The Modern United States ~ Lesson 10 September 11, 2001
At 8:46 A.M. on September 11, 2001, a hijacked commercial jet crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City near the 80th floor of the 110 story building. At 9:03 A.M. a second hijacked passenger jet crashed into the South Tower near the 60th floor. Both towers collapsed shortly after.
At 9:37 A.M. a third jet flew into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Twenty-six minutes later a fourth plane crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Passengers on the fourth plane learned they had been hijacked and attempted to retake the plane before it reached its target which is now believed to be the White House or the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. A total of 2,977 people were killed including 400 New York City police and firefighters.
Civilian air travel was shut down. The stock market in the United States took severe losses. The stock market did not reopen until September 17. Most Middle Eastern countries, Iraq being an exception, had negative reactions to the terrorist attack. The United Nations said they had plans to combat all forms of terrorism. Americans soon learned the attacks were carried out by 19 members of a fundamentalist Islamist group called al-Qaeda and that their leader, Osama bin Laden, had masterminded the attacks. bin-Laden operated out of Afghanistan with the protection of a group called the Taliban. Later they said their motives for the attack included U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, U.S. support for Israel, and the sanctions against Iraq.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, one of the key people who planned the 9/11 attacks, was arrested on March 1, 2003 and is being held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. Osama bin Laden was shot and killed on May 2, 2011 in Pakistan by Navy SEALS and CIA operatives.
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