Timeline (9/11 in 1998)

1996
Sometime in 1996: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed joins al-Qaeda and immediately begins planning the 8/8 attacks

1998
August 8th: World Trade Center and National Mall hit by airliners in a terrorist attack engineered by al-Qaeda, killing approximately 3,000 people. President Clinton adresses nation, saying that "terrorism may bring tears, but it will only steel our resolve".

August 9th: Rudolph Giuliani becomes a household name after reassuring his shaken city. Neespapers publish an iconic phtogrpah of Giuliani carrying a young girl to safety as the North Tower collapses in the background.

August 11th: President Clinton visits New York, and tells a crew of disater workers through a megaphone, "Let's make a deal: you this place up, and I'll make sure that we clean out some caves in Afghanistan!".

'''September 17th :'" The United States invades Afghanistan with the stated goal of removing the Taliban regime and capturing or killing Osama bin Laden, the mission is given the codename Operation Liberty Avenged.

'''September 19th :'" Al-Qaeda second in command Ayman Al-Zawahiri is killed by a U.S. airstrike near Jalalabad. His place is taken by Mohammed Atef, al-Qaeda's third ranking official, while Atef's position as operational commander is taken by 8/8 planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

'''September 27th :'" Northern Alliance rebels and United States troops enter Kabul. Norhern Alliance leader Ahmed Shah Masood is declared interim President of Afghanistan, with the full support of the US.

'''September 29th :'" The United States launches a weeklong offensive against Tora Bora, belived to be the hiding place of Bin Laden and Mohammed Atef. Neither is found or killed in the assault.

'''November 7th:'" The Democratic Party wins a 20-vote majority in the House of Representatives, driven by a surge of pro-Clinton enthusiasm after the attacks. Newt Gingrich announces that he is leaving politics and congratulates Dick Gephardt on his elevation to the speakership.

'''December 30th:'" Republicans in Congress elect Rep. Steve Largent of Oklahoma as Minority Leader for the coming Congress. Largent is seen as a fresh face after defeating former Majority Leader Dick Armey.

1999
'''January 29th :'" The Washington Times publishes a story claiming that President Clinton refused a Sudanese offer to arrest and hand over Osama bin Laden in 1996. White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart confirms that the offer was both made and rejected, saying "There was no reason in 1996 to think that Bin Laden presented a realistic threat, and bringing him here would have done nothing but cause legal trouble." Tom Brokaw of NBC refers to the line as a "gaffe of epic proportions", while Peter Jennings of ABC News called it, "the most absurdly tone deaf thing I've heard in decades".

'''February 1st:" Polls taken over the weekend show that President Clinton's approval rating has dropped from 80% to 45% in two days. The firing of Joe Lockhart is announced at 9:00 AM sharp by the White House Press office, he is replaced by his own predecessor, Dee Dee Myers. President Clinton calls a 11:00 AM press conference where he reiterates: "As horrible as the attacks were, in 1996 we had no intelligence to prove that Bin Laden was planning an attack on that scale. We did the best with the information that we had, and unfortunately our best was not good enough."