9-11 Looking Back, Looking Forward
September 11th, 2011 marked the 10th anniversary of a day that will live in history around the world for its horrific events and heartbreaking tragedy.
On that day in 2001, terrorists on a suicide mission hijacked four airplanes loaded with passengers bound for destinations within the United States and used these planes as weapons that ultimately took the lives of not only everyone on the airplanes themselves, but thousands more that were within the buildings hit.
The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were hit by two of the planes and collapsed within a couple of hours. One plane crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania after a heroic action by passengers to overpower the terrorist hijackers prevented the plane from reaching its intended target in Washington, D.C.
All in all, almost 3,000 people were killed in these attacks.
Suspicion of who was responsible for these heinous crimes immediately fell upon al Qaeda, a Sunni Islamist militant group founded by its leader Osama Bin Laden in the late 1980s. Initially, Bin Laden denied responsibility for the 9/11 attacks, but in 2004 he publicly acknowledged al Qaeda’s responsibility.
Ten years later, the world, and especially the United States, held its breath—wondering if al Qaeda would strike again with another attack against the USA, especially in view of the fact that after almost a decade, Osama Bin laden was finally hunted down and killed by U.S. Navy Seals on May 1st, 2011. Many feared that a retaliation attack by the terrorists for the death of their leader was planned to mark the 10th anniversary of the September 11th attacks.
This trepidation was certainly not unfounded. On September 8th, just three days before the anniversary of 9/11, the CIA announced that they had uncovered evidence of a plot involving at least three people who had entered the U.S. in August by air for the purpose of launching a vehicle-borne attack against either Washington, D.C. or New York City somewhere around the time of the anniversary of the terrorist attacks in 2001.
Officials said that the alleged plot was hatched by the new chief of al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who is Osama bin Laden’s successor. Zawahiri pledged to avenge bin Laden’s death earlier this year at the hands of the United States. Intelligence, as well as law enforcement officials said that at least one of the individuals involved in the plot is a U.S. citizen and one official said that two of the individuals may have had U.S. documentation. Whether these people have green cards or passports was unclear.
Fortunately, the anniversary passed with no incident as millions of Americans waited with jittery nerves, conscious of the real possibility of attack by terrorists.
Former President George W. Bush and President Obama visited Ground Zero, the site of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. President Obama concluded a commemoration of the September 11 attacks a decade ago by saying “America does not give in to fear.”
Memorial and commemorative services were held nation wide as people remembered the awful day that terrorists attacked and killed thousands of innocent people. Hopefully, with stricter airline regulations and a country more attuned to the risk of terrorist attacks, there won’t be a sequel to September 11th, 2001.
Todd Beamer was one of the brave passengers of Flight 93, hijacked by terrorists and bound for a target in the nation’s capital. He, along with several other passengers, had discovered through cell phone conversations that the World Trade Center and Pentagon had been hit by hijacked planes. This made it abundantly clear that their own airplane was on a similar suicide mission.
So, feeling they had nothing to lose, this group of passengers talked it over and decided to attempt to regain control of the airplane. They didn’t meet that objective, but they did prevent the terrorists from crashing the plane into the capital building or the White House, thought to be the possible intended targets.
Todd Beamer’s last known words before they rushed the hijackers were “Are you guys ready? Let’s roll!”
Now, a decade down the road, Americans feel great pride for the courageous actions of Beamer and the other passengers who helped to foil al Qaeda’s plot for the fourth hijacked airplane. At great cost in dollars and American lives, Osama Bin Laden is dead. The American heroes on Flight 93 and all of the innocent people killed by the terrorist attacks of 9/11 were finally avenged.
Still, America continues and will continue with a strong resolve to wage war on terror, as
should every nation on the planet, to try and keep not only Americans but all of the people of the world safe from a repeat of the terrorist attacks of 9/11. The anniversary of this famous date in history might serve as a reminder to all of the earth’s citizens that we need to band together against terrorism and fight to stamp it out.
Let’s Roll!