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| October 2, 2001 | |||
Prelude to September 11, 2001
A Decade of Terrorist Attacks Terrorism is not new - it may be as old as warfare - but terrorists are now wielding new and more terrifying weapons, and they are wielding them against civilians on American soil.
The attacks of September 11, 2001, dwarf all previous terrorist attacks.
In the entire decade of the 1990s, 97 American citizens lost their lives in international terrorist attacks and about 1700 were wounded, according to the Department of State. (Another 168 Americans were killed and more than 400 injured in the Oklahoma City bombing.)
Then, on that one bloody Tuesday just three weeks ago, thousands were killed and wounded.
Some observers believe that the attacks of September 11 have roots that go back to the 1980s when terrorists in Beirut, Lebanon attacked the U.S. embassy, the Marine Corps barracks, and the embassy annex. There was also a terrorist attack on the U.S. embassy in Kuwait. In December, 1988, terrorists blew up Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
In the 1990s, terrorism was visited upon American soil when the World Trade Center was bombed from its underground garage in February, 1993. The Oklahoma City bombing was in 1995, as was the attack on American military advisors in Saudi Arabia. The U.S. military was attacked again in Saudi Arabia in 1996 when a fuel truck was turned into a huge bomb that was used against Khobar Towers. In 1998, the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed on the same day. The destroyer U.S.S. Cole was attacked in Yemen in the fall of 2000. Then came September 11, 2001.
The major terrorist attacks of the last decade are summarized on the following page.
Major Terrorist Attacks Against the United States, 1993 - Present (numbers are for total deaths and injuries, not just deaths and injuries of U.S. citizens) 1993, World Trade Center garage bombing, NYC
Event Feb. 26, 1993, rented van packed with explosives
Bomb's Power 1 ton TNT Deaths 6 Injuries >1,000
1995, Oklahoma City bombing, Murrah Federal Building
Event April 19, 1995, rented truck full of explosives
Bomb's Power 2½ tons TNT Deaths 168 Injuries >400
1995, attack on U.S. military advisors in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Event Nov. 13, 1995, truck bomb
Bomb's Power ¼ ton TNT Deaths 7 Injuries 42
1996, Khobar Towers bombing, Saudi Arabia
Event June 25, 1996, fuel truck bomb
Bomb's Power 10-15 tons TNT Deaths 19 Injuries >500 1998, bombing of U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya
Event August 7, 1998, truck bomb
Bomb's Power 1 ton TNT Deaths 291 Injuries > 5,000
1998, bombing of U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Event August 7, 1998, truck bomb
Bomb's Power 1 ton TNT Deaths 10 Injuries 77 2000, bombing of U.S.S. Cole, Aden, Yemen
Event October 12, 2000, small water craft bomb
Bomb's Power 1 ton TNT Deaths 17 Injuries 39 2001, attack on World Trade Center using two airliners, NYC
Event Sept. 11, 2001, two fully fueled airliners
Bombs' Power 900 tons TNT Deaths 5,350 (?) Injuries >6,500 2001, attack on Pentagon using an airliner, Arlington, VA
Event Sept. 11, 2001, one fully fueled airliner
Bomb's Power 400 tons TNT Deaths 189 Injuries 76
2001, hijacking and crash of Flight 93, near Pittsburgh, PA
Event Sept. 11, 2001, crash of hijacked airliner in Penna.
Bomb's Power 400 tons TNT Deaths 44 Injuries 0
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