September 11, Spectacles of Terror, and Media Manipulation: A Critique of Jihadist and Bush Media Politics by Douglas Kellner he September 11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center in New York andPentagoninWashington,D.C.,wereshoalckimnegdigaloebventsthat dominated public attention and provoked reams of discourse, reflection, and writing. These media spectacles were intended to terrorize the U.S., to attack symbolic targets, and to unfold a terror spectacle of Jihad against the West,aswellastounderminetheU.S.andglobaleconomy.TheWorldTrade Center is an apt symbol of global capitalism in the heart of the New York financial district, while the Pentagon stands as a symbol and center of U.S.militarypower.Inthisstudy,sItshuogwgeterroristshaveusedspectaclesofterrortopromotetheiragen-ds a tiunra temdeedir a and how two Bush administrations have also deployed terror spectacle to promote theirg-epooliticalen 1 ds. Terror Spectacle Terroristshavelongcondstrmuectdeiaspectaclesofterrortopromotetheircauses, attack their adversaries, and gain worldwide publicity and attention. There had been many major terror spectacles before, both in the U.S. and elsewhere.Hijackingofairplaneshadbeenarsitsatnadcatrivdittye,rrboutthe ante was significantly upped in 1970 when the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, hijacked three Western jetliners. The group forced the planes to land in the Jordanian desert, and then blew up the planes in an incidentkonwnas“BlackSeptemberwhichwasthenusedasabasisofaHollywood film. In 1972, Palestinian gunmen from the same movement stunned the world when they took Israeli athletes hostage at the Munich OlympicGames,producinganothermediaspecteavcl e n,tuwalhliych became the subject of an Academy Award winning documentary film.