ATTACK ON AMERICA 2001
by Juan Chacon

World Trade Center Towers
before	after

The Pentagon

after

Tuesday, September 11, 2001, a very sad day in United States history. Unprovoked, the cities of New York City and Washington, D.C. were attacked by cowardly terrorists.

This morning at 8:45 EDT, four U.S. jetliners were simultaneously hijacked.

Two of the hijacked planes, which had original destinations of Los Angeles, CA, were forced to change course and flew to New York City where they crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

Meanwhile, the third plane was diverted to Washington, DC and forced to crash into The Pentagon Building. The forth jetliner crashed in a rural area outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The total number of fatalities is still unknown as the search and rescue operations continue. The number is certainly in the hundreds and possibly thousands.

No terrorist group has come forward to take responsibility. Speculations point towards the FBI's most wanted list, particularly to Osama Bin Laden, a known terrorist.

Other significant events going on include: all domestic and international commercial flights have been canceled. All major airports are closed. This is the first time that the Federal Aviation Administration(FAA) has grounded flights nationwide. All federal, state, county and city government buildings have been evacuated.

Most of the nation's amusement parks have been closed including Disneyland, DisneyWorld, Knott's Berry Farm, Magic Mountain, Universal Studios. Most movie theatres and several businesses are also closed. Most of the major sporting events have also been canceled.

Another interesting note is that The Pentagon says five warships and two aircraft carriers will leave the U.S. Naval Station in Norfolk, Virginia, to protect the East Coast from further attack and to reduce the number of ships in port. The two carriers, the USS George Washington and the USS John F. Kennedy, are headed for the New York coast. The other ships headed to sea are frigates and guided missile destroyers capable of shooting down aircraft.

President Bush said, "Make no mistake, The United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts".

Military officials have stated that the U.S. is at Threat Con Delta.

What Is Threat Con Delta? Threat conditions are measured by military commanders in the field based on intelligence reports and local conditions. There are five levels of “Threat Con,” each of which carries suggestions about vehicle inspections, personnel alerts and identity checks. Local commanders decide what to do under each condition. During the Cole’s Threat Con Bravo, for instance, rifle-wielding sailors mounted watch from the deck of the ship, but no moves were taken to prevent small boats from approaching the Cole. Now, under Threat Con Delta, crew members are manning machine guns on board and an armed inflatable boat is patrolling around the Cole.

The five levels of threat condition are:

Threat Condition Normal: no threat of terrorist activity is present

Threat Condition Alpha: there is a general threat of possible terrorist activity against installations, building locations, and/or personnel, the nature and extent of which are unpredictable.

Threat Condition Bravo: There is an increased and more predictable threat of terrorist activity even though no particular target has been identified.

Threat Condition Charlie: An incident has occurred or intelligence has been received indicating some form of terrorist action is imminent

Threat Condition Delta: A terrorist attack has occurred or intelligence has been received that action against a specific location is likely.

Quicktime video of one of the jetliners crashing into the World Trade Center.