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Line 29: − + − − + + + + + + − The perpetrators of the attacks were soon identified as members of the al Qaeda terrorist organization headed by [[Osama Bin Laden|Osama bin Laden]], who proudly took credit for killing thousands of innocent people. Explanations of the motives for the attack vary widely. Bin Laden viewed it as a [[Jihad]] against the West, blaming America's foreign policy towards Israel, sanctions against Iraq for its role in invading Kuwait and forcing it to pay back the damaged parties, and American troops in Saudi Arabia at the request of the Saudi government. From the viewpoint of the American leaders, Bin Laden was embittered against a society with freedom of speech, freedom of government, and freedom of religion and that those philosophies had led the United States to become the richest nation on the planet.+
added part of the suspect block
===Shanksville, Pennsylvania===
===Shanksville, Pennsylvania===
United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757-200, left Newark at 8:40 AM, with a destination of San Fransisco. Unlike the other planes which had four hijackers each, Flight 93 had three; it also had passengers who, through onboard phone calls, learned of the previous hijackings and crashes and determined to wrest control of the aircraft back from the terrorists. Turned towards Washington, the plane ended up crashing in a wheat field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania at 10:03 AM, the only one of the aircraft which failed to reach its target. Among the recorded conversations between the passengers and phone operators was the phrase "Let's roll" by Todd Beamer, made just before he set down his phone and took action with the other passengers involved; Beamer's last phrase would become a rallying cry in the coming war on terorism.
United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757-200, left Newark at 8:40 AM, with a destination of San Fransisco. Unlike the other planes which had four hijackers each, Flight 93 had three; it also had passengers who, through onboard phone calls, learned of the previous hijackings and crashes and determined to wrest control of the aircraft back from the terrorists. Turned towards Washington, the plane ended up crashing in a wheat field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania at 10:03 AM, the only one of the aircraft which failed to reach its target. Among the recorded conversations between the passengers and phone operators was the phrase "Let's roll" by Todd Beamer, made just before he set down his phone and took action with the other passengers involved; Beamer's last phrase would become a rallying cry in the coming war on terorism.
===Ground Casualties===
===Ground Casualties===
As a matter of course, the deaths of the 19 [[suicide|hijackers]] are not included in these casualty totals.
As a matter of course, the deaths of the 19 [[suicide|hijackers]] are not included in these casualty totals.
==Economic Impact==
===Economic Impact===
The material costs of the attacks are well in excess of one hundred billion US dollars. Factoring in stock market losses, loss of revenue in New York City, loss of jobs, impact on air travel, and heightened security, some estimate the cost approaches two trillion dollars.<ref>[http://www.iags.org/costof911.html The Cost of September 11] Institute for the Analysis of Global Security</ref>
The material costs of the attacks are well in excess of one hundred billion US dollars. Factoring in stock market losses, loss of revenue in New York City, loss of jobs, impact on air travel, and heightened security, some estimate the cost approaches two trillion dollars.<ref>[http://www.iags.org/costof911.html The Cost of September 11] Institute for the Analysis of Global Security</ref>
Some estimates of the cost of executing the plan place it in the $400,000-$500,000 range, making it an extremely "profitable" operation for al-Qaeda. <ref>[http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report_Exec.htm The 9/11 Commission Report]</ref>
Some estimates of the cost of executing the plan place it in the $400,000-$500,000 range, making it an extremely "profitable" operation for al-Qaeda. <ref>[http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report_Exec.htm The 9/11 Commission Report]</ref>
==Finding Out What Happened==
==The suspects==
Suspicion fell on Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda organization almost immediately. Known to have harbored hatred for the United States since the basing of U.S. fighters and other military personnel in Saudi Arabia during the first Gulf War, bin Laden has tried "To kill Americans and their allies — civilians and military — is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it," <ref>[http://awildernessvoice.com/Mohammed.html]</ref>, and often succeeding. In four previous attacks, bin Laden's operatives
*killed 6 in a bomb explosion in the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993;
*killed 19 soldiers in 1996 at a military housing complex in Saudi Arabia;
*killed more than 200 people in the simultaneous bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania;
*killed 17 sailors by putting an explosives-laden boat next to USS ''Cole'' while that destroyer was refueling in Yemen in 2000.
His personal fortune, estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars, has enabled him to finance well-coordinated operations, including the training of the hijackers in close-quarter fighting, commandeering of aircraft, and ironically to bankroll their education in American flight schools.
==Social Impacts==
==Social Impacts==