with his cousin Ramzi Yusuf across the Pacific
BOJINKA PLOT
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bojinka_plot
Bin Laden heard of this idea and had KSM tweak it to make it feasible
Captured in Pakistan in 2003 and has been a key contributor for helping stop terrorists
| khalid sheikh mohammed |
Pre- Attacks by Al Qaeda
February 26, 1993 WTC bomb planted in Ryder Truck in garage of North Tower
Ramzi Yousef
6 people killed and around 1,000 wounded
 |
| Ramzi Yousef |
Bombing of US Embassy in Kenya 1998
The 1998 United States embassy bombings were attacks that occurred on August 7, 1998, in which over 200 people were killed in nearly simultaneous attacks.
FBI place Bin Laden on MOST WANTED LIST
Bombing of the USS COLE
October 12, 2000
Claimed by Al Qaeda
Killed 17 and wounded 40
“ The destroyer represented the capital of the West,” Bin Laden said, “and the small boat represented Mohammad” (Wright, pg.319).
America did not retaliate, and bin Laden felt he needed to do something bigger
2002 Murder of journalist Daniel Pearl
"We give you one more day if America will not meet our demands we will kill Daniel. Then this cycle will continue and no American journalist could enter Pakistan."
"My name is Daniel Pearl. I'm a Jewish American from Encino, California, USA. I come from, uh, on my father's side the family is Zionist. My father's Jewish, my mother's Jewish, I'm Jewish. My family follows Judaism. We've made numerous family visits to Israel."
Following these statements, Pearl's throat was slit, and his head was severed
The video concluded with the captors demanding the release of all Muslim prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. They warned that, if their demands were not met, they would repeat such a beheading "again and again.
The World Trade Centers
Opened in 1973, 7th building finished in 1987
Was made up of 7 buildings
Towers 1 and 2 (Twin Towers) stood as world tallest buildings (110 stories)
Cost was $400 million
50,000 people worked in the towers, 200,000 passed through
Had its own zip code: 10048
2,753 people died in attacks, 343 firefighters and 23 NYPD
Observation Deck WTC
Such momentous constructions are bound to intrude on the subconscious, as they are meant to do—”those awesome symbolic towers that speak of liberty, human rights and humanity”—as bin Laden labeled them.”
Looming Tower (pg. 176)
The 19 Hijackers
20th hijacker
Went to flight school in Minnesota in 2001
Captured by FBI, but not allowed to thoroughly check his belongings or would have probably made connection.
FBI supervisor responded that he was “trying to keep someone from taking a plane and crashing into the World Trade Center” (Wright, 351).
Zacarias Moussaoui
At the World Trade Center (WTC) site in Lower Manhattan, 2,753 people were killed when hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 were intentionally crashed into the north and south towers or as a result of the crashes.
Remembering and Rebuilding
Building 5 new towers
Tallest is One World Trade Center, measuring 1,776 feet (tallest in North America)
Also a Memorial and Museum
 |
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/25/politics/national-archives-new-photos-bush-911/
The 9/11 rescue dogs: Portraits of the last surviving animals who scoured Ground Zero one decade on
 |
| Tom Burnett |
http://www.tomburnettfoundation.org/
|
http://www.contracostatimes.com/breaking-news/ci_20163772/friends-and-family-dedicate-memorial-danville-fallen-marine
 |
| "ChaChi " Joshua Corral |
https://www.911memorial.org/museum
Tensions between FBI and CIA
January meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was photographed and surveillance but not wiretap. Meeting produced USS Cole bombing and 9/11 attacks (Wright, 310-311)
CIA failed to let FBI or State Department know about two terrorists from Malaysia meeting needed to be put on terror list or had entered the country 19 months before 9/11 (Wright, 311-312)
CIA found laptop of Zawahiri’s closest political confidant in Azerbaijan, but would not turn it over to the FBI
Sensitive information from the CIA may compromise their work with FBI, which could demand total control of a situation
CIA was hoping to recruit some of the terrorists and use them against Al Qaeda
FBI wanted to capture bin Laden for questioning; CIA wanted to kill bin Laden before he became too big a threat
How has America Changed since 911?
Delays at the airport are longer, arrival time is earlier, and items being carried on are smaller (Fear of flying)
 |
| Airlines |
Created a new cabinet department (Homeland Security, 2001)
Declared a War on Terrorism that took us into Afghanistan and then into Iraq
 |
| defense spending |
Repression of freedom exchanged for control of security, especially against suspected terrorists (Patriot Act)
New Rules of War- Enemy combatant, not nation state
 |
| bin laden |
Fear/Misunderstandings of Muslims or anyone who might be from the Middle East
 |
| anti-islamic hate crime |
Families of 9/11 victims suing Saudi Arabia for role in attacks
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/03/20/families-911-victims-file-lawsuit-blaming-saudi-arabia/99421816/
New lawsuit accuses Saudi government of involvement in 9/11
http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/21/us/new-suit-accuses-saudi-arabia-of-involvement-in-9-11/index.html
President Biden Signs Executive Order Calling for Declassification Review of Documents
https://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report.pdf
The Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists or "AUMF" was made law on 14 September 2001, to authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against those responsible for the September 11 attacks. It authorized the President to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on 11 September 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or individuals. Congress declares this is intended to constitute specific statutory authorization within the meaning of section 5(b) of the War Powers Resolution of 1973.
The George W. Bush administration defined the following objectives in the War on Terror:[97]
- Defeat terrorists such as Osama bin Laden, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and destroy their organizations
- Identify, locate and demolish terrorists along with their organizations
- Reject sponsorship, support and sanctuary to terrorists
- End the state sponsorship of terrorism
- Establish and maintain an international standard of responsibility concerning combating terrorism
- Strengthen and maintain the international effort to combat terrorism
- Function with willing and able states
- Enable weak states
- Persuade reluctant states
- Compel unwilling states
- Intervene and dismantle material support for terrorists
- Abolish terrorist sanctuaries and havens
- Reduce the underlying conditions that terrorists seek to exploit
- Establish partnerships with the international community to strengthen weak states and prevent (re)emergence of terrorism
- Win the war of ideals
- Protect U.S. citizens and interests at home and abroad
- Integrate the National Strategy for Homeland Security
- Attain domain awareness
- Enhance measures to ensure the integrity, reliability, and availability of critical, physical, and information-based infrastructures at home and abroad
- Implement measures to protect U.S. citizens abroad
- Ensure an integrated incident management capacity
No comments:
Post a Comment