The crisis unleashed by the events of September 11 is one that is global and all-encompassing. It is global in the sense that it binds many different countries into conflict, especially the USA and parts of the Muslim world. It is all-encompassing in that, more than any other international crisis yet seen it affects a multiplicity of life's levels, political, economic, cultural and psychological. On September 11, 2001 terrorists struck the United States in harrowing, widespread attacks that included at least three commercial jet crashes into significant buildings. In the first attack, a plane hit the north tower of the World Trade Center in Manhattan shortly before 9 a.m., followed by another plane into the second tower about 20 minutes later. This was the second attack on the World Trade Center. On February 26, 1993 at 12:18pm., international terrorism struck the U.S. The World Trade Center in New York City was bombed by Islamic Fundamentalists. The World Trade Center was two high- rise towers. Each tower was 110 stories tall, with several other buildings around the complex. When fully occupied, there were over 150,000 people in the buildings. The apparent motive of this attack was to weaken U.S. support of Israel. This bombing was intended to send a message to all Americans that terrorism could happen at anytime and any where in the U.S. According to Dave Williams, components of the World Trade Center bomb included ammonium nitrate and fuel oil, which forms a blasting agent. Explosive effects from the 1200-pound bomb caused a crater 180 feet deep, 100 feet long, and 200 feet wide in the underground parking garage. The crater was six levels deep. The bombers used a rented truck to transport the bomb into the parking garage. It was rumored that the truck contained a sodium cyanide device that malfunctioned, which would have released a cloud of deadly cyanide into the building. This rumor had no wrong; there was no cyanide involved in the explosion.
