Fact Sheet [World Trade Center, Pentagon, etc. attacks]

This fact sheet traces the main events related to the present campaign against terrorism, starting from the first bombing of the World Trade Center in February 1993.

* 8 October, 2001: NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson states that NATO Ambassadors have expressed their full support for the actions of the United States and the United Kingdom against al-Qaida installations October 7.

* October 7, 2001: President Bush announces that the U.S. military has launched strikes against al-Qaida terrorist camps and Taliban military installations in Afghanistan.

* October 5, 2001: The United Nations General Assembly's week-long debate on international terrorism draws to a close with countries continuing to express their horror over the September 11 attacks against the United States, as well as their hope that governments can work together to eradicate terrorism everywhere in the world.

* October 4, 2001: President George Bush pledges $320 million in additional humanitarian aid to Afghanistan in a speech delivered at U.S. State Department headquarters. The amount is in addition to $184 million the United States has already contributed to Afghanistan in 2001, confirming the United States as the leading donor of aid to Afghans.

* October 4, 2001: President Bush calls 3,283 Army Reservists and Army National Guard members to active duty as part of the partial mobilization. This brings the total Army Reserves called to active duty to 7,765 to date.

* September 28, 2001: The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopts resolution 1373 that establishes wide-ranging measures to combat terrorism, especially focusing on the financial support terrorists need to carry out their acts. A text of UNSCR 1373 can be viewed at:

* September 24, 2001: President Bush signs an executive order designed to starve terrorists of their support funds. The order expands the Treasury Department's power to target the support structure of terrorist organizations, freeze their assets and block transactions of terrorists and those that support them. A list of targeted organizations and individuals is published in tandem.

* September 20, 2001: President George W. Bush addresses a Joint Session of Congress and the American people, outlining a long and comprehensive U.S. and international effort to end global terrorism. He names al-Qaida and a loose network of terrorist groups as prime suspects.

* September 12, 2001: In a show of unity against the scourge of terrorism, the U.N. Security Council September 12 adopted resolution 1368 that "unequivocally condemns in the strongest terms the horrifying terrorist attacks" in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania and called on "all states to work together urgently to bring to justice the perpetrators, organizers, and sponsors" of the attacks. The text of the resolution can be viewed at:

* September 12, 2001: The UN General Assembly passed a resolution strongly condemning the deadly terrorist incidents in its host city, New York, in Washington D.C. and in Pennsylvania.

* September 11, 2001: Four American airliners are hijacked by terrorists. Two planes hit the World Trade Center towers in New York City, killing an estimated 6,000 civilians. In addition to Americans, citizens of over 80 other nations died in the attack. Another plane was crashed into the Pentagon Building in Washington, D.C., killing an estimated 180 persons. The fourth highjacked plane crashed in Pennsylvania killing all 38 passengers and seven crewmembers. Subsequent investigations link the highjackers of all four planes to Usama bin Laden.

* May 30, 2001: Guilty verdict in trial of accused bombers of US Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. Articles available at:

* December 19, 2000: UN Security Council unanimously adopts resolution 1333 demanding that the Taliban abide by UN Security Council Resolution 1267 by turning over Usama bin Laden to a country where he can brought to justice, closing all terrorist training camps in Afghanistan, and complying with other UNSC demands. A fact sheet on UNSC resolution 1333 can be viewed at:

* October 12, 2000: The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden is attacked by terrorists linked to Usama bin Laden. The attack killed 17 crewmembers and injured 42. *

October 15, 1999: The UN Security Council unanimously adopts resolution 1267 imposing limited sanctions against the Taliban. The UNSC demanded that the Taliban turn over Usama bin Laden "without further delay to appropriate authorities in a country where he has been indicted, or to appropriate authorities in a country where he will be returned to such a country, or to appropriate authorities in a country where he will be arrested and effectively brought to justice." A fact sheet on UNSC 1267 is available at:

* August 7, 1998: U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar-as-Salaam, Tanzania are attacked by suicide truck bombers linked to Usama bin Laden. Two hundred thirteen people died as a result of the bombing in Kenya, with thousands injured, most of them Kenyan citizens. Eleven people died in Tanzania. Testimony given during the February 2001 trial of the perpetrators of the Africa bombings shed new light on the efforts of Bin Laden and his terrorist organization, al-Qaida, to acquire weapons of mass destruction from a source in Khartoum, Sudan, in late 1993 or early 1994.

* June 25, 1996: A truck bomb is driven into U.S. army barracks in al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia, killing 19 American servicemen. Thirteen Saudis and a Lebanese were indicted June 22, 2001 on charges of murder and conspiracy for the 1996 bombing that killed 19 American servicemen in Saudi Arabia. The 46-count indictment alleges that all 14 men were members of the Islamic militant group Hezbollah.

* February 26, 1993: An improvised explosive device explodes on the second level of the World Trade Center parking basement. The blast killed six people and injured 1,000. Four men were tried for the attack beginning September 13, 1993. The perpetrators were shown to have ties to global terrorist networks. The trial lasted 6 months with the presentation of 204 witnesses and more than 1,000 pieces of evidence. A jury convicted the four defendants on March 4, 1994, in federal court on all 38 counts against them.

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That is a very good chart. On reading the State Department release which I posted, now I also have some questions, which I will also try to run down as time permits:

If you add these numbers up, you get 6225 killed in the WTC and Pentagon attacks. Although 6180 of this is a rough estimate, whereas the remaining number, probably based on a passenger manifest, may be pretty exact, which is probably why they didn't add them into a total.

Questions follow:

-How many passengers and crew were killed on the WTC and Pentagon airliners? This doesn't say and it looks like they may not even have been counted here. Or if they were included, I realize that remains on-site might be tough to distinguish, but couldn't this number have been determined from passenger manifests too?

-Are the 19 hijackers separated from these numbers? They were killed but it would be ridiculous to call them victims.

It would be useful to know these things, if only to get the historical accounting right. Try to find a casualty count, or even a reasonable guess, for Tiananmen Square.

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