[이데일리 전재욱 기자] ‘America is under attack.’ (America is under attack.)
On September 11, 2001, while reading a children’s book to children in an elementary school classroom in Florida, USA, President George W. Bush’s expression hardened to contemplation. He was shortly after receiving such a report from the chief of staff. The report was made after the second plane crashed into the World Trade Center (WTC) in Manhattan, New York, USA. Two buildings, 110-story WTC 1 and 2, respectively, collapsed due to plane crashes at 8:46, 9:02 and 16 minutes apart. At the same time, an aircraft flew into the Pentagon and crashed into the Pentagon.
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The 9/11 terrorist attacks are recorded as the worst terrorist attacks that resulted in up to 3,000 deaths, at least 6,000 injuries, and tens of thousands of indirect victims. The terrorist attacks in the heart of New York during rush hour were clearly etched in the eyes of Americans and citizens around the world. The terrorists are the Islamic fundamentalist Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda leader. The terrorist attack was carried out by hijacking (hijacking) four planes departing from the United States by a group of 15 terrorists active in al Qaeda. Two planes hit the WTC, one hit the Pentagon, and the other crashed without reaching its target.
The United States declared war on terrorism and entered the war in Afghanistan in October of that year. The cause was to kill bin Laden and overthrow al Qaeda. The US decided to intervene in Middle East issues as well. The 2003 Iraq War was launched to combat Iraq’s production of weapons of mass destruction. The war led to the execution of dictator Saddam Hussein (2006). The tide turned in favor of the United States, but it took a long time to get the cause of the war. At one time, the number of U.S. troops deployed to Afghanistan was large enough to reach 100,000, but it took nearly a decade to kill Osama bin Laden (May 2, 2011). The war continued for 21 years until the U.S. troops withdrew in August of last year. It is recorded as the longest war in American history. The regime in Afghanistan with the withdrawal of US troops returned to the Taliban. Nothing has changed since before the war.
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Ironically, terrorism has made America a safer country. The United States, which claimed to be the world’s most powerful country, was exposed to terrorism defenseless at that time. An example is the case of the eastern U.S. Air Force, which received an emergency dispatch order immediately after the terrorist attack, scrambled fighter jets toward the Atlantic Ocean. This is because it was impossible to imagine that the aggression would come from the inside and not the outside. In fact, the previous Clinton administration was aware of the al-Qaeda threat but failed to deal with it properly by responding to domestic issues. The succeeding Bush administration was hesitant to hear the Clinton administration’s warnings to “beware of al Qaeda”.
Security also had a hole in it. The airport did not properly check the list of passengers on the plane, and the security check and search were loosely conducted. The conspiracy by a group of al Qaeda terrorists to split into five planes could have been prevented even if they were not aware of it in advance. Since then, the immigration process has become extremely difficult as it is now.
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The conspiracy theory that the 9/11 terrorism was a self-made play is another paradox. It is said that the incident was deliberately concocted by the Bush administration, as President Bush’s approval rating rose to an all-time high of 90% right after the terrorist attack. Conspiracy theories were also fueled by the fact that the Bush and bin Laden families each had a business relationship. The Iraq war brought huge profits to American oil companies, and President Bush’s main supporter is also the US oil trader.
None of the conspiracy theories have been substantiated or at least indirectly proven. Conspiracy theories are interpreted as the result of the judgment that ‘it can’t happen without intention’. To be a conspiracy theory, terrorism was carried out in a way beyond imagination, and the damage it caused was too great.