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With smoke still billowing from the World Trade Center disaster site, President Bush en route from New York City to Washington... On the night of September 14, 2001, three days after the terrorist attacks of September 11 attacks, George W. Bush flew over New York City aboard Air Force One after visiting the still-smoldering ruins of the World Trade Center. The attacks, carried out by the extremist group al-Qaeda, had killed 2,977 people, making it the deadliest terrorist attack in modern history. Earlier that day, Bush stood on the rubble at Ground Zero, addressing rescue workers through a bullhorn and promising that “the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.” In the days immediately following the attacks, the U.S. government launched the largest investigation in its history and began preparing the military response that would soon lead to the invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001. The cleanup and recovery operation at Ground Zero lasted over eight months, ending on May 30, 2002, after workers removed nearly 1.8 million tons of debris from the site. © Reddit #archaeohistories