Creative Nonfiction Essay Based on an historical Event
Creative Nonfiction Essay Based on an historical Event
Al Qaeda Terrorists Attack World Trade Center
For my writing assignment for this week, I thought it would be appropriate to write about the last event on the list of the “100 Most Important Events Throughout Human History”. As reported on September 11, 2001. Nineteen militants associated with the Islamic extremist groups al Qaeda hijacked four airplanes and conducted suicide attacks against targets in the United States. Two of the planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third plane hit the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, D.C., the fourth plane crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Almost 3,000 people were killed were killed during the 9/11 attacks, which triggered major U.S. initiatives to combat terrorism and defined the presidency of George W. Bush.
On September 11, 2001, at 8.45 a.m. on a Tuesday morning, an American Airlines Boeing 767 loaded with 20,000 gallons of jet fuel crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. The impact leave left a gaping, burning hole near the 80th floor of the 110-story skyscraper, instantly killing hundreds of people and trapping hundreds more in higher floors. As the evacuation of the tower and its twin got underway, television cameras broasted live images of what initially was a freak accident. Then, 18 minutes after the first plane hit, a second Boeing 767 United Airlines Flight 175 appeared out of the sky, turned sharply towards the World Trade Center, and sliced into the south tower near the 60th floor. The collision caused a massive explosion that showered burning debris over surrounding buildings and onto the streets below. It immediately became clear that America was under attack. The hijackers were Islamic terrorists from Saudi Arabia and several other Arab nations. Reportedly financed by the al Qaeda terrorist organization of the Saudi fugitive Osama bin Laden, they were allegedly acting in retaliation for America’s support of Israel, its involvement in the Persian Gulf War and its continued military presence in the Middle East. Some of the terrorists had lived in the United States for more than a year and had taken flying lessons at American commercial flight schools. Others had slipped into the country in the months before September 11 and functioned as the “muscle” in the operation.
The nineteen terrorists easily managed smuggled box-cutters and knives through security at three East Coast airports Logan International Airport in Boston, Dulles International Airport in Washington, D. C., and Newark International Airport in New Jersey and boarded four early-morning flights bound for California, chosen because the planes were loaded with fuel for the long transcontinental journey. Soon after takeoff, the terrorists commandeered the flour planes and took the controls, transforming ordinary passenger jets into guided missiles.
As millions watched the events unfolding in New York, American Airlines Flight 77 circled over downtown Washington, D.C., before crashing into the west side of the Pentagon military headquarters at 9:45 a.m. Jet fuel from the Boing 757 caused a devasting inferno that led to the structural collapse of a portion of the giant concrete building, which is the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense. All told, 125 military personnel and civilians were killed in the Pentagon, along with all sixty-four people aboard the airliner. Les than 15 minutes after the terrorists struck the nerve center of the U.S. military, the horror in New York took a catastrophic turn when the south tower of the World trade Center collapsed in a massive cloud of dust and smoke. The structural steel of the skyscraper, built to withstand winds more than two hundred miles per hour and a large conventional fire, could not withstand the tremendous heat generated by the burning jet fuel. At 10:00 a.m., the north building of the twin towers collapsed. Only six people in the World Trade Center towers at the time of their collapse survived. Almost 10,000 others were treated for injuries, many severe.
Meanwhile, a fourth California -bound place United Flight 93 was hijacked about 40 minutes after leaving Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. Because the plane had been delayed in taking off, passengers on board learned of events in New York and Washington via cell phone and Airphone calls to the ground. Knowing the aircraft was not returning to an airport as the hijackers claimed, a group of passengers and flight attendants planned an insurrection. The passengers fought the four hijackers and are suspected to have attacked the cockpit with a fire extinguisher. The plane then flipped over and sped toward the ground at upwards of five hundred miles per hour, crashing in a rural field near Shanksville in western Pennsylvania at 10:10 a.m. All forty-four people aboard were killed. Its intended target was unknown.
The events of September 11 also influenced the economy. The stock market had a loss of 7.1 percent, or 684 points, on the first day of the trade after the attacks. Only the economy of New York City suffered losses of $2.8 billion in salaries and 143, 000 jobs each month in the first three months of the recession. There were significant employment losses in the aviation and financial industries, and together they accounted for sixty percent of all lost positions. The projected cost of the damages of the World Trade Center is sixty billion dollars, while the expense to clear up the debris at Ground Zero was seven hundred and fifty million dollars. The events of September 11, 2001, together with the subsequent mailing of letters containing anthrax that resulted in the deaths of two people and the infection of seventeen others, killed to the passage of the Homeland Security Act of 2002. The mission of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is to protect the nation’s borders, enforce immigration and custom laws, responds to, and prevent natural disasters, and foil terrorist attacks. Many employees and first responders were put in danger by being exposed to poisonous gases and particles that emanated from the tower as they burnt. By the year 2018, 10,000 people was diagnosed with cancer that was tied to 9/11. As a result, the Victim Compensation Fund was established so that individuals whose people were altered by the events of September 11 could receive financial support. One good thing came out of this tragedy, and that was the fact that it brought people from all over the globe together in the form of candlelight vigils and the Queen of Britain singing the national anthem in Great Britain. At the World Trade Center Memorial on September 11, 2011, a site was established to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the events on September 11th, 2001.
Immediate reactions to the terrorist attacks on September 11 included a heightened emphasis on one’s home life and the quality of time spent with one’s family, an increase in the number of people who attended religious services, and an increase in public displays of patriotism such as the flying of flags. Many people’s religious beliefs were profoundly altered because of the tragic events of September 11th. While some found solace in their religion, which helped them get over the deaths of loved ones and move on with their lives, others began to question the validity of the beliefs or abandoned them altogether because of the incompatibility of the tragedy with their understanding of religion.
References
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopedia. “World Trade Center “. Encyclopedia Britannica,16 Sep. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/topiv/World-Trade-Center. Accessed 21 October 2022
Argenti, Paul. Crisis Communication: Lessons from 9/11. 04 January 2019 https://hbr.org/2002/12/crisis-communication-lessons-from-911. Accessed 21 October 2022
“September 11 Attacks.” History.com Editors, A&E Television Networks, 17 February 2010. https://www..history.com/topics/21st-century/9-11-attacks. Accessed 21 October 2022
Creative Nonfiction — Peer Response Sheet
Title of ______________________________________________________
Peer Editor Instructions:
Remember that being a good editor of someone else’s work can make you become a better writer too, because it forces you to think more about what makes good writing. So, it is just as important for the writer as it is for the “peer editor.”
Concentrate on giving the best analysis and suggestions that you can. Complete the response sheet by answering these question fully.
Summarize the event that the writer conveys. Explain what how familiar you were with the event prior to reading this essay. What did you learn? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Evaluate the introduction, does it have an effective attention grabber? Does it invite the reader in? If not, how would you improve it? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ this statement: “Some things I liked best about this paper were…” ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Where could the author use more description and/or add sensory details?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Did the author tell the story in a confident and conversational manner? What are some of the major academic writing mistakes you identify in this work (run-ons, subject-verb agreement, narrative voice, etc.)? Be specific. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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