Answer the questions:

1. What is this document based on? Where does this information come from?

2. What was the purpose of this document?

3. These terrorist incidents are classified chronologically. What other criteria could be chosen?

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Terrorism in the usa

Thousands of innocent people, many citizens of Europe among them, became victims of terrorism in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania on 11 September 2001. Many died in a selfless and heroic effort to save the lives of others.

I. Sequence the news story in a logical way and retell the key events in five sentences. Write your own headline. News story activity

___ Thousands could be dead or injured, a high-ranking New York City police official said.

___ American Airlines initially said the Trade Center was hit by two of its planes, both hijacked, carrying a total of 156 people. But the airline later said that was unconfirmed. Two United airliners with a total of 110 aboard also crashed – one outside Pittsburgh, the other in a location not immediately identified. Altogether, the planes had 266 people aboard.

___ A plane also slammed into the Defense Department as the government itself came under attack.

___ “This is perhaps the most audacious terrorists attack that’s ever taken place in the world,” said Chris Tales, an aviation expert at Jane’s Transport in London. “It takes a logistics operation from the terror group involved that is second to none. Only a very small handful of terror groups is on that list. …I would name at the top of the list Osama bin Laden.”

___ About 50,000 people work at the Trade Center and tens of thousands visit each day.

___ Is one of the most horrifying attacks ever against the United States, terrorists crashed two airliners into the World Trade Center in a deadly series of blows Tuesday that brought down the twin 110-story towers.

___ Authorities had been trying to evacuate those who work in the twin towers when the glass-and-steel skyscrapers came down in a thunderous roar within about 90 minutes after the crashes, which took place minute apart around 9 a.m. But many people were thought to have been trapped.

II. Reading the articles discuss the motivation for and message of the terror acts; the scenes of those events; feelings of victims and on-lookers on the 11th of September 2001.

THE TERRIFYING, THE RIDICULOUS, AND THE ABSURD

Daily life in America, especially Washington DC, these days ranges from the terrifying to the absurd to the ridiculous.

First things first. The city in which I live and its environs, Washington DC, have been consumed with terror over the sniper shootings which have caught the attention of the world. For over a week now, and after 10 shootings, police, along with the FBI are unable to guess either the motives or the whereabouts of the man terrorizing the streets of the metropolitan Washington area.

After the latest shooting, on October 11, the terror which enveloped the city was diluted by the element of the ridiculous the moment the TV channels started a live coverage of the scene. The shooting took place at a gas station located close to a highway, and the police immediately started closing off some exits to trap the sniper and the getaway truck/van. Needless to say, the sniper made an easy escape: All he had to do was turn on the radio and listen as the reporters cited all the exits that were being blocked off and all the major roads where the police were doing checks.

Let us just hope that the local police do a better job of catching this curious product of our civilization than the Bush Jr. administration is doing in catching the products of a different one – Osama and Mullah Omar.

Bush is indignant at those "'who somehow doubted his courage in the face of danger." Once again, he is being ridiculous, for the fact remains that his plane was in no way facing danger, nor was it making any attempt to fly towards it.

In order to become convinced that our president ranges on the brink of the absurd every time he opens his mouth one must simply know how to read.

Fighting Back claims to be a comprehensive historical account of how the war on terrorism transformed the image of Bush as a political lightweight into an international heavyweight. Once again a translation is required: an international bully.

And on a final note of the ridiculous and terrifying, there was an absurd announcement last week from the conscience of the Christian Evangelists and a wonderful American, to borrow an adjective from our president, Rev. Jerry Fallwell. Apparently after extensive reading and deliberation, he had decided and managed to convince the Southern Bible belt that the prophet Mohammad was indeed a terrorist. Luckily for Mohammad, this announcement will not harm his fate, for he ascended to Allah 13 centuries ago and doesn't, unlike some of his followers, have to hide in the caves of Afghanistan.

If we are so lucky, perhaps we too shall soon join him while China is still behaving and before Confucius is proclaimed a suicide bomber.