There are dates in history that are forever imprinted in our memories. One such date is September 11th – a day that changed the lives of thousands of people not only in the United States but around the world. Everyone knows that on that day, the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were attacked using four hijacked planes. But there are also facts about September 11th that few people know. Here we've compiled ten little-known facts related to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
1. The original targets of the 9/11 attacks were nuclear power plants, but the targets were later changed by Al-Qaeda because they feared that such an attack "could get out of control.".
In 2002, a leading journalist for the Arabic television channel Al Jazeera was taken to a safe house in Karachi, Pakistan. There, the journalist, Yosri Fouda, interviewed two of the world's most wanted fugitives: suspected al-Qaeda leaders Khaled al-Sheikh Mohammed and Ramzi bin al-Shaiba. They revealed that the original targets of the September 11 attacks, known to their organizers as "Operation Holy Tuesday," were two nuclear power plants. However, the attacks on these two targets were not carried out due to the uncertainty of their consequences. The names of the nuclear power plants were also not disclosed. (source)
2. A month before 9/11, President George W. Bush was given a memo titled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike U.S." It said he would hijack planes and possibly target New York City.
Approximately three years after the September 11 attacks, on April 10, 2004, the Bush administration declassified a 2001 daily briefing. The document revealed that on August 6, 2001, President George W. Bush received a classified overview of the threat posed by Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda terrorist network. This top-secret document, prepared by U.S. intelligence agencies, featured the now-infamous headline, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike U.S." However, administration officials downplayed the document's significance at the time. They claimed that despite the startling headline, it was merely an assessment of al-Qaeda's history, not a warning of an impending attack. (source)
3. In August 2001, actor James Woods reported four suspicious individuals on board his plane, but authorities failed to act on his claim and it was later revealed that they were the 9/11 hijackers.
A week before the World Trade Center attacks, actor James Woods was flying from Boston to Los Angeles. The only other passengers in first class were four men "of Middle Eastern appearance." According to Woods, they were behaving strangely. None of them ate, drank, read, or slept during the entire flight. They only occasionally sat upright in their seats, quietly conversing with one another. When he mentioned this to a flight attendant, she brushed him off. After arriving in Los Angeles, Woods reported the incident to airport staff, but they "seemed unwilling to intervene.".
On September 12, the day after the attack, Woods called the FBI to tell investigators what had happened. On September 13, agents interviewed him. To date, the FBI has not revealed whether the four passengers were actually connected to the 9/11 attacks. However, Woods himself stated that he identified two of the men he saw as the hijackers involved in the 9/11 attacks. (source)
4. More police officers died from illnesses related to the events of September 11 than were killed on that day.
As a result of the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York City, thousands of police officers, firefighters, rescue workers, and residents suffered from respiratory illnesses, mental health issues, gastrointestinal disorders, and cancer. The number of police officers killed on September 11 is believed to be significantly lower than the number of police officers who later died from illnesses related to the attacks. (source)
5. The New York Times« wrote an article about each victim of the September 11 attacks.
After the September 11 attacks The New York Times newspaper paid tribute to all the innocent lives lost as a result of these events in a unique way. They wrote about each victim from the perspective of their loved ones. An archive now exists containing all the articles in alphabetical order. Ten years later The New York Times She again reached out to the victims' families. Their life stories from that day are preserved in an archive called "Redrawn Portraits.". (source)
6. During search and rescue operations after the September 11 attacks, rescue dogs were increasingly unsuccessful in finding living people, leading to a feeling of incompetence, so some firefighters hid in rubble so the dogs could find them.
After the September 11th attacks, rescue dogs and their owners arrived at the scene to search for survivors. Four dogs from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) were among the first to arrive at the World Trade Center. One of them was Moxie, a 3-year-old Labrador retriever. It was her first assignment, but even after hours of searching, she sometimes failed to find anyone alive. This was frustrating, as finding living victims is crucial for a rescue dog. To lift her spirits, her owner, Marc Aliberti, often asked firefighters to hide among the rubble so Moxie could find someone alive. (source)
7. The September 11 attacks destroyed $100 million worth of art, including works by Pablo Picasso.
The September 11 attacks killed approximately 3,000 people. In addition to the human lives lost, the disaster also resulted in the loss of countless archives, historical documents, and works of art. Twenty-one libraries inside the World Trade Center were destroyed. Numerous works of art from private collections and archives were also lost. Paintings by Pablo Picasso, David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein, and many others, displayed throughout the complex, have never been recovered. The value of the lost works of art is estimated at $100 million from private collections and $10 million from public funds. (source)
8. As a result of the September 11 terrorist attacks, an additional 1,600 people died in car accidents after they changed their travel plans from flying to driving.
The official death toll from the September 11 attacks is 2,996, including the 19 hijackers. However, research shows that many more lives were lost as a result of fear-induced behavioral changes. In the months following the attacks, people began avoiding air travel and preferring roads. It's impossible to say exactly what transportation trends would have been had September 11 not occurred, but Professor Gerd Gigerenzer, a German risk scientist, estimates that an additional 1,595 Americans died in car accidents in the year following the attacks and should be considered indirect victims of the tragedy. (source)
9. The September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center released a cloud of toxic asbestos fibers into the atmosphere, exposing approximately 410,000 people. Lung cancer and mesothelioma cases in the city are expected to peak in 2041, four decades after 9/11.
About 400 tons of asbestos were used during the construction of the World Trade Center due to its heat resistance and affordability. However, when the Twin Towers collapsed during the September 11 attacks, massive quantities of hazardous asbestos fibers and other toxic substances were released into the air. According to the World Trade Center Health Registry, approximately 410,000 people were exposed to a variety of toxins during rescue, recovery, and cleanup efforts.
Asbestos exposure can cause life-threatening diseases such as mesothelioma and asbestosis. Symptoms of these diseases typically appear 20 to 50 years after exposure. However, just two years after the September 11 attacks, a worker at the site of the tragedy died of mesothelioma. Experts expect more first responders who worked at the site of the September 11 attacks to be diagnosed with these diseases in the coming years. (source)
10. The September 11 attacks were not the first terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. The February 1993 bombing killed six people.
On February 26, 1993, eight years before the September 11 attacks, a terrorist attack took place at the World Trade Center. That day, a truck loaded with explosives detonated beneath the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. The aim of the attack was to cause the North Tower to collapse onto the South Tower, causing both to collapse. However, the attack failed to achieve its intended goal, and only six people were killed. (source)