9/11 – Unanswered Questions
by Moign Khawaja
September 16, 2009
Eight years have passed since the fateful bombings took place on 11th of September, 2001 in New York and nearby states. Every year thousands of people gather in downtown Manhattan to commemorate the terrorist atrocities. Every year the President of the United States of America addresses the nation and renews his pledge to track down the terrorists and defeat them. The newspapers publish special supplements that weigh tons and media outlets fill hours of airtime to recall the incidents that took place eight years ago.
Since then, two wars have been waged, unknown number of terrorists have been nabbed, several inquiries have been launched and several regimes have been uprooted across the world. Thousands of innocent people lost their lives on 9/11 of 2001. Hundreds of thousands of more innocent civilians since then have lost their lives in events related to the 9/11 attacks. The worst thing – the end of bloodshed is no where in sight.
A lot has been debated about the events that took place as a result of 9/11 attacks. But, how much do we actually know about the incidents that took place on 11th of September, 2001 itself? Have we ever tried to understand the pattern of the events and debated them? Most of you would say a big NO. So, in order to get a clearer picture, let’s strip to 5 W’s, the ‘basics of journalism’, which is the key formula for getting the full story of any incident.
WHAT? What happened? What is the story?
According to the official account, four commercial airplanes were hijacked. Three of them were crashed into the buildings while the fourth one came down in a field in Pennsylvania. Following is the list of incidents that occurred on the morning of 9/11. Please note that the death toll and number of casualties is quoted from the official accounts:
Incident: Airline hijacking and terrorist attack
Location: North & South Towers, World Trade Centre, downtown Manhattan, New York City
Fatalities/Casualties: 3,017 (including 19 hijackers and 24 presumed dead); 6,300 approx.
Summary: Two Boeing airliners crashed into WTC towers kamikaze style to inflict maximum casualties on civilians. Buildings do not sustain the impact of the attacks and collapse within hours causing immense damage to thousands of human lives and property worth billions of dollars.
Incident: Airline hijacking and terrorist attack
Location: Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia
Fatalities/Casualties: 189 (64 people on the airliner and 125 in the Pentagon); 106 approx.
Summary: A hijacked Boeing airliner crashed into The Pentagon building in an apparent attempt to inflict damage on US military infrastructure. The building, recently renovated and empty at that time did sustain some impact, causing a few floors to collapse as a result of the crash and subsequent fire.
Incident: Airline hijacking and terrorist attack
Location: Shanksville, Pennsylvania
Fatalities/Casualties: 44 dead (including 4 hijackers)
Summary: A hijacked Boeing airliner crashed in a field in Somerset country, Pennsylvania state. The airliner was apparently heading to Washington D.C. before it crashed 240 km northeast of the capital. Remains of all the people on board the aircraft were identified. Official reports say there was an on board uprising staged by the passengers who tried to overpower the hijackers before the plane crashed.
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS:
What happened to the following unknown victims of the hijacked planes?
- Only 87 out of the 92 people on board Flight 11 named. Fate of five people still remains unknown.
- Only 59 out of the 65 people on board Flight 175 named. Six people yet to be named.
- Only 59 out of the 64 people on board Flight 77 named. Five people remain missing.
- Only 40 out of the 44 victims on board Flight 93 named. Four people yet to be named.
- What happened to the remains of thousands of people who lost their lives following the crashing of the airliners into the towers?
- What did officials knew about the terrorist plans? How did they find out and why was preemptive action not taken?
- What about the other people who were arrested soon after the attacks on suspicion of aiding the hijackers and planning to stage more terrorist attacks on US soil? Were they charged or released?
- What happened to the black boxes of the aircraft that became the target of terrorist attacks?
- What happened to the flight control recordings of the four hijacked flights that were recorded by air traffic controllers?
Moign Khawaja specializes in politics, current affairs and world conflicts. He also takes deep interest in society especially religious and cultural festivals. He has MA degrees in Journalism and International Affairs. Contact him at moign@foreignpolicyjournal.com. Read more articles by Moign Khawaja.
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Great piece of writing. Would say the most ‘compact’ and ‘precise’ article written on 9/11 this year. Keep it up!
Thanx Jason. Your comments are well-appreciated. I tried my best to come up with the original guidelines of journalism to rescue this very important event in history that seems to be lost in haze of uncertainty and uneven arguments.
‘So-called conspiracy theorists’, guess those might be ‘concerned citizens’ who are labeled with libel?
I’ll second Bourne; in these ‘irrational times’ it is truly striking to see such amount of sanity in single article.
I’m pleased to see our ‘universally common organon’ in terminology you’ve deployed.
Thanks, keep it up indeed.
It is really disturbing to see that people’s legitimate concerns are condemned as ‘conspiracy theories’ and are not considered worth discussing by the mainstream media. 9/11 blindness has gone to such extreme that it has even changed the melting point of steel! I know this incident has provoked wars and clashes between civilisations but it has also become a consensus point where rationale minds converge and challenge the wisdom of the so-called ‘defenders of truth and freedom’. I hope that in the long term, people across the globe will remember this incident that brought them closer together in the history of the mankind.
I feel, commenting on this article would give a benefit of the doubt to the already accountable Zionist regime….everyone from Africa to America knows who did it and what was the motive….its so laughable to even imagine Atta training on a light 2 seated plane maneuvering a jumbo 757 into a needle in a hay stack (flying at 10,000m), the first USAF jets scrambling 172 min after the hijacking call, and not from anywhere near…but from Langley…and to add up more spice in this drama….none of the surveillance tapes ever came ON AIR around the heavily fortified Pentagon. To Summarize all….the Zionists were looking for an Excuse (9/11) to create a Stable (Afghanistan) to rein the untamed forces. (Nuclear Pakistan, Going to be Nuclear Iran and other middle-eastern powers).
Pretty good work Moign
Thanx Admkhan. Seems the jigsaw puzzle is fitting in quite nicely. I do agree with most of the things you mentioned. 9/11 conspiracy was hatched to give new dimension to Washington’s hegemony and a boost to its waning influence. It’s a shame that Pakistan was made to pay a hefty price by all the parties involved in the conflicts be it USA, Taliban, al-Qaeda or Zionists.
Great article Moign. I am becoming irritated by the legion of incurious souls who either pedal the ‘conspiracy kooks’ line or lap it up along with their reality tv! The huge problem those seeking to expose the truth of 9/11 have is the sheer enormity of the events leading up to the day and the tragic events themselves. Even talking to my father, an avowed anti-authoritarian socialist, about the alternative conspiracy evidence led him to state his feeling that it was just to much to comprehend and that he prefered not to think about it! Just as you have done in the article we must keep asking the questions. Two additional issues, in my view, which need much more research (another story for you Moign) are the question of who Omar Sheihk really worked for and if he did indeed send $100k to Mohammed Atta at the behest of ISI Director General. Also, who were the beneficiaries of the ‘put-options’ (bets that the stock value would fall) placed on United Airlinesand American Airlines immediately prior to 9/11? It is simply not sufficient to state, as the 9/11 Commision did, that ‘no beneficiary of the accrued profits of these deals had any connections to Bin Laden or Al-Qaeda’. Who were these individuals and companies and what did they know?
Thanks for your valuable comments and hints for more stories. In this article, I purely analysed the events that took place just on the day (9/11) itself. Whatever happened before or after is another chapter riddled with mysteries, lies, contradictions etc. that need to be scrutinsed. The role of other intelligence agencies/countries/individuals/organisations remains very dubious and highly suspicious to say the least. From Pakistan to Israel and Russia to India, intelligence agencies were playing some part and their strings are attached to this incident. And let’s not forget the ‘great’ job done by American agencies in the first place!
I have tried to FOIA the FBI investigation which reportedly led to the revelation that Omar Saeed Sheikh sent $100,000 to Mohammed Atta at the behest of Mahmoud Ahmed, but they stonewalled me.
That’s interesting Jeremy. But what was the point of using proxies when inside job could have been more easier? What did the FBI reply to your request?
The FBI managed to block my FOIA request in an interesting way. They replied to say that information about the investigation into Daniel Pearl is still under investigation and so exempt from FOIA requests. But I hadn’t requested files from that investigation. Are the two cases connected somehow, perhaps linked through Omar Saeed Sheikh? In any case, they then responded a second time to say that inquiry had been opened by mistake, and that it was now closed. But they canceled my FOIA inquiry along with it. I could try again, but just haven’t gotten around to it yet.
It’s the greatest cover up of all times I reckon. Interesting to see a nexus of US-Israeli-Pakistani intelligence agencies that led to the most controversial incident of 21st century.
The conspiracy theories are wrong.
Please download my report on 9/11 which firmly debunks all of them in a scant 80 pages. http://www.septemberclues.info/vicsims/9-11-9%20the%20Vicsim%20Report.pdf
Thanks for the link my friend. Where did you get all these ideas from?
myself
Nice one!
The truth of the official 9/11 story is a conditional of a conjunction, thus,
If (A + B + … ) then X
where
A = Osama bin Laden is an enemy of the US
B = bin Laden conspired with 19 hijackers to attack the US
… = other statements which comprise the official story
X = the official 9/11 story is true
If any one of the premises A, B or … is false, the entire conjunction is false and the conclusion X is false.
The following abbreviation of evidence falsifies premise A:
1. Two months before September 11 Osama bin Laden flew to Dubai for 10 days for treatment at the American hospital, where he was visited by the local CIA agent, according to the French newspaper Le Figaro. (Guardian 11/1/01)
2. On September 10, 2001, bin Laden received kidney dialysis at a Pakistani military hospital in Rawalpindi. (CBS News, 1/28/02)
3. The Taliban agreed to give up bin Laden to the U.S. only to be rebuffed by the State Department. (Village Voice 1/2/02)
4. The US combat commander in Afghanistan said Thursday that apprehending Osama bin Laden isn’t one of the missions of Operation Enduring Storm. (USA Today 11/23/01)
5. CIA Commander: U.S. Let bin Laden Slip Away (Newsweek 8/15/05)
Therefore, it is demonstrated that Osama bin Laden was a protected asset, not an enemy. Therefore the official 9/11 story is falsified.
Great algebraic formula for the so-called ‘conspiracy theorists’. Thanks for your contribution Joe S. You’ve asked very important questions that add up to the ‘unanswered questions list of 9/11′.
Here’s what I hate – every single year they just keep on sucking over the same pictures and videos 1000x over on every single channel, in every single newspaper/magazine etc – yet nothing new ever comes out.
I really wonder just how many more years they’re gonna be putting up this charade for… I for one am getting quite annoyed by all this crap honestly.
And the real kicker of all of this is that the facts will NEVER come out, no matter how much the people whine, no matter how much the journalists investigate, no matter what happens.
The only way that the truth behind all of this can come out is if there is a complete refresh of the government, and I mean COMPLETE, with completely new people for every single position, people who have no interest in preserving old bullshit, and have no stake in it at all.
The only way that something like that would happen is well, only if there is an uprising and a revolution – and well all know perfectly well that that won’t ever happen – or at least not any time soon.
‘Never say never again’. I understand your frustration, but these things take time. We cannot really determine how much damage is this damage control doing, to illustrate, we have all seen the effect of the treason on American nation and we all know the strength of American patriotic spirit. The more administrate oppresses the greater is the chance of open and violent revolt. First incidents had already occurred, so I’d estimate that we are actually ahead of the schedule. One can say with some certainty that we have ‘damn if you do, damn if you don’t', or rather win, win situation at hand. I’d prefer law and order approach, but hey, they have their think-tanks and strategies, and the current strategy is to postpone the inevitable. Mass murdering and lying administrate is currently doing its best to ensure the media that it is reformed (have you noticed how UBL spoke about this reformation?), it suggest that ‘if the truth comes out’, chaos will ensue. This is the last lie they’ll ever make, there is a fundamental flaw in the economy which will bring this administrate down even if people are kept at bay. Those folks are like junkies, they cannot think soberly anymore and all they ask for is one last shot. Let them have it…
Michael, your words remind me of the mindset that people have usually before the break of the revolution. I have not travelled in time but I’m sure this is exactly what people would have said before…let’s say the French revolution. The dynamics of revolution are completely independent of any man-made laws. We all will see a ‘true change’…let’s hope very soon!
Minute apart, I find it lovely.
You know, there is some divinity in it all; it is the catalyst of change some people sought, and it is the change they’ll receive.
Totally agree with you Dawn. The truth is already there….just that we need the pair of eyes to see them and a healthy mind to understand it…
Another question I have is how it could possibly be a “mistake” that the CIA was tracking two known al-Qaeda operatives known to have applied for visas to enter the U.S. and then allowed them to do so without so much as notifying the Immigration department, the State Department, or the FBI. Then there is the extraordinary coincidence that the two terrorists, who lived in the U.S. under their real names (they were even listed in the phonebook), happened to rent from an FBI informant who the 9/11 Commission never bothered to talk to.
What about all the simulations and exercises planned for or going on that day?
People who reject the “conspiracy theories” are themselves “coincidence theorists”. You can only explain away so much by “coincidence” before it just gets ridiculously implausible.
I personally know a few religious figures who were busy celebrating the 9/11 attacks in New York soon after they happened. Later they were nabbed by the authorities on their alleged links with al-Qaeda. CIA and al-Qaeda go hand in hand yet many people in the Middle East and South Asia refuse to realise it. What amazed me was the strange traditions presented by such fanatics who claim the Holy Quran and Hadith predicted 9/11 attacks. What apparently damaged the Muslim world is hailed by such fanatics as signs of success…Just ridiculous to say the least….
Mr. Khawaja -
There are quite a few things you left out, the most important of single item falls under “when”:
5:20pm – WTC 7, a 47-storey steel-framed building which only had a few small fires burning in it, falls symmetrically to the ground in 6.5 seconds (free-fall speed) and neatly into its own footprint. Eyewitnesses report massive explosions taking place in the building hours before it fell as well as additional explosions just before it is totally demolished. One volunteer medic at the site reports hearing a countdown over an emergency workers radio just before the building imploded. The 9/11 Commission fails to mention this building in its report and a later government report by NIST concedes that the “collapse” of the Twin Towers had nothing to do with this $850 million highly secure building’s destruction and asserts that normal office fires brought the building down (something that has never happened before or since). The building, sometimes referred to as the Salomon Brothers Building, housed the largest CIA field office outside of Langley, FBI offices, Secret Service offices and offices of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission where over 3,000 case files are destroyed. The files include criminal investigations into Enron, WorldCom, Arbusto Energy and Harken Energy. The latter two companies were connected to both George W. Bush and the bin Laden family and George H.W. Bush interfered with the initial investigations into the insider trading and other criminal irregularities when he was president.
It’s also worth noting here that an international team of scientists analysed multiple dust samples taken from the WTC site and found both exploded and unexploded traces of a high-tech military-grade explosive called nanothermite in said samples. Their findings have been published in a mainstream peer-reviewed scientific journal.
Your timeline could also reflect Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta’s sworn testimony before the 9/11 Commission regarding VP Cheney’s clear failure to order the interception of AA77, even thought the VP was given regular updates on its approach toward Washington D.C. Even though Sec. Mineta’s account was corroborated by other credible witnesses the 9/11 Commission makes no mention of it in their final report.
FTR, I consider myself a conspiracy analyst and any reasonable analysis of the government’s 9/11 conspiracy theory shows that it is demonstrably false. Not even the FBI lists Osama bin Laden as wanted for the crimes of 9/11.
Thanks Mr. Khawaja, LeftWright seems to be piling on “when” I’ll try some “who”.
First person accounts are most accurate close to time of event. William “Willy” Rodriguez, “The Last Man Out,” describes “explosions” in the basement before first impact of aircraft. Along w/100s of first responders reporting secondary explosions before “collapse”. Why didn’t the 911 Commission investigate?
Alleged hijackers could not have entered U.S. w/out being vetted by CIA according to diplomatic station chief in Raidja, Saudi Arabia
Trans. Sec. Mineta seems to feel the order was to shoot down UA93 when it is more likely a NO shoot down order on AA77 so the device (Raytheon “Predator” firing cruise missile) that entered Capt. Deconte’s (XO Amalgam Virgo exercise) office while he was getting authorization to engage said device took out the accounting division. This was a public private venture.This covers up Def. Sec. Donald “Rummy” Rumpsfelds admission to AEI on 9/10/01 that $3.2trillion was lost or stolen from DOD. Yes that’s TRILLION and you wonder how will we pay for health care?
Money makes strange bedfellows and it’s all about the money. Freedom & democracy are the Pablum you feed the people before you rip off their tax dollars. Thanks again, cheers.
Great job Trex. The Who’s of 9/11 are very important to investigate but it seems they’ll take the truth to their graves…
Money + power is an explosive mix. The obsession to achieve them results in catastrophes of historic proportions..
Dear LeftWright,
Your feedback, contribution and suggestions are extremely valuable and based on facts. In this article, I tried to focus just on the very events of 9/11, nothing before or after. However, the WTC Tower 7 and other additions are very interesting and raise a plethora of questions and doubts. The criminal silence prevails so does the excruciating ignorance….