Washington DC—Hardly anyone then living can forget where they were and what they were doing the moment the first reports flashed. Planes were flying straight into famous buildings on a clear day. The nation was under attack. Many on the East Coast were at work or just arriving when what was first thought to be a single engine plane crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center complex. Within minutes, morning shows were interrupted and TV screens showed dark smoke coming from a gaping hole of the North Tower in lower Manhattan. Then the unthinkable happened—while millions were watching live news feed—a second plane hit the South tower. The nation was shocked and then afraid and then angry. It would cause heroes to rise amongst it as it struggled to contend with some of the worst of humanity. On the West coast, the country was still asleep though it would soon learn of the unfolding calamity.
A quarter century ago the shock of one of the country’s most traumatic days, awakened the country to the fact it was no longer safe from mass terror. It broke through the myth of American exceptionalism. The country needed friends and allies to help it recover and grieve and determine who was behind the coordinated attacks. The international community rallied to its emotional aid. But it would be a long uneven road to healing.
As it has done for 24 years, the nation will pause to remember September 11, a day forever etched like a dark scar on its heart. It will reflect on the courageous first responders who walked unflinchingly up to an inferno of black acrid smoke. They knew it would be their last call to duty, but they went upstairs anyway.
The photos of the selfless bravery of firefighters and first responders will always be present with us as will the cascading fall of the towers, the ominous dust clouds rising over Manhattan, and the stories of survival. Stories of heroism will be told at the memorials built in honor of those who died that day.
The 9-11 anniversary is also a time to reflect on how far we’ve come as a nation and ask ourselves how it changed us. And how have we changed as a result of 9-11? Was it for the better? Or did we fail to learn from it? What has this nation become since then?
What Led To The 9-11 Terror Attacks
To understand the context of how space was created in the U.S. for mass terror, one must wind back to the first attack on the WTC complex in February 1993 and review the attack on the Alfred Murrah Federal building in Oklahoma City in April 1995. Both events were organized and carried out by extremists using parked rental trucks with powerful hand-made bombs. They set the stage for a larger attack because they demonstrated the vulnerability of the U.S. open society characteristics. Indeed a society with anonymity and freedom of movement were factors that enabled the extremists to penetrate U.S. society at its core economic, governmental, and military functions.
The extreme fundamentalists behind the first WTC attack used a stolen rental truck with a 1200 pound bomb they constructed out of urea nitrate and parked it inside the WTC North Tower parking garage on February 26, 1993. Just after 12 noon, it exploded killing 6, injuring over 1000, and leaving an 100 foot wide crater inside the garage nearly 3 stories deep. The truck was parked just several feet beyond a main column when it detonated but did not bring down the tower. Had the truck been right next to the column, the explosion would likely have collapsed the tower. It was later determined the mastermind intended to topple the tower into the second tower and bring them both down. A break in the investigation came quickly when police found a small piece of crumpled metal inscribed with the vehicle identification number in the debris of the garage. It led to the arrest of conspirators and bomb making materials in a storage rental space.
The nationalists behind the attack on the Federal Building in Oklahoma also used a homemade bomb. The home grown-extremists made their bomb out of ammonium nitrate, fuel oil and a timer placed in a rented truck outside the federal building entrance. They bought the ammonium nitrate from agricultural sources.
On April 19, 1995, at 9:02 am it exploded and killed 168, including over 20 children in a daycare center close to the building entrance. Those responsible timed the attack on the 2-year anniversary of the FBI assault on the Branch Davidiancompound north of Waco, Texas where 76 died. It’s mastermind said he timed the attack for vengeance against the U.S. government for the assault on the Branch Davidian compound.
Both attacks showed the vulnerability of a U.S. open society concept. An open society gave birth to increasing freedoms as envisioned by its founders. Terror would trigger a movement within to place constraints on freedom of movement.
After the attacks the U.S. began placing anti-intrusion gates at entrances and bollards outside federal and private buildings. Pennsylvania Avenue along the North Portico of the White House was permanently closed to regular traffic for increased security because a truck bomb could level the White House from Pennsylvania Avenue. At 75 feet from the street, a median sized device could reach it. Other entrance safeguards were implemented at government buildings. In 1997 the U.S. Department of Transportation implemented monitoring standards of agricultural fertilizer and other chemicals that could be used for explosive devices.
The U.S. was beginning to change in the interest of security. It was slowly losing its open society character. But 9-11 would quickly accelerate that change from securing the country to surveilling it.
9-11 The Day of Infamy
That Tuesday morning stood out as a beautiful weather day; clear and crisply pleasant with barely a cloud in the sky. One could easily see from the roof of the WTC towers for many miles to Philadelphia. In Washington the air was crisp and clear as well and the sky was a deep blue as the Summer season waxed Autumn. The news at that moment was so trivial compared to what was to come. On Good Morning America, a book about billionaire Howard Hughes was hawked. Michael Jordan was coming out of retirement. It was primary election day in New York City. Stocks were near record highs and were set to open higher. The U.S. economic engine was humming as it never had before.
Then the unimaginable began unfolding as most had yet to begin their day. As 18 extremists boarded and hijacked 4 passenger aircraft at different East Coast airports, initial signs registered as blips on air traffic control towers. As they wrestled control from the pilots some messages began getting through.
American Airline Flight 11 Senior Fight Attendant Betty Ong called her airline control center reporting her plane was hijacked from Logan Airport in Boston. People have been maced, she said. Someone had been stabbed in the First Class area and the pilots were not answering their phones. It was the first confirmation of the events to come. She remained on the phone for 23 minutes until 8:46 a.m when Flight 11 was the first Boeing 767 to crash into the WTC North Tower.
Then, another 767 hijacked from the same airport flight 175 would hit the South tower at 9:02 am. Millions witnessed the plane flying directly into the South Tower. The sound of the reactions of news casters in newsrooms as well as the public in footage released soon after added to the horrific effects. It was unbelievable that the aircraft were flown deliberately in acts of terror.
Soon, the scenes would escalate even further as unimaginable footage began arriving from the foot of the towers. The firefighters and Port Authority Police, and New York Police, tried to rescue workers trapped in floors 100 stories above them. They tried to put out fires ignited from crashed jumbo jets with full tanks of jet fuel high above where there was no longer any water pressure. Their tasks were impossible and many knew they would not survive.
Radio of the communications between FDNY Battalion Commanders and their counterparts from NYFD Ladder 11 high up above on floor 78 revealed how dire the situation was just minutes before the South tower collapsed. Yet the intrepid firemen, loyally committed to their purpose without hesitation, battled to save others as the last minutes of their lives ticked away.
At 9:37 am American Flight 77, which was hijacked earlier from Dulles International AirPort, crashed into the Pentagon. This was completely unexpected and led to a massive response of firefighters and police from across the region. Scenes of smoke coming from the Pentagon triggered newscasters to say the country was at war but not be able to say who it was at war with.
At 9:59 am, the South Tower collapsed and was seen live by tens of millions. Under the rubble and smoke were hundreds of NYFD Firefighters, New York Police, Port Authority Police, and several paramedics.
Four minutes later Flight 93, a forth hijacked passenger jet, crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Recorded conversations between passengers, crew, and ground personnel, later confirmed that passengers and the aircraft crew were emboldened to fight after learning of the other three hijacking incidents. They decided to fight the hijackers for control of the aircraft, a heroic moment that would later be made into a movie based on recorded events.
At 10:28 am, the 110 floor South Tower collapsed, ending any chance at rescuing anyone left in the WTC complex. Or so it was thought. Several firemen survived in a stairwell because fate was on their side. The physics of the building and direction of the collapse entombed them inside the debris field. They had been slowly descending because the person they were rescuing could not walk and had to be assisted. Had they gone slower or faster they would have perished.
In all seven buildings would be destroyed in the WTC. An estimated 2977 died that day. An exact number may never be known because of the circumstances surrounding the crashes and collapses. Some workers at the WTC were undocumented and cannot be identified. At the Pentagon 184 died both on American Airlines Flight 77 and in the Pentagon. In Shanksville, Pennsylvania, 40 died. These numbers do not include the hijackers.
On that day 343 firefighters perished, the most in any day in the country’s history.
It was surreal watching the series of events unfold live on TV. It was hard to look away. It could have been a script for a disaster movie but it wasn’t.
Anyone 30 years or younger will likely have scant memories, except through video they later watched or remembering how their parents reacted to the trauma and sorrow it caused. The video recordings strip out the feelings of powerlessness and fear many simultaneously felt that day. Stories of first hand accounts of those who escaped the World Trade Center complex and the Pentagon, portray the events but they do not capture the dread, fear, and anxiety that swept the country as wave after wave of events unfolded.
There were eight major single traumatic incidents that occurred over a period of nine hours, each flowed into the next like dominos falling. Each was horrific in its own way. Then there were dozens of smaller associated events, some of which turned out to be inaccurate. But they all added to a state of anxiety and cold panic. The major TV networks focused on the WTC mainly, and at one point they began sharing the same feed. This was because this quickly became a civil emergency as much as an national tragedy and the networks believed the entire nation needed to be aware of what was going on as it unfolded. There was no way of knowing what other events would unfold.
A panicked public began evacuating every work building in NYC, in Washington DC, as well as many other cities. Schools and businesses closed out of fear of what could happen. It was inconceivable that many passenger jets would fly into every building in every city but this was the reaction of the new face of terror. Government buildings emptied. People poured into the streets. Would my building be attacked too, many asked themselves. Traffic became gridlocked as every worker left for the safety of home and company of family. The metro closed in anticipation of a possible attack. It further delayed commuters. Many crossed bridges out of NYC and Washington DC and walked home. Armed snipers stood on the roof White House anticipating an attack.
Many tried to call love ones for support or as was in the case on the hijacked planes—to say one las ‘I love you’ and goodbye. This was the case on United Flight 93, a passenger jet that was still over Pennsylvania when its passengers learned by phone calls to loved ones that three other hijacked planes had struck the WTC towers and the Pentagon. They decided to fight back against the hijackers. Their actions were the first in the War on Terror.
False Reporting Further Frightens The Public
Some false reports were spread by news networks. There was a report of a car bomb at the State Department. Another told of a fire on the National Mall. A plane was thought to be flying towards the White House. As a result it was evacuated and yellow tape was stretched around the entire grounds of the area. None of these reports were true. They were later retracted.
Acts Of Heroism, Faces Of Death
Many acts of selflessness and heroism stand out from the tragedy that day. There are many acts that should be remembered as the model for good of that day. Many other stories will never be told for they have died with those who did not make it out.
The story of Welles Crowther, was recently told. He was a young man who helped many make it to the steps from Windows of the World Restaurant. He is credited with saving 18.
Another story about a Lieutenant Colonel who helped rescue a group of victims in the Pentagon. Marylin Wills was in a conference when Flight 11 struck the West Side of Pentagon. In the dark smoke filled burning room a hand reached out and grabbed ger. Although badly burned, she told the person to get on her back and she crawled with them to the window. She was awarded the Soldier’s Medal for Heroism as well as the Purple Heart. It was one of the first Purple Hearts awarded in the War on Terror.
Aftermath
What is a building but concrete and steel, drywall and paint, if not for the people occupying it? The symbol of what was originally deemed as plainly boxed eyesores in 1971, had crept its way into the national consciousness as majestic icons. The World Trade Towers were inspiring because they were symbolic of the promise of progress. They were built to last but not survive forever. They weren’t built to survive the assault they received on 9-11.
Most caught in the buildings below the impacts were able to escape because of the novel engineering. But almost everyone above floor 86 of the South tower were stranded because the stairwells were concentrated at the center of tge building near the elevators. Designs of superstructures would be rethought as analysis of the collapse showed what could be done to improve materials and structures.
The result of that day linger in ways easily overlooked. For one the Bush presidency justified the President’s Surveillance Program in the wake of the attacks to create an enormous surveillance apparatus. The secret program was designed at the National Intelligence Agency and authorized capture of every American’s electronic communications.
Bush also sought the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, a multi-billion dollar super agency under which all other existing branches of intelligence, investigative, and enforcement agencies shared information. Combined with the warrantless capture of every person’s email, phone call, and text under the program Stellar Wind, Bush created a super surveillance system.
This was a violation of the 5th Amendment which set forth the idea that citizens should be afforded the rights to privacy unless charged of a crime. The program was halted before it was implemented.
But later, a report that first surfaced in the Guardian as the result of insider knowledge from whistleblower Edward Snowden, exposed the massive program to eavesdrop on Americans’ phone conversations and email had been implemented. This program sidestepped the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, a court designed to approve surveillance in cases of foreign spying. The exposure of the National Security Agency surveillance program was a giant blow to President Bush’s program.
With great power comes even greater responsibility. Misuse of power results in injustice. A government that spies on its entire population is not democratic. It becomes politically and criminally opportunistic. This is why the founders wrote the 5th Amendment into the Bill of Rights. They did not want a king or a government searching without a court order (surveillance) its citizens.
Pentagon Remembers 9-11. Video by DCMG.
Further Study and Viewing
Federal Building in Oklahoma City 1995.
Video of WTC remains collection point Sure Kills Landfill on Staten Island
Voices of Ladder 11 in South Tower just before collapse Video story.
Pentagon-Get On My Back I’ll carry You –Story of Colonel Marylyn Willls.
United 93 film created from communications with passengers and crew.
