By Kristen Kauffman

On September 11, 2001, 19 terrorists coordinated attacks on civilians in the United States in three different locations–Pennsylvania, New York City and Washington D.C. The terrorists were members of al-Qaeda, motivated to (as they thought) force the U.S. out of the Middle East. More than 6,000 people were injured in the attacks, 265 people died in the planes (including some of the terrorists), 2,606 people died at the World Trade Center and in the surrounding area in Manhattan, and 125 people died at the Pentagon. As the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were involved in so much international business, these losses were felt by almost 90 countries, not just the United States, as was the terrorists’ intention. While all of the attacks were horrific, the most poignant images which persist are of one plane hitting one of the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers, shortly followed by another. Seeing the planes fly into the towers was so overwhelming that, for five years after the event, television networks restricted or banned the use of these traumatizing images.