September 11, 2001

On September 11, 2001, 19 jihadists affiliated with the al Qaeda transnational network hijacked four commercial airliners and crashed them into targets in the eastern United States. The attackers took control with knives and mace and attempted to crash the aircraft into targets in New York City and Washington, DC. Three of the four planes [Page 1533]reached their targets. One struck the World Trade Center (WTC) North Tower, and another struck the South Tower, both in Manhattan. A third plane struck the Pentagon, just outside Washington, DC, in Arlington, VA. The fourth plane, reportedly dispatched to DC, crashed in Pennsylvania. This series of attacks is commonly referred to as 9/11, the 9/11 attacks, or simply September 11th.

Throughout the attacks, 2,996 people lost their lives. This ...