Research paper
CharlsieLee Plummer
College Prep English
Dr. Watkins
Research Paper
February 28, 2017
Causes and Effects: The Devastation of the 9/11 Attacks
What started with a man in a cave holding a walkie-talkie named Osama Bin Laden, over time reformed into being one of America's most foundational, shaking and devastating attack. Most Americans remember exactly where they were at that exact moment on that fatal day. This attack was not only wrecking to one of America’s biggest foundation but to the lives of the American people as well. This day has went down in “the books” as some say, it will never be forgotten nor forgiven. Since that day, America has changed for the better and for the worse. Americans are not the same as they once were. In Intelligence Gathering Has Improved Since 9/11 by George W. Bush, he states, “We merged 22 different government organizations into a single department with a clear mission: Secure America and protect the American people from future attacks.” (Bush par. 2). There were negative effects from 9/11 but as shown not all of the effects were negative; Americans recovered wonderfully given the circumstances. The devastation of 9/11’s multiple attacks affected the lives of American people as well as the government through immediate effects, such as national security, national fear, and cultural acceptance, and through long-term effects such as racial outlook that created fear and impacted security throughout the nation.
Behind the scene of the greatest attack on America, started with a man with a drive to devastate and destroy America; this man was Osama Bin Laden. The attack of 9/11 stemmed from the involvement of the United States supporting and protecting Israel. The Islamic extremist group directed by Bin Laden was upset with America’s involvement in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf War. With the Islamic terrorist group knowing our involvement in the Middle East, it created fear. With that said, it created more violence and the urge to protect themselves, which opened doors to more violence. The Muslim world has become more acceptable to violence and believing using weapons and harm is justified (Benjamin and Simon 1). Furthermore, our government knew there was going to be retaliation; researcher Philip Hensher states, “A month before 11 September 2001, the President's daily intelligence brief was headed 'Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US.' Other official warnings from this time and earlier were so specific, and so specifically ignored….” (Hensher par. 1). The September 11 attacks was “payback” for supporting and being involved with the Middle East. These attacks were directed and ordered by the leader of the Islamic terrorist group of Bin Laden and carried out with using four American planes as a directed missel.
The 9/11 terrorist attack was not just one simple attack; this attack included four separate planes used as missiles to destroy four different destinations. The first plane attack was meant for the World Trade Center. The First plane, flight 11 at 8:46 a.m. crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. However, this is not where this devastating day stopped; 17 minutes later flight 175 was the second plane that shattered through the South Twin Tower. Hundreds of people running away from the building looking back and watching an attack they never thought would happened. Some people claim that the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001 was a lucky shot (Benjamin and Simon 9). Although this was scary to the American people, how do we know if it was a lucky shot? How do we know other terrorist can’t just copy Osama Bin Laden's attack? While these many thoughts and others were racing through their head, seven minutes later the American people watched and heard about a third plane hijacked and headed to the Pentagon. Flight 77 went down and hit the Western facade of the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. the damage was not as bad as it could have been and there was a small hole from the the airliner plane (Kaminski 16). American people were struck with fear, not knowing when this long morning was going to end. Not knowing if their father, mother, daughter, son, sister, or brother were still alive. Not even knowing if they were alive and sitting in a building that was about to collapse at any moment. However, the scare was not over quite yet. There was a fourth plane known as flight 93 that was bound for the White House in Washington D.C. Thankfully, the passengers on the fourth plane heard about the other three flights and realized they were not making it out of this situation alive. With their heroic and courageous act of courage they apprehended the hijackers causing the plane to go down early and not hit its designated target. The multiple attacks that day did not go as planned but succeeded in creating the fear in people towards multiple directions.
The public eye was now focused on the government, thousands of millions of people were listening to every word the government said. People were looking deeper into the attacks and the structure of the building to find evidence of what had happened. John Kaminski said, “To most Americans, the first inkling that something was wrong with the official story of the 9/11 catastrophe occurred about a year after the event” (Kaminski par. 3). The trust in the government went down after some of the information about 9/11 did not align with each other. Americans have been lied to by the government before; for example, the government lied for about the reasoning behind going to war in Afghanistan, so who's to underestimate them about lying about 9/11 also (Hensher 11). Although, Israel can not be fully blamed because there was no hard evidence to prove they were involved in the 9/11 attacks. The government started out by saying they knew nothing of the attacks, nor who was behind them and why. They still stand by that today, but there are Americans out there investigating and finding some evidence that does not make sense. There are witnesses saying that the events of 9/11 didn’t play out exactly like the media was saying. So who is to trust, and who is not to trust? There are somethings that are drawn to question to this day but nothing has been proven. Unfortunately, immediately after the attack there were immediate trust, fear, security, protection, and death issues to deal with.
When the planes were raining down on America, it did not take long for the immediate effects of what had just happened to set in. The American people were genuinely filled with terror, death and, trust issues. Meanwhile, people had to sit there helplessly waiting to see what was going to happen. Soon after, Americans as well as potential flyers had to watch on the news all the fatalities of the plane crashs as well as the unknown fatalities, which was shocking. Americans had to hear about each plane going down and all the passengers as well as crew members being killed because of the hijackings. Each plane took the lives of the passengers, crew, and lives of other civilians. All of theses deaths added up to hundreds of people. Needless to say, Americans were scared to fly; they didn’t know if there would be more hijackers taking over planes or not. All the passengers saw was the amounts of death that just had occurred in front of them. No one knew why this was happening as well as who was responsible for. For that reason, the American were afraid they were no longer safe and protected. As well as scared their government had something to do with the attacks (Hensher 1). The American people were afraid of who to trust and who not to trust. Immediately the people wanted the attack investigated, but George W. Bush denied the investigation (Hensher 2). Creating more fear while dealing with the attack that day. Eventually, the immediate shock wore off and reality and time set in.
Following the immediate effects where the long term problems America had to change and face. The American people needed to feel safe, there had to be changes set in place to prevent an attack like 9/11 again. Not all changes were good; the racial outlook on the Muslim race began to increase and “Americans” did not feel safe near a individual with that background. However, not all Muslim individuals had the same beliefs as the ones who attacked America but all were treated if they did. Behzad Yaghmaian a Muslim living in America stated, “I remained in my room, avoiding suspicious neighborhood eyes, watching the Twin Towers crumble again and again on screen” (Yaghmaian qtd. 4). Muslim people were in fear of the outrage “white” people had against them, and were in fear of being outside of their homes and in public. The American people had to learn to look for terrorism on our streets the right way. Given the evidence provided, racial profiling is not helpful, and in spite of intelligence experts identify potential terrorist through race, it has to be done through observation (Hirschmann). Although this was not all that changed, the national fear after 9/11 increased immensely. It took a long time for some Americans to feel safe in their homes again. The government had to increase security at airports and the technology used to find potential weapons. Nowadays, all Americans can think of is the hassle it is to go to the airports but forget the reason that airports have tight security. The security is all about the protection of the people.
The terrorist attacks that happened on the September 11, 2011 immediately increased the national security, national fear, and cultural acceptance as well as long term by racial outlook that created fear and impacted security throughout the nation. The terrorist attacks that happened that day will be always remembered and mourned. In addition, this has increased security all throughout America. The hijacking of our planes has taught the government we need more protection in America. This attack has also taught the American people to deal with tragedy and that the United States is not invincible and that we need to always pay attention. Hopefully, our government and people will learn the lesson from that terrible day. As well as the American government doing all they can to protect the American people from having another dreadful day like September 11, 2001.
Benjamin, Daniel, and Steven Simon. “Terrorism Is a Serious Threat.” The Next Attack, edited by Mike Wilson, Times Books, New York, NY, 2005, pp. xiii-xvii. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010169264/OVIC?u=chil38234&xid=d5d39dfa. Accessed 2017.
Bush, George W. “Intelligence Gathering Has Improved Since 9/11.” U.S. Customs and Border Protection, edited by Noah Berlatsky, June 2008. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010735210/OVIC?u=chil38234&xid=abc603e5. Accessed 2017.
Hensher, Philip. “Day of Reckoning: Many Saw Disaster Coming, Including Philip Hensher, but No One Did Anything.” Spectator, Mar. 2011, p. 34. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A266347541/OVIC?u=chil38234&xid=9388cea0. Accessed 2017.
Hirschmann, Kris. "U.S. Policies Sanction Racial Profiling." Racial Profiling. Ed. Kris Hirschmann. Detroit: Greenhaven, 2006. At Issue. Rpt. of "Sanctioned Bias: Racial Profiling Since 9/11." Feb. 2004: n. pag. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 27 Feb. 2017.
Kaminski, John. “The U.S. Government Perpetrated the September 11 Attacks.” Www.abovetopsecret.com, edited by Stuart A. Kallen, 2003. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010405202/OVIC?u=chil38234&xid=73617412.
Yaghmaian, Behzad. "Attitudes Toward Muslims After September 11." Race and Ethnicity. Ed. Uma Kukathas. Detroit: Greenhaven, 2008. Contemporary Issues Companion. Rpt. of "Suspected and Feared: Muslim Migrants After 9/11." Tomdispatch.com 11 Dec. 2005: n. pag. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 27 Feb. 2017.
College Prep English
Dr. Watkins
Research Paper
February 28, 2017
Causes and Effects: The Devastation of the 9/11 Attacks
What started with a man in a cave holding a walkie-talkie named Osama Bin Laden, over time reformed into being one of America's most foundational, shaking and devastating attack. Most Americans remember exactly where they were at that exact moment on that fatal day. This attack was not only wrecking to one of America’s biggest foundation but to the lives of the American people as well. This day has went down in “the books” as some say, it will never be forgotten nor forgiven. Since that day, America has changed for the better and for the worse. Americans are not the same as they once were. In Intelligence Gathering Has Improved Since 9/11 by George W. Bush, he states, “We merged 22 different government organizations into a single department with a clear mission: Secure America and protect the American people from future attacks.” (Bush par. 2). There were negative effects from 9/11 but as shown not all of the effects were negative; Americans recovered wonderfully given the circumstances. The devastation of 9/11’s multiple attacks affected the lives of American people as well as the government through immediate effects, such as national security, national fear, and cultural acceptance, and through long-term effects such as racial outlook that created fear and impacted security throughout the nation.
Behind the scene of the greatest attack on America, started with a man with a drive to devastate and destroy America; this man was Osama Bin Laden. The attack of 9/11 stemmed from the involvement of the United States supporting and protecting Israel. The Islamic extremist group directed by Bin Laden was upset with America’s involvement in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf War. With the Islamic terrorist group knowing our involvement in the Middle East, it created fear. With that said, it created more violence and the urge to protect themselves, which opened doors to more violence. The Muslim world has become more acceptable to violence and believing using weapons and harm is justified (Benjamin and Simon 1). Furthermore, our government knew there was going to be retaliation; researcher Philip Hensher states, “A month before 11 September 2001, the President's daily intelligence brief was headed 'Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US.' Other official warnings from this time and earlier were so specific, and so specifically ignored….” (Hensher par. 1). The September 11 attacks was “payback” for supporting and being involved with the Middle East. These attacks were directed and ordered by the leader of the Islamic terrorist group of Bin Laden and carried out with using four American planes as a directed missel.
The 9/11 terrorist attack was not just one simple attack; this attack included four separate planes used as missiles to destroy four different destinations. The first plane attack was meant for the World Trade Center. The First plane, flight 11 at 8:46 a.m. crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. However, this is not where this devastating day stopped; 17 minutes later flight 175 was the second plane that shattered through the South Twin Tower. Hundreds of people running away from the building looking back and watching an attack they never thought would happened. Some people claim that the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001 was a lucky shot (Benjamin and Simon 9). Although this was scary to the American people, how do we know if it was a lucky shot? How do we know other terrorist can’t just copy Osama Bin Laden's attack? While these many thoughts and others were racing through their head, seven minutes later the American people watched and heard about a third plane hijacked and headed to the Pentagon. Flight 77 went down and hit the Western facade of the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. the damage was not as bad as it could have been and there was a small hole from the the airliner plane (Kaminski 16). American people were struck with fear, not knowing when this long morning was going to end. Not knowing if their father, mother, daughter, son, sister, or brother were still alive. Not even knowing if they were alive and sitting in a building that was about to collapse at any moment. However, the scare was not over quite yet. There was a fourth plane known as flight 93 that was bound for the White House in Washington D.C. Thankfully, the passengers on the fourth plane heard about the other three flights and realized they were not making it out of this situation alive. With their heroic and courageous act of courage they apprehended the hijackers causing the plane to go down early and not hit its designated target. The multiple attacks that day did not go as planned but succeeded in creating the fear in people towards multiple directions.
The public eye was now focused on the government, thousands of millions of people were listening to every word the government said. People were looking deeper into the attacks and the structure of the building to find evidence of what had happened. John Kaminski said, “To most Americans, the first inkling that something was wrong with the official story of the 9/11 catastrophe occurred about a year after the event” (Kaminski par. 3). The trust in the government went down after some of the information about 9/11 did not align with each other. Americans have been lied to by the government before; for example, the government lied for about the reasoning behind going to war in Afghanistan, so who's to underestimate them about lying about 9/11 also (Hensher 11). Although, Israel can not be fully blamed because there was no hard evidence to prove they were involved in the 9/11 attacks. The government started out by saying they knew nothing of the attacks, nor who was behind them and why. They still stand by that today, but there are Americans out there investigating and finding some evidence that does not make sense. There are witnesses saying that the events of 9/11 didn’t play out exactly like the media was saying. So who is to trust, and who is not to trust? There are somethings that are drawn to question to this day but nothing has been proven. Unfortunately, immediately after the attack there were immediate trust, fear, security, protection, and death issues to deal with.
When the planes were raining down on America, it did not take long for the immediate effects of what had just happened to set in. The American people were genuinely filled with terror, death and, trust issues. Meanwhile, people had to sit there helplessly waiting to see what was going to happen. Soon after, Americans as well as potential flyers had to watch on the news all the fatalities of the plane crashs as well as the unknown fatalities, which was shocking. Americans had to hear about each plane going down and all the passengers as well as crew members being killed because of the hijackings. Each plane took the lives of the passengers, crew, and lives of other civilians. All of theses deaths added up to hundreds of people. Needless to say, Americans were scared to fly; they didn’t know if there would be more hijackers taking over planes or not. All the passengers saw was the amounts of death that just had occurred in front of them. No one knew why this was happening as well as who was responsible for. For that reason, the American were afraid they were no longer safe and protected. As well as scared their government had something to do with the attacks (Hensher 1). The American people were afraid of who to trust and who not to trust. Immediately the people wanted the attack investigated, but George W. Bush denied the investigation (Hensher 2). Creating more fear while dealing with the attack that day. Eventually, the immediate shock wore off and reality and time set in.
Following the immediate effects where the long term problems America had to change and face. The American people needed to feel safe, there had to be changes set in place to prevent an attack like 9/11 again. Not all changes were good; the racial outlook on the Muslim race began to increase and “Americans” did not feel safe near a individual with that background. However, not all Muslim individuals had the same beliefs as the ones who attacked America but all were treated if they did. Behzad Yaghmaian a Muslim living in America stated, “I remained in my room, avoiding suspicious neighborhood eyes, watching the Twin Towers crumble again and again on screen” (Yaghmaian qtd. 4). Muslim people were in fear of the outrage “white” people had against them, and were in fear of being outside of their homes and in public. The American people had to learn to look for terrorism on our streets the right way. Given the evidence provided, racial profiling is not helpful, and in spite of intelligence experts identify potential terrorist through race, it has to be done through observation (Hirschmann). Although this was not all that changed, the national fear after 9/11 increased immensely. It took a long time for some Americans to feel safe in their homes again. The government had to increase security at airports and the technology used to find potential weapons. Nowadays, all Americans can think of is the hassle it is to go to the airports but forget the reason that airports have tight security. The security is all about the protection of the people.
The terrorist attacks that happened on the September 11, 2011 immediately increased the national security, national fear, and cultural acceptance as well as long term by racial outlook that created fear and impacted security throughout the nation. The terrorist attacks that happened that day will be always remembered and mourned. In addition, this has increased security all throughout America. The hijacking of our planes has taught the government we need more protection in America. This attack has also taught the American people to deal with tragedy and that the United States is not invincible and that we need to always pay attention. Hopefully, our government and people will learn the lesson from that terrible day. As well as the American government doing all they can to protect the American people from having another dreadful day like September 11, 2001.
Benjamin, Daniel, and Steven Simon. “Terrorism Is a Serious Threat.” The Next Attack, edited by Mike Wilson, Times Books, New York, NY, 2005, pp. xiii-xvii. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010169264/OVIC?u=chil38234&xid=d5d39dfa. Accessed 2017.
Bush, George W. “Intelligence Gathering Has Improved Since 9/11.” U.S. Customs and Border Protection, edited by Noah Berlatsky, June 2008. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010735210/OVIC?u=chil38234&xid=abc603e5. Accessed 2017.
Hensher, Philip. “Day of Reckoning: Many Saw Disaster Coming, Including Philip Hensher, but No One Did Anything.” Spectator, Mar. 2011, p. 34. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A266347541/OVIC?u=chil38234&xid=9388cea0. Accessed 2017.
Hirschmann, Kris. "U.S. Policies Sanction Racial Profiling." Racial Profiling. Ed. Kris Hirschmann. Detroit: Greenhaven, 2006. At Issue. Rpt. of "Sanctioned Bias: Racial Profiling Since 9/11." Feb. 2004: n. pag. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 27 Feb. 2017.
Kaminski, John. “The U.S. Government Perpetrated the September 11 Attacks.” Www.abovetopsecret.com, edited by Stuart A. Kallen, 2003. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010405202/OVIC?u=chil38234&xid=73617412.
Yaghmaian, Behzad. "Attitudes Toward Muslims After September 11." Race and Ethnicity. Ed. Uma Kukathas. Detroit: Greenhaven, 2008. Contemporary Issues Companion. Rpt. of "Suspected and Feared: Muslim Migrants After 9/11." Tomdispatch.com 11 Dec. 2005: n. pag. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 27 Feb. 2017.