The other WTC Attack

In 1993, I stood at the top of the World Trade Center feeling like being on top of everything. It was the culmination of my first proper trip west, a stark contrast to a country behind an iron curtain or even a small-town Amherst, New Hampshire, where I had to earn my way into that adventure. Many people can't wrap their heads around how such enormous buildings could collapse on September 11. What I can't wrap my head around is that they survived the first attack, which happened in February of '93, when I was, entirely oblivious to what had happened on the ground floor a few months earlier, soaking in those panoramic views. The attack was carried out by a group of radicals led by mastermind Ramzi Yousef. In the underground parking garage of the North Tower, they detonated a yellow Ford van packed with explosives. It's often claimed that the terrorists used Czechoslovak Semtex, but in reality it was a massive, roughly 600-kilogram homemade explosive charge, further reinforced with…