r/NoStupidQuestions • u/JMRooDukes808 • 6d ago

Do you think the 9/11 hijackers knew that the WTC buildings would collapse?

I really don’t know where else to ask this. There is obviously an overload of information about the event itself online, but one thing I can’t find out is if the hijackers intended to, or knew that the WTC buildings would collapse. Do you think they just planned on the impact and fires to be the extent of the damage caused? As far as I know, no steel structure buildings in history had collapsed from fire at that point, so it makes me wonder if they actually “succeeded” in their plan more than they intended.

Edit: no conspiracies please, that was not the point of my post

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u/Gekreuzte_Gewehre 6d ago

Actually, yeah, you're pretty close. Bin Laden said they didn't in their wildest dreams believethe towers would collapse and then on top of that......we have radio intercepts in Tora Bora......"I'm so sorry, my brothers, that I've brought this upon our heads!" Bin Laden himself said this as B-52s pummeled the hell out them.......

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u/GTOdriver04 6d ago

I’ve always wondered if bin Laden considered how pissed the US would be, and that they wouldn’t stop until they killed him.

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u/John_EightThirtyTwo 6d ago

He was hunted into a hole and stayed there, with his head down, for the rest of his life, until the U.S. came and killed him. I'm sure from his point of view it was all worthwhile, given how successful he was a goading the U.S. into a self-destructive spasm of pointless violence. He played us like a fiddle.

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u/munchkinatlaw 6d ago edited 6d ago

He was living in a large house with three wives, two an adult son, a bunch of kids and grand kids, satellite TV and a shitload of porn. It wasn't even a bad existence, especially compared to living in Tora Bora.

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u/Is_It_A_Throwaway 5d ago

On the other hand, he literally only quickly paced around his courtyard for 20 minutes a day and promptly shut back inside. Plus, he only lived on one floor of the three story house, which consisted on his room and the rooms of his children...

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u/llama_empanada 5d ago

Great episode on Behind the Bastards on Bin Laden’s secret hard drive. Fascinating and hilarious: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/secrets-of-osama-bin-ladens-hard-drive/id1373812661?i=1000411569136