Thread by @marinamaral2

On this day in 2001: Two passenger planes hijacked by terrorists crash into New York's World Trade Towers causing the collapse of both and deaths of 2,752 people. #NeverForget #September11th

Additional people died of 9/11-related cancer and respiratory diseases in the months and years following the attacks.

The idea for the attacks came from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who first presented it to Osama bin Laden in 1996. At that time, bin Laden and al-Qaeda were in a period of transition, having just relocated back to Afghanistan from Sudan.

In late 1998 or early 1999, bin Laden gave approval for Mohammed to go forward with organizing the plot. A series of meetings occurred in early 1999, involving Mohammed, bin Laden, and his deputy Mohammed Atef.

Atef provided operational support for the plot, including target selections and helping arrange travel for the hijackers. Bin Laden overruled Mohammed, rejecting some potential targets such as the U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles.

Bin Laden provided leadership and financial support for the plot, and was involved in selecting participants.

In late 1999, a group of men from Hamburg, Germany arrived in Afghanistan; the group included Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi, Ziad Jarrah, and Ramzi bin al-Shibh. Bin Laden selected these men because they were educated, could speak English, and had experience living in the West.

The three Hamburg cell members all took pilot training in South Florida. In spring of 2001, the secondary hijackers began arriving in the United States.

In late 1999, al-Qaeda associate Walid bin Attash contacted Mihdhar, telling him to meet him in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Hazmi and Abu Bara al Yemeni would also be in attendance. The NSA intercepted a telephone call mentioning the meeting, Mihdhar, and the name "Nawaf" (Hazmi).

While the agency feared that "Something nefarious might be afoot", it took no further action. The CIA had already been alerted by Saudi intelligence to the status of Mihdhar and Hazmi as al-Qaeda members.

A CIA team broke into Mihdhar's Dubai hotel room and discovered that Mihdhar had a U.S. visa. While Alec Station alerted intelligence agencies worldwide about this fact, it did not share this information with the FBI.

The Malaysian Special Branch observed the January 5, 2000, meeting of the two al-Qaeda members, and informed the CIA that Mihdhar, Hazmi, and Khallad were flying to Bangkok, but the CIA never notified other agencies of this.

An FBI liaison to Alec Station asked permission to inform the FBI of the meeting, but was told that "'This is not a matter for the FBI.'"

By late June, senior counter-terrorism official Richard Clarke and CIA director George Tenet were "convinced that a major series of attacks was about to come", although the CIA believed that the attacks would likely occur in Saudi Arabia or Israel.

In early July, Clarke put domestic agencies on "full alert". He asked the FBI and the State Department to alert the embassies and police departments, and the Defense Department to go to "Threat Condition Delta."

Clarke would later write that "in [the] FBI there was information that strange things had been going on at flight schools in the United States. ... They had specific information about individual terrorists. ... None of that information got to me or the White House."

On July 13, Tom Wilshire, a CIA agent assigned to the FBI's international terrorism division emailed his superiors at the CIA's Counterterrorism Center requesting permission to inform the FBI that Hazmi was in the country and that Mihdhar had a US visa. The CIA never responded.

Early on the morning of September 11, 2001, five hijackers crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into the northern façade of the World Trade Center's North Tower. At 9:03 am, another five hijackers crashed United Airlines Flight 175 into the southern façade of the South Tower.

Five hijackers flew American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon at 9:37 am. A fourth flight, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh, at 10:03 a.m. after the passengers fought the four hijackers.

The South Tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m. after burning for 56 minutes in a fire caused by the impact of United Airlines Flight 175 and the explosion of its fuel. The North Tower collapsed at 10:28 a.m. after burning for 102 minutes.

The attacks caused the deaths of 2,996 people and the injuries of more than 6,000 others. The death toll included 265 on the four planes (from which there were no survivors), 2,606 in the World Trade Center and in the surrounding area, and 125 at the Pentagon.

Nearly all of those who perished were civilians with the exceptions of 343 firefighters, 72 law enforcement officers, 55 military personnel, and the 19 terrorists who died in the attacks.

More than 90 countries lost citizens in the September 11 attacks. The attacks are the deadliest terrorist attack in world history, killing some 500 more than the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

In Arlington County, Virginia, 125 Pentagon workers lost their lives when Flight 77 crashed into the western side of the building. Of these, 70 were civilians and 55 were military personnel, many of whom worked for the United States Army or the United States Navy.

The Army lost 47 civilian employees, 6 civilian contractors, and 22 soldiers, while the Navy lost 6 civilian employees, 3 civilian contractors, and 33 sailors.

7 Defense Intelligence Agency civilian employees were also among the dead in the attack, as well as an Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) contractor.

The city was only able to identify remains of about 1,642 of the World Trade Center victims. Further 1,111 victims are yet to be identified.

Hundreds of thousands of tons of toxic debris containing more than 2,500 contaminants, including known carcinogens, were spread across Lower Manhattan due to the collapse of the Twin Towers.

Exposure to the toxins in the debris is alleged to have contributed to fatal or debilitating illnesses among people who were at Ground Zero. Health effects extended to residents, students, and office workers of Lower Manhattan and nearby Chinatown.

Several deaths have been linked to the toxic dust, and the victims' names were included in the World Trade Center memorial. Approximately 18,000 people have been estimated to have developed illnesses as a result of the toxic dust.

On December 22, 2010, the United States Congress passed the James L. Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, which President Barack Obama signed into law on January 2, 2011.

It allocated $4.2 billion to create the World Trade Center Health Program, which provides testing and treatment for people suffering from long-term health problems related to the 9/11 attacks.

The damaged section of the Pentagon was rebuilt and occupied within a year of the attacks. The construction of One World Trade Center began on April 27, 2006, and reached its full height on May 20, 2013.

I questioned myself several times if I should do this thread. Knowing that the memory is still very painful for many people, I decided to do it, but without including all the sordid and sad details that we already know.

However, remembering is always important.

#September11th

Please do not transform this thread into a war zone, otherwise, I will be forced to delete it.