Images Documenting the Horror of America's Most Dire Moment on 9/11
In the early hours of September 11, 2001, the world was shaken by a series of coordinated terrorist attacks on the United States. The events of that day would forever change the course of history.
Untold scores of haunting artifacts were retrieved from the rubble of the World Trade Center site in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. These relics served as stark reminders of the devastation that had occurred.
The attacks, orchestrated by Al Qaeda, resulted in nearly 3,000 fatalities in total. Four airplanes were hijacked, two of which were flown into the Twin Towers, another into the Pentagon, and a fourth that crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after passengers fought back.
The economic impact of 9/11 was astonishing. The estimated losses during just the first month post-9/11 were $123 billion. Nearly $10 billion in insurance claims stemming from the attacks were filed. The World Trade Center site suffered $60 billion in damage on September 11.
In response, Congress approved a $40 billion anti-terrorism package on September 14. The U.S. would begin launching its strikes against terrorist groups and other suspected enemies around the world, with Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, and other countries eventually facing American military action.
President George W. Bush learned of the attacks while attending a reading at Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida. That evening, he addressed the nation on live television, stating that the government "will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them." Three days later, Bush stood among the rubble and New York's firefighters and first responders, assuring them that the nearly 3,000 victims of the 9/11 attacks would not be forgotten.
The work at Ground Zero and the actual cleanup there didn't end until May 30, 2002, costing $750 million to remove 1.8 million tons of debris. The total cost of the attacks is estimated to be more than $3 trillion.
Two decades later, the 9/11 generation, born on 9/11, is considered among the greatest the nation has ever produced. A 2018 study from Brown University put the death toll from the ongoing war that has spanned 2001 to the present as high as 507,000, with 244,000 of them civilian. The legacy of 9/11 continues to be felt, both in the memories of those who lived through it and in the actions taken to prevent such a tragedy from happening again.
Read also:
- United States tariffs pose a threat to India, necessitating the recruitment of adept negotiators or strategists, similar to those who had influenced Trump's decisions.
- Weekly happenings in the German Federal Parliament (Bundestag)
- Southwest region's most popular posts, accompanied by an inquiry:
- Discussion between Putin and Trump in Alaska could potentially overshadow Ukraine's concerns
