September 11 TH Attack
September 11 th 2001 attack is one of the most devastating terrorist attacks that ever occurred in the United States history, on the fateful day of September 11 th 2001. Nineteen Islamic extremist militia personnel, members of a jihadist group known as AL-Qaeda, hijacked four American airplanes (Blunk, Clark & McGibany, 2006). They crashed two of the planes at Twin towers in the world booming trading business Centre in Wall Street. The third plane hit the Pentagon collapsing some part of the building. Outside of Washington, D.C, the fourth plane failed to reach its target and crashed in Pennsylvania farm fields. The attack claimed over 2700 American lives (Blunk, Clark & McGibany, 2006). The attack triggered President Bush to declare war on terrorism and give the National security division the right to use all the available resources in America to fight terrorism.
The impact of the Attack
The attack ruined the American economy, especially the airline and stock market. In Wall Streets, the stock market was closed for four consecutive business trading days. It was the second time the market was closed since the great depression when trading was stopped for two days to curb the bank run (Chernick, 2005). On the fateful day, the New York Stock Exchange market set the first most significant loss in stock trading, in a single trading day. The market share price dropped by 7.1 per cent, and at the end of the week, the decline in market share had escalated to 14 per cent which is the biggest ever loss in NYSE and lost close 1.4 United States trillion dollars in five trading days (Chernick, 2005).
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The attack was a significant blow to the airline industry. The federal airline Administration closed the airport for the first time in American history, by the end of the week airline industry counted a loss close to 1.5 billion dollars since the Americans feared flying to almost a year and which resulted to parking of almost 1000 airplane causing thousands of workers to be laid off. The attack accelerated the level of unemployment; many workers lost their jobs, due to poor economic performance and an increase in the 2001 economic recession. In June 2003, the unemployment rate was at 6 per cent while recession was at the peak.
Changes Created by the Attack
Formation of the Patriot Act
The September 11 th attack steered the formation of the Patriot Act, Congress passed the Patriotic Act bill and President Bush signed it to become a law (Linley et al., 2003). The Patriot Act is a statute which was enacted in 2001 to give the federal law enforcement bodies more power and authority to detect and deter terrorism operations as well as to provide law enforcement and gather overseas intelligence.
War on Terror
After the attack President Bush declared war on terrorism. The ongoing war on Islamic extremist Groups in Afghanistan is due to September 11 th attack in the United States. One month after the attack, the US military troop flew to Afghanistan with the aim of destroying Al-Qaeda group which claimed responsibility of bombing the United States (Linley et al., 2003). On May 2 nd 2011 the United States Navy seal succeeded in killing the Al-Qaeda group leader Osama Bin Laden.
Lesson Learnt from the Attack
Terrorism affects everyone. The attack claimed so many lives, injuries, while others contracted diseases especially depression and so many innocent people suffered greatly, though they had nothing to do with terrorism activities. Heroes are everywhere- the countless bold and self-sacrificing acts of firefighters, flight attendants, volunteers and federal officers who proved that American citizens are generous with great courage and heroes within them.
America is vulnerable to terrorist- terrorism attack is a life fact to American citizens. Everyone knew the presence of terrorist in foreign countries but never expected them in America. But now terrorism is in America and here to stay.
Dealing with the Attack
Government to establish security checks points at airports so as to determine people carrying weapons
Reporting crime activities to federal law enforcement
Raise awareness on the effect of terrorism
Promotion of peace, love and unity and encourage people to live together no matter of their colour, race or tribe.
References
Blunk, S. S., Clark, D. E., & McGibany, J. M. (2006). Evaluating the long-run impacts of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on US domestic airline travel. Applied Economics, 38(4), 363-370.
Chernick, H. (Ed.). (2005). Resilient city: The economic impact of 9/11. Russell Sage Foundation.
Linley, P. A., Joseph, S., Cooper, R., Harris, S., & Meyer, C. (2003). Positive and negative changes following vicarious exposure to the September 11 terrorist attacks. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 16(5), 481-485.
