Leid Stories - 09/11/13

 

The 911 Attack and the Syria Crisis: Connecting the Dots

On this day 12 years ago, 19 al-Qaeda terrorists boarded four passenger planes en route to California from Boston, Newark and Washington, D.C., airports. They were on suicide missions – to use the planes as bombs and blow up iconic buildings, hoping for a high body count.  

They succeeded in bringing down the twin towers of the World Trade Center, and they plowed deep into the Pentagon’s fortified walls. Passengers on the fourth plane, however, tackled its four hijackers. That plane did not reach its target, said to be either the Capitol building or the White House. Instead it crashed into a field near Shanksville, Penn., just outside of Pittsburgh.

Thus began the United States’ most recent military entanglements with the Arab world.

As President Obama ups the ante with Syria, Leid Stories’ listeners connect the dots to answer the question: What’s wrong with U.S. policy in the region?