Terrorism & the Middle East I

World Geography Terrorism & the Middle East I: Defining Terrorism

The 9-11 Attacks…

In 1996 Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a member of the terrorist organization known as al-Qaeda, presented an idea to attack the United States to Osama bin Laden, the leader of the organization. Al- Qaeda had just relocated to Afghanistan and bin Laden did not feel as though it was an appropriate time to launch an attack. Three years later, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and bin Laden held a series of meetings to discuss the implementation of his plan to high-jack and crash commercial airliners into important sites in the United States. The two men selected 19 others to carry out the plot. They carefully chose members of al-Qaeda who were well-educated, fluent in English, and familiar with the United States.

Three of the terrorists arrived in the United States in June of 2000. They entered the country legally by obtaining travel visas. They went to southern Florida where they enrolled in a pilot-school to learn the basics of flying an airplane. A fourth terrorist, who had learned how to fly in Hamburg, Germany, took a “refresher” course in Arizona. Between May and July of 2001, the rest of the 15 terrorists arrived in the United States from Saudi Arabia (15), the United Arab Emirates (2), Egypt (1) and Lebanon (1). In late July, Mohammed Atta, the ringleader of the 19 terrorists, flew to Spain where he met with one of al-Qaeda’s leaders to finalize the plans.

The morning of September 11, 2001 was a beautiful, late summer day. The skies were blue and the air was warm. That morning the 19 members of al-Qaeda selected to carry out this plot, boarded four different commercial airplanes in Boston, Newark and Washington, DC. All four of these planes were scheduled to fly to the west coast of the United States (to the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco). Shortly after the planes took off, the terrorists got up from their seats and used box-cutters (small, cutting tools) to take control the aircrafts. Frantic passengers aboard the planes used their cell phones to call loved ones on the ground and report the high- jackings.

At 8:46 a.m., American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the World Trade Center’s North Tower in New York City. Many of the city’s residents were on their way to work when they witnessed the collision. At 9:03 a.m., as people stared helplessly at the burning buildings, another plane, United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Thirty-four minutes later, American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon (the headquarters for the United States’ military). It soon became apparent to everyone that America was under attack.

Remarkably, the initial force of the two airplanes crashing into the twin towers of the World Trade Center did not cause the 110-story buildings to fall. This allowed many people to run down flights of stairs and escape onto the streets. However, the fires caused by the crash and fed by 1000s of gallons of jet fuel, caused the steel frames of the buildings to weaken. This, in addition to the building supports destroyed by the airplanes, resulted in both towers collapsing. At 9:59 a.m. the South Tower collapsed and the North Tower fell at 10:28 a.m.

A fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, had also been highjacked. The terrorists planned on crashing the plane into the Capitol Building in Washington, DC that houses the United States’ Congress. Passengers aboard this flight heard about the previous crashes and managed to over-power the terrorists, crashing the plane into a field in Pennsylvania, instead of its intended target.

The U.S. government has calculated that 2,995 people were killed by the 9-11 terrorist attacks (as they have become known). The country was shut down for nearly a week after the terrorist attacks – no airplanes were allowed to fly, businesses shut down, the stock exchange was closed. The day changed the United States in countless ways. After September 11th, a new word became commonplace in our vocabulary – terrorism.

What is Terrorism?

Defining the word terrorism is not an easy task. There is no single, universally accepted definition of the word. Most definitions, however, share the following aspects. (1) Terrorism is the use of physical violence against unarmed civilians. Acts of terrorism are meant to affect, not only the victims that are directly impacted (i.e. a person killed by a car bomb). (2) Acts of terrorism are intended to create fear amongst the larger population (i.e. people will be afraid to go into their cars, thinking that a bomb might be hidden there). Acts of terrorism do not use violence just to cause pain and fear. (3) Acts of terrorism are carried out to bring attention to a particular political, economic or social issue. For example, in 1995, a group of American terrorists blew up a federal government building in Oklahoma City, OK. The bombing killed hundreds of civilians, but it also scared people in other parts of the country too. Many Americans feared that more acts of terrorism would follow. The terrorists carried out the act to show their discontent with the growing size of the U.S. federal government; it was their way of bringing attention to the issue. In the weeks that followed, newspapers and television stations had countless stories about the terrorist organization and their unhappiness with the U.S. government.

The main cause of terrorism is dissatisfaction with a political, economic or social policy and the inability to change that policy through non-violent means. When people dislike their own government or a particular law, they usually use peaceful means to express their opinions (i.e. running for office, writing a letter to a government official, going on strike, boycotting). When groups of people feel that peaceful options do not exist, they oftentimes resort to acts of violence (i.e. think about the African National Congress of South Africa and their actions after the Sharpeville Massacre).

The media (television, newspaper, radio, Internet) and terrorists have an important relationship. Terrorists depend on the media to spread fear and their message. Without the media, acts of terrorism would receive little attention (few people would hear about the acts). If this happened, their cause would be ignored and they could not create an atmosphere of fear. Terrorism needs publicity and the media provides much of that publicity. Some people believe that the media should limit its coverage of terrorism for this reason. However, others argue that the media must inform people about acts of terrorism because it helps to keep people alert and safe.

Name: World Geography Date: Core:

Terrorism Part 1: Reader Response

Directions: Use the reading from today’s class (Terrorism & the Middle East I: Defining Terrorism) to answer the following questions.

Fact Check…

1. What is the name of the terrorist organization that carried out the September 11th attacks on the United States? ______

2. Who is the leader of that terrorist organization? ______3. What country served as the headquarters for that terrorist organization in the late 1990s/early 2000s? ______

4. In what year did they begin planning the attacks? ______

5. What were the 4 sites targeted by the terrorists on September 11th, 2001? a. ______c. ______b. ______d. ______

6. How many people died in the September 11th attacks? ______

7. What are the three aspects shared by all acts of terrorism? a. ______b. ______c. ______