User blog:Kerri Amber/In Memoriam...

On September 11, 2001, at 8:46 AM Eastern Standard Time, a great tragedy occurred: American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the World Trade Center's north tower in New York City. This, however, was no freak accident: the flight had been hijacked by 5 al-Qaeda operatives. 17 minutes later, at 9:03 AM, United Airlines Flight 175, also hijacked by al-Qaeda, crashed into the south tower. In less than 2 seemingly-endless hours, both towers had completely collapsed. No one on either flight survived, nor did many of those within the World Trade Center: 2,752 innocent people died that day.

al-Qaeda's leader, Osama bin Laden, claimed full responsibility for the planning of the attacks on the World Trade Center. Almost immediately, he went into hiding, so that he could continue to lead al-Qaeda's terrorist operations around the globe. The United States began a campaign to search for him. As far as the world knew, the search had been unsuccessful. Until now.

On May 1st, United States President Barack Obama announced a monumental piece of information: bin Laden was dead. He had been killed by U.S. Navy SEALs at around 3:00 PM Eastern Standard Time during a raid on his safehouse in Abbottābad, Pakistan.

His death brings closure to the thousands of people who lost a family member or friend on that fateful day in September of 2001. However, we should all offer a moment of silent prayer to those who lost a relative or friend, and, most importantly, the thousands of innocent people killed in the World Trade Center attacks.

Sactage 00:47, May 3, 2011 (UTC)