History of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001

The history of the events that occurred on September 11, 2001 began exactly 60 years prior. On September 11, 1941, ground was broken for the new war department building in Arlington, Virginia. The building, known as the Pentagon, would for a time be the largest building in the world. Nearly 25 years later, on August 5 , 1966, construction began on the north tower of the World Trade Center. After its completion, the World Trade Center became the world's largest commercial complex.

On March 6, 1970, during construction on the World Trade center, an explosion rocked the steel frame of the south tower of the World Trade Center. Although no one was killed in the blast and few were injured, police investigators were concerned about the possibility of a bomb. However, the investigation revealed that the explosion was an accident related to propane gas on the construction site.

The first attack on the World Trade Center occurred on February 26, 1993, when a van filled with nearly one ton of explosives was detonated in the underground parking structure of the building. The blast killed six people and injured over 1,000 others. The van had been planted by an Islamic terrorist group believed to have connections to Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

The second attack occurred on September 11, 2001, when a group of Islamic terrorists hijacked three commercial airliners and deliberately ran them into the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. The attack was the largest incident of terrorism on United State's soil.

At 8:46 AM, al-Qaeda operative Mohammed Atta crashed American Airlines Flight 11 in to the north tower of the World Trade Center. Minutes later, at 9:03 AM, United Airlines flight 175, piloted by another member of al-Qaeda, flew into the south tower. At 9:38 AM, a third hijacked plane, United Airlines flight 77, crashed into the Pentagon. The fourth hijacked plane, United Flight 93, went down into a field in Pennsylvania half an hour later at 10:06 AM. By 7:00 PM on the night of September 11, both the north and south towers of the World Trade Center, as well as a third building, World Trade Center 7, collapsed. In total, the attacks lead to over 2,400 civilian deaths.

The plan for the 9/11 attacks was hatched in 1998 by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Mohammed and accomplice Ramzi Yousef had been plotting to blow up eleven commercial airliners in a plan called "Operation Bojinka," which was uncovered by Philipino authorities in early 1993. Yousef was apprehended and imprisoned for the plot and Mohammed fled to Pakistan. Five years later, Mohammed revised his plan, focusing on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Initially, Al-Qaeda denied responsibility but later Bin Laden admitted involvement.

In 2001, it was believed that al-Qaeda operatives were responsible for three more terrorist attacks on US personnel in the Middle East. The attacks on the Khobar Towers in 1996, the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, and the USS Cole in 2000 had made al-Qaeda and its leader, Sheikh Osama Bin Laden, household names. Yet, despite the notoriety, no one was prepared for the attacks on September 11.

Since that day in 2001, Americans have seen the world differently, as President George W. Bush, quoted in the Frederick Post on September 12, 2001, stated "Today, our nation saw evil...[thousands of lives were] suddenly ended by evil despicable acts of terror."