9/11 Remembered- 12 years On

Its twelve years since the 9/11 attacks on the US, coordinated by Al-Qaida. September 11th 2001 was the day which prompted many people to say the world would never be the same again.

Valentin Țigău, 11.09.2013, 12:19

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, were a series of bloody attacks against the US, coordinated by Al-Qaeda. 19 terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing two of them into the Twin Towers of World Trade Centre in New York.

The terrorists onboard a third airliner hit the Pentagon, near Washington, and a fourth airliner crashed into the fields, near Pennsylvania. Overall, approximately 3,000 people died in the 9/11 attacks. The US was quick to respond to these attacks, unleashing a war on terrorism at all levels, invading Afghanistan to oust the fundamentalist Taliban regime, which sheltered Al-Qaida terrorists and adopting the “USA Patriot” law, which is still into force.

This law, which has been contested by many, gives the government the possibility to survey any person suspected of plotting or masterminding any terror attack on the US. Other countries, too, have tightened security and adopted anti-terror laws, enhancing the power of law enforcers and security forces in the effort to implement these laws.

There were many who said the world would never be the same after September 11, 2001. The American tragedy impacted billions of people. Many economies registered significant drops, but most changes occurred at political level. Most world leaders condemned the attacks, apart from Iraq and its leader, Saddam Hussein. Speculations on the involvement of Iraqi nationals in the attacks made the American public accept the idea of an armed invasion of Iraq, in 2003.

Many countries froze the bank accounts of suspected terrorists and the US set up a controversial detention centre at the military base located in the Guantánamo Gulf in Cuba. Alliances and even the world order have changed in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. The world split into good and bad, the US placing Iraq, Iran and North Korea on “the axis of evil”.

Foreign relations got tense, the US being accused of turning itself into a world gendarme, in the name of the fight against terrorism. In spite of this, most countries seem to have understood that terrorism is a danger at world level and this is the most important thing, in the end.

To Romania, September 11, 2001 brought major changes, too, after it firmly positioned itself on the side of the civilised world and of the efforts to eradicate terrorism. NATO and the US realised that Romania could be a trustworthy strategic partner in the Black Sea area. In 2004, Bucharest signed its NATO accession into law, and in 2007 Romania joined the EU. In the same line of partnership, the Romanians and Americans are building a part of the European anti-missile shield in Deveselu, southern Romania.