10 Years, 10 Interesting and Hidden Facts on 9/11

By: May Rostom

9/11; not just a couple of numbers next to each other. Not just an ordinary date, it’s the day that shook people around the globe with the ugly truth. 9/11, the day the United States of America witnessed a tragic experience. 10 years later today, we still remember the Twin Towers of the WTC, and we still remember the people that lost their lives in this atrocious act of terror. Here are 10 facts you didn’t know about 9/11:

1. Three, not two buildings collapsed on 9/11. The twin towers fell and caused an ancillary damage which led to the collapse of a third skyscraper- WTC Building 7. The 47 story building was one of the largest buildings in downtown Manhattan but went unnoticed because it wasn’t hit by a plane.

2. 185,101 tons of steel were results of the collapsed buildings. Where did it all go? The steel from the WTC Twin Towers was melted and immediately shipped to China and India without being checked for evidence. This alone is a violation of the federal crime scene laws but mayor Bloomberg said that “If you want to take a look at the construction methods and the design, that's in this day and age what computers do. Just looking at a piece of metal generally doesn't tell you anything.” The remaining amount of steel that wasn’t shipped anywhere was used for memorials around the US.

3. Claims of fire being the cause of the collapse are all false. Fire was never responsible for bringing down steel-framed buildings. The collapse of the Twin Towers could’ve only been done by controlled demolition to cause that sudden, vertical explosive of the towers. It took 99 days to extinguish all fires caused at Ground Zero.

4. BBC and Guardian claimed that some of the “suicide hijackers” are still alive. Although driving an airplane into a skyscraper. They somehow survived the crash and are still well.

5. Number of people who survived the tragic event: Twenty. 20 people were rescued from underneath the rubble, found alive after being buried on an average of 20 hours. Only four people managed to escape the south tower as it collapsed.

6. Although being America’s most horrific event, no criminal investigation was conducted. The Bush administration waited 441 days to approve the formation of the 9/11 commission, when it should have taken only a week.

7. Americans weren’t the only ones that died in the 9/11 incident. Out of 372 foreigners, 67 were British and more than 80 other nationalities suffered.

8. Two hours, that’s how long it took fighter jets to investigate the lost planes that crashed in the towers. It is a common routine that takes place 100 times a year when contact is lost with any airplane, a procedure that is performed after 20 minutes of lost contact.

9. Cantor Fitzgerald, a global financial services firm headquartered in NY on the 101st and 105th floors of the WTC lost 658 workers out of its 960 employees. After the incident the CEO called one of his colleagues and said: “We could shut the firm and attend our friends' funerals, or we're going to work harder than we've ever worked before to help their families.” 10 years later today, the company has handed out almost $180 million for the families of the deceased.

10. At least 11 countries warned about the attacks prior to September 11th. Top military officer, John Ashcroft, and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown were warned not to fly.

“I fear that all I have done is awakened a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve.” -Admiral Yamamoto after the Pearl Harbor attack, December 7, 1941