Nineteen years ago Friday, the world, including America, was glued to its television screen as events in Washington, New York and Pennsylvania unfolded. It was the day 19 terrorists associated with al Qaeda commandeered four airliners and turned them into huge weapons. At 8:45 a.m. the first plane, loaded with fuel for a transcontinental flight slammed into the 80th floor of the World Trade Center. Many were killed in the building and many more were trapped above the crash site. Less than 20 minutes later a second plane would crash into the south tower at the 60th floor. That was when the first crash was no longer an accident, and America was under attack.
The hijackers are believed to have been striking the United States for tis support of Israel, the Persian Gulf War and its military presence in the Middle East. Some had lived in the States and taken flying lessons; others had only been here a short time, many illegally. They hid knives or case cutters and smuggled them onto the planes.
An hour after the first plane struck the north tower, another would smash into the Pentagon, killing 125 military personnel and civilians in the building and the 64 passengers on the plane. Shortly after the strike at the Pentagon, the south tower would collapse under the heat stress of the burning jet fuel. At 10:30 a.m., the north tower would follow suit. Only six people trapped in the towers when they collapsed would survive.
The fourth plane would be the site of an attempt by passengers to reclaim it, attacking the cockpit with fire extinguishers and boiling water. It crashed into a field in Pennsylvania, killing all 44 persons aboard.
All told, 2,996 people died as a direct result of the attacks, including the 343 firefighters and paramedics, 23 New York City police officers, and 37 Port Authority officers who were working to evacuate the towers of office workers trapped inside. There were 189 dead at the Pentagon and the 44 from the crash in Pennsylvania.
President George W. Bush addressed the nation from the Oval Office that evening, telling it “We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.”
The United States began Operation Enduring Freedom less than a month later to find and eliminate the Taliban and its leaders who were believed to have masterminded the attacks on 9/11. A commission to study the attacks determined Khalid Mohammed as the ringleader. He was captured in 2003 and remains in jail at Guantanamo Bay. His trial and that of four codefendants, is set for next year.
Connie Burcham can be reached at Editor@WatongaRepublican.com