Editing United Airlines Flight 93 (section)

===Possible targets===

The intended target of Flight{{spaces}}93 has never been definitively confirmed.<ref>{{cite news |last=Shuster |first=David |title=9/11 mystery: What was Flight 93's target? |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna14778963 |date=September 12, 2006 |work=[[Hardball with Chris Matthews]] |publisher=[[NBC News]] |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=March 2, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130302105940/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/14778963 |url-status=live}}</ref>  However, investigators have said there is high probability that the most likely target was the [[United States Capitol]].<ref>Sims, Marcie.  ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=L1NLDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA133 Hill Pages: Young Witnesses to 200 Years of History]'', p. 133 ([[McFarland (publisher)|McFarland]], 2018).</ref><ref>Glass, Andrew.  [https://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/us-capitol-likely-terrorist-target-sept-11-2001-227844 “U.S. Capitol likely terrorist target: Sept. 11, 2001”], ''[[Politico]]'' (11 Sep 2016).</ref> The two setbacks the hijackers faced, totalling 88 minutes combined, meant casualties on the ground would have been minimal even if the plane did reach D.C. The attack on the Pentagon at 09:37 caused the immediate evacuation of all federal government buildings in the area,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.history.com/topics/21st-century/9-11-timeline |title=9/11 Timeline |access-date=April 29, 2023}}</ref> with the Capitol and the White House being evacuated 28 minutes before Flight 93's earliest projected arrival time of 10:13.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report.pdf |title=9/11 Commission Report |access-date=April 28, 2023}}</ref>{{rp|62}}

Before the attacks, [[Khalid Sheikh Mohammed]], [[Osama bin Laden]], and [[Mohammed Atef]] developed a list of potential targets.<ref name="Chap5"/> Bin Laden wanted to destroy the White House and the Pentagon. Sheikh Mohammed wanted to strike the World Trade Center and all three wanted to hit the Capitol. No one else was involved in the initial selection of targets.<ref name="Chap5"/> Bin Laden told 9/11 planner [[Ramzi bin al-Shibh]] to advise Mohamed Atta that he preferred the White House over the Capitol as a target.<ref name="Chap7">{{cite book |chapter=The Attack Looms |chapter-url=http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/report/911Report_Ch7.htm |year=2004 |title=9/11 Commission Report |publisher=National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States |access-date=July 2, 2008 |archive-date=December 28, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181228074840/https://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/report/911Report_Ch7.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> Atta cautioned bin al-Shibh that this would be difficult, but agreed to include the White House as a possible target and suggested they keep the Capitol as an alternative in case the White House proved too difficult. Eventually, Atta told bin al-Shibh that Jarrah planned to hit the Capitol.<ref name="Chap7"/> Atta briefly mentioned the possibility of striking a nuclear facility, but relented after the other attack pilots voiced their opposition.<ref name="Chap7"/> Based on an exchange between Atta and bin al-Shibh two days before the attacks, the White House would be the primary target for the fourth plane and the Capitol the secondary target.<ref name="Notes"/> If any pilot could not reach his intended target, he was to crash the plane.<ref name="Chap7"/>

Immediately after the attacks, there was speculation that [[Camp David]] was the intended target.<ref>{{cite web |title=Feds Would Have Shot Down Pa. Jet |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/feds-would-have-shot-down-pa-jet/ |work=CBS News |date=September 16, 2001 |access-date=August 24, 2008 |archive-date=April 4, 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020404052745/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/09/12/archive/main311011.shtml |url-status=live}}</ref> Based on testimony from captured al-Qaeda member [[Abu Zubaydah]], U.S. officials believed the White House was the intended target.<ref>{{cite news |title=White House target of Flight 93, officials say |url=http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/05/23/flight.93/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080521222438/http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/05/23/flight.93/index.html |archive-date=May 21, 2008 |date=May 23, 2002 |work=CNN |access-date=July 2, 2008}}</ref> A [[post–9/11|post-9/11]] interview with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and bin al-Shibh by [[Al Jazeera Media Network|Al Jazeera]] reporter [[Yosri Fouda]] said Flight{{spaces}}93 was heading for the Capitol.<ref name="Fouda">{{cite news |last=Rubin |first=Daniel |title=Capitol was Flight 93 Target, Arab TV Reports |date=September 9, 2002 |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette}}</ref> The ''9/11 Commission Report'' cited the actions of the crew and passengers in preventing the destruction of either the White House or the Capitol.<ref name="Chap1"/> According to further testimony by Sheikh Mohammed, bin Laden preferred the Capitol over the White House as a target.<ref name="Notes"/> [[Salim Hamdan]], bin Laden's driver, told interrogators that he knew that the flight was heading for the Capitol.<ref>{{cite news |last1=McIntyre |first1=Jamie |first2=Laurie |last2=Ure |title=Prosecution: Bin Laden's driver knew hijackers aiming for Capitol |url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/07/22/gitmo.trial/ |date=July 22, 2008 |work=CNN |access-date=July 22, 2008 |archive-date=April 24, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090424143107/http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/07/22/gitmo.trial/ |url-status=live}}</ref>