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The Attack
Terrorists strike the United States, killing 2973 people. Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhMWXoWvU_o -
Bush calls attacks “acts of war.”
“The deliberate and deadly attacks which were carried out yesterday against our country were more than acts of terror. They were acts of war. This will require your country to unite in steadfast determination and resolve. Freedom and democracy are under attack… But make no mistake about it: we will win.” [WH, 9/12/06] -
Anthrax letters sent to media outlets, senators
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER, 2001: Anthrax letters sent to media outlets, senators
Beginning September 18, and occuring over the course of several weeks, letters containing anthrax bacteria were mailed to NBC, the New York Post, and Sens. Tom Daschle (D-SD) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT), killing five people and sickening seventeen others. [Wikipedia] -
Anthrax discovered at White House mail machine
“President Bush said confidently Tuesday that ‘I don’t have anthrax’ after biohazard testing at the White House and the discovery of anthrax on a mail-opening machine at a screening facility six miles away.” [Washington Post, 10/23/01] -
Fighters back in control of Afghanistan
The galaxy of warlords who tore Afghanistan apart in the early 1990’s and who were vanquished by the Taliban because of their corruption and perfidy are back on their thrones, poised to exercise power in the ways they always have. [NYT, 11/19/01] Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paSVCmGt4aE -
Cheney “warns” Daschle about establishing independent 9/11 inquiry
Vice President Cheney called Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD) to “warn” him not to open hearings into the attacks. If Daschle pressed the issue, Cheney “implied he would risk being accused of interfering with the mission” against terrorism. [Newsweek, 2/4/02] -
Bush: bin Laden “not the issue.”
BUSH: We are patient; we’re deliberate. Oh, I know the news media likes to say, “Where’s Osama bin Laden?” He’s not the issue. The issue is international terror.” [2/5/02] Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PGmnz5Ow-o -
Further Investigation
Mar 2, 2002: The 9/11 collapse of the 47-story WTC building 7 was the first time a modern, steel-reinforced high-rise in the US has ever collapsed in a fire. [New York Times, 3/2/02] Building 7 was where the SEC was storing files related to numerous Wall Street investigations. The files for approximately 3,000 to 4,000 cases were destroyed. [National Law Journal, 9/17/01] -
Al Qaeda operations chief captured
“One of the suspected Qaeda fighters who was captured in Pakistan on Thursday is believed to be Abu Zubaydah, a top commander under Osama bin Laden, American and Pakistani officials said today. … American officials say Mr. Zubaydah [h]as been linked to the planning of the Sept. 11 attacks.” [NYT, 3/31/02] -
Attitude towards Bush improves in Europe
“Europeans have a better opinion of President George W. Bush than they did before the Sept. 11 attacks, but they remain highly critical of the president, most of his policies, and what they see as his unilateral approach to international affairs.” [Pew, 4/17/02] Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyGDlNJgLOQ -
CIA Investigation
Oct 16, 2002: The CIA, FBI, and NSA all testify that no individual at their agencies has been punished or fired for any of the missteps surrounding the Sept. 11 attacks. [Washington Post, 10/18/02]. Link to video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_3M5G3zZhcU -
Bush reacts
May 23, 2002: President Bush says he is opposed to establishing a special, independent commission to probe how the government dealt with terror warnings before 9/11. [CBS, 5/23/02] -
Bin Laden’s voice on video praises 9/11 hijackers
As we talk about the conquests of Washington and New York, we talk about those men who changed the course of history and cleaned the records of the nation from the dirt of the treasonous rulers and their followers. [Guardian Unlimited, 9/14/02] -
Anniversary
Sept 11, 2002: On the first anniversary of 9/11, New York Times writes, “One year later, the public knows less about the circumstances of 2,801 deaths at the foot of Manhattan in broad daylight than people in 1912 knew within weeks about the Titanic.” http://www.wanttoknow.info/020911nytimes. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KlIY2pvvtUw -
FBI Investigation
Oct 5, 2002: Congressional investigators say the FBI’s efforts to block their inquiry makes them skeptical of FBI assertions. They also say the Justice Department has joined the FBI in fighting congressional requests for information, while the CIA has been antagonistic. [New York Times, 10/5/02] -
Bali terrorist attack
Islamic militant group al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the bomb attack on a Bali nightclub in which more than 180 people died. [CNN, 11/8/02] Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QD1H0quRuxg -
Bush appoints Henry Kissinger as chairman of 9/11 Commission
The New York Times opines that the White House chose him “to contain an investigation it has long opposed.” [CNN, 12/13/02] Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJeR7fSZr4Y -
Survey shows growing global discontent with U.S.
“Despite an initial outpouring of public sympathy for America following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, discontent with the United States has grown around the world over the past two years.” [Pew, 12/4/02] -
Bush opposes additional funding for 9/11 Commission
“[T]he White House brushed off a request quietly made last week by the 9-11 Commission Chairman Tom Kean, the Republican former governor of New Jersey, to boost his budget by $11 million. [Time, 3/26/03] -
Bin Laden tape urges suicide attacks against Arab governments that support the US-led attack on Iraq.
“All of them have been imposed upon you and jihad against them is your duty.” [Guardian Unlimited, 4/8/03] -
U.S. image in the world continues to drop sharply
“[I]n most countries, opinions of the U.S. are markedly lower than they were a year ago. The war has widened the rift between Americans and Western Europeans, further inflamed the Muslim world, softened support for the war on terrorism, and significantly weakened global public support for the pillars of the post-World War II era — the U.N. and the North Atlantic alliance.” [Pew, 6/3/03] -
Riyadh terrorist attacks
Terrorists stormed past security guards into an affluent, heavily secured residential neighborhood in the Saudi capital Saturday and set off three explosions, journalists and officials in Riyadh said. The attack, which Saudi officials said bore the hallmarks of al Qaeda, killed at least 17 people. [BBC, 11/9/03] -
Taliban “can now outspend and outman” U.S. forces
JANUARY 2004: Taliban “can now outspend and outman” U.S. forces
“Flush with income from the drug trade (which previously the Taliban seems to have avoided and actively combated), the Taliban can now outspend and outman not just the weak central government in Kabul, but even the U.S. forces: In areas around the southern city of Kandahar, the Taliban is reportedly paying their fighters as much as $70 a week, going up to $120 a week for fighters who attack American forces. -
Bush reverses position, backs 9/11 Commission extension
“After resisting the idea for months, the White House announced Wednesday its support for a request from the commission investigating the September 11, 2001 attacks for more time to complete its work.” [CNN, 5/4/04] Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMiqEUBux3o -
U.S. government report warns of Taliban resurgence
A United States Institute for Peace study reports, “nearly two years after their defeat by U.S. and allied Northern Alliance forces, the Taliban has re-emerged as a growing security threat along Afghanistan’s southeastern border with Pakistan.” [3/04] -
9/11 Commission releases recommendations.
“The commission’s 10 members said they planned to spend the next 12 months traveling the nation demanding that politicians carry out most of their 41 recommendations. … Bush and his aides appeared to resist the commission’s plea for quick action.” [LA Times, 7/24/04] -
Global terrorist attacks triple over past year
“The number of ‘significant’ international terrorist attacks rose to about 650 last year from about 175 in 2003, according to congressional aides briefed Monday on the numbers by U.S. State Department and intelligence officials.” [Reuters, 4/26/05] -
CIA Director Goss says he has “excellent idea” where bin Laden is hiding
“Asked whether that meant he knew where bin Laden is, Goss responded: ‘I have an excellent idea where he is. What’s the next question?'” [Fox News, 6/19/05] Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THLcqxgka0k -
CIA closes unit focused on capture of bin Laden
“The Central Intelligence Agency has closed a unit that for a decade had the mission of hunting Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants. … Michael Scheuer, a former senior C.I.A. official who was the first head of the unit, said the move…’will clearly denigrate our operations against Al Qaeda.'” [NYT, 7/4/06] -
Bin Laden warns of future attacks in audiotape
“The mujahideen have been able, with the will of God, to overcome all security measures that the forces have taken, and the result of this is what you have seen in the explosions in major European capitals…And our delay on similar attacks in the US is not because we could not penetrate security measures. The operations are under preparation and you will see them in your houses as soon as they are completed.” [Guardian Unlimited, 1/19/06] -
Osama's dead
Osama bin Laden, the founder and head of the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda, was killed in Pakistan on May 2, 2011, shortly after 1:00 am PKT (20:00 UTC, May 1) by United States Navy SEALs of the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Development Group
