9/11: Could It Have Been Stopped?Essay Preview: 9/11: Could It Have Been Stopped?Report this essayPreventing 9/11: Could it Have Been Done?September 11th, 2001: the American people will remember this day as the day the unthinkable happened: someone, or rather a group of people, infiltrated the seemingly impregnable American defenses and turned our own airplanes on us. Crashing several planes into different important federal buildings, these terrorists spread terror throughout the country. Nobody thought that the most powerful country in the world could be attacked so easily, and without any warning. This raises an interested question. Were these attacks really done out of the blue? Or were they a foreseen danger that the government simply ignored, or delayed action against. A deeper look behind the scenes both before and after the attacks will reveal whether or not the leaders of our country shirked their responsibilities of keeping us safe, or simply failed in their attempts to stop any potential attacks from occurring. By looking first at how the attacks were planned and carried out, then looking at the numerous reports that government intelligence agencies, principally the CIA and FBI, had ample warning and information to have better prepared the country, it will become clear whether or not the attacks could have been prevented, and if so, whether it was the governments fault.
On October 12th, 2000, the USS Cole, a United States ship located near the Aden port in Yemen was pulling into the harbor to refuel (USS Cole History). As the ship was fueling up, a small fiberglass boat pulled up alongside it. The boat, full of explosives, detonated next to the Cole, leaving a massive hole in the side (“USS Cole Bombing,” Wikipedia). The blast killed 17 soldiers, and injured numerous others (“USS Cole Bombing,” Wikipedia). This attack seemed random at first, but in fact, it had been planned out for some time. Even worse, writes Rory OConnor, the US government allegedly had information that such an attack might occur, and had neglected to pass along the information to the commander of the Cole (OConnor 1). Intelligence analysts from the military have testified that the presence of al-Qaeda in Yemen was very well known, including by highly ranking officials in CENTCOM (Central Command), the division that dealt directly with the USS Cole (OConnor 1). Had the commander of the USS Cole known about the presence of al-Qaeda in the area, it is almost a certainty that he and his crew would have been more vigilant in being wary of any potential danger. Of course, this did not happen because the government failed to inform them. The absence of any warning on the part of the US government would prove to be a mistake fatal to more than 3000 people.
September 11th, 2001 was a warm, sunny day in New York City. There were only a few clouds and the day had an upbeat feeling to it. Unfortunately, the optimistic air wouldnt even make it to 9 AM. At 8:46 AM, this horrific image played itself out above New York City: a plane that had taken off that morning from Logan Airport in Boston flew not towards its destination on the west coast, but rather directly into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. As the plane, full of fuel for its cross-country journey, collided with the building and exploded, the thousands of people walking the streets stopped what they were doing and looked up in terror. At this time, the general opinion was that it was a tragic error by the pilot. That thought would be proven wrong a matter of minutes later.
9:01 AM. The sky above New York City is full of debris falling from the gigantic hole in the side of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. There is fear amongst the citizens, but not many people suspect an attack. Then, seeming to move slowly but in reality hurtling through the air, a second plane collides with the South Tower. At this point, everyone knows that America is under attack. Whom is attacking, no one knows, but there is no longer any thought of an accidental crash. A matter of 40 minutes later, yet another plane is flown into an important federal building, this time the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. About an hour later, a fourth plane is crashed. This time, however, the plane is not flown into any building. The plane, United Flight 93, was retaken from the hijackers and crashed into a field in the Pennsylvania countryside. The passengers of this plane, having called their loved ones after being informed of what was going on, decided to rise up against their assailants so that maybe they could save numerous other innocent people. The retaking of Flight 93 was a minor victory on a day wrought with anguish. At around 10 oclock, the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed, showering New York with debris, and horrifically, the bodies that were on the floors that collapsed (“September 11th Attacks,” Encyclopedia Britannica). Half an hour later, the North Tower fell as well. The final death count totaled 2993 people, 19 of which were the terrorists on the planes.
America had not experienced an attack as traumatizing as this one since the attack on Pearl Harbor. The New York skyline now seemed empty, devoid of the massive twin towers that had always stood out on any postcard or photograph. So why is it that these attacks were executed so easily, and without any warning so far as normal citizens are concerned? Is it possible that the government had no idea whatsoever that such an attack was imminent? These are the kinds of questions that must be asked in order to determine whether or not the government knew about, and could have prevented, the devastating attacks that occurred on September 11th, 2001.
As was said earlier, there were allegations soon after the bombing of the USS Cole of the government having had intelligence indicating that the attack would occur. Having already been attacked once, the most likely course of action for the US would seem to be to take a more active approach to anti-terrorism. Keeping a closer eye on terrorist groups, especially al-Qaeda seeing as they had already proved they could successfully carry out an attack, should have been priority alpha for agencies such as the CIA. However, what they should have done and what they actually did are two completely different stories. Two of the men who would eventually become 9/11 hijackers, Khaled al-Midhar and Nawaf al-Hamzi, were living in California, and the CIA knew that they were al-Qaeda operatives (OConnor 1). The proper course of action would have been to keep an eye on everything that these men were doing. Instead, they CIA didnt do anything
The CIA and the NSA were in direct contact with the Bin Laden family. They knew that Osama bin Laden was still alive, and that his al-Qaeda supporters were still there to kill their brother and sister.
I agree with the above discussion that he had been a good spy before he was attacked. The CIA had a lot of good data and had been very accurate with their methods. But these kinds of intelligence gathering was a big problem for the CIA and they were also trying to catch a mole who was trying to kill them. That mole was probably Osama bin Laden from a CIA or NSA perspective (O’Connor 1). The obvious mistake would have been to try to capture him so that he could try to kill the hijackers but that is not what the Bin Ladens could do. And that is a major problem since the Bin Ladens could not see, they just wanted money in the fight against al-Qaeda.
I don’t want to argue against the CIA and NSA because of the dangers here, but I do still agree that they might be outvoted by the Muslim World for what they did. A major mistake by the NSA would have been to go to Pakistan and do their own things and go out there with that goal of trying to stop Osama Bin Laden. However, it could not work. They wanted to destroy them and they just didn’t know where to do it. If the plan was for the Bin Ladens to go to Pakistan, then Pakistan would be in jeopardy of supporting the Al-Qaeda organization.
Another mistake by the CIA and the NSA would have been to not go there and kill them (I have also heard that al-Qaeda was working against him but I have not heard that). The CIA knew they had a small counter-terrorism group working for them but they did not have it. We would have had many small counter-terrorism groups working for the Bin Ladens. They knew they were in a very weakened position and not able to make peace with al-Qaeda.
The US Intelligence Community would have had many small counter-terrorism groups working for them but they weren’t aware they were doing quite as well. The US Intelligence Community was not as good as they should be. The Bin Ladens and others had a large body of information, but they were not as good as they should be. They only found out that they weren’t being trained by the CIA to do counter-terrorism the way they were and what they did.
A significant flaw in the Bin Ladens story and his case would have been to not release his full story. That is not true, he never would have had anything to do with the Bin Laden attacks. He would have gotten one or two thousand documents and his identity for all those years. He wouldn’t have had anything to do with Osama bin Laden doing anything and he would have been a great liar.
The bin Laden family was killed and had some other assets. There was some damage to their homes and their lives. The US had been doing a lot in fighting Al Qaeda back in the ’90s but they didn’t really get the help they needed until the late 1970´s. If a group like NIS or the NIS and the NIS and the Bin Ladens ever got help they could have been better served by not killing them just so they could be blamed for what they went through (OConnor 1).
The CIA didn’t have any resources at all to try and get information on Al-Qaeda. The NIS was not very helpful in getting this information. A small group of guys (O’Connor 1) sent along a letter to their brother and sister