Kathleen Tracy - The Story of September 11, 2001

Titles in the Series

The Assassination of John F. Kennedy, 1963

Blitzkrieg! Hitlers Lightning War

Breaking the Sound Barrier: The Story of Chuck Yeager

Building the Panama Canal

The Civil Rights Movement

The Creation of Israel

The Cuban Missile Crisis: The Cold War Goes Hot

The Dawn of Aviation:
The Story of the Wright Brothers

Disaster in the Indian Ocean: Tsunami, 2004

Exploring the North Pole:
The Story of Robert Edwin Peary and Matthew Henson

The Fall of the Berlin Wall

The Fall of the Soviet Union

Hurricane Katrina and the Devastation of New Orleans, 2005

The McCarthy Era

Overview of the Korean War

Overview of the Persian Gulf War, 1990

An Overview of World War I

The Russian Revolution, 1917

The Scopes Monkey Trial

The Sinking of the Titanic

The Story of September 11, 2001

The Story of the Attack on Pearl Harbor

The Story of the Great Depression

The Story of the Holocaust

Top Secret: The Story of the Manhattan Project

The Watergate Scandal

The Vietnam War

Copyright 2009 by Mitchell Lane Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. Printed and bound in the United States of America.

Printing 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Tracy, Kathleen.

The story of September 11, 2001 / by Kathleen Tracy.

p. cm. (Monumental milestones)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-58415-693-2 (library bound)

eISBN 978-1-54574-941-8

1. September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001. 2. Bin Laden, Osama, 1957 3. Jihad. 4. War on Terrorism, 2001 I. Title.

HV6432.7.T73 2009

973.931dc22

2008020930

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kathleen Tracy has been a journalist for over twenty years. Her writing has been featured in magazines including The Toronto Stars Star Week, A&E Biography magazine, KidScreen and TV Times. She is also the author of numerous books for Mitchell Lane Publishers, including William Hewlett: Pioneer of the Computer Age; The Fall of the Berlin Wall; Leonardo da Vinci; Odysseus; The McCarthy Era; The Life and Times of Rosa Parks; Johnny Depp; Mariah Carey; and Kelly Clarkson.

PUBLISHERS NOTE: This story is based on the authors extensive research, which she believes to be accurate. Documentation of such research is contained on page 46.

The internet sites referenced herein were active as of the publication date. Due to the fleeting nature of some web sites, we cannot guarantee they will all be active when you are reading this book.

DEDICATION: To all the families and friends who lost a loved one on September 11, 2001

PLB

Contents

The Story of September 11, 2001

Kathleen Tracy

*For Your Information

CHAPTER

An Unusually Beautiful Day...

It was a beautiful late summer morning, the kind of day even busy New Yorkers took a moment to appreciate. The sky was spectacularly clear, tinted an azure blue, the air stirred by a gentle breeze. The mood of the city seemed optimistic as people hurried down the crowded streets on their way to work. Then the world as people knew it forever changed.

8:46 A.M. On the streets of Manhattan, two French brothers, Jules and Gedeon Naudet, were videotaping footage for their documentary about a rookie New York fireman. Gedeon was at a local firehouse. Jules was out with Fire Chief Joe Pfeiffer and some firefighters, checking out a suspected gas leak not far from the Twin Towers. As he held his camera, Jules heard a loud roar overhead. He looked up and instinctively turned the camera toward the sound.

I had time to see the plane going in between two buildings, Jules said later. I could even make out American Airlines on it, because it was that close. He didnt realize until later that day that he had filmed American Airlines Flight 11 crashing into the World Trade Centers North Tower between the 94th and 98th floors. The impact tore a jagged, gaping hole in the building, shooting out balls of flame and debris. The street shook as if there were an earthquake. The jet fuel fed an intensely hot fire that consumed the planes and any combustibles inside the building. Within minutes, local news crews were rushing to the World Trade Center, broadcasting live footage of what most assumed was a terrible accident. It soon became apparent that this was no accident.

9:03 A.M. As a national audience watched live news coverage of the burning North Tower, United Airlines Flight 175 came into view. Traveling at almost 600 miles per hour and banking sharply, the plane sliced into the South Tower between the 78th and 85th floors. Pieces of the plane exploded out the north and east sides of the tower, with some of the debris landing as far as six blocks away.

It was obvious this was no accident. New York was under attack, and commercial flights were the weapon of choice. An FAA manager based in New York told the Air Traffic Control System Command Center in Herndon, Virginia: We have several situations going on here. Its escalating big, big time. We need to get the military involved with us.... We have other aircraft that may have a similar situation going on here.

9:15 A.M. NBCs Today reported that the American Airlines flight had been hijacked prior to crashing into the North Tower. The Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, closed all New York area airports, banning all takeoffs and all air traffic in the northeast United States. Minutes later, the Port Authority ordered the closure of all New York area bridges and tunnels.

9:24 A.M. The FAA notified the Northeast Air Defense Sector, also known as NORAD, that American Airlines Flight 77 may have also been commandeered. Unsure just how many aircraft were involved, the FAA grounded all commercial flights, regardless of their destination. It was the first time in American history that air traffic over U.S. airspace had been totally banned.

9:29 A.M. President George W. Bush, on a public appearance at an elementary school, made his first comments about the situation in New York. He acknowledged to the students and their teachers that America had suffered a national tragedy, then led everyone in a moment of silence. He left the school and boarded Air Force One but did not directly return to Washington, D.C.

9:37 A.M. Flight 77 slammed into the western side of the Pentagon. News footage showed a raging fire, although the damage seemed contained to the impact area. Several newscasts suggested that Saudi militant Osama bin Ladenthen still a generally obscure figureand his Al-Qaeda organization may have been behind the attacks.

9:45 A.M. People on the West Coast awakened to unimaginable news and images from New York and Washington, D.C. Reports that a fourth airliner was unaccounted for prompted the evacuation of the Capitol and the White House. Military fighter jets began patrolling the skies along the East Coast, but because Flight 93s transponders were turned off, the plane was essentially invisible to radar.