September 11 Terrorist Attacks
On September 11, 2001, nineteen Al-Qaeda hijackers seized four American commercial airliners. Two were flown into the World Trade Center towers in New York City, one into the Pentagon, and one crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers fought the hijackers. Nearly 3,000 people were killed — the deadliest foreign attack on U.S. soil in history. The attacks reshaped American foreign policy, triggering wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, the PATRIOT Act, mass surveillance programs, and the indefinite detention facility at Guantánamo Bay.
- Year: 2001 CE
- Category: Military
