9781422286005

Chapter 1 The Attack on America E arly on the morning of September 11, 2001, ten Arab men were among the passengers boarding two Boeing 767 passenger jet airplanes at Boston’s Logan Airport. Five men boarded each plane, secretly carrying utility knives that were typically used to cut open boxes. Once the jets were in the air, the men used their knives to overpower the pilots and crew. They took con- trol of the jets and steered them south, toward New York City.

Workers search through the debris at Ground Zero, the remains of the World Trade Center in New York City. The September 11 attacks were planned by a terrorist group that was being sheltered in Afghanistan, leading the United States to go to war with that central Asian country.