9/11 How Terrorism Has Shaped the United States

Every American who is over the age of twenty remembers 9/11. That was the day a group of Muslim terrorists attacked our country and killed thousands of civilians. It’s also the day that made Americans look at the Islamic world and say, “Why do they hate us so much?”

This is what the World Trade Center towers looked like before Sep 11, 2001. They were a symbol of prosperity and world trade, as well as a financial center of the eastern coast of the United States of America.

At 8:46 am five Muslim terrorists hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 and flew the commercial airplane into the World Trace Center’s North Tower in New York City. The rocket fuel exploded and immediately set the top third of the building on fire. At the time, most Americans were on their way to work or already at work. An American work day is usually from 8 am to 5 pm. Financial industry workers usually work from 9 am to 5 pm. People fell from the tower. Others burned as the rocket fuel explosion set the building ablaze.

The building was full and within fifteen minutes people watched in horror on their televisions as Americans trapped inside the building either fell or jumped rather than burning alive in the high temperatures. Workers on the numerous floors above the floors where the plane crashed were trapped with no way out. Workers on the floors below were frantically calling 911 asking if they should attempt evacuating the building. At least 200 people fell or jumped from the burning towers. These were the images burned into American’s minds.

At 9 am, most Americans were still thinking this was a mistake, pilot error, and a single event. At 9:03 am, we knew better when five other Muslim terrorists hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 and flew the commercial plane into the South Tower. By now workers in both towers realized there was little hope for rescue and were frantically calling loved ones at home to say goodbye. Policemen and firemen were attempting to evacuate the bottom floors of both towers, but most of the workers were already dead.

At 9:30 am Americans were still in shock, reeling over the crashes into the World Trade Center towers. Then at 9:37 am five additional Muslim terrorists hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 and flew the commercial airplane into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia.

For the first time in history, Americans felt unsafe in their homes and at work wondering what city and what buildings would be the next targets. Mothers were taking their kids out of school and fathers were taking vacation days and going home.

At 9:59 am after burning for 56 minutes, the South Tower collapsed. Anyone still alive inside the building was crushed by the weight of the building.

Passengers on United Airlines Flight 93 listened on their phones to the news broadcasts about the terrorist attacks. Then four Muslim terrorists hijacked their plane. Knowing the terrorists meant to attack yet another highly-populated target, the passengers waited until the plane was over the fields of Shanksville, Pennsylvania and tried taking back their plane.

At 10:03 am the plane crashed in an empty field. Later, the terrorists revealed the target for Flight 93 was the Capitol Building.

At 10:28 am after burning for 102 minutes, the North Tower collapsed. As it collapsed, debris struck the building at 7 World Trade Center commonly referred to as Building 7. Building 7 caught fire.

By now most Americans were at home watching the story unfold on their television sets, praying for the families of the victims and waiting to hear more bad news.

As Americans waited at home watching the news for more information related to the attacks they watched image after image of rescue workers in New York City coated with ash from the collapsed buildings. Later, many of those rescue workers died of lung-related illnesses caused from breathing in that ash.

At 5:21 pm after burning for almost five hours, Building 7 of the World Trade Center collapsed adding more ash to the city of New York City.

After 9/11

Most non-Americans don’t understand how dramatically 9/11 has shaped our country. We now have the Office of Homeland Security and the Patriot Act. Millions of Americans were forced to get government-issued IDs just to vote and hundreds of thousands of those IDs were invalidated by some states making those Americans’ votes null and void. Imagine being a citizen in a “free country” and not being allowed to vote.

Rendition, the suspension of constitutional rights for Americans, became a common tactic of the Office of Homeland Security for questioning supposed terrorists who were actually American citizens of Middle Eastern backgrounds. Airline security became so strict that a large number of Americans stopped flying commercial flights. It is not uncommon to see Americans being strip-searched and interrogated at the airport.

In the United States there are two political parties, Republicans and Democrats. Republicans are typically white, affluent, uneducated, racist, and old. Democrats are typically many races, middle to lower class, highly educated, and young. These two political parties are what make up the electoral college, so although there are other political parties in the US they have virtually no power in an election.

After 9/11 a far right group of extremists funded by the richest white Republicans in the country founded the Tea Party Movement. The Tea Party went to rural towns in the most unpopulated states and recruited uneducated, racist, and predominantly white citizens into joining their party. They were given monetary “incentives” to vote. The Ku Klux Klan and other neo-Nazi groups joined the Tea Party Movement.

The electoral college is what our founding fathers devised to balance the voting power between less populated states and more populated states. Each state is guaranteed a minimum number of electoral college votes regardless of population. Additional electoral votes are given to states based on population. That means a rural state with hardly any people has the power to change the course of an election. Look at the red states that got Trump elected.

Many of the families of policemen, firemen, military, and others directly affected by 9/11 joined the Tea Party Movement and the Republican Party. They also voted for Trump.

Under Donald Trump’s presidency we have immature name-calling, sexism, racism, lack of medical care, a rapid rise in sexually-transmitted diseases, Twitter wars, policies dictated by a foreign government (Russia), a rapid rise in homelessness and unemployment, and a future of uneducated children.