Portal:September 11 attacks/Selected articles
Contents
Instructions
The layout design for these subpages is at Portal:Criminal justice/Selected article/Layout.
- Add a new Selected article to the next available subpage.
- The "blurb" for all selected articles should be approximately 10 lines, for appropriate formatting in the portal main page.
- Update "max=" to new total for its {{Random portal component}} on the main page.
Selected articles list
Portal:September 11 attacks/Selected article/1
7 World Trade Center is the name of two buildings in New York City, located in Lower Manhattan across from the World Trade Center site. The original building, developed by Larry Silverstein in the 1980s, was 47 stories tall, clad in red exterior masonry, and occupied a trapezoid-shaped footprint. The building was constructed above a Con Edison power substation, which imposed some unique structural design constraints. An elevated walkway connected the building to the World Trade Center plaza. The original building opened in 1987 and had difficulties attracting tenants at first. In 1988, the Salomon Brothers signed a long-term lease, and became the main tenants of the building. During the September 11, 2001 attacks, this original structure was heavily damaged by debris when the adjacent twin towers collapsed. Its structural integrity was further compromised by fire, and the combined effect of structural damage and fire resulted in its collapse at 5:20 p.m. on September 11. By 2002, construction of a replacement building was underway. The new building, completed in 2006, is 52 stories and also is above a power substation. It was built on a smaller footprint than the original to allow Greenwich Street to be restored from TriBeCa through the World Trade Center site and south to Battery Park. The new building is bounded by Greenwich, Vesey, Washington, and Barclay streets. A small park across the street, between Greenwich and West Broadway, occupies space that was part of the original building's footprint. The new building's design placed emphasis on safety, with a reinforced concrete core, wider stairways, and thicker fireproofing of steel columns. The new 7 World Trade Center also has numerous environmentally friendly features, which enabled it to gain gold status in the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED program. (more...)
Portal:September 11 attacks/Selected article/2
The construction of the World Trade Center was a post-World War II urban renewal project, spearheaded by David Rockefeller, to help revitalize Lower Manhattan. The project was developed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which hired architect Minoru Yamasaki who came up with the specific idea for twin towers. The towers were designed as framed tube structures, which provided tenants with open floor plans, uninterrupted by columns or walls. This was accomplished using numerous, closely-spaced perimeter columns to provide much of the strength to the structure, along with gravity load shared with the core columns. The elevator system, which made use of sky lobbies and a system of express and local elevators, allowed substantial floor space to be freed up for use as office space by making the structural core smaller.
The design and construction of the World Trade Center twin towers involved many other innovative techniques, such as the slurry wall for digging the foundation, and wind tunnel experiments. Construction of the World Trade Center's North Tower began in August 1968, and the South Tower in 1969. Extensive use of prefabricated components helped to speed up the construction process. The first tenants moved into the North Tower in December 1970 and into the South Tower in January 1972. Four other, low-level buildings were constructed as part of the World Trade Center in the 1970s, and a seventh building was constructed in the mid-1980s. (more...)
Portal:September 11 attacks/Selected article/3
United Airlines Flight 93 was a scheduled U.S. domestic passenger flight from Newark International Airport, in Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco International Airport. It was hijacked in 2001 by four men as part of the September 11 attacks. Over 40 minutes into the flight the hijackers breached the cockpit, overpowered the pilots and took over control of the aircraft, diverting it toward Washington, D.C. Several passengers and crew members made telephone calls aboard the flight and learned about the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The passengers then decided to launch an assault against the hijackers to try and take control of the aircraft. The plane crashed in a field just outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania, about 150 miles (240 km) northwest of Washington, D.C., killing all 44 people aboard, including the hijackers. The plane fragmented upon impact, leaving a crater, and some debris was blown miles from the crash site. The remains of everyone on board the aircraft were later identified. Subsequent analysis of the flight recorders revealed how the actions taken by the passengers prevented the aircraft from reaching either the White House or United States Capitol. A permanent memorial is planned for construction on the crash site. The chosen design has been the subject of criticism and is scheduled to be dedicated in 2011. (more...)
Portal:September 11 attacks/Selected article/4
Ziad Jarrah (Arabic: زياد سمير جراح, Ziyād Samīr Ǧarrāḥ) (May 11, 1975 – September 11, 2001) was one of the masterminds of the September 11 attacks who served as the hijacker-pilot of United Airlines Flight 93, crashing the plane into a field in a rural area near Shanksville—after a passenger uprising—as part of the coordinated attacks. After a wealthy and secular upbringing, Jarrah moved to Germany in 1996. He became involved in the planning of the September 11 attacks while attending TUHH in the late 1990s, meeting Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi and Ramzi bin al-Shibh, forming in 1998, what is now known as the Hamburg cell. Jarrah was recruited by Osama bin Laden for the attacks in 1999. Unique among the hijackers, he was close to his family and girlfriend.
Jarrah arrived in the United States in June 2000, he trained at Florida Flight Training Center from June 2000 to January 2001, after relocating to Florida from New Jersey. On September 7, 2001, Jarrah flew from Fort Lauderdale to Newark. On September 11, Jarrah boarded United 93, and he is believed to have taken over as the pilot of the aircraft along with his team of hijackers, which included Saeed al-Ghamdi, Ahmed al-Nami and Ahmed al-Haznawi who together made an unsuccessful attempt to crash the plane into the U.S. Capitol or the White House.(more...)
Portal:September 11 attacks/Selected article/5
American Airlines Flight 11 was a scheduled U.S. domestic passenger flight from Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, to Los Angeles International Airport. It was hijacked by five terrorists and deliberately crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City as part of the September 11, 2001, attacks. Fifteen minutes into the flight, the hijackers injured at least three people, forcefully breached the cockpit, and overpowered the pilot and first officer. Mohamed Atta, who was a known member of al-Qaeda and a trained pilot, took over the controls. Air traffic controllers noticed the flight was in distress when the crew stopped responding to them. They realized the flight had been hijacked when Atta mistakenly transmitted announcements to air traffic control. On board, two flight attendants (Amy Sweeney and Betty Ong) contacted American Airlines, and provided information about the hijackers and injuries to passengers and crew.
(more...)
Portal:September 11 attacks/Selected article/6
American Airlines Flight 77 was the third flight hijacked as part of the September 11 attacks, and it was deliberately crashed into the Pentagon. The scheduled U.S. domestic flight from Washington Dulles International Airport, near Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles International Airport was hijacked by five Islamic terrorists less than 35 minutes into the flight. The hijackers stormed the cockpit and forced the passengers to the rear of the aircraft.
Hani Hanjour, one of the hijackers trained as a pilot, assumed control of the flight. Unknown to the hijackers, passengers aboard were able to make calls to loved ones and relay information on the hijacking. The aircraft crashed into the western facade of the Pentagon at 09:37 Eastern Time. All 64 people on board and 125 in the building were killed, including the hijackers. Dozens of people witnessed the crash and news sources began reporting on the incident within minutes. The impact severely damaged an area of the Pentagon and caused a large fire. A portion of the Pentagon collapsed and firefighters spent days trying to fully extinguish the blaze. The damage to the Pentagon was rebuilt in 2002, with occupants moving back into the damaged area on August 15, 2002. The 184 victims of the attack are memorialized in the Pentagon Memorial adjacent to the Pentagon. (more...)
Portal:September 11 attacks/Selected article/7
Khalid al-Mihdhar (Arabic: خالد المحضار) (May 16, 1975 – September 11, 2001) was one of five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 77, which was flown into the Pentagon as part of a coordinated suicide attack on September 11, 2001. Mihdhar was born in Saudi Arabia and fought in the Bosnian War during the 1990s. In early 1999, he traveled to Afghanistan where, as an experienced and respected jihadist, he was selected by Osama bin Laden to participate in the 9/11 attacks plot.
Mihdhar arrived in California with fellow hijacker Nawaf al-Hazmi in January 2000, after traveling to Malaysia for the Kuala Lumpur al-Qaeda Summit. Upon arriving in San Diego, California, Mihdhar and Hazmi were to train as pilots, but spoke English poorly and did not do well with flight lessons. In June 2000, Mihdhar left the United States for Yemen, leaving Hazmi behind in San Diego. Mihdhar spent some time in Afghanistan in early 2001 and returned to the United States in early July 2001. He stayed in New Jersey in July and August 2001, before arriving in the Washington, D.C. area at the beginning of September 2001. On the morning of September 11, Mihdhar boarded American Airlines Flight 77, which was hijacked approximately a half-hour after take off. The plane was deliberately crashed into the Pentagon, killing all 64 people aboard the flight, along with 125 on the ground. (more)
