Terrorist Attack: Pentagon Attack on September 11

Date:

September 11, 2001

Location:

Washington D.C.

Group Responsible:

Osama Bin Laden and the Al Qaeda terrorist organization

Synopsis:

On the morning of September 11th terrorists hijacked four commercial jet planes and attempted to fly them into several U.S. targets. They used American Airlines Flight 77 like a missile and crashed it into the Pentagon at 9:38 AM. The Pentagon caught fire and part of the building collapsed. In this tragic event 189 civilians and military personel lost their lives. This attack was done in concert with the attack on the World Trade Center.

America's Response to the World Trade Center Attack:

The people of America banded together in the weeks following the September 11th attacks like few other times in American history. People responded with donations of blood, effort and money.

President George W Bush immediately called for all civilized nations to band together and fight terrorism. The military of the United States mobilized for war in an operation code named Enduring Freedom. The government declared Osama Bin Laden to be the main suspect and sent the military to fight him and his terrorist organization called Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. The military has been able to capture numerous leaders within the terrorist organization but has not been able to capture Bin Laden himself.

A huge controversy arose when President Bush sent troops into Iraq on March 19, 2003 claiming that the country led by Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction and aiding Al Qaeda operatives. As time passed and no evidence of those weapons were found in Iraq, many in America were upset by what they felt were unnecessary reasons to get involved in Iraq. Some argued that the Iraq War drew necessary attention away from the war in Afghanistan.