Jordan+McKeiver

Jordan Mckeiver-Thomas College Bound Jeff & P.G. 904 June 4th, 2013

__9/11__ Some people may know the day 9/11/01 as the day the Twin Towers fell. Now that we know that, let’s take a look into it more by using the 5 W’s (Who, What, When, Why, Where). Alleged Al-Qaeda terrorists were the cause of the Twin Towers falling and the Pentagon going on lockdown. Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked 4 commuter planes, crashed 2 planes in the Twin Towers in New York City, crashed 1 in the Pentagon in Washington D.C. and crashed the other in a field when the passengers tried to take the plane over again.

Alleged Al-Qaeda terrorists were the cause of the Twin Towers falling and the Pentagon going on lockdown. For American citizens, it was just about a normal day but everything changed once the first plane got hijacked. Here is a timeline of the events that occurred on the day we know as 9/11: “-American Airlines flight 11 with 92 people aboard was hijacked en route Los Angeles coming from Boston at 8:19 a.m. -United Airlines flight 175 gets hijacked within minutes of taking off from Boston with 65 passengers heading to Los Angeles. -American Airlines flight 77 takes off just outside of Washington D.C. headed to Los Angeles with 64 people at 8:20 a.m. - After having a 45 minute delay, United Airlines flight 93 takes off from Newark Airport heading to San Francisco with 44 passengers aboard. -American Airlines flight 11 crashes into the floors 93-99 of the North Tower, killing everyone in the plane and hundreds in the building. -United Airlines flight 175 crashes into the floors 75-85 of the South Tower. -At 9:31 a.m., President George W. Bush declares that the plane hijackings were terrorist attacks. -Flight 77 crashes in the Western Facade of the Pentagon in Washington D.C. -The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounds all flights in the United States <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">-At 9:59 a.m., the South Tower collapses <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">-After getting in contact with friends, family members and government officials, the 44 passengers of flight 93 attempts to retake control of the plane. But by an incautious decision from one of the hijackers, he decides to crash the plane into a field in Somerest County, Pennsylvania killing everyone. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">After all plane flights were cancelled and the Federal Bureau Investigation <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">(FBI), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) &North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD)'s Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) did more T <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: arial,sans,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">his is a picture of The Twin Towers being hit <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">investigation, they uncovered that 6 other planes were planned to be hijacked and crashed into several landmarks in the United States. According to [|9/11 panel: Al Qaeda planned to hijack 10 planes] by the CNN Commission “ Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the plot, planned to have nine of the planes crash into the FBI and CIA headquarters, the Pentagon and the White House, as well as nuclear plants and the tallest buildings in California and Washington state.” The terrorists to hijack the last plane would have killed all of the men aboard and make a statement by reaching out to the media before freeing the rest of the hostages.

In New York City, 2 planes crashed into the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center. If you were a New Yorker in Midtown New York, it would be a normal day with people commuting. Then you felt the rumble of the Earth shaking, you would hear the loud noise of a roaring plane and if you looked up you, you would see a 92 seated passenger plane flying low above your head. For New Yorkers near the World Trade Center you hear the American Airlines plane crashing into the building. Most people thought it was a plane malfunction but no one would ever think it was a terrorist attack. Some people might not know about the World Trade Center attack in 1993. There was an explosion in the garage under the World Trade Center called the Epicenter. It made a 100 foot crater underground, six people were killed instantly and the bottom of the building caught on fire. More than 1,000 people were hurt. The FBI and the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force teamed up got a total of 700 agents working worldwide to put the pieces together. [|Fbi.gov] states “quickly uncovered a key bit of evidence. In the rubble investigators uncovered a vehicle identification number on a piece of wreckage that seemed suspiciously obliterated. A search of our crime records returned a match: the number belonged to a rented van reported stolen the day before the attack. An Islamic fundamentalist named Mohammad Salameh had rented the vehicle, we learned, and on March 4, an FBI SWAT team arrested him as he tried in vain to get his $400 deposit back. One clue led to another and we soon had in custody three more suspects—Nidal Ayyad, Mahmoud Abouhalima, and Ahmed Ajaj. We’d also found the apartment where the bomb was built and a storage locker containing dangerous chemicals, including enough cyanide gas to wipe out a town. All four men were tried, convicted, and sentenced to life.” Back to 2001, the North tower was hit first then a couple minutes later, the South tower was hit. It was hit at a motion too deep to explain, people were running in horror trying to get away from the area and thousands were hurt. New York Firemen and Police Officers from all over the city were sent down to the World Trade Center to help out as much as possible. After the North tower was evacuated, civilians who were hurt were sheltered in the lobby of the South tower. No one knew that the South tower was hit at that time and it collapsed at 9:59 trapping hundreds. President George W. Bush announced that it was an apparent terrorist attack on New York City. In New York City the total death amount was 2,749 people, 343 were New York Police Officers and Firemen. Only 20 people were pulled out alive. The World Trade Center terrorist attack will never be forgotten on the count of how many lives were taken that morning.

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In Washington D.C. the Pentagon was attacked. (The Pentagon got its name because its structural figure from above. It is a 5-sided, 583 acre; 7-story building that has a courtyard in the middle of it.) Flight 77 crashed into the west wing of the Pentagon and chaos was officially released in America. The plane crashed into the E and D rings. Everyone in Washington D.C. was busy that day. After the explosion, civilians nearby helped as much as they could by using a refrigerated food truck to transport victims who were hurt away from the Pentagon. The hospital was also willing to take in dozens and dozens of people at a time and treated their burns. Not all was good in Washington D.C., 189 people were killed. It caused severe damage to the structure of the whole building, but fortunately the building was not tall and it would not collapse. The Pentagon was also put on lockdown for the safety of the people in Washington D.C. [|WashingtonPost.com] quotes eyewitnesses Kirk Milburn and Steve Patterson. “ <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">"I was right underneath the plane," said Kirk Milburn, a construction supervisor for Atlantis Co., who was on the Arlington National Cemetery exit off Interstate 395 when he said he saw the plane heading for the Pentagon.”I heard a plane. I saw it. I saw debris flying. I guess it was hitting light poles," said Milburn. "It was like a WHOOOSH whoosh, then there was fire and smoke, then I heard a second explosion." Steve Patterson, 43, said he was watching television reports of the World Trade Center being hit when he silver commuter jet fly past the window of his 14th-floor apartment in Pentagon City. The plane was about 150 yards away, approaching from the west about 20 feet off the ground, Patterson said. He said the plane, which sounded like the high-pitched squeal of a fighter jet, flew over Arlington cemetary so low that he thought it was going to land on I-395. He said it was flying so fast that he couldn't read any writing on the side. The plane, which appeared to hold about eight to 12 people, headed straight for the Pentagon but was flying as if coming in for a landing on a nonexistent runway, Patterson said."At first I thought 'Oh my God, there's a plane truly misrouted from National,'" Patterson said. "Then this thing just became part of the Pentagon. I was watching the World Trade Center go and then this. It was like Oh my God, what's next?" Residents of the United States of America were scared because they did not know if they would be attacked or if another tragedy will happen again. Flight 93 was the plane that crashed in Somerest, Pennsylvania. That hijacked flight was headed for the capital. Many phone calls were sent to families on the ground from the passengers. A passenger, Todd Beamer called on his Airfone to Verizon supervisor, Lisa Jefferson who interviewed him for a number of minutes and she heard his last words, “Let’s Roll.” The plane crashed because the passengers on the flight tried to take back the control of the cockpit and try to land the plane safely. The plane crashed in a field killing all passengers aboard including the hijackers of flight 93. These are 3 diagrams that show the Pentagon's damage in different criteria perspectives from the plane crash. On September 11 th, 2001, 4 planes were taken and crashed into landmarks on the east coast of America. The ironic thing is that all 4 planes were headed west coast; they crashed 2 of the 4 in the World Trade Center and crashed the other into the Pentagon. The fourth plane crashed into a field and everyone on those planes including the hijackers was killed. This event is one of the biggest Terrorist Attack in our nation’s history. 9/11 is also the reason why America went to war with Iraq and soldiers went on a quest to find and kill Osama Bin Laden. Now in 2013, The World Trade Center is being built and it will become the tallest building in New York.