# Did the date 9-11 have some significance for the terrorists? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 11, 2010, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-date-9-11-have-some-significance-for-the-terrorists/563790 "2010-12-11T16:19:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-date-9-11-have-some-significance-for-the-terrorists/563790/1 "2010-12-11T16:19:41Z")
IIRC Timothy McVeigh bombed the Murrah Federal Building on the anniversary of the Ruby Ridge confrontation, which had really upset him. Did 9-11 have some particular meaning for Mohamed Atta et al.? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-date-9-11-have-some-significance-for-the-terrorists/563790/2 "2010-12-11T16:45:16Z")
There are a bunch of things it could have been, but I don’t know that al Qaeda claimed that the date had any special significance. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-date-9-11-have-some-significance-for-the-terrorists/563790/3 "2010-12-11T17:40:17Z")
One theory I’ve heard is they chose a Tuesday because it’s kind of a slow air travel day and felt they would have had an easier time commandeering the planes. And indeed if you look at the number of passengers on each of those flights, they were pretty low. American Airlines Flight 11, the first plane into the WTC was barely half full. United 93 had a capacity of 182 but only about 40 people aboard that day (though they certainly gave the terrorists a run for their money that day). ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-date-9-11-have-some-significance-for-the-terrorists/563790/4 "2010-12-11T18:14:56Z")
I don’t think anyone from al Qaeda has ever given this as a reason, but it was speculated that the attacks happened when they did because the US uses 911 as its emergency number. ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-date-9-11-have-some-significance-for-the-terrorists/563790/5 "2010-12-11T18:19:59Z")
Except basically the entire rest of the world views that date as 11/9. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-date-9-11-have-some-significance-for-the-terrorists/563790/6 "2010-12-11T18:24:56Z")
> [@Raygun99](#): > > Except basically the entire rest of the world views that date as 11/9. So? The attacks happened in America. Where 911 is the emergency number and the date is written as 9/11. ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-date-9-11-have-some-significance-for-the-terrorists/563790/7 "2010-12-11T18:30:27Z")
Yes, but to the people who carried them out, the date was 11/9. It would not have occurred to them. It’s also a bizarre message to send and has never come up in any of Al Qaeda’s statements about the event. They declared war on the West, not its police and fire officers. ---
**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-date-9-11-have-some-significance-for-the-terrorists/563790/8 "2010-12-11T18:42:01Z")
I remember hearing at the time, from information gleaned from interviewing the likes of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, that the choice of date was more a matter of convenience than anything else. Apparently Atta relayed the date to his co-conspirators in the form of a riddle: [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/10/09/60II/main524947.shtml](http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/10/09/60II/main524947.shtml) “Two sticks, a dash and a cake with a stick down.” Makes more sense if you think of the date in the non-US form, 11/9. ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-date-9-11-have-some-significance-for-the-terrorists/563790/9 "2010-12-11T19:14:25Z")
My understanding is the date had no special significance. They chose a Tuesday so the planes were not likely to be full, Congress would be in session, and they waited until they had an advanced weather forecast that showed the weather would be clear, for both their inexperienced pilots, and good visibility on TV. The “sticks” thing was just a code that the leader used to tell the others the date once chosen. ---
**Author:** ![Jormungandr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@Jormungandr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jormungandr)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-date-9-11-have-some-significance-for-the-terrorists/563790/10 "2010-12-11T21:16:55Z")
One theory I’ve heard was it was related to the [Battle of Vienna](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vienna), which took place September 11, 1683. It marked the end of the Ottoman Empire’s expansion into Europe. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-date-9-11-have-some-significance-for-the-terrorists/563790/11 "2010-12-11T21:45:01Z")
> [@Raygun99](#): > > Except basically the entire rest of the world views that date as 11/9. The convention in most countries (which is apparently [ISO 8601](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601)) is that the date of the attacks was 2001-09-11. I may say it happened on the 11th of September, but I wouldn’t write it as 11/9. ETA: what is the US convention again? 9/11/2001? ---
**Author:** ![Gotterfunken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58956e/32.png) [@Gotterfunken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gotterfunken)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-date-9-11-have-some-significance-for-the-terrorists/563790/12 "2010-12-11T23:37:10Z")
> [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](#): > > The convention in most countries (which is apparently [ISO 8601](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601)) is that the date of the attacks was 2001-09-11. I may say it happened on the 11th of September, but I wouldn’t write it as 11/9. I really don’t think this is true of most countries, and certainly not for the general population. According to [this page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_and_time_notation_by_country), most countries use the dd/mm/yyyy format (and even in those countries that have “officially” adopted it, the ISO 8601 usage is typically limited to specialist circles, except in East Asia were the yyyy-mm-dd format is apparently the preferred format in general). The map on that page shows Saudi Arabia as a “dd/mm/yyyy” country. If Saudis are anything like most Europeans, they really would write out the date as 11/9/2001. > [@](#): > > ETA: what is the US convention again? 9/11/2001? That’s correct. Americans usually both say and write “9/11” (or “September the 11th” or some other variation of the mm/dd/yyyy format). ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-date-9-11-have-some-significance-for-the-terrorists/563790/13 "2010-12-11T23:58:29Z")
Withdrawn. Too inappropriate even for me. ---
**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-date-9-11-have-some-significance-for-the-terrorists/563790/14 "2010-12-11T23:58:44Z")
> [@Raygun99](#): > > Yes, but to the people who carried them out, the date was 11/9. It would not have occurred to them. It very slightly annoys me too when how it was parroted by our media. Pointing out that “9/11” happened on 11/9 presumably was hand waved away. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2010, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-date-9-11-have-some-significance-for-the-terrorists/563790/15 "2010-12-12T01:04:37Z")
Thank you, everyone, for your responses. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2010, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-date-9-11-have-some-significance-for-the-terrorists/563790/16 "2010-12-12T02:24:30Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > I don’t think anyone from al Qaeda has ever given this as a reason, but it was speculated that the attacks happened when they did because the US uses 911 as its emergency number. Wow, I have never heard that the terrorists actually were thinking this. I mean, we all thought it when it happened, but I never heard they were thinking it. > [@TriPolar](#): > > Withdrawn. Too inappropriate even for me. Ah, come one, tell us what it said! By the way, I thought it was chosen for its clear and calm weather, which helped ensure the flights would not be delayed or canceled. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2010, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-date-9-11-have-some-significance-for-the-terrorists/563790/17 "2010-12-12T03:02:45Z")
Well, it was election day in much of America, and these terrorists came from countries that don’t have free & open elections. And their fundamentalist ideology blindly following religious leaders rather than electing leaders. So possibly trying to taint election days was part of their intention. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2010, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-date-9-11-have-some-significance-for-the-terrorists/563790/18 "2010-12-12T03:18:47Z")
> [@Raygun99](#): > > Yes, but to the people who carried them out, the date was 11/9. It would not have occurred to them. > [@Cugel](#): > > It very slightly annoys me too when how it was parroted by our media. Pointing out that “9/11” happened on 11/9 presumably was hand waved away. Actually, since the hijackers did live in the USA for some time, that “It would not have occurred to them” is much too strong a statement. It’s quite possible. Whether it occurred to bin Laden and the planners is not known. I think the Battle of Vienna is more likely because it’s much more symbolic. They were stopped on that date in 1683, and that began the decline of Islamic rule. They took up the battle again on the same date 318 years later. But in any case, because there’s no evidence that either of these two theories was actually used in selecting the date, this is all speculation. ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2010, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-date-9-11-have-some-significance-for-the-terrorists/563790/19 "2010-12-12T07:17:55Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Well, it was election day in much of America It was? I don’t remember that. > [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > it was speculated that the attacks happened when they did because the US uses 911 as its emergency number. If they’d had it in for convenience stores, they would have attacked on 7/11. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2010, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-date-9-11-have-some-significance-for-the-terrorists/563790/20 "2010-12-12T08:25:10Z")
> [@E.Thorp](#): > > It was? I don’t remember that. > > If they’d had it in for convenience stores, they would have attacked on 7/11. Is that July 11th or November 7th? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-date-9-11-have-some-significance-for-the-terrorists/563790.md?page=2)