On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, in the sunny morning of the last days of summer, I lived in New York City, with a particularly clear and blue sky.
According to William Rodríguez, who was employed as a janitor in the North Tower of the World Trade Center, on that particular day, it was a stunning day with clear skies and a peaceful atmosphere, coinciding with the city of New York’s elections.
Un nuevo tipo de guerra estaba a punto de comenzar.Output: A new form of warfare was about to begin.
The 11th flight of American Airlines, carrying 76 passengers, 11 crew members, and five terrorists on board, collided between floors 93 and 96 of the north tower at 8:46 a.M., As detailed by the 9-11 Memorial and Museum. A massive ball of smoke and fire emerged from the 107-story building, which was then a symbol of American economic power. During the initial minutes of the flight, the aircraft had taken off from Boston bound for Los Angeles, but it was hijacked by extremists from the Al-Qaeda cell.
He continues to work as a firefighter, and the firefighter who continues to work as a firefighter, 64-year-old Lieutenant George Díaz, states in a conversation with this media outlet that this was intentional when we saw it live. Then they saw the second impact. He and his colleagues lowered their voices to listen to the television, which was broadcasting the disaster in the first tower in the Bronx at that time. Firefighter George Díaz was at the station, just at the shift change, after working 24 consecutive hours, 14 kilometers away from there.
As per the Department of Justice, the plane was unlawfully seized between 8:42 and 8:46 a.M. And diverted to Manhattan. It was specifically Flight 175 of United Airlines, which collided with the South Tower at 9:03 a.M. It had a total of 51 passengers, nine crew members, and five individuals involved in terrorism. The plane had also taken off from Boston and was en route to Los Angeles.
Before, they had faced any catastrophe that was bigger than the magnitude they knew was happening. During their day off, their colleagues called them to the place where they hurriedly arrived at, remembering all the members of their fire station, Diaz recalls.
“(…) Meanwhile, it was very difficult to identify anything, we couldn’t really tell, we had to start with the rescue with all the smoke and the entire land. We didn’t have masks or air to breathe, we didn’t have ambulances, there were many injured people. We were doing everything with our bare hands,” recalls the rescuer.
By then, William Rodríguez was experiencing firsthand the panic and desperation in the first tower that was hit. That day he arrived late to his job, so at the moment the first plane crashed, he was in the basement of the building and not on the upper floors where he usually was at that time. A coincidence that saved countless lives.
“The action of the National Senate of Puerto Rico has been recognized as a valid hero’s award. It is said that with the reference of one of the five keys to the building, any door could be opened. We could force the doors with that master key because it was so important, as the offices themselves. Many people got trapped because of that and the position of the frames changed because the doors were all locked.”
The collision resulted in the elevator system collapsing, prompting numerous individuals to flee in an endeavor to escape, only to find themselves trapped.
The people trapped in the elevators could not be helped. Many of them were probably burning because they were suffering. The screams were terrifying. The fireball spread everywhere when the plane exploded and the thousands of liters of fuel went down the central elevator shaft… It left lasting effects, because I could hear the screams, I couldn’t get into an elevator for many years, says Rodríguez, who later became a well-known speaker and activist after founding the Hispanic Victims Group of September 11th.
The extremists were targeted, but New York was focused on the attention. Many begged for help when authorities publicly displayed the horror inside, through recordings of calls to the 911 emergency line. Dozens of people were throwing themselves out of the windows, while the Twin Towers were ablaze.
The heart of the American military power is attacked.
The aircraft that was hijacked by five jihadists, carrying six crew members and 53 passengers, crashed into the Pentagon headquarters in Washington at 9:37 am, as indicated by the clock. The heart of the military power of the world’s leading superpower was shaken by this incident.
According to data from the Pentagon’s monument on 9/11, 125 individuals died in the Department of Defense headquarters in addition to the plane occupants.
According to a Department of Justice illustration, United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into an open field in Pennsylvania, seized by four Al-Qaeda radicals, with 33 passengers and 7 crew members, just six minutes later, at 10:03 a.M.
The worldwide air transport imposed stricter controls that changed the way people always travel, something that had turned commercial airplanes into weapons of death and destruction used by radicals.
A symbol of the economic power of the United States falls.
The moment when the south tower of the World Trade Center falls is at 9:59 a.M. The world witnessed the collapse of a giant.
10:28 a.M., The north tower of the WTC collapsed. The time between the first attack and the collapse of both buildings was 102 minutes. At
Díaz explains with a hoarse voice, a consequence in his health after the marathon cleaning operations he experienced for the following months, “Those who were buried did not know. Everything had already fallen, there was no seventh floor. ‘I’m here, I’m under this building, I’m on the seventh floor,’ but it was difficult to reach them because they were. We could hear them, but they were buried, asking for help through the firefighters’ radio. There were many screams.”
The towers collapsed, which tells the story of Rodriguez living on the interior structure for minutes. I lived that, it raised dust and hit the floor, and all the fire sprinklers were activated against the fires. Also, it raised dust and hit the floor, and all the fire sprinklers were activated against the fires. The wet cardboard and chlorine smelled like smoke. The people left everything lying around, I remember seeing shoes in all parts. There were a lot of injured people (…) It is living in hell itself.
The collision caused a massive explosion. The greatest aggression in the four attacks resulted in the death of 2,977 people, including the first responders who arrived to help, specifically the 343 firefighters. It is specified in the 9/11 Memorial and Museum that the aggression was the greatest against the United States.
Trás personas las de una es Arias Rubiela. Detrás de las cifras, pensé en el dolor que las familias de las personas que murieron allí sentían y en cómo el mundo parecía derrumbarse cuando las torres estaban exactamente donde paré. “Ahí es donde las familias de las personas que murieron sentían ese dolor y pensé en cómo era el fin del mundo”, señala la mujer. Otros problemas de salud graves que enfrentó en estos últimos 20 años están relacionados con las operaciones del 11-S en las que inhaló asbesto y plomo, según el acuerdo que tiene con sus médicos. “La mujer señala que ha enfrentado serios problemas de salud en sus pulmones debido a la inhalación de asbesto y plomo relacionados con las operaciones del 11-S en los últimos 20 años”. Arias Rubiela es una de las personas detrás de estas labores.
Arias states, “I misplaced my well-being.” She confirms that she obtained reparation from the authorities, along with medical care. “That particular day altered my existence entirely,” she expresses. “I am unable to perceive the sirens of the firemen or the law enforcement because it induces an anxiety episode,” Arias suggests.
During the disaster, many toxic residues were inhaled, resulting in a growing number of fatalities over these two decades, even. Many have suffered the aftermath, which is a product of this tragedy.
20 years later, the families of the victims demand transparency in the investigations.
Justice and transparency continue to demand and remember the forgotten case of the September 11 attacks, which claimed the lives of their beloved ones, but it may seem like a long time, possibly two decades.
Securing the funding from Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the attacks, aims to expose the urgency of the matter, as stressed by Terry Strada, president of Families and Survivors of September 11th United for Justice against Terrorism organization, in an interview with France 24. It is impossible to safeguard oneself without being aware of the facts, and I firmly believe that it is crucial to shield ourselves from another catastrophic assault, which can only be achieved by uncovering the complete truth. Having raised children in the aftermath of 9/11, it is a means of honoring my late husband Tom and all others affected.
In a federal court in Manhattan, a group of approximately 1,800 individuals, which includes the families of the victims, rescuers, and a few survivors, is pursuing legal action against Riyadh. This is based on claims that certain parts of intelligence documents imply Saudi Arabia’s involvement as a supporting nation.
The procedure authorizes the executive to order that President Biden signed a letter to Strada, the organization led by Strada, in August, requesting that he send a letter to President Biden, not asking him to attend this year’s commemorations, if he did not give green light to declassify all the required information before this year. Families could finally obtain all the required information to declassify if the procedure authorized the executive to order that President Biden signed a letter to Strada, the organization led by Strada, in August, requesting that he send a letter to President Biden, not asking him to attend this year’s commemorations, if he did not give green light to declassify all the required information before this year.
Stradapoints out that it is not solely focused on the hijackers during their time in the country. He highlights the financial support that two of the suicide hijackers, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, would have obtained from a Saudi national named Omar al-Bayoumi, as indicated by sections of the US intelligence agencies’ inquiries. It appears that a significant portion, approximately 90%, of the disclosed evidence consistently leads back to Saudi Arabia. We are actively seeking additional evidence pertaining to the involvement of the kingdom (Saudi).
Like Osama bin Laden, the 15 hijackers out of the 19 were Saudi, and it was not only because of this that doubts against Riyadh gained ground.
Investigations divisions, which incorporate reports from the September 11 Commission appointed by former President George Bush, reveal that among Al-Bayoumi’s connections was Fahad al-Thumairy, who was then an officially recognized diplomat at the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles and, as per investigators, headed an extremist group within his mosque.
Riad has been rejected. The investigations have not shown that it is directly related to an important oil supplier in the Middle East, which is a key ally of the USA. Despite the outlined links.
With the recent declassification order from Biden, it is expected that there will be more oxygen for eventual answers and investigations for the families of the victims, who hope to close wounds.
Justin’s youngest child was born four days after her spouse, Tom Terry, a bond trader who worked in the northern tower of the World Trade Center, passed away. “I do not think anyone should escape punishment for taking a life; we reside in a nation where we incarcerate individuals for murder. This is a legal case against a monarchy that we are unable to apply imprisonment to, but we do have a civil lawsuit against them, so we will persist in advocating for action,” states the activist and mother of three from New Jersey.
Strada describes, “the 9/11 was the terrible and darkness amidst something positive that helps me consider the families that could be considered families that could help me do something positive amidst the darkness and the terrible was the 9/11 that I know”.
Humanity will hardly forget the nightmare that continues, without a doubt, for dozens of indirect and direct victims and survivors.