It was just another day like every other. Families woke up, businessmen picked up their coffee and kissed their wives and children good-bye before heading out the door. For everyone in the entire nation, this wouldn't be just some day at the office. It wouldn't be just another day drooling on the desks at school. And, for thousands of people across the globe, it wouldn't be a happy ending.
The sun shown down on the city of New York like any other beautiful summer
day. The streets were full of people going to work and school. Just a few blocks away from the World Trade Center, a man with a camera is filming some firefighters working on the streets. The roar of an engine is heard from above and attracts the attention of the firemen. The camera follows the sound to capture the only known video of American Airlines flight 11 colliding into the north tower of the World Trade Center at 8:46 am EST. America, and the rest of the world, stopped dead in its tracks and the sound of the explosion. No one knew what was happening until a second plane, United Airlines Flight 175, was flown into the south tower of the World Trade Center at 9:03 am EST. That's when the people of New York and the people of the US realized that this wasn't random. America was being attacked.
Like clockwork, another attack happened approximately a half an hour after the attack on WTC Tower 2. At 9:37 am EST, American Airlines Flight 77 attacks the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia. On that day, a fourth and final plan was headed to Washington to attack either the White House or the Capitol Building. United Airlines Flight 93 crashed outside of Shanksville, Pennsylvania at 10:03 am EST after the hijackers were attacked by the passengers to prevent the terrorists from completing their mission.
The attacks were caused by Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, an adviser and financier of the 1993 World Trade Cente
r bombing confessed his responsibility for the attacks on 9/11 by saying, "I was responsible for the 9/11 operation, from A to Z." Mohammed confessed this after waterboarding.
After the attacks on 9/11, airport security buckled down with new security measures to prevent this sort of thing from happening again. Not only that, but radio communications between airliners and air traffic controllers were improved to better prevent another such attack.
Personally, I don't remember anything that happened that day. I know I was at school sitting in class when it happened. Soon after, I remember hearing about it from my teachers and other students that the Twin Towers had been hit by two planes. To commemorate what happened on that day, there is a documentary called 102 Minutes That Changed America that was shot by everyday people around New York City. It is the best special about 9/11 because it comes straight from the eyes of the people, not the news. To watch the first part of this documentary, click here. Viewer discretion is advised.
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