Knightlady wrote:
Wow. I had completely forgotten the first attack. Wasn't it a bomb in the parking garage or something like that?
Yes. All these conspiracy theories on 9/11/2001 seem to forget the first time around. The Encyclopedia Britannica seems to have more complete info than Wikipedia:
World Trade Center bombing of 1993terrorist attack, New York City, New York, United States
https://www.britannica.com/event/World-Trade-Center-bombing-of-1993
"Date: February 26, 1993
Location: New York New York City United States
Key People: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Ramzi Ahmed Yousef
World Trade Center bombing of 1993, terrorist attack in New York City on February 26, 1993, in which a truck bomb exploded in a basement-level parking garage under the World Trade Center complex. Six people were k**led and more than 1,000 were injured in what was at that time the deadliest act of terrorism perpetrated on U.S. soil.
"The attack
The World Trade Center bombing plot began in the months before September 1, 1992, when two of the main conspirators, Ahmad Ajaj and Ramzi Yousef, arrived in the United States from Pakistan. Upon detecting his poorly falsified Swedish passport, customs agents detained Ajaj and confiscated his suitcase, which contained bombing manuals and anti-American propaganda. Yousef, traveling on an Iraqi passport bearing the name Abdel Basit Mahmoud, requested political asylum. He was arrested for entering the United States without a visa but was released on his own recognizance and allowed into the country. While Ajaj waited in jail, Yousef began to implement a plan that allegedly aimed at toppling the twin towers of the World Trade Center. On October 1 he moved into a rented room in the Little Egypt section of Jersey City, New Jersey, with another conspirator, Mohammad Salameh.
"The plotters purchased bomb-making materials and stored them in a locker rented by Salameh. On January 1, 1993, Salameh also rented a garage apartment in Jersey City for use as a bomb factory. Over the next several weeks, the group assembled a 1,500-pound (680-kilogram) bomb, and Salameh went on scouting missions to the World Trade Center. Yousef called an associate, Eyad Ismoil, who arrived in New York just days before the bombing.
"On February 23, 1993, Salameh rented a van, which he reported stolen two days later in order to establish an alibi. The men purchased several tanks of hydrogen gas and loaded them into the bomb-laden van to magnify the power of the explosion. In the early morning hours of February 26, Mahmud Abouhalima, another conspirator, filled the gas tanks of his car and the rented van. Yousef, Abouhalima, Salameh, and Ismoil then drove to Lower Manhattan.
"The van was left in a parking garage in the World Trade Center complex. At 12:18 PM the explosives detonated, opening a blast crater six stories deep and 200 feet wide. Within hours Salameh went to the rental agency to claim his deposit for the “stolen” van; he was told to return later. Ismoil fled to Jordan, and Yousef, the mastermind of the operation, was on a flight to Karachi, Pakistan, that evening. By the time Yousef had left the country, authorities had already received more than 50 phone calls claiming responsibility for the bombing, as well as a handful of f**e bomb threats at targets throughout New York City. With few leads, the initial suspects included Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi and Iraqi Pres. Ṣaddām Ḥussein. Ḥussein seemed the most likely candidate, as the bombing took place on the second anniversary of his defeat by U.S. forces in Kuwait.
Investigation and trial
Within two days of the bombing, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) uncovered a charred and mangled piece of the van’s chassis that bore its vehicle identification number. That number led authorities to the rental agency in Jersey City. On March 4, when Salameh returned to claim the refund on his deposit, the FBI arrested him. The rental agreement in Salameh’s pocket bore traces of bomb residue as well as the address of the Jersey City apartment. At the apartment, authorities found another roommate, Abdul Rahman Yasin, who led them to the bomb factory. Yasin, who was not taken into custody, left the country the next day, headed for Iraq. Abouhalima had also fled New York, for Saudi Arabia. He was arrested in Egypt on March 10, the same day Nidal Ayyad, another conspirator, was arrested in New Jersey. With Yasin in Iraq and Yousef still at large, a federal grand jury in Manhattan handed down an 11-count indictment against Salameh, Abouhalima, Ayyad, and a man named Bilal Alkaisi, who turned himself in to police in late March. Ajaj, Yousef’s traveling companion in 1992, was indicted in May 1993.
"The trial began on September 16, 1993. The cases against Salameh and Ayyad were the strongest. Salameh was linked to each stage of the plot through phone, bank, and rental records, and Ayyad was considered the spokesman for the plot. Authorities recovered a draft of a communiqué sent to The New York Times from his computer. This document claimed responsibility for the bombing in the name of the 5th Battalion of the Liberation Army and demanded that the United States cease giving aid to Israel. Abouhalima was placed at the garage apartment on many occasions and at the gas station the morning of the bombing. Ajaj, who had spent the duration of the plot in jail, was implicated as Yousef’s associate and charged with carrying the bombing manuals from Pakistan. Various defense attorneys repeated the argument that Yousef, the apparent architect of the bombing, had duped the defendants, who were portrayed as unwitting participants. On March 4, 1994—after four months, 1,000 exhibits, and more than 200 witnesses—Salameh, Ayyad, Abouhalima, and Ajaj were all convicted and each sentenced to 240 years in prison.
"After a two-year manhunt, Yousef was captured in Pakistan in February 1995. He and Ismoil, who was arrested in Jordan in August 1995, were tried and convicted in the fall of 1997.
by Laura Lambert
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
"Ramzi Ahmed Yousef
"Introduction
Last Updated: Apr 23, 2024 • Article History
Born: April 27, 1968, Kuwait (age 55)
Role In: World Trade Center bombing of 1993
Ramzi Ahmed Yousef (born April 27, 1968, Kuwait) Kuwaiti-born militant who masterminded the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. He was part of some of the most ambitious terrorist conspiracies discovered to date, including a thwarted plot to blow up 11 airliners over the Pacific Ocean.
"Born in Kuwait to Pakistani and Palestinian parents, Yousef traveled to the United Kingdom to study electrical engineering and improve his English language sk**ls. He returned to Kuwait after completing his education but left after the Iraqi invasion in 1990, eventually making his way to Afghanistan. There he received training in bomb-making and traveled abroad to work as a recruiter for the nascent al-Qaeda organization. He met with members of the Abu Sayyaf Group in the Philippines in an effort to establish a foothold in the region, and in September 1992 Yousef flew to New York City. There, he made contact with radical Egyptian-born cleric Omar Abdel Rahman, and Yousef gathered the personnel and material that he would need to execute his planned attack on the World Trade Center.
"Over the subsequent months, Yousef and his confederates assembled an approximately 1,500-pound (680-kilogram) bomb. They placed it in a rented van, and on February 26, 1993, the bomb was detonated in an underground garage in the World Trade Center. Six people were k**led and over 1,000 were injured in the attack, and that evening Yousef was on a flight bound for Pakistan. Yousef’s associates—Mohammad Salameh, Mahmud Abouhalima, Nidal Ayyad, and Ahmad Ajaj—were tried and convicted for their roles in the bombing.
"It is believed that by July 1993, Islamist militants had approached Yousef about coordinating and carrying out an assassination plot against Ben**ir Bhutto in advance of the October 1993 Pakistani general e******ns. During one failed attempt, a detonator exploded in Yousef’s face and the men abandoned the plot to rush Yousef to a hospital. Investigators alleged that Yousef again failed to assassinate Bhutto when a gun to be used by a sniper was not delivered in time for one of her public addresses.
"By spring 1994, Yousef was in Thailand, where he coordinated a plot to bomb the Israeli embassy in Bangkok. On March 11, 1994, a bomb was loaded into a stolen van and driven toward the embassy, but the van was in an accident and the driver fled. Authorities discovered the bomb, still undetonated, days after the van was impounded. In June 1994 Yousef arranged the bombing of a Shīʿite shrine in Mashhad, Iran, in which 26 people were k**led. He then left for the Philippines, where he trained members of Abu Sayyaf in the use of explosives. At the time, Osama bin Laden was financing Abu Sayyaf, and through the group it is believed that bin Laden had requested that Yousef assassinate U.S. Pres. Bill Clinton during his trip to the Philippines in November 1994. The venture was a logistical nightmare and proved too difficult for Yousef.
"Yousef turned his attention to a plot he had been working on since arriving in Manila, called Project Bojinka (Serbo-Croatian for “loud explosion”). Project Bojinka was Yousef’s most elaborate and ambitious scheme to date. He planned to blow up 11 U.S. airliners almost simultaneously over the Pacific Ocean, using small but strategically placed bombs made of liquid nitroglycerin, which could pass through airport detectors unnoticed and be assembled in an airplane bathroom using little more than two batteries and a watch.
"During this time Yousef had also hatched a plan to assassinate Pope John Paul II. On December 8, 1994, Yousef rented a street-facing room along the route the pope would travel on his visit to Manila. Three days later, Yousef boarded Philippines Airlines flight 434 in Manila. Once on board, he assembled a bomb in the bathroom and placed it under his seat. Yousef disembarked in Cebu, and the bomb exploded while the plane was en route to Tokyo, k*****g one passenger and injuring several others. Abu Sayyaf claimed responsibility for the bombing, while Yousef continued to fine-tune his plot to assassinate the pope.
"On J****** 6, 1995, while mixing chemicals intended for bombs, Yousef and an associate started a small fire in their room. When police arrived, both men had already fled, leaving behind bomb-making materials and Yousef’s laptop. The laptop provided authorities with information related to the planned assassination of the pope, as well as a file named “Bojinka,” which detailed how five men were to plant bombs on 11 American planes in the Far East. The first scheduled bombing was January 21, 1995, just weeks away.
After fleeing, Yousef returned to Pakistan, where he tried to enlist the help of a man who later alerted authorities to his presence in Islamabad. On February 7, 1995, Pakistani authorities captured Yousef in his hotel room. He was flown to the United States after his arrest to await trial for the World Trade Center bombing and the Bojinka plot. On September 5, 1996, Yousef was convicted for the bombing and assassination conspiracy, and in November 1997 he was also found guilty of the World Trade Center bombing. The verdicts carried a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole."
"by
Laura Lambert
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica"
Is this of some use? It would be interesting to read the original WTC insurance company's list of needed repairs and renovations and the length of time completed or uncompleted. The two towers were a "White Elephant" impossible to sell "as-is" with gas pipes running up the central elevator shaft. Who would have known about this?