Author's note: This is not part of the story. These are events that actually happened, upon which my story is based. I felt it important to make a brief summary before beginning.
No one living at the time and old enough to remember will ever forget where they were or what they were doing on that day. No one will ever forget the scenes all over television of the two hijacked airplanes crashing into the World Trade Center in New York City within a short time span, and each tower collapsing not long after; of people jumping out of the towers; of firefighters rushing to help those trapped. Over 3,000 people perished at ground zero. There were also televised scenes of the Pentagon, which was also hit by an airplane, and of an empty field in Pennsylvania, supposedly the crash site of United 93. The signs at major airports read All flights canceled. People working at the airports at the time remember working in the days after 9/11 and how the airports were like ghost towns, and it was an eerie feeling to walk the concourses in broad daylight with no passengers to be seen anywhere in the airport. Everyone old enough also remembers the surge of patriotism in the days, weeks, and months following 9/11: U.S flags flying from the windows of dozens of cars, hundreds of young people joining the U.S. military, eager for revenge and wanting to make a difference and defend the country from terrorism. They'd all heard the famous quote of G.W. Bush: "This will never happen again. Not on my watch."
Then came his declaration that Iraq, Iran and North Korea were "an axis of evil" that needed to be wiped out. The invasion of Iraq by U.S. troops who were seeking to take out Al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden happened in March of 2003. The gradual erosion of U.S. citizen's freedoms began to occur in the years that followed. The Department of Homeland Security was created in March of 2002. The creation of the Transportation Security Administration soon followed, which was part of the Department of Transportation originally, but transferred to Homeland Security in March of 2003. TSA made travelers feel that their rights were being violated when they took over screening at most major U.S. airports and security was brought to a higher level. The Patriot Act was passed in Congress that same year, which gave police and other authority figures the right to enter your home or car without a search warrant if they even suspected you of being a terrorist, which could result from any number of trumped-up charges. The government increased its use of security probes, helicopters, and cameras, to spy on a largely unsuspecting public. After 9/11, the United States of America would never be the same.
There were conflicting reports of what actually happened on 9/11. The official 9/11 report, of course, claims that the U.S. was attacked by the Middle Eastern terrorist group Al Qaida, under the direction of Osama bin Laden, and there was plenty of evidence to back this up. All of the hi-jackers, for one, were Middle Eastern. Yet there were witnesses at the scene of Ground Zero who swore up and down that they'd heard explosives going off at the time the airplanes struck the towers. The firemen who went to rescue the trapped victims claimed the same thing, that there were explosives going off everywhere. There were claims of people who saw the towers get hit that they weren't actually struck by planes. There were differences in size between the hole at the Pentagon and the size of the Boeing 757, which was the type of plane that supposedly struck it. There was no plane wreckage found at the site in Pennsylvania where United 93 crashed, and there was an official airport log which reported that that plane had actually landed at its intended destination later that same morning.
This was enough to spur conspiracy theories and more investigations into what had really happened on 9/11. Yet, for the most part, the U.S. population believed the official story, and they trusted the news they'd seen on the major media networks. After all, no one in the government would ever lie to them; at least, not about something as big as a terrorist attack. The media would never lie, either. They're not supposed to be biased. Everyone was in this together. They were all patriots, fighting for the same thing; their freedoms; and they needed to get rid of the evil Middle Eastern terrorists who had invaded their country, no matter what the cost. It was of tantamount importance to get revenge on those who hated them; at least at first, while the attack was still fresh in their minds.
Years went by, and people, for the most part, became complacent again, losing their fear of more terrorist attacks. This is the story behind 9/11.
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Not on my Watch
AdventureAn Air Force Captain and a Navy SEALs hero team up to uncover the corruption in the U.S. government, rebel against it, and bring the perpetrators to justice.
