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September 11th changed the world. But not enough.
September 11, 2001, forever will be seen as a turning point in American Nation's history. Before that date, terrorism, in the minds of most Americans, was a distant threat; the U. S. economy, while weakened, was in no imminent danger of a severe slide; President George W. Bush was criticized for pursuing a unilateral foreign policy; air travel was and commonplace; a divided Congress was preoccupied with the Social Security "lockbox-; and New York City was still enjoying a cultural renaissance. .
All of that changed on the morning of September 11th. Two commercial airplanes, hijacked by terrorists, crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in lower Manhattan, causing both to collapse. Another plane hit the Pentagon outside Washington, DC, while a fourth plunged into a field in Western Pennsylvania, apparently forced down by passengers before it could reach the Nation's Capital. Thousands were killed, injured, or missing, among them hundreds of police and firefighters. Untold number of relatives, friends, and coworkers were affected. .
Within hours, the national landscape had changed - literally and figuratively - as the reality and scope of the devastation sank in. Air travel was suspended, Wall Street shut down temporarily, and the previous legislative agenda was swept aside as Member of Congress from both parties rallied around the President as he vowed to wipe out terrorism in "the first war of the twenty first century-. .
A shaken America got back on its feet and began to resume daily activities. Speaking before a joint session of Congress on September 20, President Bush told the country that all evidence pointed to the al-Qaeda terrorist organization, a group of Muslim extremists led by Saudi exile Osama bin Laden, as the perpetrator of the attacks.
The President sought to prepare Americans for a long struggle that he said would be fought on diplomatic, economic and political fronts, as well as through military action.