11 september

Introduction

You’re watching TV on a Tuesday afternoon and when you change channels, you see an airplane flying into a building. Which film is this? It isn’t a film, but it’s for real. It’s a news broadcast that informs about a terrorist attack. An airplane flew in the WTC-tower. A few minutes later a second plane flies into te second Twin Tower. It seems to be an attack and the broadcast confirms that thought. Terrorists planned this attack very precisely. Two planes were meant for the Twin Towers, one was planned on the Pentagon and one on Camp David. The last plane didn’t crash on Camp David, but in a rural area outside Pittsburgh. The people in the plane overpowered the hijackers, so they couldn’t reach Camp David. Unfortunately, the plane did crash and no one survived. What happened exactly? Who did this? Why would someone want this to happen? What will happen now? That is what we are going to tell you about.

September 11th

I am going to tell you something about the 11th of September. On the 11th of September two airplanes flew into the World Trade Center. The first crashed into the northern Tower at 9 AM (3 PM Dutch time). They first thought it was a terrible accident, but than, 18 minutes later, a second plane flew into the southern Twin Tower. President Bush spoke about a terrorist attack and he set out with Air Force One.

The World Trade Center was about 400 metres high and about 20,000 people worked there. Those people were spread out over two buildings, each with 110 floors. The people below the 20th floor could get out of the building before it collapsed.

A half an hour after the two planes flew into the WTC buildings, a third plane crashed into the Pentagon. Later they found out that this plane was meant for the White House. Than the last plane crashed in the woods of Pennsylvania. The plane was meant for Camp David, a place where the president spends some of his spare time. Thanks to the passengers who overpowered the hijackers, this didn’t happen. Unfortunately the plane crashed and no one survived. The most suspected person is Osama Bin Laden. Marsha will tell you something about him later.

The medias and the big speech

First I’ll tell you something about the many news broadcasts and Corine tells about the legendary speech George Bush gave.
The news channel CNN reported about the attacks and everywhere in the world other channels broad casted extra news programs to inform the people about the disasters.

President George Bush spoke angry words; words of pain and suffer and words of revenge. The president spoke some tough words to other governments. “You are on the American side or you are on the side of the terrorists.”

The president disaproved of the Taliban government in Afghanistan and demanded strict things for the Taliban to do. All terrorist training camps must be closed, all foreign and Christian prisoners must be released, and all foreign diplomats and journalists must be treated with respect. This was“Not negotiable” according to Bush.
The president went on about the army and the Islam. He also took the opportunity to thank several people.

Bush is the first president since Franklin Roosevelt at the bombing of Pearl Harbor to call Congress together at another time then the “State of the Union”. The vice-president wasn’t there, because there must be someone to take the place of the president if a disaster happens and the vice-president needs to be in a safe location.

November 12th

On the 12th of November there was a plane crash in New York again. They thought it started all over again, but it wasn’t an attack. It was a real accident. The President immediately fenced of all bridges and tunnels in the neighbourhood. This event shows the fear for more terrorist attacks.

Osama Bin Laden

He was one of the richest and most dangerous person in the whole world. At this moment he is the most wanted person on the earth, especially because of the attacks in the United States. His name is Osama Bin Laden.

He was born in Saudi-Arabia, but he couldn’t stay there, because he was linked to the attacks off several American embassy’s. He became a terrorist, because he is very religious. He is against the free western society and he’ll do everything to destroy it.

Osama Bin Laden is the leader of a terrorist network called Al Qaeda. This network is probably responsible for the attacks of several American buildings last year. Many innocent people died because of the beliefs of Ossama Bin Laden and his supporters.

Naturally Bin Laden is very wanted for the things he did. Not only is the Secret Sevices are looking for him, the police and the politics are also demanding his arrest. The person who arrests Osama Bin Laden or the person who gives the best information to find this criminal will get five million dollars. This reward was offered after the attacks on the 11th of September

All over the world the politicians were surprised by the attacks. Out of fear for other terrorist crimes in their own country, the governments of many countries decided to make arrangements for the defense of the country. I’ll tell you something about these arrangements:

American military installations in Holland get extra protection.

More opportunities to freeze suspected bank-accounts, so the money can't used for any terrorist actions.

Development of identification-possibilities like hand and iris scans so a person can be better identified.

In France they set in a lot of police and army personal at train stations, airports and other public buildings. They even set rockets at the nuclear power stations. Not all European countries use this sort of arrangements.

In Holland there is a strict control on passports and they check suspected transactions. They also have a very good contact with other European countries.

3 minuten stilte

In memory of the many sacrifices on the 11th of September a three minute silence was held. Besides that, many condolence registers were opened for people who wanted to express their compassion.

Many emails were sent, so you can add your name to the list as a sign of compassion. Several sites were made on the internet. They include a condolence register as well as a list of missing persons and a list of the known victims

In several countries all over the world where offical American buildings where, like embassies, people put flowers. Some people even set out to New York to help look for the missing people. Many people wanted to help but didn’t know what to do. From the Netherlands, a team with dogs set out to New York, hoping they could be of some help finding the missing people.

As you see, it’s very clear how worried everyone was about all the sacrifices and how willingly they were to do something for the victims and their families. Several thankfull messages appeared on television.

Our personal opinion

We were very frightened by the terrorist attacks. It was of large importance to us and many other people, especially in the United States. On the one hand, we think the bombing to exterminate the terrorists is good, but innocent victims aren’t. That is something we don’t accept, but when the terrorist crimes continue, many innocent victims will be demanded too. That’s the other thing we think of. We can’t decide what’s better to do.
The war isn’t over yet, so we can’t say everything is all right. The search for Osama Bin Laden and the Al Qaeda network goes on. We hope that it’ll all be over soon. And this way we end our talk.