OTD September 11, 2001

September 11, 2001

Why We Never Forget

What to Always Remember

What To Know

“Jules, this is Brian—listen, I’m on an airplane that’s been hijacked. If things don’t go well, and it’s not looking good, I just want you to know I absolutely love you, I want you to do good, go have good times, same to my parents and everybody, and I just totally love you, and I’ll see you when you get there. Bye, babe. I hope I call you.”

Brian Sweeney, calling his wife Julie from United Airlines Flight 175.

1 Hour & 17 Minutes

8:46 a.m.: American Airlines Flight 11 crashes into the World Trade Center’s North Tower

9:03 a.m.: United Airlines Flight 175 crashes into the World Trade Center’s South Tower

9:37 a.m.: American Airlines Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon

10:03 a.m.: United Airlines Flight 93 crashes near Shanksville, PA

THE VICTIMS

• Nearly 3,000 people died on Sept. 11
• 2,753 in New York (including 343 firefighters & 23 police)
• 184 at the Pentagon
• 40 aboard Flight 93
• Hundreds if not thousands more have died since the attack, due to 9/11-related illnesses & injuries: “Researchers have identified more than 60 types of cancer and about two dozen other conditions that are linked to Ground Zero exposures.” (Scientific American)

THE TERRORISTS

• 15 of 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. Others were from UAE (2), Lebanon (1) and Egypt (1).
• 9/11 mastermind & al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden was killed by the U.S. in 2011.
• After many delays, the pretrial for five men accused of helping to plot the attacks, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, will resume on Saturday, September 17, 2022. The men were captured in Pakistan & are held at Guantánamo Bay, where the pretrial is being held.

THE AFTERMATH

• October 7, 2001: Pres. Bush announced attacks by the U.S. and allies on al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.
• 2003: U.S. & allies invaded Iraq.
• Since 9/11, more than 2.8M U.S. service members have fought in the “Global War on Terror.” More than 5,400 have been killed in action & tens of thousands injured.
• The post-9/11 wars are estimated to have cost American taxpayers $8T, according to Brown University’s Costs of War project.

As the nation marks the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in NYC will hold a ceremony beginning with a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m. The names of those lost will then be read by their families, pausing when each subsequent hijacked plane struck the nation and when each WTC tower fell. As the sun sets, the Tribute in Light (88 lights arranged in two large squares atop the Battery Parking Garage in NYC) will shine two beams reaching four miles into the sky, symbolizing the twin towers. The lights will shine until dawn, celebrating the “unbreakable spirit of New York.”