The World Trade Center burns after being hit by a plane in New York in this file photo on September 11, 2001. U.S. leaders and intelligence agencies failed for many years to grasp the gravity of the threat posed by radical Islamists and suffered from a collective "failure of imagination," the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks said in its final report. The report said that as late as Sept. 4, 2001, the Bush administration had not decided whether Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda operation was a "big deal." Reuters
A man covered in so much dust he looks as if he stepped out of a 1930s black-and-white photograph; a passenger jet gliding just above the New York City skyline and headed straight for the World Trade Center; a massive fissure in the side of the Pentagon. These describe just a few of the images from Sept. 11, 2001 that captured the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C.
The photographs from 9/11 and its aftermath remain some of the most iconic images in modern history and were published by countless media outlets, blogs and newspapers shortly after the Twin Towers toppled to the ground. On the 13th anniversary of the attacks, here’s a look back at some of the most memorable photographs.
Pedestrians react to the World Trade Center collapse in New York City, Sept. 11, 2001. Reuters
Hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 flies toward the World Trade Center twin towers shortly before slamming into the south tower, left, as the north tower burns following an earlier attack by a hijacked airliner. Reuters
People look out of the burning north tower of the World Trade Center shortly after one of the hijacked planes smashed into the building, Sept. 11, 2001. Reuters
Rescue workers carry fatally injured New York City Fire Department chaplain, the Rev. Mychal Judge, from the wreckage of the World Trade Center, Sept. 11, 2001. Judge was crushed to death by falling debris while giving a man last rites.Reuters
A man walks in the street after the collapse of the World Trade Center towers in New York City, early Sept. 11, 2001.Reuters
A firefighter walks amid rubble near the base of the destroyed World Trade Center, Sept. 11, 2001.Reuters
U.S. President George W. Bush listens as White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card informs him of a second plane hitting the World Trade Center while Bush conducted a reading seminar at the Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida, Sept. 11, 2001. Bush made a brief statement
before leaving the school and immediately left Florida.
Reuters
Three-year-old Alana Milawski waves an American flag as she sits on her father Craig Milawski's shoulders during a candlelight vigil, held to honor those killed in terrorist attacks in New York and
Washington, in Las Vegas, Sept. 12, 2001.
Reuters
Rescue workers atop the Pentagon unfurl a U.S. flag as President George W. Bush tours damage to the west side of the building, Sept. 12, 2001. Reuters
New York police stand near a wanted poster printed by on a full page of a New York newspaper for Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden in the financial district of New York, in this file photo from Sept. 18, 2001. Osama bin Laden was named by U.S President George W. Bush as the prime suspect in the attacks in New York and Washington. Reuters
New York Fire fighters battle blazes at Ground Zero at the World Trade Center disaster site, Sept. 19, 2001. Reuters/Andrea Booher
National Security Advisor Dr. Condoleezza Rice is sworn in to testify under oath before the 9/11 commission in the Hart Senate office building on Capitol Hill in Washington April 8, 2004. Rice testified before the commission in the highest profile national security testimony since the Iran-Contra affair nearly two decades ago, officials and analysts said. Reuters
A New York firefighter with the image of fellow firefighter Brian McAleese in his cap attends ceremonies marking the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, Sept. 11, 2011.Reuters
Robert Peraza, who lost his son Robert David Peraza, pauses at his son's name at the North Pool of the 9/11 Memorial during tenth anniversary ceremonies at the site of the World Trade Center in New York, Sept. 11, 2011. Reuters
The "Tribute in Lights" shines on the skyline of lower Manhattan as the sixth anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center is observed in New York, Sept. 11, 2007.Reuters
