Unveiling 9/11: The Unexpected Collapse of the World Trade Center

Bin Laden's Miscalculations

Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, did not anticipate the collapse of the World Trade Center (WTC) towers. The primary targets for the attacks were the White House and the Pentagon, which bin Laden believed would be destroyed upon impact. The WTC towers were secondary targets, and the terrorists had little understanding of their engineering.

The hijackers expected the planes' impact to cause fires and possibly kill people above the impact zone. They did not foresee the physics that would lead to the towers' collapse. If they had known, they might have struck the buildings lower and after 9:00 AM to maximize casualties. The North Tower's staircases were severed, trapping everyone above the impact zone. Striking a lower floor after 9:00 AM could have resulted in tens of thousands more deaths.

The Unexpected Collapse

A tape found by US forces in November 2001 and released in December 2001 includes bin Laden's predictions. He thought the fire from the plane's gas would melt the iron structure, collapsing only the area above the impact. Bin Laden was the most optimistic among the terrorists about the potential damage, but even he did not foresee the complete collapse of the towers.

Nobody in the public, including those in lower Manhattan, expected the towers to collapse. If the collapse had been anticipated, police and fire crews would have cordoned off and evacuated surrounding areas. Businesses and residents did not evacuate, and college classes were not canceled. The original WTC attack in 1993 aimed to knock one tower into the other, but it did not result in the collapse of either tower. Before 9/11, no building of the WTC towers' size had ever collapsed intentionally or unintentionally.

The Impact on Terrorist Plans

The unexpected collapse of the WTC towers significantly exceeded the terrorists' initial plans. The hijackers may have thought it possible for the towers to collapse but did not know for sure. The 1993 attack did not result in the collapse of either tower, which may have led the terrorists to underestimate the potential for such a catastrophic outcome.

Bin Laden's miscalculations and the terrorists' lack of understanding of the towers' engineering ultimately led to an outcome far beyond their expectations. The collapse of the WTC towers on 9/11 remains one of the most devastating and unexpected events in modern history, reshaping global security and forever altering the lives of countless individuals.