On September 11, 2001, terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners in the United States. That morning, two of the planes collided with each of the twin towers of the World Trade Center in Manhattan and another crashed into the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C., while heroic passengers managed to crash the fourth in Pennsylvania. The world watched as the most visible symbol of the world economy crumbled and America's military headquarters burned. Unlike many terrorist attacks, no credible group or individual stepped forward to claim responsibility.
In the weeks following the attack, the U.S. government uncovered enough evidence (though little has been released publicly) to decide that Osama bin Laden, a Saudi Arabian millionaire already sought for the simultaneous August 7, 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, as well as a suicide bombing of the USS Cole on October 12, 2000, though his underground network, Al-Qaeda, has been tied to numerous other attacks, such as the first World Trade Center attack on February 26, 1993.
The new Bush II Administration took up a new war, "a war against terrorism." Since the disaster of the Vietnam War, the United States has sought to minimize its direct, ground-based military involvement with other nations. Relatively quick operations like the Gulf War, and using third parties such as the contras, the mujaheddin, and various other groups has been the U.S. strategy in containing Soviet Communism and making sure that the U.S. can continue to obtain resources such as oil, in particular. However, the death of more than 5000 civilians in America's cultural center forced the nation to unite against a perceived common enemy.
The United States demanded that Osama bin Laden be turned over by the Taliban, a somewhat illegitimate regime controlling most of Afghanistan. When the Taliban refused, the conventional war began on October 6, 2001.
Compounding the difficulties of the situation, more anonymous terrorists mailed envelopes containing anthrax bacterial spores to members of the American media and government. The House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. was closed for four days as testing was carried out. Unfortunately, no one important enough thought to check D.C. postal workers for infection, and two died of anthrax.
There are so many reprocussions of the attack, what it represents and what the world should do in response, that it boggles the mind. In the U.S., new laws have been passed with relatively little debate which may seriously damage civil liberties, and economic stimulus packages giving millions of dollars to airline corporations have also sailed through. And Pakistan, a nuclear power, may be overthrown by Taliban supporters.But this is supposed to be a metanode so I'll get cracking:
The E2 Daylogs:
September 11, 2001: I , II, III (longest daylog ever)
Chronology of Tuesday, September 11, 2001
Nations and political or ethnic groups:
The new war:
New stuff on "the home front"
Important people:
Important places:
Public statements and reactions:
Many of these have absolutely splendid analyses and rebuttals.
Islam and the attacks:
Virtually all Muslims the world over deplored the terrorist attack, but Osama bin Laden and the hijackers were all Muslim, and mostly Saudi Arabian. President Bush has stressed time and again that all Muslims cannot be held accountable for this heinous crime. As Jaez put it, "Most Muslims identify as much with the killers involved in the WTC crash as most Christians do with Jack the Ripper." With that, I hope we will not have any more internment camps for minorities in the 21st century.
Books and writings on 9/11
You BET your suggestions, complaints, and notices of omissions are appreciated.
Well, it looks like the military-industrial complex got a second Cold War with no defined end condition, unlike that darn first time around! |
