9781422281413

1

What Is Terrorism?

F or those who worked in the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, Tuesday, September 11, 2001, began as just another ordinary day. Workers arrived at their offices, made themselves coffee, and opened their mail, unaware that they were about to be caught up in the worst terrorist attack in history. At 8.45 AM a hijacked passen- ger airliner flown by suicidal terrorists was deliberately crashed into the upper stories of the north tower, causing a massive explosion. Eighteen minutes later, another hijacked plane hit the south tower. Soon afterwards both towers col- lapsed, killing nearly 2,800 people. Daria Coard was in the north tower when the plane hit. She and about thirty others were in an elevator heading upwards. It stopped at the eighty-eighth floor. Nine passengers, including

Clouds of smoke billow from the World Trade Center after terrorists crashed hijacked jet airliners into the towers on September 11, 2001. This photo was taken at 9:54 am; five minutes later, the south tower collapsed due to structural damage. The north tower collapsed around 10:28 am. Overall, it is believed that 2,763 peo- ple died inside the towers, making it the deadliest terrorist attack in US history.

7