Editing Al-Qaeda (section)

=== September 11 attacks ===
{{Main|September 11 attacks}}
{{Further|Motives for the September 11 attacks}}
[[File:FEMA - 4235 - Photograph by Andrea Booher taken on 09-28-2001 in New York.jpg|thumb|Aftermath of the September 11 attacks]]
[[File:Mohamed Atta.jpg|thumb|Mohamed Atta, the pilot hijacker of American Airlines Flight 11 and leader of the September 11 attacks]]
The September 11 attacks on America by al-Qaeda killed 2,996 people{{snd}}2,507 civilians, 343 firefighters, 72 law enforcement officers, 55 military personnel as well as 19 hijackers who committed murder-suicide. Two commercial airliners were deliberately flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, a third into the Pentagon, and a fourth, originally intended to target either the [[United States Capitol]] or the [[White House]], crashed in a field in Stonycreek Township near [[Shanksville, Pennsylvania]] after passengers revolted. It was the deadliest foreign attack on American soil since the [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor]] on December 7, 1941, and to this day remains the deadliest terrorist attack in human history.

The attacks were conducted by al-Qaeda, acting in accord with the [[Fatawā of Osama bin Laden#1998 Fatwa|1998 ''fatwa'']] issued against the US and its allies by persons under the command of bin Laden, al-Zawahiri, and others.<ref name="Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders" /> Evidence points to suicide squads led by al-Qaeda military commander [[Mohamed Atta]] as the culprits of the attacks, with bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, [[Khalid Sheikh Mohammed]], and [[Hambali]] as the key planners and part of the political and military command.

Messages issued by bin Laden after September 11, 2001, praised the attacks, and explained their motivation while denying any involvement.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/09/16/inv.binladen.denial/|title=Bin Laden says he wasn't behind attacks|publisher=CNN|access-date=July 6, 2006|date=September 17, 2001|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060705161654/http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/09/16/inv.binladen.denial/|archive-date=July 5, 2006|url-status=live}}</ref> Bin Laden strongly supported the attacks by identifying numerous grievances of Muslims, such as the general perception that the US was actively oppressing Muslims.<ref>{{Harvnb|Esposito|2002|p=22}}.</ref> In his "''Letter to the American people''" published in 2002, Osama Bin Laden stated: <blockquote>Why are we fighting and opposing you? The answer is very simple:
(1) Because you attacked us and continue to attack us. ....

The American government and press still refuses to answer the question:
Why did they attack us in New York and Washington? 
If [[Ariel Sharon|Sharon]] is a man of peace in the eyes of [[George W. Bush|Bush]], then we are also men of peace!!! America does not understand the language of manners and principles, so we are addressing it using the language it understands.<ref name=Letter2002 /><ref>{{cite web|title=Full text: bin Laden's 'letter to America'|url=https://scholarship.tricolib.brynmawr.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/218e2431-0b76-43ff-8ac5-284ae73d29ad/content|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231014061421/https://scholarship.tricolib.brynmawr.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/218e2431-0b76-43ff-8ac5-284ae73d29ad/content|archive-date=14 October 2023}}</ref></blockquote>

Bin Laden asserted that America was massacring Muslims in "[[Palestinian National Authority|Palestine]], [[Chechnya]], [[Kashmir]] and [[Iraq]]" and Muslims should retain the "right to attack in reprisal". He also claimed the 9/11 attacks were not targeted at people, but "America's icons of military and economic power", despite the fact he planned to attack in the morning when most of the people in the intended targets were present and thus generating the maximum number of human casualties.<ref>Hamid Miir 'Osama claims he has nukes: If U.S. uses N-arms it will get the same response' "Dawn: the Internet Edition" November 10, 2001</ref>

Evidence later came to light that the original targets for the attack may have been nuclear power stations on the US East Coast. The targets were later altered by al-Qaeda, as it was feared that such an attack "might get out of hand".<ref name="AL-QAIDA-LEADERS-SAY-NUCLEAR-POWER-STATIONS-WERE-ORIGINAL-TARGETS">{{Cite news|title=Al-Qaida leaders say nuclear power stations were original targets|url=https://www.theguardian.com/afghanistan/story/0,1284,788431,00.html|work=The Guardian|location=UK|date=September 9, 2002|access-date=January 11, 2007|first1=Giles|last1=Tremlett|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070122160702/http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0%2C1284%2C788431%2C00.html|archive-date=January 22, 2007|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Al-Qaeda-SCALED-BACK-10-PLANE-PLOT">{{Cite news|title=Al Qaeda Scaled Back 10-Plane Plot|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45853-2004Jun16_2.html|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=June 17, 2004|access-date=January 11, 2007|archive-date=October 10, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010144832/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45853-2004Jun16_2.html|url-status=live}}</ref>