Al Qaeda releases book detailing 9/11 planning on anniversary of terror attacks
The book was written by one of the group’s senior leaders, Abu Muhammad al Masri, who was killed in Iran in 2020, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.
The book details the timeline of the attack, noting that al Qaeda began planning attacks on the United States in 1996 with the intention to drag the U.S. military into a long-term war, the outlet reported.
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An Egyptian pilot initially suggested flying a civilian plane into “an important and symbolic American building” while carrying thousands of gallons of flammable materials, according to the book.
Group members were then chosen in 1998 to enlist in further combat training and enroll in aviation schools, the outlet reported.
On Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists hijacked three U.S. planes and crashed two into the Twin Towers in New York City and another into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.
The book details the timeline of the attack, noting that al Qaeda began planning attacks on the United States in 1996…
Don’t forget the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993.
www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/world-trade-center-bombing-…
Meanwhile, the mastermind of the World Trade Center bombing was still on the run—and up to no good. We’d learned his name—Ramzi Yousef—within weeks after the attack and discovered he was planning more attacks, including the simultaneous bombing of a dozen U.S. international flights.
Yousef was captured in Pakistan in February 1995, returned to America, and convicted along with the van driver, Eyad Ismoil. A seventh plotter, Abdul Yasin, remains at large.
We later learned from Yousef that his Trade Center plot was far more sinister. He wanted the bomb to topple one tower, with the collapsing debris knocking down the second. The attack turned out to be something of a deadly dress rehearsal for 9/11; with the help of Yousef’s uncle Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, al Qaeda would later return to realize Yousef’s nightmarish vision.
On Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists hijacked three U.S. planes and crashed two into the Twin Towers in New York City and another into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.
And a fourth hijacked plane’s planned fate (which is not definitively known) was disrupted by the passengers, so the hijackers flew it into the ground in a farmer’s field in Pennsylvania rather than face defeat.
And a fourth hijacked plane’s planned fate (which is not definitively known)
Perhaps not definitively, but every indication is that it was the Capitol building (20 years later attacked by, uh, insurrectionists of a different flavor.)
The Capitol Dome is big, it’s easy to spot from the air, there is a “bowling alley” approach to it. Th White House, by contrast, is more difficult to line up from the air because it is nestled within an area of similar height buildings.
Bin Laden is said to have said “If the 4th plane had not been shot down [sic], we would have hit that big dome.” Or words to that effect. Several other participants have said the dome was the target with the White House as an alternate.
The Twin Towers were easy targets, obviously because of height. The Pentagon was an easy target because of its location by the river right next to it. It seems likely that Bin Laden would have chosen the easiest other target, which is the Dome. Personally I think the White House would have been a far more lucrative propaganda target, but if you can’t find it (and remember the “pilots” were basically amateurs with scant flying experience) then “easy” probably trumps “better.”
Here’s one article with more graphic and nuanced speculation: