September+11

About 9 months into Bush's first term, the nation experienced a tragedy. On September 11, 2001, four planes were hijacked by 19 terrorists. Two hit the World Trade Center in New York city, one hit the Pentagon near Washington, D.C. and one crashed in rural Pennsylvania. A woman who whitnessed the attack in New York City remembers:

"At the Wall St. train stop people were covered with papers. A plane crash. That's what everyone said. Then a boom. Everyone ran. I ran to my office and called my brother in the Midwest. I wanted to be closer. At the corner of Church and Broadway, I angled my way through a large, packed crowd to get the best view. We talked about people jumping. The police stood behind the yellow tape. Minutes later, there was a boom. I thought it was a bomb, so I crouched, but people ran, so I ran. I couldn't see anything. I don't know how far I ran. Couldn't see where I was running. Didn't know if I was in a street or next to a building. Didn't know what street I was on. No one could talk because the dust filled our throats. After about ten steps I tripped over a pile of people and then people tripped on me." ("First-Hand Account of 9/11).

An estimated 3,000 to 4,000 people died, which was the biggest loss of life on American soil since the Civil War. The attacks had an huge effect on the economy. That day the Stock Market closed for a week and consumer spending went down tremendously, especially travel and tourism industries. America was devastated and terrified. Countries around the world were helping to find the mastermind behind the attack and soon enough Government officals had reason to believe that Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda terrorist network were responsible for the attacks. America was now after Osama bin Laden and knew he was hiding in Afghanistan under the Taliban, a radical political group that believed the nation should be purely Islamic. America demanded that the Taliban hand bin Laden over, however they refused. Then a couple weeks later anthorax threats plagued the world and four Americans died of anthorax exposure. The anthorax threats were associated with terrorists.

Because the terrorist attacks on 9/11 were realated back to Afganistan in the Middle East, some Americans took hatred on Arab and Muslim Americans. People would assemble on Mosques and protest, several taxi cab drivers were taken out of their cars and physcally and verbally assulted, and women wearing //hijabs,// the head scarves that many Muslim women choose to wear as part of their faith, were verbally assaulted in the streets. In airports racial profiling boomed with security guards searching Arab and Muslim Americans for no reason.