¶ … September 11, 2001, most Americans went on with their daily activities without fear of invasion of their own country. They read about the bombings and wars in other countries, but did not believe that similar events could happen in the United States. Those men and women who lived through World War II naturally recalled exactly what they were doing when they heard about Pearl Harbor. Yet, since that event happened so many years ago, even these individuals assumed that their land was now protected. After September 11, 2001, these peaceful thoughts were shattered, but for how long? Are Americans going back to their complacency? Do they now once again believe that the country is once again invincible?
Many people who were watching television at 8:45 AM, Eastern Daylight Time, on September 11, 2001 thought they were watching a commercial for a movie when they saw an explosion of the north tower of the New York World Trade Center tear a huge hole in the building and set it aflame. Then, as TV viewers began hearing the news reports, they assumed that a jet had accidentally flown off course and hit the building.
In a matter of minutes these assumptions were proven wrong. At 9:03 AM, a second crashed into the south tower of the World Trade Center and exploded. Both buildings began burning. At 9:43 AM, a third airliner crashed into the Pentagon, and part of one of the most protected structures in the United States collapsed beneath the huge clouds of smoke. Evacuation begins immediately. All over the United States, people stared at their TVs, strained to hear the news on their radios, and excitedly made phone calls to friends and family. In less than a half, the calm of decades ended.
The tragic reports continued. United Airlines reported that United Flight 93, flying from Newark to San Francisco had crashed in Pennsylvania. The continuing news from New...
When the newscasters finally found out what really happened, they reported that three --American Airlines Flight 11, United Airlines Flight 175, and American Airlines Flight 77 -- had been hijacked and directed toward American buildings. Uncertain thousands of people were injured or killed. Who did this and why remained unknown.
At about 6:00pm, news reports from CNN and other stations started coming out about explosions in Afghanistan just hours after the explosions in the United States. It was reported that bin Laden, who U.S. officials say was possibly behind the attacks, was in Afghanistan. The attack was credited to the Northern Alliance, a group fighting the Taliban in the country's ongoing civil war.
For the next several weeks into months, the events shook America. After two months, smoke continued to rise from the rubble in New York. Increasing numbers of stories of employees, pedestrians and firefighters being hurt or having died filled the news reports. It was difficult to find anyone who was not impacted by 9-11 in one way or another. In December, the last standing structure of the World Trade Center was demolished after 99 days of burning. New York City officials put the death toll from the attacks at less than 3,000 including the passengers in the two hijacked planes.
In January 2002, President Bush pledged that the U.S. "will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons." First sanctions are placed against Iraq and then in June, Bush stated that the U.S. must strike first against another state to prevent a potential threat from growing into an actual one: "Our security will require all Americans ... [to] be ready for preemptive action when necessary to defend our liberty and to defend our lives" (infoplease).
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