The Twin Towers free essay sample

Donald E. Crawford U. S History June 10, 2009 The Attacks of the World Trade Centers Over 200,000 tons of steel, 425,000 cubic yards of concrete, a total of 10,000 workers and 7 years, 2 buildings were created known as the World Trade Centers. Its more than its signature twin towers: it was a complex of seven buildings on 16-acres with its own zip code (10048). The construction of the buildings began in 1966 and was completed in April 1973, with the North tower opening 2 years prior of the South. They both consist of 110 floors, and were ranked as the tallest buildings in the world until the Sears Towers was built in 1974. The towers were built downtown-lower Manhattan Development Association by Chase Manhattan Bank chairman David Rockefeller who believed that the towers would benefit the city. Although the towers were a complete accomplishment 60 workers died during the construction. There were 43,600 windows and 99 elevators that can carry about 55 people with a 10,000 pound capacity and can travel up to 27 feet per second. The towers contained 430 businesses from 26 different countries and held up to 5,000 office workers. It had 6 basements and 3 Subway railway stations. Five different channel news stations were also in the Towers along with medical centers and banks. Many restaurants were also included in both Towers. Williams 2 Friday, February 26, 1993 was the date of the first attack on the Twin Towers. It all started with a man named Ramzi Yousef who was trying to be known for the best designer of explosives. Ramzi went to college for electrical engineering and then attended Al Qaeda training camps in a region between Pakistan and Afghanistan, where he learned the advantages and disadvantages of firearms and explosives. His first major attack was the bombing of the World Trade Center. No one really knows or have a clue to what really caused Ramzi to attack, but all we know is that the attack was one of the worst attacks in the city of New York. On the morning of February 26, Ramzi drove a Raydar van (which he rented 2 days before) into the parking garage of one of the World Trade Center buildings. He then lit a 20-foot fuse bomb and quickly drove away. 12 minutes later the bomb exploded and instantly cut off the main electrical power line in the tower. The bomb was so powerful that the smoke rose up to the 93rd floor in the tower. It was very difficult to evacuate the people in the towers due to the fact that the smoke was very thick in the halls and the stairways. Many wondered what was going on and all was terrified and confused into why the building was smoking. Not being able to see caused a lot of people being trapped inside the tower longer than others. A group of 17 kindergartners were trapped in the elevators along with hundreds of other people amongst both towers. people were killed and 1,042 were injured altogether during the process of trying to evacuate. Most of the people injured were on the lower floors because they were Williams 3 right above the garage. The explosion damaged the garage badly but didn’t cause the towers to collapse. Ramzi’s original plan was to bomb the first tower so it can fall into the second tower, killing thousands of people and destroying both towers. Many wondered why he attacked at a time that was less crowed than usual. Surprisingly the towers took less than a month to be repaired, cleaned, and back in business. It wasn’t long before everything went back to normal and the minor tragedy faded out of society’s memory. It wouldn’t be until 8 years later that America’s eyes would be reopened. Tuesday, September 11, 2001, seemed like a pretty average day until 8:46 a. m. , something tragic happen that will change every American. American Airlines Flight 11 leaving Boston crashed into the North Tower between the 96th and the 103rd floor, killing all 92 passengers, including the 9 flight attendants and both pilots. Just 15 minutes later, United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower on the 80th floor killing 65 passengers. When the first plane crashed, thousands of people who were on the 96th floor or above were killed instantly. Although the 106th floor wasn’t hit, everyone above that floor was also killed, due to the fact that their escape routes were cut off by fire. Most people jumped out the windows because there was nothing else to do nor was there anywhere to go. After witnessing the plane hit the first tower, people in the second tower began to fear for their lives and try to escape, but they were told to stay at their desks thinking that their uilding wouldn’t be Williams 4 attacked, but little did they know moments later they were hit. Although the North Tower was hit first, the South Tower had collapsed less than in hour later, due to the fact that it was hit lower. All firefighters, soldiers, police officers and everyone else who was trying to escape were crushed. Exactly 29 minutes later, the North Tower joined its twin as it crashed onto the ground killing hundreds and thous ands of people that was in and around both towers. People on the ground were running for their lives as clouds of debris and smoke covered the streets of lower Manhattan. Due to the fact that the Twin Towers was big, no one really knows exactly how many people were dead, but they were able to estimate that about 2,985 people were dead or missing, including the 19 hijackers. The North Tower has been estimated to have killed almost 1,402 people, and the South 614 people. There were mostly people between the ages of 35 and 39 that died. About 3,051 children lost their family members. 89 bodies were found and 19,858 body parts were found. The attack also destroyed 98 vehicles, and 99 days after the attack the fire continued to burn. Of all the people who were still in the towers when they collapsed, only 20 were pulled out alive. Over the next 8 months, the New York Fire Department was divided into four groups and was assigned to organize, clean-up, and search for survivors and human remains. 1. 8 million tons of debris was removed from the disaster site and it cost almost 600 million dollars to clean all of it up. Lots of people thought that it would take over a year to clean up all of the debris left by the towers, but Williams 5 they were finished by May 30, 2002 without any workers being seriously injured. May 2006 was the re-opening of The World Trade Center. The attack on the World Trade Center was a horrendous action towards the United States that affected all Americans. Thousands of people died on September 11, and those people will be forever remembered. In the beginning, the attack was believed to be an attack by terrorists. The United States government told its people that terrorists from the Middle East maliciously hijacked planes and crashed them into the heart of New York City. There is much footage of the plane crashes, leaving a mental scar in the brains of the witnesses. While many believe that what the government is telling them is true, my opinion differs. I honestly don’t believe that terrorists from the Middle East attacked the United States. On the contrary, I believe that the United States is behind the 9/11 attack. It seems very strange how the building collapsed. The planes were crashed into the World Trade Center very high above the ground; the crashes were about the same position in both buildings. It makes very little sense how two buildings would collapse, from the foundation up, when the damage was clearly above the ground. I believe the United States used the Middle East as a scapegoat. The US government needed an excuse to invade the Middle East because Saddam Hussein has been a problem to the US for decades. When the government had their reason, they invaded the Middle East in search for Saddam.