10 The Insolute Mystery of September 11 Attack

The attacks and responses to them have shaped America's policy for the past 15 years, leaving behind a nation that is much more alert and concerned about terrorism.

However, despite all those reported on September 11th, many elements of the attacks and actions led to their carrying out the public's memory. Here's 10 things you could've forgotten about September 11th:

1. We don't know how the kidnappers got into some of the pilots' booths.

The commission's full report, designed to investigate the attacks, which was published in 2004, said no one could determine how kidnappers were able to access the cabins of the four airlines that were kidnapped. A stewardess located on American Flight 11 “claimed they had” entered by force, pushing the report. “Perhaps terrorists threatened with flight knives to get a cabin key, forcing one of them to open the cabin door, or tempting the first captain or officer to leave the cabin”. After the kidnappers took over the American Flight 11, they directed it from the World Trade Center towers in New York, where they hit the north tower of the World Trade Center at 8:46 am. The 81 passengers, including the five kidnappers, and the nine crew members, died, along with an unknown number of people in the tower.

2. Passengers and crew aboard the aircraft provided critical information

Those on the kidnapped planes, United States 175, American 77, and United 93 called family and friends from mobile phones, or used air radio communication to report the kidnappings. This alarmed authorities of the kidnappings and enabled them to understand why they could not track the aircraft, as their navigation systems had been shut down. American 77, who left Washington's Dulles Airport, was kidnapped near Indianapolis and then turned towards Washington. His destination: Pentagon. Passenger Barbara Olson, wife of attorney Ted Olson, called her husband to report to “that the plane was kidnapped, and the kidnappers had knives and box opening”. American 77 crashed at the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m., killing 64 people on board, including five kidnappers. Information collected by phone calls from stewards and passengers enabled investigators to understand the events on each plane's boards and how kidnappings had occurred.

3. The light load of passengers made maneuvering easier for kidnappers

American 11, launched from Boston to Los Angeles, had 81 passengers aboard from 158 possible, according to 9/11 report and aircraft data. United 175, who also left Boston for Los Angeles, had 56 passengers out of 168 possible. This was a “factor in the charge” of 33%, so much lower than the 49% average for that flight, according to the conclusion of a federal investigation. American 77, headed for Los Angeles from Washington, had 58 passengers, from a capacity of 176, according to the 9/11 report. United 93, launched by Neuark, N.J., in San Francisco, had only 37 passengers - a load factor of only 20%, which was well below normal, of 52%.

4. The missing kidnapper made it easier for United 93 passengers to break into the cabin

This was one of four hijacked aircraft that did not hit the intended target, the US Congress. Part of the reason was that there were only four on the plane, of five hijackers. “Terrist, which was tasked with gathering flight crews, Mohammed al Kahtan, was denied US entry at the Florida International Airport in Orlando in August”, says the 9/11 report. When passengers were only a few seconds away from taking the cabin, the kidnapper with control brought down the plane on an empty field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, just 20 minutes away from Washington.

5. The World Trade Center had been a target before

The World Trade Center in New York had a “resource” for terrorists even before 9/11. On February 26, 1993, a bomb placed in a truck parked in its underground parking lot exploded, killing six people and wounding more than 1,000, the 9/11 report said. The bombing's “signalled a new challenge from terrorists, one where their anger and wickedness did not limit”, the report says. “Ramzi Yousef, the Sun extremist who planted the bomb, later said he had hoped to kill 250 thousand people.

6. Z. President Dick Chenney ordered United 93 to fall

Before passengers caused the collapse of United 93, then vice president Dick Cheney gave the go-ahead for the plane crash plan before he could arrive in Washington, says the 9/11 report. The vice president authorized fighter aircraft to hit”, the report says. However, the report adds that Air Force fighter planes probably would not have reached United 93 on time. Military “Army officials have repeatedly said that if passengers hadn't caused United 93 to collapse, the military would have prevented him from arriving in Washington”, the 9/11 report said. This conclusion is based on a version of the events, which we now know is invalid”.

7. Even previous plans have targeted civilian aircraft

Ramzi Yousef, who placed the bombing at the World Trade Centre in 1993, had planned a massive attack on 12 American civilian aircraft over the Pacific in 1995, says the 9/11 report. Yousef worked with uncle Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to plan the attacks. Then Mohammed would become the brains of the September 11 attacks. Yousef was arrested in Islamabad, Pakistan on 7 February 1995, after an associate ratted him out.

8. US made several attempts to kill Osama bin Laden before 11 September

The CIA and other agencies developed a plan to capture bin Laden in early 1998, the report said. This plan was delayed and was later recovered, but the concerns of some military officials were prevented over support from Afghan tribal leaders. The national security adviser of the time, Sandy Berger, was concerned about what would happen to bin Laden, if he was caught and if evidence against him could lead to a criminal sentence, in a US court. After US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed on October 8, 1998, President Bill Clinton authorised missile attacks against bin Laden complex in Afghanistan. He survived, but was later killed by a Navy team in May 2011.

9. CIA warned President Clinton of the 11 September attacks

On December 4th 1998, the CIA's daily report to the president told Clinton that “Bin Laden was preparing for the US hijacking and other attacks”. The plan, the agency said, was to hijack planes to win the release of Yousef and other terrorists, the 9/11 report says. But the agency had no strong information, and kidnappings didn't happen. During December 1998, American officials traced bin Laden's whereabouts and tried to develop a plan to attack him with remote missiles.

10. Saudi Arabia had strong ties with kidnappers

When the September 11 report was released in 2004, 28 pages of material remained classified and subject to numerous speculations. Those pages, which were published in the workshop this year, showed numerous people's links to Saudi Prince Bandar, former US ambassador. The documents show “money transfers from the Saudi royal family, towards Saudis living in the US and two of the kidnappers in San Diego. The document also shows great support for mosques in California, which are strongly inclined towards Islamic radicalism”. The documents were not published because the details contained had not been confirmed, or indicated to have anything to do with the attacks. Fifteen of the 19 kidnappers were from Saudi Arabia.