9/11.

It was late September or later when they determined it was al Qaeda. I recall getting woken up to a phone call to turn my tv on PST and seeing the planes hit "live." I believe some news outlets were speculating it on that day though. That I can't say for sure, but it wouldn't be declared officially for another few weeks, it wasn't until way later that groups started claiming responsibility, but there were several government intercepts suggesting it was bin laden. I do want to believe this though, but admit it smacks of "and then everybody clapped..."

Yep, total heartstring manipulative bullshit.