Unanswered questions of September 11

Five years after the deadliest enemy attack ever on the United States, questions linger about the terror plot that toppled New York’s World Trade Center, damaged the Pentagon and ignited the ongoing war on terrorism.

The killing of nearly 3,000 people on September 11, 2001, is not a “cold case.”

But it also is not a closed case, and despite the huge body of evidence collected, unanswered questions remain. Among them:

• Who did the airliner hijackers meet as they spent months in the U.S. planning — and traveling to places such as Las Vegas and Los Angeles?

• What was the ultimate source of money for the terrorist operation?

• What was the Washington target of United Flight 93, which crashed near Shanksville, Pa.?

• What motivated 19 relatively well-off Arab men, all Muslims, to become such horrific suicide bombers?

Lee Hamilton, vice chairman of the national September 11 commission, says motivation was the “big question” the panel could not answer.

“We were never able to answer why the 19 were willing to kill themselves. What was the motivation? I am talking in a very personal way,” Mr. Hamilton, a Democrat who represented Indiana’s 9th District in the House for 34 years, said in an interview wih The Washington Times.

“What was the motivation for each one of these hijackers? I think the question of motivation was opaque to us. We just could not nail it. They were dead, of course.”

He said investigators guessed at a religious motive or a political grievance against the West, or more specifically the United States.

“Why do they hate us? It’s one of the fundamental questions raised again and again,” Mr. Hamilton said. “We couldn’t pin it down for the 19.”

Fourth target

The attack spurred the FBI to open the largest criminal investigation in its history.

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