Threats on America - 9/11 and Beyond

            The attacks that occurred on September 11th, 2001 changed America forever. The citizens of the country, before then rarely thought about Muslims, the Middle East, or terrorism in general, except for a few minutes a week, when it was a topic on the nightly news. Since the attacks, Americans thoughts about Islam, terrorism as well as security, have become a way of life. As you already know, September 11, 2001 was one of the worst days in American history. Four commercial airliners were hijacked by radical Islamic terrorists. Two of the hijacked aircraft went on a suicide mission and crashed into the Twin World Trade Center towers in New York City, which killed thousands of innocent civilians and hundreds of police and firemen.
             The third plane crashed into our military headquarters, the Pentagon, in Washington D.C., while the fourth jetliner, which unconfirmed reports claim that it was headed towards the White House, which was taken back into control by the passengers on the plane, but it fatally crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. I was only three years old at the time of the 9/11 attacks, so I really don't remember much from that day as events were unfolding, however I do remember having a feeling that things around the house were not "normal ".
             My father was away on a road trip at the time the attacks occurred and was listening to the events unfold on the radio in his truck. He was hearing all of the news reports of a plane crashing into the World Trade Center and he was just in shock. He was also hearing all of the rumors going around on his C.B. radio. He said he remembers that President Bush ordered that all aircraft flying over the United States, to be landed immediately, and said that it was eerie, after a few hours, to look up in the sky, with none of the usual contrails associated with aircraft. My Grandmother was doing her regular housework when the attacks occurred, when she got a phone call from a friend informing her of the awful news, she immediately turned on Fox news, and she and my late grandfather sat and watched the news the whole day.