America Stands Tall

9.11.01: one year later - the images

Two men, identified as Mohammed Atta, right, and Abdulaziz Alomari, pass through airport security at Portland International Jetport Sept. 11, 2001. Later that morning, they hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 out of Boston. At 8:45 a.m., the plane flew into the World Trade Center.

At 9:03 a.m., United Airlines Flight 175 from Boston heads toward the south tower of the World Trade Center.

President BushÆs Chief of Staff Andy Card whispers into the ear of the president during a visit to a school in Florida. ôA second plane just hit the tower,ö Card told the president. ôAmerica is under attack.ö

At 9:43, American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

The south tower of the World Trade Center begins to collapse at 10:05 a.m. The north tower fell at 10:28.

At 10:10 a.m., United Airlines Flight 93 crashes in Shanksville, Pa. Passengers using cell phones were told of the World Trade Center attacks, and overwhelmed their hijackers, causing the crash and likely saving the lives of many others.

From the moment of the attacks, suspicion began to focus on Saudi billionaire Osama bin Laden. On Sept. 13, Secretary of State Colin Powell identified bin Laden as the prime suspect.ö

National guardsmen check the identification papers of a man in the Wall Street area Monday, Sept. 17, the first day of trading at the New York stocks markets since the attacks.

President Bush holds the badge of New York Police Officer George Howard ù who died trying to save others at the World Trade Center ù during his address to a Joint Session of Congress Sept. 20. ôThe hour is coming when America will act,ö Bush said.

Tampa Bay baseball players watch President Bush during his address to the nation Oct. 7. Bush announced the beginning of air strikes in Afghanistan, saying, ôWe will not tire, we will not falter, we will not fail.ö

As part of the propaganda campaign in Afghanistan, U.S. and British jets dropped leaflets depicting a woman being beaten and asking, ôDo you want this future for your children and women?öö

This envelope sent to NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw contained anthrax. A similar letter was sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. The anthrax scare hit several media outlets and government offices and had Americans worried about bioterrorism in October.

The House of RepresentativesÆ side of the U.S. Capitol is closed during a sweep for anthrax contamination Oct. 18. All six House and Senate buildings were closed for testing.

Taliban fighters, prisoners of war, sit in a prison in Khwala-Bahaudin, an anti-Taliban northern stronghold in Takhar province on Oct. 17.ö

Aid workers Dayna Curry, left, and Heather Mercer speak in Pakistan Nov. 16. The two told of their terror during months of Taliban captivity, their dramatic rescue at the hands of anti-Taliban troops and American special forces, and their hopes for a free Afghanistan.

ôAmerican Talibanö John Walker Lindh, right, was among survivors of a prison revolt in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan on Dec. 1. American CIA operative Johnny Michael Spann died in the operation. Spann was the first American to die in combat in the war in Afghanistan.

On Dec. 11, Zacarias Moussaoui became the first person charged in the Sept. 11 attacks. He attempted to plead guilty July 18, but the judge insisted he take a week to think about it. Moussaoui withdrew his plea a week later.

Osama bin Laden is shown in a videotape released by the Department of Defense Dec. 13. U.S. officials translated audio conversations on the tape from Arabic to English.

Eastern Alliance soldiers sit on a ridge as smoke billows from an area near Tora Bora, Afghanistan Dec. 15. The U.S. military pounded the caves and mountains, believing bin Laden was in Tora Bora. Officials eventually conceded they are uncertain of his whereabouts.

Richard Reid is arrested after a Dec. 22 incident in which he allegedly tried to ignite an explosive hidden in his shoes during a flight from Paris to Miami. The plane was diverted to Boston after passengers and crew subdued Reid.

Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was reported missing in Pakistan on Jan. 23. Later, police were directed to his dismembered body by three men who were arrested in Karachi in connection with the kidnapping and murder.

A flag-draped stretcher symbolizing the people who died Sept. 11 and were never recovered is loaded onto an ambulance, while an honor guard salutes. The procession leaving the World Trade Center was part of a ceremony marking the end of the cleanup and recovery effort in New York on May 30, 2002.

A grieving Afghan man wails in Kandahar on Sept. 7, 2002 as he is carried out of a mosque after seeing the body of his friend, who died trying to disarm a gunman during the assassination attempt on Hamid Karzai. The Afghan president was uninjured, although a bodyguard and the attacker were also killed.

24. Vice President Dick Cheney discusses the Bush administrationÆs case for action against Iraq on NBCÆs ôMeet the Pressö on Sept. 8, 2002.