Road to 9/11 provides, for the first time, a 360 degree overview of events that led to the attack. The comprehensive, dramatic narrative weaves together the complex global connections and webs that were developing over two decades. As the threat quietly grew, only a few people recognized it; most Americans were distracted by other issues on the home front.Featuring more than 50 interviews, the story is told by the people who were there, some speaking on US television for the first time – the investigators and officials who understood and warned of the threat, but were unable to imagine the magnitude or foil the deadly plot conceived by Osama bin Laden and Khalid Sheik Mohammed.
We begin in New York in November 1990 when an extremist rabbi, Meir Kahane, is gunned down in a midtown Manhattan hotel ballroom by El Sayyid Nosair, an Egyptian-born American citizen. Agents discover a Brooklyn-based terrorist cell with connections to Osama bin Laden. Egyptian immigrant Emad Salem is recruited by the FBI to go undercover and expose the cell before members execute an attack. However, in 1993 a group of cell members, including Ramzi Yousef, successfully set off a bomb in the World Trade Center killing six people and wounding dozens. Another plot to blow up five New York City landmarks is foiled with the help of Salem. Yousef, who fled to the Philippines after the World Trade Center attack, begins formulating the Bojinka plot, a plan to bomb 11 airlines. In New York, investigators learn that Yousef's uncle helped to finance the attacks; his name is Khalid Sheik Mohammad, the future mastermind of the 9/11 plot.
Part two moves from New York to Washington, DC where the CIA and Clinton Administration officials are trying to understand and react to the rise in jihadi terror. A number of classified operations are planned during this time targeting Osama bin Laden resulting in near misses or shots not taken. An intimate profile of bin Laden emerges through rare interview footage with him and commentary from people who knew him personally including former fighters, friends and journalists.
The final episode explores how the September 11th attack came to be. A portrait emerges of the true mastermind of the attack, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Part three explores his past, including time spent in the US as a college student, through interviews with friends, journalists and the agents who devoted their lives to finding him. The episode also looks at the men recruited to enact the attacks--their backgrounds, terror training, their lives in the US and their flight training. In Washington, there is a disconnect between government agencies--information withheld, missed signals, and ensuing tensions. The film also details the experience and emotion of 9/11, and how the United States and the world were changed forever.
Complete episode guide for Road to 9/11 with detailed information about every season and episode including air dates, summaries, ratings, and streaming availability in United States.
This episode guide is organized by seasons, making it easy to track your viewing progress or find specific episodes. Use the episode information to plan your binge-watching sessions or catch up on missed episodes.