Eight years ago, on this date, America suffered its biggest terrorist attacks. On September 11, 2001 nineteen Islamic terrorists hijacked 4 commercial airplanes and turned them into guided missiles as they zeroed in on the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan in New York and elsewhere. These planes had just taken off from various New York airports and were fully laden with fuel. Within a span of 17 minutes, two hijacked airliners crashed into the North and South Tower of the World Trade Center respectively. Ninety minutes later, both towers collapsed, killing more than 2,600 people in these two buildings.
A third hijacked plane crashed into the Pentagon 34 minutes later, killing 125 people there. A fourth hijacked plane crashed 34 minutes after the Pentagon attack, but this one failed to hit its target as the hijackers were overpowered by the passengers who were aware of what was going on elsewhere. No one knew for sure where the original target was. There were speculations that it could be the White House, Capitol Hill or Camp David. Altogether 256 passengers and crew died in the four planes, including the hijackers.
Who were these hijackers? They were 19 young Arabs under the control of Al Qaeda, the Islamist extremist organization based in then Afghanistan, whose leader is Osama Bin Laden.
When I first saw the scene of planes crashing into the World Trade Center on CNN and other major news channels on TV, I couldn’t believe it was for real. My initial thought was that it was a movie. But slowly the truth and the gravity of the situation sank in.
Sadly among the more than 2,600 people who perished in the terrorists attack on the World Trade Center, one of them was known to me. He was a young man. He was working in elsewhere originally. Then he got a new job at a bank, a well deserved career enhancing move into the world of high finance. But barely 11 days into his new job, and certainly too short a time to fully enjoy his new office and its fantastic view, he perished in the fire that engulfed the World Trade Center.
Think about it. What made these 19 young people agree to become mass murderers? Were they deceived? Were they promised some interesting rewards in the afterlife? If so, what made them believe it? And again if so, why didn’t the leaders sitting pretty safe in far away Afganistan volunteer themselves if only to receive such rewards? My friend died in that fiery inferno. For what purpose did he die for? Did he have a choice?
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I think these people are deceived by what their organisation has been teaching. There are many lies that appears to be true, therefore they were deluded into believing the lie found in the organisation. But there is one truth that will always set us free, and I think these people thought that they had found the truth but sadly, they did not.