Click2Disasters - September 11: America Attacked - Chapter 1 - Preface

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top><table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff cellpadding=5> <tr> <td align=center valign=top><div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>SEPTEMBER 11:<br> AMERICA ATTACKED</b></font></p>  <table width="590"> <tr> <td align="CENTER" valign="top" bgcolor="000000" colspan=2><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="3" color="FFFFFF"><b>STORY CHAPTER LINKS</b></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td align=center valign=top width=50%>  <table width="100%" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5" border="0"> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><a href="the_titanic_ch1.htm"><b>1. STORY PREFACE</b></a></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="50%"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="america_attacked_ch2.htm">2. THE WORLD TRADE CENTER</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="50%"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="america_attacked_ch3.htm">3. THE ATTACK - FLIGHT 11</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="america_attacked_ch4.htm">4. THE ATTACK - FLIGHT 175</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="america_attacked_ch5.htm">5. THE ATTACK - FLIGHT 77</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="america_attacked_ch6.htm">6. THE ATTACK - FLIGHT 93</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="america_attacked_ch7.htm">7. THE TOWERS COLLAPSE</a></b></font> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> <td align=center valign=top width=50%>  <table width=304 cellpadding=5 cellspacing=5 border=0> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="280"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="america_attacked_ch8.htm">8. WHY THE TOWERS FELL</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="280"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="america_attacked_ch9.htm">9. PRIOR ATTACKS - WTC BOMBING</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="280"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="america_attacked_ch10.htm">10. PRIOR ATTACKS - EMBASSY BOMBINGS</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="280"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="america_attacked_ch11.htm">11. PRIOR ATTACKS - <i>USS COLE</i></a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="280"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="america_attacked_ch12.htm">12. AMERICA RESPONDS</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="280"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="america_attacked_ch13.htm">13. SEPTEMBER 11 REMEMBERED</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="280"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="america_attacked_ch14.htm">14. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS</a></b></font> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table>  <p><b><font size="3"><u><a name="preface">PREFACE</a></u></font></b></p> <div align=center><font face="Times New Roman" color="000000" size="3"><b><i>The World Trade Center is a living symbol<br> of man's dedication to world peace.</b></i><br><br> <a href="http://www.washington.edu/alumni/columns/dec99/yamasaki.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Minoru Yamasaki</b></a><br> Chief <a href="http://www.graduatingengineer.com/articles/feature/images/YAMASAKI_large.jpg" target="_blank">Architect</a><br> of the World Trade Center</b></font><br><br> </div> <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">Shining brilliantly in the clear blue sky above America’s east coast, the sun promised a good travel day. People boarding planes in New York and Washington, D.C. would encounter few, if any, air-traffic delays on this Tuesday morning.</p> <p>The summer of 2001 was nearing its end as thousands of <a href="http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bin/gbi.cgi/World_Trade_Center_Images.html/cid_manhattan_before_si_01-crp.gbi" target="_blank"><b>lower Manhattan</b></a> office workers followed their usual morning routine. Many worked in the <a href="http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/911/images/02016v.jpg" target="_blank"><b>skyline-defining</b></a> twin towers of the World Trade <a href="http://www.graduatingengineer.com/articles/feature/images/siteplan.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Center</b></a>. In Washington, meanwhile, employees of the Department of Defense were at their desks in a newly reinforced section of the <a href="http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bin/gbi.cgi/The_Pentagon.html/cid_pentagon_usgov_01.gbi" target="_blank"><b>Pentagon</b></a>.</p> <p>On this September 11 morning, four planes left American airports within twelve minutes of each other. Aboard each of those planes were terrorists who were part of a coordinated plan to kill innocent people. Had the weather been bad, or the flights delayed for some other reason, the terrorists’ meticulously well-planned actions may not have occurred as they did.</p> <p>But this is not the story of what might-have-been. It is the story of the worst attack on U.S. soil since the bombing of Pearl Harbor.</p> </div> <p align="right"><font size="2"><a href="america_attacked_ch2.htm">GO TO CHAPTER 2</a></font></p><br>  </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table>  </body>