SEPTEMBER 11: AN ORDINARY MORNING

The morning of September 11 began with almost perfect weather over the northeastern United States.
The skies were clear.
People were commuting.
Children were going to school.
Workers were arriving at offices.
Tourists were taking photographs.
Four commercial aircraft prepared for long domestic flights.
American Airlines Flight 11 was bound for Los Angeles from Boston.
United Airlines Flight 175 was also travelling from Boston to Los Angeles.
American Airlines Flight 77 was scheduled to fly from Washington Dulles to Los Angeles.
United Airlines Flight 93 was headed from Newark to San Francisco.
The 19 hijackers were distributed among the four aircraft.
Passengers settled into their seats.
Flight attendants prepared for departure.
Pilots began their routines.
At that moment, nobody aboard the aircraft knew that they were part of a coordinated terrorist operation.
At 7:59 a.m., Flight 11 departed Boston.
At 8:14 a.m., Flight 175 left Boston.
At 8:20 a.m., Flight 77 departed Washington.
Flight 93 took off from Newark at 8:42 a.m.
The attacks had begun.
8:46 A.M.: THE FIRST PLANE
At 8:46 a.m., American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
The impact was catastrophic.
The aircraft cut into the upper floors of the building. Jet fuel ignited, producing an enormous fireball.
People on the streets looked upward.
The first reports were confused.
Had a plane accidentally struck the building?
Was the pilot suffering from a medical emergency?
Was there some other explanation?
Nobody initially knew.
But inside the tower, thousands of people were suddenly facing a disaster.
Smoke spread.
Emergency alarms sounded.
People began moving towards stairways.
Firefighters rushed towards the building.
Police officers attempted to establish evacuation routes.
News organizations began broadcasting pictures of the burning tower.
America was watching.
But America still did not know what it was watching.
9:03 A.M.: THE SECOND IMPACT
Seventeen minutes later, everything changed.
United Airlines Flight 175 appeared on live television and crashed into the South Tower.
The second impact was captured from multiple angles.
The message was unmistakable.
This was not an accident.
America was under attack.
The images were so shocking that they immediately became part of the historical memory of the 21st century.
The second aircraft struck the building and produced an explosion of fuel, metal, glass and fire.
The two towers were now burning.
People began running through Lower Manhattan.
Emergency vehicles converged on the World Trade Center.
Firefighters entered the buildings.
People above the impact zones were trapped.
Those below began descending.
And television viewers across America watched in horror.
The morning had become a national emergency.
THE PENTAGON IS HIT
At 9:37 a.m., American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon.
The Pentagon was not merely another government building. It was the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense and a central symbol of American military power.
Smoke rose from the building.
Emergency workers rushed to the scene. The attack demonstrated that the terrorists had selected targets representing different dimensions of American power.
The World Trade Center represented finance and global commerce.
The Pentagon represented military power. And another target was apparently being sought in Washington.