The Towers | Remembering 9/11: The Twin Towers and the Cost of Freedom
Just as when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on Nov. 22, 1963, people remember exactly where they were when the World Trade Center was attacked on September 11, 2001. The image of the burning towers, against the background of the brilliant blue sky, is seared into our collective memory. It is a national tragedy that none of us, who were alive at the time, will ever forget.
2026 “The Towers” Silver Proof Coin, by Chris Duane
Chris’ new strike, The Towers, reflects those harrowing hours of disbelief while also honoring the nearly 3,000 innocent Americans who died that day. This year was the 25th anniversary of the collapse of the World Trade Center. It is a milestone that people find hard to believe has arrived because for many, the intensity of the experience remains with us to this very day.
The excavation and foundation for the twin towers began in 1966. The two buildings began to rise out of the ground two years later. The North Tower was completed first with the South Towers finally finished in July 1971. The dedication for the World Trade Center took place on April 4, 1973.
This was a monumental undertaking and when completed the buildings were the tallest structures in the United States at 1776 feet tall. They were also the tallest buildings in the Western Hemisphere as well. Rather than standing for centuries, which is what the engineers expected, they survived for just 30 years.
On September 11, 2001, nineteen crazed, and cowardly, Middle Eastern Muslims, undertook the heinous destruction of the Twin Towers, for reasons many still don’t understand. They were radicalized by the terrorist gang called al Qaeda. Fifteen of the hijackers were Arabs from Saudi Arabia, two were from the United Arab Emirates, one was Egyptian and the last slug was Lebanese.
2026 “The Towers" Silver Proof Coin, by Chris Duane
The leader of this group of despicable thugs was Osama bin Laden, who was born and raised in Saudi Arabia. He was a member of a very wealthy family who was associated with the Royal family. As a private citizen, he began using his wealth in Afghanistan in 1979 in order to help arm the Afghanis against the Soviet Union invasion. He left the region in 1989 when the Soviets withdrew.
But, bin Laden became more radicalized at home and was finally expelled by the Saudi Arabian government in 1991. His citizenship was revoked as well. This occurred primarily because of his vocal opposition to the government and its reliance on the United States military during the Gulf War. He took temporary sanctuary in Afghanistan in 1991.
Bin Laden was then given a better deal by the impoverished country of Sudan in 1992. He was permitted to hide among the Taliban terrorists because the country needed his wealth and bin Laden needed a safe place of operations. He lived there until 1996 when he was expelled from Sudan after the country was placed under crippling economic sanctions by the United States and Saudi Arabia. This is when, in May of 1996, that he returned to Afghanistan and all hell broke loose.
Bin Laden first orchestrated the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in the East African cities of Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. These unprovoked attacks killed 224 civilians, including 12 Americans, and injured 5,000 more. Next was the 2000 attack on the U.S.S. Cole in Yemen, where 17 sailors were killed and 39 more were injured. Then came the worst attack on American soil, on September 11, 2001. A total of 2,977 innocent people died at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pa. on that frightful day.
Not long after the World Trade Center attack, in December 2001, Bin Laden was nearly captured during the War of Tora Bora. This took place in the Afghanistan mountains near Jalalabad. Although bin Laden was trapped in the mountain network of caves, he managed to slip through the security measures and escape over an unguarded pass during a fake “ceasefire" instigated by the local Afghan militias. This was the last time our military knew of bin Laden’s exact location for many years to come.
In fact, it took ten long years, after the Twin Towers fell, to track down bin Laden and finally assassinate him on May 11, 2011. Why it took that long is unfathomable. But, the fact that, at that point in time, the Middle East was not considered a threat and was therefore not on our military radar screen, certainly didn't help.
Not only did the United States lack operatives, contacts, and spy rings, it lacked reconnaissance in the region as well. And to make matters worse, our military was designed to fight traditional large-scaled wars against nations, not back-woods, covert wars against small groups of terrorists who were very familiar with their country's complex mountain caves network.
But, the primary reason it took so long to find bin Laden was that he moved into Pakistan where he was protected by the two Pakistani brothers, Ibrahim and Abrar Ahmed. They bought land, built a compound, acted as interference and supplied bin Laden and his people with food and supplies. Although they lived within the same compound the Ahmed’s never let their families, including children, ever intermingle with bin Ladens. Interaction was strictly forbidden.
As a result, bin Laden was able to live under-the-radar by destroying all electronic devices. His gang also burnt their trash so no one could retrieve any messaging. In addition, Bin Laden’s operational instructions were hand-delivered by a very close-knit, and select, network of trusted couriers, thus allowing his terrorist group to continue to thrive.
But, at long last, the CIA determined that bin Laden’s most trusted courier was not a man using the alias, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, but that he was Ibrahim Ahmed. He was one of the two Pakistani brothers who had been protecting bin Laden from the start. The CIA located Ahmed while driving a Suzuki SUV in Peshawar, Pakistan. Our operatives followed him to a heavily fortified, and well-guarded, compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Drone surveillance determined that a very tall man routinely paced around the inner courtyard, but never left the mansion. “The Pacer” was later determined to be Osama bin Laden.
American Navy Seal Team Six raided bin Laden’s compound on May 11, 2011. He was killed while resisting the onslaught they inflicted, as the memory of the destruction he caused coursed through the veins of the men sent to kill him. Chris’ new strike, The Towers, reminds us why freedom is never free and why we must never forget September 11th.
And, so ended, in violence, bloodshed and a hail of bullets, the life of a fiend bent on an existence defined by horror, atrocity and terror. Hell holds a special place for his kind of demon.
Other Silver Shield Proof Round releases
