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20 years later: Looking back at the 9/11 terrorist attacks

20 years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. On the day of the attacks, WRAL News provided the Triangle with continuous coverage and local updates throughout the day.

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Memories of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, are fresh in many Americans minds 20 years later.

For some, it's the striking image on the TV screen of the Twin Towers on fire. Or the photo captured of the man falling from the burning towers, headfirst. Others remember the streets marked with makeshift memorials, with families mourning beside them.

The 9/11 anniversary events today mark the solemn moments that upended America 20 years ago.

By the end of the day, President Joe Biden will have visited all sites of the 9/11 attacks, to pay his respects to the victims. Biden marked the milestone anniversary, his first as president, weeks after the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan nearly two decades after the U.S. first knocked them from power in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.

**EMBARGO: No electronic distribution, Web posting or street sales before 3:01 a.m. ET Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021. No exceptions for any reasons. EMBARGO set by source.** The front page of The New York Times on Sept. 12, 2001. The weeks and months that followed the attacks were a defining time for many, including on Wall Street. (The New York Times)

Former presidents Obama, Clinton and Bush all attended 9/11 memorials today, displaying a sign of unity. Former president and New York native Donald J. Trump did not attend the memorial services with the other presidents. His ally and lawyer Rudy Gulliani, former mayor of New York, was at the event.

"In the weeks and months following the 9/11 attacks, I was proud to lead an amazing, resilient, united people. When it comes to the unity of America, those days seem distant from our own," Bush said.

A man watches the sunrise over Freedom Tower and Manhattan, from the Empty Sky Memorial in Jersey City, N.J. on the morning of 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, Sept. 11, 2021. (Bryan Anselm/The New York Times).

"So much of our politics has become a naked appeal to anger, fear and resentment. That leaves us worried about our nation and our future together. I come without explanations or solutions. I can only tell you what I've seen. On America's day of trial and grief, I saw millions of people instinctively grab for a neighbor's hand and rally to the cause of one another. That is the America I know."

Bush also warned the country of domestic terrorism threats, saying that there is "little cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home."

"They are children of the same foul spirit and it's our continuing duty to confront them," he said.

President Biden spoke briefly with reporters after leaving Shanksville on Saturday afternoon, praising former President Bush's speech.

“I thought President Bush made a really good speech today, a genuinely good speech, about who we are, we’re not — the core of who we are is not divided, it’s just this notion of, I don’t know how to explain it,” Biden said.

Before leaving Pennsylvania on Saturday, Biden addressed the fragility of American democracy. He said he's become appalled at how coarse dialogue has become between the two political parties.

"Are we going to — in the next four, five, six, 10 years — demonstrate that democracies can work, or not?” he told reporters.

Vice President Kamala Harris also spoke at Saturday's events, reflecting on the heroism of Flight 93 passengers.

**EMBARGO: No electronic distribution, Web posting or street sales before 3:01 a.m. ET Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021. No exceptions for any reasons. EMBARGO set by source.** FILE -- People watch smoke rise from the World Trade Center at the park in Eagle Rock Reservation, N.J., Sept. 11, 2001. The weeks and months that followed the attacks were a defining time for many, including on Wall Street. (Keith Meyers/The New York Times)

"In a time of outright terror, we turned toward each other. In the face of a stranger, we saw a neighbor and a friend. That time reminded us the significance and the strength of our unity as Americans, and that it is possible in America," she said.

“On the days that followed Sept. 11, 2001, we were all reminded that unity is possible in America," she said. "We were reminded, too, that unity is imperative in America. It is essential to our shared prosperity, our national security, and to our standing in the world.”

On the day of the attacks, WRAL News provided the Triangle with continuous coverage and local updates throughout the day.

"We were so hungry for information, but at the same time we were really scared to see what was going to happen next," said Debra Morgan, WRAL anchor and reporter. She was on the air, bringing the Triangle updates, through her tears.

WRAL News crews were sent to Washington and New York to cover the aftermath of the attacks.

"It was an overwhelming day of terror," reporter Cullen Browder describes.
WRAL anchor/reporter David Crabtree said he came into the newsroom and the news team was distraught. "We had to do our jobs," Crabtree said, despite the collective horror.
Gerald Owens wasn't working at WRAL at the time. He was a sports anchor in Washington, sitting at home on his day off, when the Pentagon was hit. "I went to work, because I couldn't sit still. I had to be part of it, in any way I could," Owens said.

Reporter Scott Mason traveled to Washington, D.C., to cover the attacks on the Pentagon. Mason said that he was there to tell what happened, but also to provide people with hope. That's what kept him afloat while covering the terrorist attacks. "I felt that I was meant to be there, doing these patriotic stories," he said.

A Cary man who had just started a job at the World Trade Center after graduating from North Carolina State University, helped save a handicapped woman by carrying her down 69 flights of stairs. Moments after he and the woman exited the building, it collapsed.
A man from Greensboro, who owns a demolition company, drove to New York City the day after the attacks to help with the clean up. His company was hired to clean up the 17 million square feet of rubble, often finding bones and bodies, he said.
A woman from Moore County, Deborah Borza, lost her daughter in the 9/11 attacks. After her daughter's death, she found a diary, where her daughter dreamed of peace.
Paul McHale, from Brooklyn, was working in the North Tower of the World Trade Center during the attacks. He lost his job and moved to Wake Forest to start a new life, using federal funds for victims of the attack.

Dozens of men from North Carolina were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. 24-year-old Marine Mark Adams died after a roadside bomb exploded near him in Iraq.

The nearly 20-year occupation of Afghanistan came to an end on Aug. 31, bringing an end to America's longest war. Its death toll is in the many tens of thousands, and generations of U.S. taxpayers will continue to pay off debt accumulated from the war. The data below comes from the Watson Institute International and Public Affairs at Brown University.
  • 2,448 American service members were killed in Afghanistan
  • 3,826 U.S. contractors were killed in Afghanistan
  • 66,000 Afghan military members and police officers
  • 47,245 Afghan civilians

Forbes estimated that the war cost Americans $300 million each day, for 20 years. By 2050, the United States will have spent $6.5 trillion on the war, including interest rates.

On Sept. 11, 2021, family members who lost loved ones in the 9/11 attacks called for the government to de-classify documents relating to the Flight 93 plane crash. Last week, President Joe Biden ordered a new declassification review of documents related t the attack.

Families continue to search for justice for the 9/11 terrorist attacks. This month, relatives of 9/11 victims called for the Justice Department's inspector general to investigate the FBI's handling of evidence from its investigation into the hijackers and their associates.
The 20th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, arrives on the heels on one of the deadliest attacks on United States forces in a decade just days before the last U.S. troops pulled out of Afghanistan.

Officials say that our country is much more secure and safe than it was 20 years ago.

“We're safer here at home, because we’ve got an integrated intelligence community and law enforcement in a way that we never had, pre 9/11,” Michael Leiter told NBC News. “We're safer globally, because we have a network of allies who have similar structure set up. ... None of that means we're safe, but we are absolutely safer than we were 20 years ago.”

Over the years, the CIA and military have killed thousands of militants in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Syria. That effort has severely weakened Islamic extremists forces from initiating another attack, NBC reports.

Sept. 11, 2001: Terrorists from the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda hijacked airliners and flew them into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Virginia. A fourth plane crashed in empty field outside of Shanksville, Pa. The intended target of that plane is still a mystery.
Sept. 18, 2001: President George W. Bush signed a resolution authorizing the use of force against those responsible for the terrorist attacks. In this resolution, the president is permitted to "use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed or aided" the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Oct. 7, 2001: The United States began bombing the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Operatives with the Central Intelligence Agency conquered Kabul a month later.
December 2001: The leader of Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, fled to Pakistan.
April 17, 2002: Congress approved $38 billion in spending to help rebuild Afghanistan, and the U.S. creates a new government in Kabul.
March 20, 2003: Iraq fails to turn over weapons of mass destruction, so the United States and British troops work to invade Baghdad.
May 1, 2003: Bush declares that the mission in Iraq is "accomplished." At this time, nearly 20,000 U.S. troops were in Afghanistan as the Taliban began a resurgence.
2006 - 2009: The Taliban seizes land in parts of Afghanistan, and the U.S.-installed president wins a second election. President Barack Obama orders 17,000 more troops to head to Afghanistan to stabilize the region and rid the country of the Taliban. By 2009, nearly 100,000 troops are in Afghanistan.
May 2, 2011: Obama announced in a late-night broadcast that the U.S. and CIA located and killed Osama bin Laden in a nighttime raid on his compound in Pakistan. Obama says he will begin withdrawing some troops from Afghanistan as he initiates formal peace talks with the Taliban. U.S. troops leave Iraq, nearly nine years after they first arrived. No weapons of mass destruction were found while the U.S. occupied the country.
2015: Violence continues in Afghanistan as the Taliban steps up their attacks and take more land. During this time, ISIS emerged as a key player in the region. The Taliban's new leader is killed in a U.S. drone attack in Pakistan.
Aug. 15, 2021: More quickly than expected, the Taliban seizes control of major cities in Afghanistan with little push back. The current U.S.-backed president flees the country as the government collapses. Even as the Taliban is gaining more land, President Joe Biden pushes for a full U.S. withdraw.
The last American soldier to leave Afghanistan: Maj. Gen. Chris Donahue. Photo from the U.S. Department of Defense.
Aug. 26, 2021: As America works to evacuate as many allies as possible, the Islamic State's Afghan affiliate kills nearly 200 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members in a suicide bombing.
Aug. 29, 2021: As troops hurried to evacuate the country, the United States fired its last known military into the country, calling it a "righteous strike." U.S. officials hit a vehicle that they thought contained an Islamic State bomb. But a New York Times investigation found that there was no evidence that vehicle was connected to I.S.I.S.

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