President Joe Biden has ordered all U.S. combat troops to withdraw from Afghanistan by Aug. 31. This is a monumental time and perhaps we need to remember why we went to war in the first place. Nearly 20 years ago on Sept. 11, 2001, the United States of America was suddenly attacked by a group of terrorists who were members of the Islamic extremist group al-Qaida, based out of Afghanistan. Their leader was Osama bin Laden, a Saudi Arabia fugitive living among the Taliban in Afghanistan.
The attack occurred during the morning, when 19 militants hijacked four passenger airplanes armed with box cutters in their carry-on luggage and planned to use those planes as weapons against predesignated targets in the U.S. The militants used the box cutters to kill all the crew members of the airplanes. These militants had taken flying lessons before the attack so they would know how to control and fly a plane with skill. The attackers then turned the planes around to hit their targets. The first two targets were the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. The third target was the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane went down in a field in Pennsylvania after passengers overcame the hijackers. The television news reporters on the scene that morning spoke with trembling voices as the film clips showed the airplanes aiming in a twisted and sickening angle at the buildings and hit with a burst of fire. Nearly 3,000 people were killed that day. Not since Pearl Harbor Day on Dec. 7, 1941 had America seen such a day.
Most Americans were scared on 9/11, but not all. Some were called to serve and protect their country in a time of war. We know this generation as the 9/11 generation. Among the men and women who enlisted after the attacks on 9/11 was my son, who was a junior in high school at the time. On that day he changed his plans to go to seminary to become a chaplain, to serve his country in the U.S. military after graduating high school. This 9/11 generation went through the longest war in the history of America. It is appropriate to take a moment to remember all those who marched away from their homes and family into harm’s way and not counting the cost to themselves. Every single man and woman who answered the call to arms when our country needed them — let us not forget.
— Margaret Ann Woods
Palmer
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