On September 11, 2001, an event took place that would change normal life for America.
Four planes were hijacked by the group called al-Qaeda. At approximately 8:46 a.m. United Airlines Flight 11 hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center, carrying 11 crew members, 76 passengers, and the five hijackers. When this first happened, it was believed to be an accident. Shortly after, at 9:03 a.m. United Airlines Flight 175 flew into the South Tower, carrying 9 crew members, 51 passengers and five hijackers. At 9:37 a.m., American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon. American Airlines Flight 93 did not make it to the hijackers destination. The people aboard the plane took control and the plane crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania at 10:03 a.m.
The question running through every Americans mind when this attack happened was "Why?".
Osama bin Laden denied that it was al-Qaeda who attacked the United States until 2004. Their reasoning for the attack on America was that we weren't supporting Israel and their was a lack of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia.
Our response to the attacks was the War on Terror and invading Afghanistan.
There were 2,996 deaths because of the attacks. Every person on the four flights, including the hijackers, died, but obviously the biggest chunk of casualties was in the Twin Towers and in New York City. There were at least 200 people jumped or fell from the towers to their death.
America is still affected today by the attacks 11 years ago. Flying on a plane is so much different than it was before the attacks. Now you have to be at the airport for a much longer time before your flight so you can get through security and get everything situated. They have new scanners to scan people to make sure they do not have any weapons or anything. They also do a lot of pat downs, even to people who look innocent.
America was also affected by the wars that happened because of the attacks. There have been approximately 4488 total American casualties in Iraq.
When we visited New York City for vocal, we went to Ground Zero. It was a really crazy thing to see. We had to go through a line of security before we could actually get to it. They have two waterfalls in where the bases of the towers were. On the sides of the waterfall, it says the names of the victims of the attacks. They are also building a new World Trade Center. Freedom Tower is the lead tower of the new complex.
The waterfall at the Ground Zero Memorial
Freedom Tower
Comments
Yes, they are
Well done Cass! I assume the first two pictures are pictures you took, right?