--- title: How the U.S. Almost Went After al-Qaeda Before September 11 description: A 2002 TIME story investigated the 'secret history' of 9/11 canonical: https://time.com/4023239/september-11-2002/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-10T18:30:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T10:42:40.476Z article:section: History og:title: How the U.S. Almost Went After al-Qaeda Before September 11 og:description: A 2002 TIME story investigated the 'secret history' of 9/11 og:url: https://time.com/4023239/september-11-2002/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt14bf27820793ff88/698862535f570f561eb1d3f0/1101020812_400.jpg?branch=production&width=400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 400 og:image:height: 225 og:image:alt: Aug. 12, 2002 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How the U.S. Almost Went After al-Qaeda Before September 11 twitter:description: A 2002 TIME story investigated the 'secret history' of 9/11 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt14bf27820793ff88/698862535f570f561eb1d3f0/1101020812_400.jpg?branch=production&width=400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Another Essential Sept. 11 Story > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription.  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Sep 10, 2015 6:30 PM UTC  The Aug. 12, 2002, cover of TIME The Aug. 12, 2002, cover of TIME Cover Credit: JERRY DRIENDL  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Sep 10, 2015 6:30 PM UTC Last fall, 13 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the Twin Towers, we [remarked](http://time.com/3304315/september-11-articles/) on the ways anniversaries without a zero or a five get short shrift. As a small way of correcting that imbalance, we gathered 13 of TIME’s most incisive stories about the event and its aftermath. With that spirit in mind, here’s another story—not included in last year’s round-up—that adds context to a day that continues to echo in the national memory. On Aug. 12, 2002, TIME’s cover story by Michael Elliott took a look at the inside story of how the U.S. discussed going after al-Qaeda prior to the attack. The conclusion that “‘Washington’—that organic compound of officials and politicians, in uniform and out, with faces both familiar and unknown—failed horribly” is hard not to see, given the irresistible alternate histories that are provoked by the possibility: --- > “” --- [**_Read the whole cover story here:_** _The Secret History._ ](http://time.com/vault/issue/2002-08-12/page/1/)[Aug. 12, 2002.](http://time.com/vault/issue/2002-08-12/page/1/) **_See the rest of the list here on TIME.com:_** [13 Essential Stories About Sept. 11](http://time.com/3304315/september-11-articles/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4023239/september-11-2002/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4023239/september-11-2002/"},"headline":"Another Essential Sept. 11 Story","datePublished":"2015-09-10T18:30:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T10:42:40.476Z","description":"As the anniversary of the attack approaches, recalling the 'secret history'","url":"https://time.com/4023239/september-11-2002/","keywords":["remembrance","Media"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt14bf27820793ff88/698862535f570f561eb1d3f0/1101020812_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt14bf27820793ff88/698862535f570f561eb1d3f0/1101020812_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Aug. 12, 2002","caption":"Aug. 12, 2002","creditText":"Cover Credit: JERRY DRIENDL","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/remembrance/","name":"remembrance"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4023239/september-11-2002/","name":"Another Essential Sept. 11 Story"}}]}] ```