About Al Qaeda

[Rasputin]

Five years after the 11 September attacks, how has America changed? Click through these graphs to explore long-term trends in selected aspects of life. We include the five years preceding 2001 for comparison.

US defence spending remained fairly steady throughout the late 1990s but since 2002 it has climbed by about 50$bn each financial year (Oct-Sep).



Flights within the US were grounded because of the attacks, and incoming international flights were diverted to Canada. Services resumed within a few days but it took years for the market to recover.



On becoming president, George W Bush's approval rating dipped below that of his predecessor, Bill Clinton. But Mr Bush was seen to have handled the 9/11 crisis well and his rating soared to 86% in late 2001 before falling as the Iraq war lengthened.



Reports of Muslims being targeted because of their religion was virtually unheard of before 9/11, hovering at around 30 incidents a year. After spiking in 2001, incidents have levelled off at about 150 a year (2005 figures are not yet available).



Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden was relatively low on the list of news priorities before the World Trade Center attacks. He has once again fallen down the news agenda as efforts to find him have failed.*






*Please note, statistics for hate crime and Bin Laden mentions are annual totals.

[Rasputin]

پنج سال پس از حملات تروریستی یازدهم سپتامبر استفان ایوانز گزارشگر
بی بی سی که در زمان وقوع حادثه در نیویورک تایمز کار می کرد، به این شهر بازگشته است تا دریابد حملات یازدهم سپتامبر چگونه این شهر را دگرگون کرده است.
خیابان ها دیگر همان خیابان های سابق مثل روز دهم سپتامبر2001نیستند.

قسمت های مرکزی شهری به کلی تغییر چهره داده اند و جای خالی مرکز تجارت جهانی چون زخمی بر سیمای آن رخ می نماید.

ماشین های حفاری هنوز برای بنای برج آزادی مشغول کار هستند و یک ایستگاه متروی جدید هم ساخته شده است ولی محل ساختمان مرکز تجارت جهانی(Ground Zero ) هنوزخالی و ویران باقی مانده است.

به این ترتیب سیمای شهر با آن چه پیش از این بود متفاوت جلوه می کند.

برج های دوقلو از مشخصه های اصلی شهر محسوب می شدند که از تمام منطقه منهتن دیده می شدند.

هر وقت شما ازهر ایستگاه مترو بیرون می آمدید فقط کافی بود بالا را نگاه کنید و برج ها را ببنید تا بفهمید در کدام سوی شهر قرار دارید.

وقتی به خیابان هفتم نگاه می کنید، به خوبی احساس می کنید که چیزی در آن گم شده است، آن جای خالی مثل از دست رفتن عضوی از بدن یا یک ردیف از دندان ها، در چهره شهر به نظر می رسد.

ارواح

نیویورک از درون هم تغییر کرده است.

بخش مرکزی شهر، مهم ترین مرکز اقتصادی شهر، وال استریت را در برمی گرفت که گفته می شود مرکز تجاری جهان محسوب می شود. ولی خیلی از کسانی که در آنجا کار می کردند حالا در جاهای دیگری کار می کنند.

حملات یازدهم سپتامبر سبب شد تا بسیاری از موسسات تجاری بزرگ از این منطقه که بطور سنتی ماوای آن ها بود، دور شوند.

ساختار جمعیتی منطقه کاملا تغییر کرده است به جای مراکز تجاری ، برتعداد منازل مسکونی افزوده شده است زیرا پس از حمله بهای اجاره کاهش یافت.

اما برخی از مردم هنوز از سکونت در این منطقه احساس ناخوشایندی دارند، برای آن ها بوی مرگ هنوز در فضا آکنده است و ارواح در همه جا سرگردان هستند.



من فکر می کنم که همه در نیویورک، یا آنهایی که کسی را از دست داده اند یا شاهد مصیبت آن روز بوده اند هم به نوعی گرفتار این هیولاهای کوچولو زیر تخت هایشان شده اند.


دیوید هندشا، عکاس

مردم هم تغییر کرده اند.

با هر کسی که حرف بزنید خاطره ای از یازدهم سپتامبر برای شما تعریف می کند.

چطور می شود شاهد کوبیده شدن دو هواپیما به برج های دوقلو و مرگ هزاران انسان بی گناه بود و همیشه به آن فکر نکرد؟

مثلا دیوید هندشا هنوزهم عکاس دیلی نیوز است اما حالا دیگر به جای عکاسی از تصادفات اتومبیل ها و وقایع جنایی به عکاسی از غذاها می پردازد، چیزی که به گفته او مردم را خشنود می کند.

دیوید شاید اولین عکاسی بود که درروز یازدهم سپتامبر در محل وقوع حاضر شد، او قبل از آنکه دومین هواپیما به برج اصابت کند به محل رسید.

او آن قدر نزدیک بود که حتی صدای کسانی که بر روی برج ها در میان شعله های آتش گیر افتاده بودند وفریاد می زدند و از بالای برج خود را به پایین پرت می کردند و همچنین صدای برخوردشان با زمین را می شنید.

همه این ها قبل از آن رخ داد که او خودش در میان آوار برج جنوبی که ناگهان فرو ریخت گیر بیفتاد، او به سختی مجروح شد ولی توسط آتش نشان ها نجات یافت.

او تغییر کرده است وقتی با او در اتومبیلش دور شهر پرسه می زنیم، این را کاملا می شود فهمید که به یک آرامش محسوس دست یافته است.

روندی دردناک

در حین رانندگی با دیوید وقتی کامیونی از او سبقت می گیرد، لبخندی می زند و می گوید:"بزن برو، تو گنده تر از منی."

بعد رویش را به من می کند و می گوید: "سپری کردن اوقاتم با بچه هایم بهترین چیزی است که در دنیا نصیب من شده است."


کودکان به گونه ای خاص تحت تاثیر فاجعه قرار گرفته اند
دیوید می گوید این که هر روز صبح وقتی از خواب بیدار می شود از پنجره اش به بیرون نگاه می کند صرفنظر از این که هوا بارانی باشد یا گرم یا برفی، احساس می کند روز دیگری است برای لذت بردن از زندگی.

برای دیوید یک روند طولانی دردناک برای بازسازی روانی امتداد داشته است تا تصاویر دهشتناکی که در ذهن او رخ می نمایند کم رنگ تر شوند.

دیوید می گوید: "وقتی بچه هستید، همیشه نگران کمین کردن هیولا ها زیر تخت تان هستید. همیشه یک صدایی می شنوید یا سایه ای روی اتاق تان می افتد و می ترسید، بعد مادر یا پدرتان می آید و می گویند چیزی نیست، نترس، چراغ قوه تان را برمی دارید و زیر تخت را وارسی می کنید تا ببنید هیچ هیولایی آن زیر قایم نشده باشد."

دیوید ادامه می دهد: "خب، من هم حالا یک سری هیولای کوچک زیر تختم پیدا کردم.

من فکر می کنم که همه در نیویورک، یا آنهایی که کسی را از دست داده اند یا شاهد مصیبت آن روز بوده اند هم به نوعی گرفتار این هیولاهای کوچولو زیر تخت هایشان شده اند.

هر بار این هیولاها از زیر تخت می پرند بیرون، شما را می ترسانند، گازتان می گیرند و دلشان می خواهد با شما بازی کنند.

شما مجبورید با آن ها بازی کنید و بعد هل شان بدهید زیر تخت تان تا شاید پنج دقیقه بعد، پنج روز بعد، یا پنج ماه بعد دوباره از زیر تحت سردربیاورند و شما را به بازی وادارند.

چاره ای ندارید تا با آن ها رو در رو شوید و بعد به آن ها بگویید: می دانید چیه؟ وقت رفتن رسیده، شش ماه دیگه می بینمتان.

و امیدوار باشید که برای شش ماه راحت تان بگذارند."


تشیع جنازه باشکوه

بچه هایی که شاهد صحنه های وحشتناک هستند مثل دیدن صحنه مرگ یا شاید مهم تر از آن شنیدن صدای جان کندن دیگران، تجربه وحشتناکی را پشت سر گذارده اند.

رابین گودمن روانشناس کودک است که با این کودکان کار می کند.

بسیاری از آن ها نقاشی هایی ترسناک از این صحنه ها می کشند؛ دو هواپیما که به دو برج کوبیده می شوند؛ اسامه بن لادن که برج ها را قاپ زده و توی دهنش چپانده است.

دکتر گودمن می گوید: "وقتی کودک شاهد یک واقعه دردناک بوده است، معمول است که آن را بازسازی کند، بنابراین شما همیشه بچه هایی را در اینجا می بینید که با لوگوهایشان برج ها را می سازند وبعد با هواپیما به آن می کوبند، این راهی است تا آن ها خود را از شر این دهشت راحت کنند."

برای دایان هورنینگ، مشکل از نوع دیگری است. او پسر بیست و شش ساله اش متئو را از دست داده است.

مانند بستگان حدود 1150 جسدی که هرگز شناسایی نشدند، دایانه تنها بخش کوچکی از بقایای جسد متئو را یافت.
دایان هنوز در تلاش برای یافتن آرامگاهی برای پسرش است

اما او معتقد است بقیه جسد به همراه آوارهای منطقه Ground Zero به محل دیگری در جزیره Staten منتقل شده است.

با وجود سپری شدن پنج سال او هنوز در تلاش است تا این خاک ها برگردانده شود و او بتواند یک تشیع جنازه شایسته برای پسرش برگزار کند.

دایان می گوید: "ما حتی تقاضای آزمایش DNA هم نکردیم، ما فقط گفتیم که یک آرامگاه با یک گور دستجمعی برای همه بقایای اجساد تشخیص هویت نشده، درنظر گرفته شود تا ما بتوانیم برای هرکسی یک نشانه بر روی آن بگذاریم."

بقایای اجساد هنوز از ویرانه ها و آوار به جا مانده ازمرکز تجارت جهانی بیرون آورده می شود و دایان می گوید این برای بستگان آن ها دارای اهمیت است.این موضوع نیز اهمیت دارد که با این بقایای اجساد با احترام برخورد شود.

دایان می گوید: "وقتی جزیره Staten را نگاه می کنم، وقتی آواری که در آنجا تلنبار شده را می بینم، در می یابم که هیچ کدام از ما نمی توانیم تسکین بیابیم. مگر آنکه آرامگاهی شایسته برای عزیزانمان بیابیم."

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

In some ways, new Muslim immigrants may be better off in the post-9/11 America they encounter today, say Muslim leaders and academics: Islamic centers are more organized, and resources like English instruction and free legal assistance are more accessible.

But outside these newly organized mosques, life remains strained for many Muslims.

To avoid taunts, women are often warned not to wear head scarves in public, as was Rubab Razvi, 21, a Pakistani who arrived in Brooklyn nine months ago. (She ignored the advice, even though people stare at her on the bus, she said.) Muslims continue to endure long waits at airports, where they are often tagged for questioning because of their names or dress.

To some longtime immigrants, the life embraced by newcomers will never compare to the peaceful era that came before.

“They haven’t seen the America pre-9/11,” said Khwaja Mizan Hassan, 42, who left Bangladesh 30 years ago. He rose to become the president of Jamaica Muslim Center, a mosque in Queens, and has a comfortable job with the New York City Department of Probation.

But after Sept. 11, he was stopped at Kennedy Airport because his name matched another on a watch list.

A Drop, Then a Surge

Up to six million Muslims live in the United States, by some estimates. While the Census Bureau and the Department of Homeland Security do not track religion, both provide statistics on immigrants from predominantly Muslim countries. It is presumed that many of these immigrants are Muslim, but people of other faiths, such as Iraqi Chaldeans and Egyptian Copts, have also come in appreciable numbers.

Immigration from these regions slowed considerably after Sept. 11. Fewer people were issued green cards and nonimmigrant visas. By 2003, the number of immigrants arriving from 22 Muslim countries had declined by more than a third. For students, tourists and others from these countries who were designated as nonimmigrants, the drop was even more dramatic, with total visits down by nearly half.

The falloff affected immigrants from across the post-9/11 world as America tightened its borders, but it was most pronounced among those moving here from Pakistan, Morocco, Iran and other Muslim nations.

Several factors might explain the drop: more visa applications were rejected due to heightened security procedures, said officials at the State Department and Department of Homeland Security; and fewer people applied for visas.

But starting in 2004, the numbers rebounded. The tally of people coming to live in the United States from Bangladesh, Turkey, Algeria and other Muslim countries rose by 20 percent, according to an analysis of Census Bureau data.

The uptick was also notable among foreigners with nonimmigrant visas. More than 55,000 Indonesians, for instance, were issued those visas last year, compared with roughly 36,000 in 2002.

The rise does not reflect relaxed security measures, but a higher number of visa applications and greater efficiency in processing them, said Chris Bentley, a spokesman for United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, part of Homeland Security.

Like other immigrants, Muslims find their way to the United States in myriad ways: they come as refugees, or as students and tourists who sometimes overstay their welcome. Others arrive with immigrant visas secured by relatives here. A lucky few win the green-card lottery.

Ahmed Youssef, 29, never thought he would be among the winners. But in 2003, Mr. Youssef, who taught Arabic in Egypt, was one of 50,000 people randomly chosen from 9.5 million applicants around the world.

As he prepared to leave Benha, a city north of Cairo, some friends asked him how he could move to a country that is “killing people in Iraq and Afghanistan,” he recalled. But others who had been to the United States encouraged him to go.

It was the same for Nora Elhainy, another lottery winner, who left Casablanca in 2004 to join her husband in Queens. “They think I am lucky because I am here,” she said of her Moroccan friends.

[Rasputin]

When Mr. Youssef arrived in May 2005, he found work in Manhattan loading hot dog carts from sunrise to sundown. He shared an apartment in Washington Heights with other Egyptians, but for the first month, he never saw his neighborhood in daylight.

“I joked to my roommates, ‘When am I going to see America?’ ” said Mr. Youssef, a slight man with thinning black hair and an easy smile.

Only three months later, when he began selling hot dogs on Seventh Avenue, did Mr. Youssef discover his new country.

He missed hearing the call to prayer, and thought nothing of unrolling his prayer rug beside his cart until other vendors warned him against it. He could be mistaken for an extremist, they told him.

Eventually, Mr. Youssef found a job as the secretary of the Islamic Center of Jersey City. He plans to apply to a master’s program at Columbia University, specializing in Arabic.

For now, he lives in a spare room above the mosque. Near his bed, he keeps a daily log of his prayers. If he makes them on time, he writes “Correct” in Arabic.

“I am much better off here than selling hot dogs,” he said.

Awash in American Flags

Nur Fatima landed in Midwood, Brooklyn, at a propitious time. Had she come three years earlier, she would have seen a neighborhood in crisis.

Hundreds of Pakistani immigrants disappeared after being asked to register with the government. Thirty shops closed along a stretch of Coney Island Avenue known as Little Pakistan. The number of new Urdu-speaking students at the local elementary school, Public School 217, dropped by half in the 2002-3 school year, according to the New York City Department of Education.

But then Little Pakistan got organized. A local businessman, Moe Razvi, converted a former antique store into a community center offering legal advice, computer classes and English instruction. Local Muslim leaders began meeting with federal agents to soothe relations.

The annual Pakistan Independence Day parade is now awash in American flags.

It is a transformation seen in Muslim immigrant communities around the nation.

“They have to prove that they are living here as Muslim Americans rather than living as Pakistanis and Egyptians and other nationalities,” said Zahid H. Bukhari, the director of the American Muslim Studies Program at Georgetown University.

Ms. Fatima arrived in Brooklyn from Pakistan in March after her father, who has lived here for six years, successfully petitioned for a green card on her behalf. Her goal was to become an interpreter and eventually practice law. She began by taking English classes at Mr. Razvi’s center, the Council of Peoples Organization.

She has heard stories of the neighborhood’s former plight but sees a different picture.

“This is a land of opportunity,” Ms. Fatima said. “There is equality for everyone.”

Five days after she came to Brooklyn, Ms. Fatima removed her head scarf, which she had been wearing since she was 10.

She began to change her thinking, she said: She liked living in a country where people respected the privacy of others and did not interfere with their religious or social choices.

“I came to the United States because I want to improve myself,” she said. “This is a second birth for me.”

[Rasputin]

پنج سال پس از وقوع حملات يازدهم سپتامبر ۲۰۰۱، نظرسنجی ها در اين کشور حاکی از آنست که حدود يک پنجم از آمريکائی ها نگران وقوع حملاتی مشابه هستند.
اين حس اضطراب به ويژه در نيويورک يعنی هدف اصلی حملات پنج سال پيش، به مراتب بيشتر است.

بر اساس نظرسنجی های اخیر، حدود يک سوم مردم اين شهر می گويند که زندگی آنان به روال پيش از يازدهم سپتامبر باز نگشته است.

ولی وقایع يازده سپتامبر ۲۰۰۱ تا چه حد زندگی ايرانی ها را در آمريکا تغییر داده است؟

ملودی ساکن واشنگتن دی سی که پس از يازده سپتامبر 2001 به آمريکا مهاجرت کرده است می گويد: "احساس می کنم آمريکا ديگر مثل سابق يعنی مهد آزادی، که هميشه فکرش را می کردم نيست. به نظر من ترس و وحشت موجود در جامعه همه را تحت تأثير قرار می دهد. امروز زندگی کردن برای ايرانی ها و خارجی ها در آمريکا سخت تر است."

شهريار، مهندس طراح ساکن نيويورک، تجربه ناخوشایند خود در فرودگاه های آمریکا را چنین تشریح می کند: "من شهروند آمريکا هستم ولی به خاطر اينکه محل تولدم يعنی ايران در گذرنامه ام قيد شده، هر دفعه که به خارج سفر می کنم در فرودگاه از من بازجویی می شود. به خاطر صرف ايرانی بودن به ما سوء ظن دارند. هميشه مثل تروريست به ما نگاه می کنند، هرچند که مليت ما عوض شده باشد."

با اين همه تمام ايرانی های ساکن آمريکا با يک چنين مشکلاتی روبرو نيستند.

محمد مهندس الکترونيک در ايالت اورگان دیدگاه متفاوتی دارد: "تأثير حملات يازده سپتامبر بر زندگی من به اندازه تأثيرش بر زندگی هر آمريکايی ديگريست. به نظر من تأثير منفی اين حملات بر زندگی ايرانيان اغراق شده است. رفتار آمريکايی ها با من هيچ تغييری نکرده و اين شايد به اين خاطر باشد که فاصله جغرافيايی بين اورگان و نيويورک بسيار زياد است."

احمد صدری استاد جامعه شناسی در کالج ليک فورست شيکاگو هم معتقد است وقايع يازده سپتامبر زندگی تمام آمريکائيان را دچار يک تغيير اساسی کرد: "امنيت حاکم بر زندگی همه مردم آمريکا صرف نظر از اينکه در اين کشور به دنيا آمده باشند يا مهاجر باشند در يازده سپتامبر از بين رفت. وضعیت آمريکا در حال حاضر تقريبا مانند وضعیت سایر کشورهاست. ما مأمواران امنيتی مسلح را در همه جای دنيا می ديديم ولی در آمريکا شاهد آنها نبوديم. ولی اکنون در آمريکا هم اين وضع وجود دارد. از روز يازده سپتامبر ۲۰۰۱ آمريکا هم از لحاظ عدم امنيت به ساير مناطق کره زمين پيوست."

[Rasputin]

پنج سال پس از واقعه حملات 11 سپتامبر، حاضران در محل 'مرکز تجارت جهانی' با دو دقيقه سکوت، درست در لحظه ای که پنج سال پيش اولين هواپيما به يکی از برج های دو قلو برخورد کرد، ياد قربانيان اين حادثه را گرامی داشته اند.
پس از سکوت دو دقيقه ای، بستگان قربانيان يازده سپتامبر اسامی همه 2749 نفری را که در نيويورک جان باختند، قرائت کردند.

در اين مراسم پرچم های آمريکا به حالت نيم افراشته درآمدند و مايکل بلومبرگ، شهردار نيويورک، با 'دلخراش' ناميدن حادثه 11 سپتامبر، گفت: "پنج سال آمده و رفته است و ما همچنان کنار هم متحد ايستاده ايم."

پيشتر، جورج بوش رئيس جمهور آمريکا با نهادن دسته گل در جايگاه "مرکز تجارت جهانی" در نيويورک مراسم يادبود پنجمين سالگرد يازدهم سپتامبر را آغاز کرده بود.

در مراسم روز دوشنبه، شهردار نيويورک با اشاره به محلی که برج های دوقلو در آن ساخته شده بودند گفت: "ما به اينجا برگشته ايم تا از تک تک کسانی که اينجا جان باختند ياد کنيم؛ کسانی که، آشنا يا غريبه، فقدانشان هميشه حس خواهد شد."

درست هفده دقيقه پس از سکوت اول، درست در لحظه برخورد دومين هواپيما با برج جنوبی، حاضرين دوباره سکوت کردند.

دو سکوت دو دقيقه ای ديگر نيز اندکی بيش از يک ساعت پس از سکوت اول به ياد لحظاتی که برج های دو قلو يکی پس از ديگری فرو ريختند، برقرار شد.


جورج بوش و همسرش در محل سابق برج های دو قلو دسته گلی به نشانه احترام قرار دادند

ادای احترام جورج بوش

پيش از اين مراسم آقای بوش در مراسم بزرگداشتی که در کليسا برگزار شد، شرکت کرد و سپس همراه با همسرش، لارا بوش، به آرامی قدم به گودال بزرگی گذاشتند که در محل فروريختن برج های دو قلو ايجاد شده است.

آنها پس از گذاشتن دسته گلی بزرگ به سطح خيابان برگشتند و سپس در مراسم دعاخوانی در نزديکی محل شرکت کردند.

رئيس جمهور آمريکا در آستانه انتخابات ميان دوره ای کنگره آمريکا که در ماه نوامبر برگزار می شود، همچنان به خاطر "ناکامی در جنگ با تروريسم" با انتقاداتی روبروست.

قرار است آقای بوش ساعت 9 شب نطقی تلويزيونی به مناسبت پنجمين سالگرد يازده سپتامبر ايراد کند.

تونی اسنو سخنگوی کاخ سفيد به خبرگزاری فرانسه گفته است که نطق آقای بوش "سخنرانی سياسی نخواهد بود" و رئيس جمهوری بيشتر به اهميت حادثه يازده سپتامبر برای او و ملت آمريکا، و راههای مبارزه با تروريسم خواهد پرداخت.

بسيج افکار عمومی

محبوبيت آقای بوش پس از حادثه يازده سپتامبر بالا رفت، اما با جنگ عراق و آنچه "نبرد با تروريسم" خوانده می شود، فروکش کرد. حتی در زمان آغاز مراسم يابود 11 سپتامبر در نيويورک، جمعی از معترضان، خروج نيروهای آمريکايی از عراق را خواستار شدند.

کارشناسان و گزارشگران عقيده دارند که آقای بوش در آستانه انتخابات ميان دوره ای کنگره آمريکا، به تلاشی گسترده دست زده است تا حمايت افکار عمومی را از "نبرد با تروريسم" به ويژه حمله به عراق جلب کند.

مخالفان آقای بوش عقيده دارند که رئيس جمهور نبايد با حمله به عراق توجه سياست خارجی آمريکا را از راستای "مبارزه با تروريسم" منحرف می کرد.

کاندوليزا رايس وزير خارجه آمريکا در گفتگو با شبکه خبری فوکس از سياست دولت دفاع کرد و گفت که امنيت آمريکا امروز از پنج سال پيش بيشتر شده است.

[Rasputin]

Disrupting life

There is nothing new in saying that "9/11 changed the world." It wasn't anything like World War 2, but it was probably a more important global event than the fall of the Soviet Union. And probably the most important since the end of World War 2. Great events change the world, very often for the good, though in a long-term perspective. World War 2 has been the worst war ever, in human and material tolls, but the world learned a lot from that global catastrophe and what we have now is a world that is much less likely to have another similar war.

Behind any act of human aggression there is always an act of injustice. Although mass aggression shall not be legitimised, it is a sign of not just evil intentions by the aggressor but also of some sort of injustice toward the aggressor. There may be isolated cases of individuals with psychological problems inclined toward aggression toward others, but when there is a case of a large number of people who are willing to inflict pain on others and risk their own lives or existing resources or possibilities, then there is much more to them than just some psychological disorder.

People have an inherent sense for discerning injustice. However, ordinary and less educated people may not be able to find the source of that injustice. It is well documented that Germany, and many other places in Europe and the world, before World War 2, experienced great social inequalities and injustices that were either local, or in the case of Germany, both local and international. Ordinary Germans had come to see the failures of democracy by seeing how the society had become fractionated into classes, the rich and the poor, or the owners and the workers.

Most Germans could also see how their country had come to be humiliated by the victors and forced to starve itself in order to pay for the losses of the war it had caused. In hindsight it is now much clearer for us to see what went wrong before World War 2, and that is the reason why there hasn't been another similar war. But Germans having the bad fortune of Hitler, at the wrong time and the wrong place for the German people and the rest of the world, were lead to believe that the root causes of their troubles are the principles of democracy. This is a clear example of a mass miscalculation because of the lack of the right leadership.

The above example is not to relate the Nazis to the Islamic extremists today, as the Bush administration has recently done. Nazis had taken control of a country, later two, including Austria. Islamic extremists are scattered around, lacking both sufficient money and also sufficient manpower to do anything similar to what the Nazis did. If we want to put the Iranian regime as the Islamic extremist country, as the comparison of Mr Rumsfeld and Mr Bush goes, then we face some technical difficulties.

Shia Iran has always been an enemy of Al Qaeda and its ideology and they have actually faced each other for quite some time in their proxy war in Afghanistan. And no Iranian, either personally or directed by the Iranian government, has ever attacked American targets or interests outside Iran. Iranian regime has never dared to go beyound rhetoric about America. And the embassy siege was the only time (at the height of the revolution in Iran when there was no clear authority in place) when, seemingly, the Iranian regime attacked Americans, but inside Iran. And that, could be argued, for the fear of the repeat of another coupe by the Americans as they had done before when they toppled Mossadegh and brought back the Shah.

An unfortunate event like 9/11 occurred because there were, and there are (even more) disgruntled Muslims who are willing to inflict pain on others because, as I just tried to argue, they feel a sense of injustice. They wanted a leadership, and Bin Laden came up and provided one. That's not the right leadership, but for so many uneducated Muslim youth that's as good as it gets. Was Khomeini far different in encouraging 13-year-old boys to go to war? Let alone other painful, and shameful, acts.

Why are there so many disgruntled Muslims out there willing to die? It's not because Arab women are too rare and expensive to find, and marry, so young Muslim men resort to get 70-odd virgins in heaven. It's because Arabs and most Muslims have lived for too long in injustice both among themselves, and by comparison to none-Muslims. Muslim countries have far stronger and powerful social, economic, or political classes, who are not just different because of wealth, but very often in front of the law, in case there would be any law.

Muslims in their own countries are very wealthy and very very poor, and the wealthy do not just afford smarter consumables, they can also afford many other advantages that are not accessible to the wealthy in rich democratic countries. Powerful people in Muslim countries control almost every little aspect of ordinary people's daily lives, humiliating and exploiting them. The worst example of all can be considered Saudi Arabia where there are the royals and there are the ordinary people. The royals (probably tens of thousands, if not more) are not just rich. They decide everything and do anything they want in a country where they are supposed to lead. And where did most of the 9/11 hijackers come from? Saudi Arabia.

Another obvious injustice that Muslims can easily feel is the way they are humiliated by non-Muslims. This hasn't always been by intention but very often out of ignorance by Western powers. And as the world has become more and more integrated, especially by ever larger number of people having access to TV and the Internet, all national leaders must pay a little bit more attention to the effects of their actions also outside their own country, because nowadays it is much simpler to spread a message and figure the blame.

Can we expect Muslims not to feel humiliated when they see their fellow Muslims suffer in so many places around the world, especially in the Palestinian territories, or recently in Lebanon, while the West stands idle or supports the opponents? This added to their own social tragedy inside their own countries has provided the best ingredients for a ruthless and wrong-minded leader such as Bin Laden (also other smaller ones) to manipulate enough Muslim youths to blow up some public place or utility time and time again and spread panic among non-Muslims.

The problem of Muslim social agony will take a very long time to resolve, probably decades. But there is a better way to deal with the problem, both for Muslims and non-Muslims alike. First of all the West must not be paranoid. Islamic terrorists and extremists are very very few in numbers. By limiting the rights and freedoms of citizens governments do nothing but to play into the hands of the terrorists.

That's all the terrorists want, to disrupt life. They can't do more than that. It is technically impossible to prevent all terrorist attacks. So why do the American, the British, and many other authorities, try to control every bit of their citizens, and foreigners, lives in order to see whether any of them wants to blow himself up or not? That's technically impossible. It will never be done, but it will cost a lot to try to do anything similar, not just financially but also to the most basic freedoms and human rights Western values stand for.

And to console ourselves about terrorism we can also think about something like the number of people who lose their lives each year in road accidents in Iran. Each year more than 25,000 Iranians die in road accidents. All the terrorist attacks all over the world in the past 15 years cannot equal the number of Iranians who die on the road just in a single year. The problem, and the whole problem, with terrorist attacks, and the deaths that they bring, is the panic that they cause. But the probability of dying in a terrorist attack is so little one must be completely out of his mind to even think about it!

The real problem that must seriously be dealt with is the social injustices that exist in the Muslim world, and in its relations to the non-Muslim world, and also the paranoia that a very few number of terrorists have been able to bring to every home and business in the civilised world.

[abadani69]

[Parinaz_M]

When we look back on September 11, 2001, we think mainly of people. We mourn for the victims of the attacks, we empathize with their families, we honor the rescue workers, and we reflect on our own experience. At the same time, we remember all of the technology of that day -- the airplanes that the hijackers used as flying bombs, the buildings they damaged and destroyed, and the heavy equipment used in the massive rescue and then clean-up effort. Like countless events throughout history, the attacks of September 11 were a crushing mesh of man and machine.


The most prominent technology on that day, of course, was the World Trade Center complex. After the attack, the WTC's Twin Towers came to symbolize not only the day itself, but also a collective emotion of people all over the world.


In this article, we remember the Twin Towers for everything they were: a remarkable technological achievement, a representation of an ideal, and, ultimately, a staggering reminder of our own vulnerability. In remembering this proud structure, we honor the spirit in which it was built, and we memorialize the victims of the attacks.

Origins
The original idea for a world trade center in New York is generally credited to David Rockefeller, one of industrialist John D. Rockefeller's many grandsons. In fact, the idea was proposed soon after World War II, a decade before Rockefeller ever got involved, but he was the one who actually got the ball rolling.

In the 1950s and '60s, while serving as chairman of Chase Manhattan Bank, Rockefeller was dedicated to revitalizing lower Manhattan. He hoped to energize the area with new construction, in much the same way his father revitalized midtown Manhattan in the 1930s with Rockefeller Center. As part of his plan, David Rockefeller proposed a complex dedicated to international trade, to be constructed at the east end of Wall Street. Rockefeller believed that the trade center, which would include office and hotel space, an exhibit hall, a securities and exchange center and numerous shops, would be just the thing to spur economic growth in the area.

By the 1960s, he certainly had something to gain from the WTC project. He had just put up the expensive 60-story Chase Manhattan Bank tower in the financial district, and wanted to increase the value of the bank's investment. But he was also driven by the spirit of international unity. A world trade center would bring together people from all over the globe, a noble ideal in the decades following World War II.

With the help of his brother, Nelson Rockefeller, the governor of New York state at the time, David Rockefeller got The Port of New York Authority involved. The Port of New York Authority, now known as the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, is a government institution that heads up public projects in the New York and New Jersey port area. While the Port Authority is a public organization, it functions like a private corporation -- it charges its "customers" directly and profits from investments, rather than taking tax money.

Since its creation in 1921, the Port Authority had been concerned mainly with bridges, tunnels, airports and bus transportation. It had never undertaken anything near the scale of the World Trade Center before, but nonetheless, the organization was the most logical choice to head up the project. It had the rare combination of government connections, diverse resources and the power of eminent domain.

Rockefeller commissioned early designs for the WTC in 1958, the Port Authority got involved in 1960, and the initial plans were made public in 1961. Then things slowed down considerably. For years, the Port Authority slogged through fiscal problems, public relations debacles and legal wrangling, not to mention the unpopular task of evicting the hundreds of businesses and homes occupying the building site.

[Parinaz_M]

The Tube


The final design for the WTC was a group effort, bringing together the work of dozens of architects, structural engineers and managers, led by a few prominent talents. The Port Authority's Guy Tozzoli selected the final team and managed the entire design and construction process; the chief architect on the project, Minoru Yamasaki, came up with the the twin towers concept, as well as the basic layout for the rest of the complex; structural engineers Leslie Robertson and John Skilling figured out how to make the towers stand up.

The final complex consisted of seven buildings, dominated by the twin 110-story towers rising more than 1,360 feet (415 meters) above an open plaza. The monumental tower design was innovative, ambitious and deceptively simple.

At the time of construction, most new skyscrapers were built around grid-style steel skeletons. In this design, the support structure is spread throughout the entire building. Metal beams are riveted end to end to form vertical columns, and at each floor level, these vertical columns are connected to horizontal girder beams. The support columns are all internal, so the outside of the building doesn't have to hold up anything but its own weight. These outer curtain walls can be made of just about anything, including ordinary glass.

The WTC team took a slightly different approach. They decided to build long "tubes," where all the support columns would be around the outside of the building and at the central core of the building. Essentially, each tower was a box within a box, joined by horizontal trusses at each floor.

The outer box, measuring 208 feet by 208 feet (63x63 m), was made up of 14-inch (36-cm) wide steel columns, 59 per building face, spaced just over 3 feet (1 m) apart. On every floor above the plaza level, the spaces between the columns housed 22-inch (56-cm) windows.

Yamasaki, who had a pronounced fear of heights, felt that the small windows made the building feel more secure. The columns were covered with aluminum, giving the towers a distinctive silver color. The inner box at the core of each tower measured about 135 feet by 85 feet (41x26 m). Its 47 heavy steel columns surrounded a large open area housing elevators, stairwells and restrooms.

This design had two major advantages. First of all, it gave the building remarkable stability. In addition to shouldering some of the vertical load (the weight of the building), the outer steel columns supported all of the horizontal forces acting on the tower (the force of the wind). This meant the inner support structure was completely dedicated to the huge vertical loads.

Secondly, the tube design made for great real estate. With the support structure moved to the sides and center of the building, there was no need to space bulky columns throughout each floor. Clients could configure the available space, about 3/4 of an acre per floor, however they wanted.

The vertical support columns at the core of the building went all the way down below the bottom floor, through the basement structure, to the spread footing structure below ground. In the spread footing design, each support column rests directly on a cast-iron plate, which sits on top of a grillage. The grillage is basically a stack of horizontal steel beams, lined side by side in two or more layers (see diagram below). The grillage rests on a thick concrete pad poured on the solid bedrock deep underground. This pyramid shape distributes the concentrated weight from the columns over a wide, solid surface. With the steel in place, the entire structure was covered with concrete.

Near the base of each tower, at the plaza level, the narrowly spaced perimeter support columns rested on "column trees." The arched column trees spread the weight from the narrowly spaced columns over thicker columns spaced about 10 feet (3 m) apart. Each of these columns rested on additional, smaller support footings in the foundation.

[Parinaz_M]

Wind and Elevators


To stand up to the horizontal force of wind, skyscrapers need the right combination of stability and flexibility. They have to be rigid enough that the wind can't push them too far from side to side, but flexible enough that they can give a little, absorbing some of the wind energy.

The WTC crew ran extensive tests to find out just how much sway they could allow without disturbing the building occupants. They put structural models in wind tunnels and even lured unsuspecting test subjects to movable rooms hooked up to heavy hydraulics.

In the end, they designed the towers so they could sway about 3 feet in either direction. To minimize the sway sensation, they installed about 10,000 visco-elastic dampers between support columns and floor trusses throughout the building. The special visco-elastic material in these dampers could move somewhat, but it would snap back to its original shape. In other words, it could give a little and then return to its initial position, absorbing much of the shock of the building's swaying motion.

In addition to the support structure of the buildings, the WTC crew had to consider how people would actually get around the towers. Elevator systems have always been a difficult balancing act for skyscraper designers. As you build upward, increasing the available space and therefore occupancy of a building, you need more elevators to handle the extra people.

But adding more elevators running to the top floor reduces the available floor space somewhat, and therefore total occupancy (which reduces the revenue potential). It's tricky getting all the numbers to work out, and it functionally limits the size of the skyscraper. Before the WTC, architects were hesitant to build higher than 80 stories, largely due to the elevator problem.

The WTC crew proposed a completely different system for the huge towers. Instead of building enough elevators to move everybody from the ground floor to their destination, they decided to split the trip to the upper floors between multiple elevators. If people wanted to get from the ground to the top floor, they would need to jump from elevator to elevator, in the same way you might switch cars on a subway system.

First, they would take an express elevator from the main lobby directly to a sky-lobby on the 78th floor. From there, they could go to their destination floor directly. To keep things orderly, all the 55-person elevators had doors on each side -- you would enter on one side, move to the front, and exit on the other side. This way, the passengers could keep their place in line all the way up.

Essentially, each tower functioned as three buildings stacked on top of one another. The system turned out to be a great success -- with 99 elevators total per tower, each serving only specific floors, occupants could get around quickly and easily. Most super skyscrapers built after the WTC used the same basic system.

[Parinaz_M]

The Bathtub


Before the Port Authority could build up, to erect the massive towers, they had to build down to establish the buildings' foundations. Massive skyscrapers need to rest on bedrock, the solid rock underneath the ground's soil, or they won't be able to stand up. To get to this level, the crew has to dig up a huge mass of dirt as the first stage in construction.

At the WTC site, the bedrock is between 55 feet and 80 feet (17-24 m) down. Digging to this level is no simple task, obviously, but it's par for the course in skyscraper construction. The WTC crew faced an additional, atypical challenge, however. The build site was immediately adjacent to the Hudson River, and only a few feet down, the soil was completely saturated -- if the crew started digging, the excavation site would be flooded.

Draining the Hudson River would have been a logistical nightmare. Among other things, it would have compromised the stability of other buildings along the shore. Instead, the Port Authority decided to use the unconventional "slurry trench method," previously employed mainly in subway construction.

The process was pretty simple, at least conceptually. The crew used excavating machinery to dig 3-foot-wide trenches down to bedrock level. As they dug, they piped in a slurry made of water and an expansive clay called bentonite. The bentonite slurry material would expand along the sides of the trench, blocking the groundwater.

Once they finished a 22-foot (6.7-m) section of trench, the crew lowered a narrow, seven-story steel framework into the hole. Then they poured in concrete from the bottom of the trench while pumping the slurry out through the top.

In this way, they built solid, steel-reinforced concrete walls underground. They repeated the process with 152 framework segments, each measuring 22 feet across, to form a large box measuring four city blocks by two city blocks (about 500x1,000 feet / 152x304 m). This box, commonly referred to as a "bathtub," formed a water-tight perimeter wall for the two towers' foundation structure.

With the bathtub in place, the construction crew could start digging down to the bedrock to lay the buildings' foundation support. The only problem was that the soil inside the bathtub was the primary support means holding the walls in place -- remove the dirt inside, and the weight of the dirt and water outside would push the walls inward.

To keep the walls in place while they built up the foundation, the crew had to run underground tiebacks, cables extending from the perimeter walls to rock surrounding the bathtub. This provided temporary support until the crew could finish a support structure inside the bathtub.

[Parinaz_M]

Putting it Up


With the perimeter walls secured in place, the crew could begin excavating the foundation site. They ended up digging up more than 1 million cubic yards of fill, which they dumped in the Hudson, extending the shore. The excavation actually added 28 acres of prime New York real estate, forming what is now Battery Park City.

When they had dug down to the bedrock, they blasted away large pits for the towers' support structure and set about building the massive foundation structure for the buildings above. Additionally, the basement structure had seven levels of usable space, which housed parking decks, stores and subway stations.

Putting the Twin Towers up was a major logistical challenge, in addition to a mind-boggling engineering problem. The buildings required a massive amount of steel -- some 200,000 tons total -- but the construction site only had room for a little bit at any one time. In order to keep construction moving without taking up too much construction site space, the Port Authority had to institute "just in time steel delivery."

In this system, all the steel was transported from the manufacturers to a giant railroad yard in New Jersey. Every major piece of steel was marked with a long ID number, indicating where and when it would be used. According to the construction schedule, the Port Authority would ship the steel pieces from the yard to the site exactly when it was needed -- smaller pieces went by truck and larger pieces by tugboat.

The construction process worked from the inside out. First, the crew built the steel framework of the inner core to a particular height, and then assembled the perimeter wall around it. The perimeter structure was actually formed from pre-fabricated sections of vertical columns attached to horizontal beams (called spandrels). The prefabricated sections were about 10 feet (3 m) wide, either two or three stories high, and weighed about 22 tons.

The floor structure was then installed between the outer perimeter wall and the inner core. The floors also came in pre-assembled sections, consisting of 32-inch-deep (81-cm) trusses topped with a corrugated metal surface. To finish each floor, the crew would pour concrete over the metal surface and top it off with tile.

The floor sections included pre-assembled ducts for phone lines and electrical cable, to make things easier for the electricians who would come in later. After the steel structure was in place, the crew attached the outer "skin" to the perimeter -- anodized aluminum, pre-cut into large panels.

This continued, section by section, as the towers climbed higher and higher. The crew lifted the steel sections into place using four large cranes (four per tower), mounted to long steel structures fitted inside the tube structure. The cranes could actually lift themselves higher, using heavy hydraulics, as the floors were finished.

While the crew kept building upward, other workers started to flesh out the floors below, down to installing blinds and painting the walls. A number of businesses actually moved into their new WTC offices years before the towers officially opened.

[Parinaz_M]

The Life of the WTC


The World Trade Center complex officially opened its doors on April 4, 1973, to a highly skeptical New York. From its conception all the way through its completion, the WTC project was wildly unpopular with many New Yorkers.

Business owners and residents were upset at being forced out of the construction site; citizens all over the city wondered why the Port Authority was sinking so much money into the project (estimated at more than $1 billion, the equivalent of about $4.5 billion today), apparently at the expense of public transportation facilities; environmentalists questioned some of the construction practices; and several prominent architectural critics said the towers were simply too big and ostentatious.

The grand opening was certainly a celebratory day for the Port Authority, design team and construction crew, but the WTC complex had a long road in earning the city's acceptance.

Over the next decade, it did just that, and then went on to win over the rest of the country. Boosted by prominent appearances in several movies, such as the 1976 "King Kong" remake, Woody Allen's "Manhattan," and the "Superman" movies, the Twin Towers gained widespread recognition as a piece of New York.

The towers' fame was also fueled by several notable stunts. In the years after the WTC's completion, skydivers successfully parachuted from the top of the towers, climbers scaled the building and a French acrobat walked back and forth between the buildings on a tightrope.

In only a few years, the distinctive image of the Twin Towers was a staple on New York postcards, T-shirts and advertisements. The buildings had evolved into a proud symbol of the city, securing their place as an American icon.

The towers also won New Yorkers over by giving them a new view of their city. Visitors could climb to the top of WTC 2, the South tower, for a breathtaking view of the skyline from the outdoor observation deck. On a clear day, it was possible to see more than 40 miles (64 km) in every direction.

Visitors with a larger budget could enjoy the view from a more elegant setting, the "Windows of the World" restaurant at the top of WTC 1, the North tower. When the observation deck and restaurant opened, even staunch WTC critics showed up to check out the view.

Most New Yorkers (and most Americans) were familiar with the towers mainly from the outside, but the thousands of people who worked in the towers had a very different perspective -- they appreciated not only the monumental size of the buildings, but also the dizzying variety of activity going on inside.

The WTC supported approximately 500 businesses with a collective 50,000 employees. This included offices for banks, law firms, brokerage houses, television stations, publishers, charitable organizations and airlines, among many other things. Additionally, the towers included nine chapels of various faiths.

On a typical business day, as many as 200,000 visitors from all over the world passed through the complex. With the huge range of activity going on, the towers were almost a city unto themselves