The Senseless Tragedy Of September 11

Terrorist attacks have increased over the last twenty years, but one of the most remembered is the attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. It happened on September 11, 2001; and is commonly referred to as 9/11. Americans grow up learning details about 9/11; but rarely do we learn about a personal experience. In Adam Mayblum’s email “The Price We Pay,” he tells the story of what happened to him, and others around him on the day of September 11, 2001. Mayblum explains in paragraph ten “If you want to kill us, leave us alone because we will do it by ourselves. If you want to make us stronger, attack and we unite.” He made an excellent point with that statement, because he is right. He provides us with imagery, thoughts on terrorism, and strong use of emotions throughout the story that brings us a very well written narrative.

On September 11, 2001 the World Trade Center buildings one and two were attacked. However, who we were attacked by and even if we were attacked is a hard decision to make. There have been many different claims about how everything on that fateful day happened. There are facts that we know are true, though; Flight 11 flew into the North Tower at eight forty- six in the morning. Soon after, Flight 175 attacked the South Tower. By the end of the day, both towers had collapsed and other hijacked flights had caused damage. The amount of lives lost on September 11 was substantial; 2,749 people from eighty-three different countries died from the attacks (Facts about the attacks…, n.d.). All in all, America was changed forever.

On September 11’th 2001 on the morning hijacked by 19 Arab men 4 aircraft were all heading towards California, and used them as suicide missiles. They flew into the World Trade Center two twin towers, the Pentagon and after a long struggle with passengers crashed last down on a field. World Trade Center consisted of seven buildings, three of the buildings collapsed and the four others were damaged by the other collapsed. It is believed that the 19 Arab men, was led by the Egyptian Mohammed Atta (1968-2001) 5.

In the 12 years since the terrorist attacks on the world trade towers in New York city, thousands of hours of research and interviews has been conducted, scores of books have been written, and countless documentaries and films have been produced in an effort to help us understand how and why terrorists were able to carry out the massacre of nearly 3500 people. Despite the plethora of religious and nonreligious beliefs represented by the friends and family of those who died, one universal belief binds them all: the belief that an unspeakable act of cruelty has changed our nation and our people for all time. The name ascribed to this act of terrorism is debated widely. Some call it evil. Others call it nothing more than supreme cruelty.

September 11, 2001 is a date in history that changed the lives of people from all over the world and especially the lives of Americans. On this day nineteen militant men associated with al-Qaeda, an Islamic extremist group, hijacked four airplanes and carried out multiple suicide attacks on different locations in the United States. Two of the planes directly struck the World Trade Center located in New York City, one of the other two planes hit the Pentagon in Washington D.C., and the final plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania before it could reach its final destination. On this day, more than 3,000 people were killed including over 400 first responding police officers and firefighters. In recent years as people look back on that day it is remembered as a time when the country was joined together by grief and showed an overwhelming amount of comfort and support to the victims and their families; it was also a time of extreme national pride. People also remember that following the attacks the economy suffered tremendously, in addition, air traffic which makes up a portion of the economy was greatly disrupted, both of which created uncertainty about the security of the financial markets critical to the success of the United States. What most people do not remember is the immediate backlash and hostility the Muslim and Arab communities received following the attacks by both civilians and the media. This is a topic that has been largely ignored by the public and media’s

On September 9, 2015, America looked back in time to September 9, 2001. 9-11 was the day that changed America forever. Two high jacked commercial airplanes crashed into the Twin TOWERS OF THE World Trade Center in New York City. Over 3,000 people were killed with many others injured and hundreds of first responders killed. Another airplane crashed into the Pentagon while in Pennsylvania a fourth airplane was brought down by brave passengers that refused to let the hijackers slam into Washington, D.C. The citizens of the United States were scared, confused, and angry all at the same time. This was the first attack by foreigners on American soil but not the first time that Americans were afraid of events that started in Europe and Eastern Europe but was brought to America, The American citizens did not take kindly to “foreigners” tell us what to do or how to live. They certainly did not want to change the American way of life.

As blood trickled down the flight attendant’s neck, the screams of passengers echoed while hoping and praying that it was not their time to perish. A dark-skinned man headed towards the front of the plane, claiming the pilot as his next victim. As this occurred within the four other planes, hostages aboard knew they were living the last few moments of their life. Each tear and scream would ultimately be their last-their last breath taken as the plane crashed into a building of peace, dying with the thought of “I should have said goodbye,” as their lives were taken away in seconds by strangers. Thousands of innocent lives were lost, as well as the hearts of millions of others worldwide who felt the repercussion and heartbreak of these terrorist attacks. The Tuesday morning of September 11, 2001, swept worldwide panic and sorrow, naming itself the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil to date. Nineteen terrorists, four planes, and millions of hearts broken later, the world was now split into the ‘before’ and ‘after’ of 9/11, impacting our environment tremendously both physically and psychologically.

On September 11, 2001, the nation suffered a traumatic event in which impacted the world’s perspective on terrorism and violence that will last for generations to come. In the early hours of a calm Tuesday morning business was flowing as usual. The World Trade Center symbolized power and wealth of America, leading it to be the most prominent target to hit in order to cause deadly destruction. An eyewitness of the event, Ed Hashey described the first explosion that took place. He states, “Before you knew it, it was 8:40 a.m. and I was at the World Trade Center station at Cortland Street. I got off the train, walked up to the street exit, and right as I saw daylight, I heard a huge explosion and then many pieces of metal debris, some the size of car hoods, were falling all around me and a very large crowd of people” (Source 9). No one at the time understood what was happening, the nation was in a state of shock. This passenger airplane turned out to be American Airlines, Flight 11 which came out of Boston, Massachusetts from Logan International Airport (Source 1). The original route was heading to upstate New York when suddenly it was hijacked by terrorists which then controlled the plane to come down towards the city, specifically Manhattan in an aim to hit the World Trade Center. Everyone believed that it was a true accident and a tragedy, but to Ed Hashey he stated, “At that point the police ordered a mass evacuation, and I remember thinking this was a terrorist act. It was just too coincidental to be anything else” (Source 9). The worse was only yet to come.

9/11 was a disaster , and today i’m seeing which news media did better at that time. The two media resources that I chose are the CNN news channel and the history channel. The setting was september 11th 2001 therefore the name 9/11, but besides that it was the world trade centers of New York where two planes crashed into it resulting a little bit under 3,000 casualties which killed police officers, firefighters and civilians. The new media sites I use were around at the time of the terrorist attack of the twin towers and pentagon in 2001.

For those of the most recent generations, including myself, we do not remember much tragedy in the U.S. occurring during our lifetime. Sure we know about 9/11, WWII, and the Cold War from our history classes; but that's all it is to us from our perspective, history. For me the most recent catastrophe to have been caused by another country on U.S. soil was 9/11, I was only three years old at the time so I have no memory of it whatsoever. People my age and younger are not from a time of moral and national panic, especially the panic from a nuclear attack. As Bill Perry puts it, "The largest upcoming generation, the millennials, were raised in a time when the problem felt largely solved, and it’s easy for them to imagine it’s still quietly fading

As the second plane, United Airlines Flight 175, crashed through the Southern World Trade Center, all of the United States watched their local news stations and wondered how something like this was not prevented from happening on U.S. soil. The attacks of September 11th, 2001 were the deadliest attacks ever on the United States’ soil, fueled by Al Qaeda and masterminded by none-other than the infamous Osama Bin Laden and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (9-11commission.gov). The plot was constructed for well over a decade, and could have been detected had the leaders of the United States realized how much of a threat Al Qaeda truly was, such as through the U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya, the bombing of the USS Cole, and the numerous reports of suspicious student pilots training on U.S. soil. Four airliner jets were hijacked, the first two crashing into the two World Trade Centers in New York, the third crashing into the Pentagon, and the fourth crashing into a field in Pennsylvania due to the heroics of the passengers. Over three thousand innocent people died, leaving thousands of parentless children, lonely families, and broken hearts. Had the leaders of the United States took note of the warnings Al Qaeda gave prior to the attacks, the unfortunate day known around the world as 9/11 would not have happened.

September 11th, 2001 was the bloodiest day on American soil since the Civil War. The United States experienced well planned terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers, Pentagon, and a plane that was headed to Washington D.C, most likely to hit the White House but ended up in a field. A country of nearly three hundred million people nearly came to a pause, meanwhile three thousand people passed away and the nation would be forever changed For some time many people were in shock and afraid to fly. Investigators came to the conclusion that the nation was not prepared for the violence that was planned to have many casualties that was possible and to destroy American symbols of freedom and success.

September 11, 2001, millions of New Yorkers and American citizens woke up and started their day, unprepared and unaware for the catastrophic attack that would be taking place in just a few short hours. At 8:46 a.m., Eastern Standard Time, Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower. The impact killed all of the passengers and crew as well as hundreds inside the building. At 9:03 a.m., a second plane, Flight 175, crashed into the corner of the South Tower killing passenger, crew, and workers who worked on floors seventy-five to eighty-three. Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. killing approximately 185 individuals (History.com Staff). Because of the damaged to the support system, fires, and impact at extremely fast speed, the South Tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m. (Lipton and Glanz). Having heard about the acts of terrorism that had just taken place in New York and Washington, D.C., a group of passengers drove their plane, Flight 93, into a Pennsylvania field killing everyone on board but possibly saving hundreds of other lives in the process. The North Tower collapsed at 10:28 a.m. 102 minutes after being struck (History.com Staff). On September 11, 2001, almost twelve hundred people were wounded or killed by “coordinated suicide attempts” by Al Qaeda terrorists. In result to the four airplanes being hijacked and used for premediated reasons, the United States government instituted new regulations for entering the country and airport security as well as expounded on systems already in place.

The day of September 11, 2001 began as an ordinary day. Nobody anticipated that it would be the day the terrorist group Al Qaeda would attack America. People didn’t expect to see their loved ones for the last time that morning. Nobody believed so many would die, in one of the plane crashes, in the falling rubble, or by collapsing towers. While the Twin Towers were hit by two planes, the Pentagon was also attacked, and Flight 93 crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. Nobody thought that it was a morning that would cause the world to grieve.

On September 9, 2001, the nation was thrown into a panic when Islamic extremist took possession of four planes that were flying in U.S. airspace. One plane was directed into the Pentagon, the top military building in the capital city, Washington, DC; two other planes crashed into the world trade center, twin towers standing at 110 stories each, and caused both towers to burn to the ground along with everyone inside it. On that day, there were about fifty thousand employees and two hundred thousand daily visitors in ten million square feet of those towers. Families stared at the television in silence and tears as they watched the terror unfold upon Manhattan. After the chaos, officials had discovered that about three thousand people had died from that attack. The United States and its inhabitants experienced drastic change after this incident. I will explain how these changes affected me and my life.