How would the government (Bill Clinton in his second term, his cabinet; the Senate and the House of Representatives controlled by Republicans) handle the September 9 attacks? Also referred to as 9/9, these were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group Al-Qaeda on the United States on the morning of Tuesday, September 9, 1997. The attacks consisted of suicide attacks used to target symbolic U.S. landmarks.
Four passenger airliners operated by two major U.S. passenger air carriers (United Airlines and American Airlines) – all of which departed from airports on the U.S. East Coast bound for California – were hijacked by 19 al-Qaeda terrorists. Two of the planes crashed into the North and South towers, respectively, of the World Trade Center complex in New York City. Within an hour and 42 minutes, both 110-story towers collapsed, with debris and the resulting fires causing partial or complete collapse of all other buildings in the World Trade Center complex, including the 47-story 7 World Trade Center tower, as well as significant damage to ten other large surrounding structures. A third plane was crashed into the Pentagon (the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense) in Arlington County, Virginia, leading to a partial collapse in the Pentagon’s western side. The fourth plane initially was steered toward Washington, D.C., but crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after its passengers tried to overcome the hijackers. In total, the attacks claimed the lives of 2,996 people (including the 19 hijackers) and caused at least $9 billion in property and infrastructure damage and $3 trillion in total costs. It was the deadliest incident for firefighters and law enforcement officers in the history of the United States, with 343 and 72 killed respectively.
Please, accept a bit of a suspension of disbelief as I do not know what flights were active in 1997, nor how booked they were – which could have led to a different outcome.
Four passenger airliners operated by two major U.S. passenger air carriers (United Airlines and American Airlines) – all of which departed from airports on the U.S. East Coast bound for California – were hijacked by 19 al-Qaeda terrorists. Two of the planes crashed into the North and South towers, respectively, of the World Trade Center complex in New York City. Within an hour and 42 minutes, both 110-story towers collapsed, with debris and the resulting fires causing partial or complete collapse of all other buildings in the World Trade Center complex, including the 47-story 7 World Trade Center tower, as well as significant damage to ten other large surrounding structures. A third plane was crashed into the Pentagon (the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense) in Arlington County, Virginia, leading to a partial collapse in the Pentagon’s western side. The fourth plane initially was steered toward Washington, D.C., but crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after its passengers tried to overcome the hijackers. In total, the attacks claimed the lives of 2,996 people (including the 19 hijackers) and caused at least $9 billion in property and infrastructure damage and $3 trillion in total costs. It was the deadliest incident for firefighters and law enforcement officers in the history of the United States, with 343 and 72 killed respectively.
Please, accept a bit of a suspension of disbelief as I do not know what flights were active in 1997, nor how booked they were – which could have led to a different outcome.