By Jody Brown
September 11, 2001

(AgapePress) - Earlier today, both of the towers of the World Trade Center in Manhattan and the Pentagon in Washington were rammed by airplanes that apparently had been hijacked. Both of the towers have now collapsed. In addition, scattered explosions have been reported near the White House and the State Department. President Bush has called the incidents "an apparent terrorist attack on our country."

Both airplanes that rammed the Trade Center have been confirmed to be large passenger jets. One was an American Airlines Boeing 767 en route from Boston to Los Angeles. It was carrying 81 passengers, nine flight attendants, and two pilots. The other was also an American Airlines flight, this one a Boeing 757, en route from Dulles Airport in Washington to Los Angeles. That flight was carrying 58 passengers, four flight attendants, and two pilots.

Eyewitnesses in Manhattan report seeing people jump from windows in the World Trade Center before its collapse. Authorities say fatalities in the collapsed buildings could be in the thousands. New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has ordered Manhattan to be evacuated.

According to news reports, the FBI was investigating a reported hijacking this morning shortly before the incidents occurred in Manhattan, just before and just after 9:00 a.m. Eastern time. An Islamic terrorist group, according to Reuters News, has claimed responsibility for those two plane crashes.

Two other large passenger jets have also crashed today. One of them was a United Airlines Boeing 757 en route from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco. That flight, which was carrying 38 passengers, two pilots, and five flight attendants, went down southeast of Pittsburgh. According to one congressman, that apparently-hijacked plane may have been headed for the Presidential retreat at Camp David in the mountains of Maryland. Virginia Democrat James Moran says he got his information at a Marine Corps briefing.

The other was a United Airlines Boeing 767 bound from Boston to Los Angeles. That flight, which is reported to have gone down near Denver, was carrying 56 passengers, two pilots, and seven flight attendants.

Pentagon, President
A wing of the Pentagon was also rammed by a commercial airliner shortly after the attacks on the World Trade center. The portion of the Pentagon damaged by the crash has since collapsed. Rescue efforts are under way at the scene of the tragedy.

After the attack on the Pentagon, the White House was evacuated. President Bush, who was in Florida when the initial attack occurred, boarded Air Force One and was given a military escort to a military base in Louisiana before moving on to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska. He has called the incidents "acts of terrorism" and "a national tragedy." He has vowed the U.S. "will show the world that we will pass this test."

The President has ordered the nation's military to its highest alert, while condemning the acts of a "faceless coward." According to news reports, all elected leaders of the U.S. have been moved to a safe place. The Federal Aviation Administration, under the direction of Transportation Secretary Norman Mannetta, has shut down all airports in the country. That shutdown will be in effect until noon tomorrow.

World Reaction
According to Associated Press, Palestinians and Iraqis have been rejoicing even as the rest of the world watches the images of horror from the United States. The news service says thousands of Palestinians danced in the streets in celebration of the terrorist attacks in Washington and New York. And Iraqi television played a patriotic song that begins with the words "Down with America!" as images of the World Trade Center's towers falling were displayed on the screen.

Reaction elsewhere has been that of shock and horror. Leaders from Great Britain to Egypt have condemned the attacks. Police in Paris, Moscow, Warsaw, and Berlin are all high alert, and many nations have beefed up security at U.S. embassies.

Fox News points out there may be significance attached to today's date and the obvious orchestrated attack on the U.S. On September 11, 1922, a British mandate was proclaimed in Palestine, despite Arab protests. It lasted until 1948, after the United Nations authorized a partition of the territory and the state of Israel was established.

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