TERRORISM

THE ROAD TO 9/11/012,752 Dead

1st WTC Attack 2/26/93• Ramzi Yousef, a refugee

from Pakistan, rents a Ryder van and fills it full of 500 kg’s of high grade liquid explosives.

• Drives it into the basement parking garage under the WTC.

• Parks it, lights the fuse and leaves.

1st WTC Attack• 12 minutes later the

bomb explodes at 12:17 PM.

• First ever Muslim extremist terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

• 6 dead; 1,000 injured.• WHY? Retaliation for

American support of Israel and oppression of the Palestinian people.

Yousef escapes to the Philippines

• Yousef developed a nitroglycerine explosive that he could conceal in empty bottles of contact lens fluid.

• Also designed a timing mechanism using Casio watches and a detonator powered by 9 volt batteries, which he hid in the heels of his boots.

• Goal: Sneak explosives onto an airplane and blow it up.

Yousef Tests the Bomb on an Airplane

• 12/11/94 Yousef boards a Philippine Airlines flight in Manila with no trouble passing his bomb through security.

• Hides the bomb under his seat and gets off on the next stop.

• The planes continues on to Okinawa, Japan.• Bomb explodes at 11:43.• Pilot makes emergency landing. • 1 Killed, 10 injured.

Yousef needs a bigger bomb• Yousef and an

accomplice, Abdul Hakim Murad, try building a bigger chemical bomb in their apartment in Manila.

• Fire starts. The two men leave.

• Police find the evidence with Priest garments, a plan to assassinate the Pope, and a terrorist code named “Bojinka.”

BOJINKA• Yousef escapes, but Murad is captured.• Murad, a trained pilot, reveals that Bojinka is a

plan to simultaneously hijack 12 United States airline flights and fly the airplanes loaded with explosives into U.S. landmarks. (The White House, Capital Building, and Wall Street were specifically mentioned.)

• They had estimated that about 4000 Americans would die in 1 day.

• CIA headquarters was to be his target.

Yousef Arrested• In January 1995, the investigation

of the first World Trade Center attack made a major breakthrough. Philippine police discovered a fingerprint in the bombers' Manila apartment. It was traced to Ramzi Yousef, who had escaped back to Pakistan.

• On February 7, 1995, Ramzi Yousef was arrested in Islamabad after his friend turned him in for a $2 million reward from the U.S.

Yousef brought back to America

• Yousef was taken by helicopter into downtown Manhattan.

• 'Look straight ahead, see that Ramzi, the Trade Centers are still standing there, aren't they?' And in his little accent he said --'They wouldn't be if I had enough money and enough explosives.‘

• Yousef was sentenced to two hundred and forty years in prison.

Yousef and Al-Qaeda

• Yousef told news reporter after his sentencing that a new Islamic militant group would rise up to challenge the United States.

• He was speaking about a network, an international network, a network all over, different countries, different nationalities.

• He was talking about al-Qaeda.

Yousef and Al-Qaeda• While in prison, Yousef

made a key mistake and placed a call to his uncle, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

• American investigators soon realized Mohammed had provided financing for the first World Trade Center attack, and had played a central role in the plot against US commercial airliners.

• He would go on to become the mastermind of the 9/11 operation.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

• In 1995, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed had taken refuge in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar. Members of the royal family there were known supporters of Islamic militants. The U.S. government decided to try to kidnap Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and bring him back to face American justice.

• The CIA and the U.S. military didn’t present an easy Special Forces raid plan so the U.S. decided to ask Qatar to have him arrested.

• Several days later, Mohammed disappeared into Afghanistan.

Mohammed and Bin Laden• Osama bin Laden came to

the attention of U.S. Intelligence agencies during the investigation of the first World Trade Center bombing.

• His name appeared on a list of suspects who might have financed the operation.

• By 1996, Osama bin Laden had moved to Afghanistan and called upon the Muslim world to wage war against Americans.

Bin Laden• Osama bin Laden methodically built up al-Qaeda. • In 1997, he opened his training camps near Khost,

Afghanistan. • Muslims from all over the world arrived to receive

elaborate military instruction.• In May 1998, Osama bin Laden announced he was

joining forces with the Egyptian group, Islamic Jihad.• He announced the creation of the International Islamic

Front for Jihad against the U.S. and Israel. Al-Qaeda was merging in this front.

• Khalid Mohammed and Bin Laden are officially now allies.

12 Page Declaration of War• In 1998, Bin Laden

published a 12-page declaration of war against the United States.

• Also by 1998, there was a new power allied with bin Laden. The Taliban had seized control of Afghanistan and were imposing strict, religious laws on the population.

• Mullah Omar, the reclusive head of the Taliban, protected bin Laden as a guest in his country.

Tarnak Farm Operation

• The CIA developed a plan to arrest bin Laden and bring him to the US to stand trial. A team of Afghan commandoes was hired for the operation.

• The Tarnak Farm kidnap operation was scheduled for the night of June 23, 1998. Then, just before it was to go ahead, there was a debate at the White House about how many people were likely to be killed.

• The Kidnapping plan was cancelled to spare the lives of innocent victims.

U.S. African Embassies Bombed• On August 7th, 1998, the U.S. African

embassies in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi were almost destroyed by truck bombs.

• Two hundred and twenty-four people died, including twelve Americans.

• Over five thousand were injured. The investigation lead straight to Osama bin Laden.

Plans to “get” Bin Laden• President Clinton's national security team

decided to hit back with cruise missiles.• The CIA had received information that bin

Laden would be meeting other al-Qaeda leaders at one of his Afghanistan training camps on August 20th, 1998.

• The cruise missiles fired from the Arabian Sea travelled over Pakistan and landed in the Afghan training camps but narrowly missed bin Laden.

“Getting” Bin Laden• After the failure of the cruise missile attack,

President Clinton reversed his position and authorized the CIA to kidnap Osama bin Laden.

• In late December 1998, CIA field agents were finally able to get ahead of Osama bin Laden. They received a tip that he would be coming to visit Kandahar.

• American ships in the Arabian Sea prepared their cruise missiles to strike the governor's mansion.

• The military doubted the intelligence and estimated that a cruise missile strike would kill or injure over 200 people.

• The attack was cancelled.

“Get” Bin Laden Falcon Hunting?• The Clinton Administration's last good chance to kill Osama

bin Laden was at a falcon hunting camp in southern Afghanistan in 1999.

• Falcon hunting is wildly popular with the ultra rich throughout the Arab world.

• The CIA followed bin Laden to the camp and determined that he was going to stay for a few days.

• But satellite photos also revealed the presence of a military C-130 aircraft from the United Arab Emirates indicating that senior officials from the UAE government were hunting with bin Laden.

• Once again the White House decided to stand down. • They did not want to take the chance of killing some of

America's closest allies in the Persian Gulf.

President’s Clinton and W. Bush• In December 2000, when

George W. Bush was finally declared the winner of the U.S. presidential election, he sat down for a private meeting with Bill Clinton at the White House.

• In that meeting, Clinton says he told Bush that al-Qaeda was the biggest threat to the United States and that not catching or killing bin Laden was one of the greatest regrets of his presidency.

President Bush• On January 20th, 2001 George

W. Bush was sworn in as President of the United States.

• Five days later, Bush received a memo from his White House counterterrorism director, Richard Clarke, saying - "We urgently need a Principals-level review of the al-Qaeda network.“

• That urgently required meeting would not take place for almost 9 months.

• For the new Bush administration al-Qaeda was a low priority.

The 9/11 Plan• "After the 1993 attacks on the

World Trade Centre, I decided that explosives and bombs could be problematic, and so I focused on using airplanes as weapons.

• The most attractive targets were high buildings, both for their relative ease of targeting, as well as for the symbolic impact.

• Bin Laden expressed his desire to simultaneously hit the Pentagon, the White House, and the US Capitol building.

• He had Nawaf al Hazmi and Khalid al Mihdhar in mind for the operation,"

Flight Training• Khalid al Mihdhar and

Nawaf al Hazmi were al-Qaeda recruits from Saudi Arabia.

• They had obtained visas to the United States with the hope that Osama bin Laden would send them to the U.S. on a suicide mission.

• They were the first two hijackers assigned to the 9/11 plot.

Flight Training• Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

gave the two men a basic training course for their mission.

• He showed them Hollywood movies to teach them how hijackers could seize control of airplanes.

• He used a flight simulator program to show them the basics of piloting.

• The program would allow them to practice crashing into buildings.

CIA Failure To Share Intelligence• Khalid al Mihdhar and Nawaf al Hazmi became

the focus of the greatest intelligence failure in U.S. history because American agents had been following them almost two years before 9/11.

• The two men flew into the United States and landed at Los Angeles International Airport.

• The CIA knew that Khalid al Mihdhar had a US visa, and yet that information was not shared with the FBI or U.S. Immigration.

• The two names did not appear on the list of suspected terrorists kept at all U.S. entry points, and so the men had no trouble slipping through the net.

Flight School in San Diego• The two al-Qaeda suspects made their way to

San Diego. • Before long they both had driver's licenses,

and Nawaf al Hazmi was even listed in the San Diego phone book.

• The two men signed up for lessons at a local flight school, but they were completely lacking in natural abilities.

• The two men reported back to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed that learning to fly was a lot more difficult than expected.

Different Pilots

Mohamed Atta Ziad Jarrah

Different Pilots

Marwan al Shehhi Hani Hanjour

Why Different Pilots?

• The al-Qaeda leadership decided that they needed hijackers to pilot the planes who would be much more proficient in English and comfortable in the West.

• Hani Hanjour, was already trained as a pilot. • Bin Laden wanted Hanjour to pilot the plane that

would strike the Pentagon because it would be a tough target since it is not a tall building

• Hanjour would be the best qualified of the pilots.

Hijackers Arrive In The U.S.• The hijackers began arriving in the United

States in the Spring and Summer of 2001.• 16 of the 19 shouldn’t have been allowed

through immigration because there was something wrong with their visas and passports.

• They should simply have been stopped at the border.

• If those people had been stopped, there never would have been a plot!

CIA Learns of the Terrorist Attack• In the spring and summer of 2001, U.S.

Intelligence began hearing chatter about the 9/11 plot.

• A CIA informant reported that Osama bin Laden was interested in using commercial pilots as terrorists.

• On June 22, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a bulletin to airlines warning of a “possible hijacking plot by Islamic terrorists”.

• On June 25, there was a threat advisory to all government agencies warning about the 'high probability of imminent spectacular terrorist attack by al-Qaeda.

President Bush Informed of a Possible Attack on WTC

• On August 6th 2001, while on vacation in Crawford, Texas, George Bush was given his Presidential Daily Brief.

• The headline read – “Bin Laden Determined To Strike in U.S.”

• The document suggested al-Qaeda “would follow the example of World Trade Centre bomber, Ramzi Yousef, and bring the fighting to America”.

• The document highlighted “patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks”

• No action was taken!

CIA Knows the Terrorists Are in the U.S.

• In August 2001, the CIA finally shared some key intelligence that could have prevented the 9/11 attack.

• The CIA told the FBI that Nawaf al Hazmi and Khalid al Mihdhar were al-Qaeda agents with U.S. visas and should be tracked down.

• FBI headquarters finally took notice that the two al-Qaeda suspects had flown into Los Angeles 18 months earlier.

• The cable was sent to the FBI office in LA asking for their help in tracking al Mihdhar and al Hazmi.

• The cable is dated September 10, 2001.

9/11/01: American Flight 11• American Airlines Flight 11

took off from Boston at 7:59 am.

• The Plane was hijacked at 8:14 am.

• At 8:19 am the hijacking was called in.

• At 8:27 the plane turns around and heads toward NYC.

• The military isn’t informed about the hijacking until 8:37.

• Flight 11 hits the North Tower of the WTC.

9/11/01: United Flight 175• United Flight 175 Departs

Boston at 8:14 am.• The plane hits the South

Tower of the WTC at 9:03.

• The military was not informed that a 2nd plane had been hijacked until it crashed.

• Nearest F-16’s were still 70 miles away from NYC, coming from Cape Cod.

9/11/01: American Flight 77• American Flight 77 departs

Washington D.C. at 8:20 am.

• Terrorist on board had knives and box cutters.

• The plane is hijacked at 8:54 am.

• The hijacking is reported at 9:12 am.

• Plane crashes into the Pentagon at 9:37.

• 189 people killed (64 on board, 125 on the ground).

The Attacks

WTC Towers Pentagon

9/11/01: United Flight 93• United Flight 93 departs

Newark, New Jersey at 8:52 am.

• The hijacking took place at 9:28 am.

• Passengers on board had already heard of the other hijackings and decided to take actions into their own hands.

• Hijacking was never reported to the military until the event was over.

“Let’s Roll”• Todd Beamer was one of

several passengers who decided to over power the hijackers in the cockpit.

• The plane was targeted to hit the White House but Todd and the passengers forced the plane down into a field in Pennsylvania.

• TRUE HEROES!

United Flight 93

• All 44 People on board died 150 miles outside of Washington D.C.

• The plane was traveling at 563 mph.

What was President Bush Doing?• The President was visiting an

elementary school in Florida that morning.

• After hearing about the first crash into the World Trade Centre, he insisted on carrying on with his planned activities.

• At 9:05 am, his Chief of Staff Andrew Card told him the second plane had hit the second tower and America was under attack.

• He famously did nothing for almost 7 minutes. He later said he was trying to project an image of calm.

Communication Problems• Inside the presidential limousine, there was

more chaos. • The President was trying to speak to his staff

at the White House but all the secure telephone lines were down.

• The communications system overloaded. • Mr. Bush was reduced to trying to contact

Washington on a borrowed cell phone but even that didn't work.

Aboard Air Force One• Mr. Bush expected the communications problem

to be solved when he boarded Air Force One in Florida at 9:45 am but the phones there worked only sporadically.

• In the case of any kind of attack in the United States, what you're supposed to do is get the President off the ground, and Air Force One then becomes the command centre.

• And the President is then safe and is commanding the forces of the United States from the air.

• The communications didn't work.

What Did the Vice President Do?• After the Pentagon was hit,

the Vice President was taken to a bunker deep in the ground under the White House.

• He ordered emergency measures designed to ensure continuity of the U.S. government in the event of nuclear war.

• Around Washington, senior government officials were rushed off to bomb shelters and other secure locations in case more planes hit more key decision-making centers.

All Air Planes in U.S. Grounded

• At 9:42 am, the senior air traffic controller in the U.S. ordered that all planes land immediately at the nearest airport.

• This was a high-risk procedure that had never been attempted.

• Four thousand-three hundred planes all landed within two hours and twenty minutes.

Orders Given To Shoot Down Passenger Planes

• The record shows that between 10:10 and 10:15 in the White House bunker, the Vice President ordered military pilots to shoot down any hijacked aircraft headed for Washington.

• However, the shoot-down order was never relayed to the fighter pilots who might have carried it out.

Evening of 9/11• In the afternoon, the President landed at the

Offut Air Force Base in Nebraska. • Because of the communications problem on Air

Force One, he was transported to an underground bunker there.

• Just before 3 pm, Mr. Bush began a teleconference with the White House and the Pentagon.

• Late in the day, the President finally returned to Washington and addressed the nation at 9:30 pm.

Aftermath of 9/11

• When the President arrived back at the White House on September 11th, he was told that the FBI had identified the names of two known al-Qaeda agents Khalid al Mihdhar and Nawaf al Hazmi on the passenger list of the plane that hit the Pentagon.

• The President became aware that night that there had been a mistake involving CIA and FBI and their sharing of information.

War!• In the twenty-four hours following 9/11, the Bush team

was ready to go to war. • In meetings on September 11th and on September 12th,

the defense department officials, including Secretary Rumsfeld, began talking about the need to attack Iraq instead of Afghanistan.

• Secretary Colin Powell convinced the White House that the world is not going to understand if the U.S. doesn't go after Afghanistan.

• That's where the attack of September 11th was launched from.

• Reluctantly the defense department chose to attack Afghanistan first…Iraq second.