2. On September 11, 2001, 19 al-Qaeda-trained terrorists
hijacked four U.S. commercial airliners. The hijackers
crashed two of the jets into the World Trade Center towers
in New York City and crashed the third jet into the
Pentagon outside Washington, D.C. Passengers and crew
battled the hijackers for control of the fourth jet, and it
crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, short
of reaching the hijackers' intended target in Washington,
D.C.
3. The attacks caused the subsequent collapse of the
World Trade Center Twin Towers, damaged the
Pentagon, and killed approximately 3,000 people.
Included in the death toll were hundreds of
firefighters and rescue personnel who responded to
the crashes at the World Trade Center site and who
were in the process of rescuing those inside when
the buildings collapsed.
4. The September 11, 2001 attacks were
the deadliest on United States territory
since the Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor on December 7, 1941.
http://hnn.us/article/874
5. "I have a sense it's a horrendous
number of lives lost. Right now
we have to focus on saving as
many lives as possible.” - Mayor
Rudolph W. Giuliani.
"These acts of mass murder
were intended to frighten
our nation into chaos and
retreat, but they have
failed," a somber president
told the nation in an
address from the Oval
Office shortly after 8:30
p.m.
8. The evacuation of the North Tower
proceeded efficiently from the time it
was hit, via the three stairways. The
elevators were all knocked out. The
102 minutes between the impact and
collapse allowed the vast majority of
its occupants below the crash zone to
escape to safety.
9. “In a few locations, we came across golf
carts that were still running. It was
apparent that these common modes of
transportation around the Pentagon on
this day became escape vehicles. After
exhausting our breathing apparatus, we
were physically and mentally drained.
We returned to the outside and
immediately refilled our bottles.”
-Brian J. Roberts, a volunteer
firefighter with Greenbelt's Volunteer
Fire Department and Rescue Squad
-http://pentagon.spacelist.org/
10. The 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center
and the Pentagon were far more elaborate,
precise, and destructive than any earlier
terrorist assaults. But by September 2001,
the executive branch of the U.S.
government, the Congress, the news media,
and the American public had received a
clear warning that Islamist terrorists meant
to kill Americans in high numbers....
11. At 8:46 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001,
America was changed forever.
Sept. 11 victims' loved ones
will gather at ground zero to
commemorate the attacks'
anniversary with the reading
of names, moments of
silence and serene music
that have become tradition.
12. A man stood in the
rubble and called
out, asking if anyone
needed help, after
the collapse of the
first World Trade
Center Tower on
Sept. 11, 2001. More
than 2,700 people
were killed when Al
Qaeda terrorists
hijacked US
passenger jets and
flew them into the
Twin Towers in New
York. -Doug
Kanter/AFP
Thick smoke billows into
the sky from the area
behind the Statue of
Liberty where the World
Trade Center towers
stood. -Daniel
Hulshizer/AP
