"The attack on the embassy, and the subsequent bombing in October of that year of the U.S. Marine Barracks in Beirut, in which more than 241 U.S. military personnel were killed, were, in retrospect, the dawning of the era of international terrorism. But back then, Americans had not yet absorbed the reality of such spectacular and seemingly random violence. For my family, the experience was not just tragic; it was an isolating experience. Saying that your father had been killed in a terrorist attack was like saying he had been taken by marauding Visigoths. It was completely foreign. Most people my age won’t remember the simultaneous Iranian-backed attacks targeting U.S. embassies in East Africa—Nairobi and Dar es Salaam—even though they killed hundreds. But I remember August 7, 1998, vividly. I walked downstairs at the age of 7 to find my mother sobbing in front of the television, reliving her own tragedy. It was not till September 2001 that most Americans came to understand what it meant to have blue skies turn to fire—and to have your loved ones leave for work and never come home." —@Albydelphia
