I think they just chose 9/11 because the date worked for them.
I've yet to hear proof to the contrary. The original date was for sometime in June, if memory serves me correctly.
Because of our emergency phone call system, 9-1-1 is something that even little kids will forever connect to it.
I know I do.
If 9/11 had been rainy in NYC and in DC, we'd all be talking about 9/12 (or 9/13) right now. And the folks-who-find-meaning-in-dates would have found many reasons why 9/12 (or 9/13) was purposefully used.
I think it was simply because the weather was good. If there was a low cloud deck on the entire East Coast or there was forecast to be one, it would have been delayed.
People have this powerful psychological need to find some meaning in the date, though.
I concur...
Yes, approximately. Bin Laden allegedly originally planned the attacks to take place May 12, 2001, 7 months after the USS Cole attack, but it got pushed back a couple times for primarily operational rather than symbolic reasons, at least according to the witnesses cited in the 9/11 Commission Report. I was just going over this question the other day because I was trying to determine if there was any way the hijackers could have timed the attack to coincide with Operation Vigilant Warrior, the NORAD war games that were being run on 9/11, or whether this was just a coincidence. I am not done looking into this, but from what I've been able to find so far the date was a contingency date rather than Bin Laden's original preference, and the final date was not settled until sometime between mid-July 2001 and the third week of August 2001. From the 9/11 Commission Report:
According to KSM,Bin Ladin had been urging him to advance the date of the attacks. In 2000, for instance, KSM remembers Bin Ladin pushing him to launch the attacks amid the controversy after then-Israeli opposition party leader Ariel Sharon’s visit to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.KSM claims Bin Ladin told him it would be enough for the hijackers simply to down planes rather than crash them into specific targets.KSM says he resisted the pressure.177
KSM claims to have faced similar pressure twice more in 2001. According to him, Bin Ladin wanted the operation carried out on May 12, 2001, seven months to the day after the Cole bombing.KSM adds that the 9/11 attacks had originally been envisioned for May 2001. The second time he was urged to launch the attacks early was in June or July 2001, supposedly after Bin Ladin learned from the media that Sharon would be visiting the White House. On both occasions KSM resisted,asserting that the hijacking teams were not ready.
Other evidence corroborates KSM’s account. For instance, Mihdhar told his cousin that the attacks were to happen in May,but were postponed twice, first to July,then to September.Moreover,one candidate hijacker remembers a general warning being issued in the al Qaeda camps in July or early August, just like the warnings issued two weeks before the Cole bombing and ten days before the eventual 9/11 attacks. During the midsummer alert, al Qaeda members dispersed with their families, security was increased, and Bin Ladin disappeared for about 30 days, until the alert was canceled.179
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Bin Ladin told Binalshibh to instruct Atta and the others to focus on their security and that of the operation,and to advise Atta to proceed as planned with the targets discussed before Atta left Afghanistan in early 2000—the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, the White House, and the Capitol. According to Binalshibh,Bin Ladin said he preferred the White House over the Capitol, asking Binalshibh to confirm that Atta understood this preference. Binalshibh says Bin Ladin had given the same message to Waleed al Shehri for conveyance to Atta earlier that spring. Binalshibh also received permission to meet Atta in Malaysia.Atef provided money for the trip,which KSM would help Binalshibh arrange in Karachi.141
In early June,Binalshibh traveled by taxi from Kandahar to Quetta,Pakistan, where al Qaeda courier Abu Rahmah took him to KSM.According to Binal=shibh, KSM provided a plane ticket to Malaysia and a fraudulent Saudi pass-port to use for the trip.KSM told him to ask Atta to select a date for the attacks. Binalshibh was to return to Germany and then inform KSM of the date.KSM
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Binalshibh says he told Atta that Bin Ladin wanted the attacks carried out as soon as possible. Bin Ladin, Binalshibh conveyed, was worried about hav=ing so many operatives in the United States.Atta replied that he could not yet provide a date because he was too busy organizing the arriving hijackers and still needed to coordinate the timing of the flights so that the crashes would occur simultaneously.Atta said he required about five to six weeks before he could provide an attack date. Binalshibh advised Atta that Bin Ladin had directed that the other operatives not be informed of the date until the last minute.Atta was to provide Binalshibh with advance notice of at least a week or two so that Binalshibh could travel to Afghanistan and report the date per=sonally to Bin Ladin.146
As to targets, Atta understood Bin Ladin’s interest in striking the White House.Atta said he thought this target too difficult,but had tasked Hazmi and Hanjour to evaluate its feasibility and was awaiting their answer.Atta said that those two operatives had rented small aircraft and flown reconnaissance flights near the Pentagon.Atta explained that Hanjour was assigned to attack the Pen=tagon, Jarrah the Capitol, and that both Atta and Shehhi would hit the World Trade Center. If any pilot could not reach his intended target, he was to crash the plane.If Atta could not strike the World Trade Center,he planned to crash his aircraft directly into the streets of NewYork.Atta told Binalshibh that each pilot had volunteered for his assigned target,and that the assignments were sub=ject to change.147
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On August 3, for example, Atta and Binalshibh discussed several matters, such as the best way for the operatives to purchase plane tickets and the assign=ment of muscle hijackers to individual teams.Atta and Binalshibh also revis=ited the question of whether to target the White House.They discussed targets in coded language,pretending to be students discussing various fields of study: "architecture"referred to the World Trade Center,"arts"the Pentagon,"law" the Capitol,and "politics"the White House.166
Binalshibh reminded Atta that Bin Ladin wanted to target theWhite House. Atta again cautioned that this would be difficult.When Binalshibh persisted, Atta agreed to include the White House but suggested they keep the Capitol as an alternate target in case the White House proved too difficult. Atta also suggested that the attacks would not happen until after the first week in Sep=tember, when Congress reconvened.167
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Perhaps most significant,however,was the purchase of plane tickets for Sep=tember 11.On August 23,Atta again flew to Newark,probably to meet with Hazmi and select flights.All 19 tickets were booked and purchased between August 25 and September 5.171
It therefore appears that the attack date was selected by the third week of August.This timing is confirmed by Binalshibh,who claims Atta called him with the date in mid-August.According to Binalshibh,Atta used a riddle to convey the date in code—a message of two branches,a slash,and a lollipop (to non-Americans, 11/9 would be interpreted as September 11). Binalshibh says he called Atta back to confirm the date before passing it to KSM.172
)"01" Plan One in the year 2001.
"11", sigifies the date, the first hit and the two towers.
The "09" signifies the Capitol and places it as the second hit. It was defined in a pre-attack call overseas by Atta as a "cake with a stick hanging down". An overhead of the Capitol and the Capitol Mall will show you the validity of the description.
The attacks occurred between the hours of 9 & 11. Had the last flight gotten to DC, it would have been VERY close to 11:00.
The date wasn't known specifically until the flights were booked. Weather, as in every war, was a factor. They needed to see the rivers to confirm their turns and clear skies to make their hit.
Had the two planes hit their target in DC, almost every important building would have been destroyed along with many of the Politicians.
It was fortunate that the DC plane hit that particular wall of the Pentagon. It was the one wall that had been reinforced. It was a miracle and I look at that particular wall as "The Hand of God".
I also believe that "We Were Chosen".
God Bless America. God Bless President Bush.
May God comfort those who lost someone that day and still our minds so we can continue along the path that was opened before us on that day.