ABSTRACT
September 11, 2001: On a clear September morning, a passenger jet was seen cruising, at a very low altitude, along the New York skyline. At precisely 8:46 a.m. (eastern daylight time), as onlookers watched from the streets below and from neighboring high-rises, American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center; the plane and tower burst into flames. Astonished observers and the media began to speculate as to the cause of this spectacular “accident.” At 9:03 a.m., their worst fears were confirmed as a second plane, United Airlines Flight 175, crashed into the south tower of the World Trade Center in a ball of flames. By 9:30 a.m. President George W. Bush announced that the United States apparently had been the victim of a terrorist attack. Minutes later he halted all US air traffic for the first time in history. However, the danger was not over. At 9:37 a.m., another plane, American Airlines Flight 77, crashed into the Pentagon in the outskirts of Washington, DC. The public wondered: would the attacks end? Then, at 9:59 a.m. the unthinkable happened. The south tower of the World Trade Center collapsed. Only five minutes later, a portion of the Pentagon collapsed, while in Pennsylvania a fourth jet, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed into a field. It is believed the plane was on its way to Camp David, the US Congress, or the White House. At 10:28 a.m., the north tower of the World Trade Center also collapsed. It was later discovered that the passenger jets had been hijacked by 19 Muslim militants, most of whom were Saudi citizens who had been visiting the US on expired student visas.
