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Twenty years since September 11th 2001
Sep. 9th, 2021 09:21 pmI note that In a few days it'll be 20 years since the horrible events of September 11th 2001. In a previous generation, people would ask each other "Where were you when Kennedy was assassinated?", or for another generation "Where were you John Lennon was assassinated?" People my age can ask each other "Where were you on 9/11?"
For the record, let me tell you where I was.
It was September 12th in my timezone. On the evening of our Tuesday September 11th, I called it a night and turned off broadcast television about 10.15PM. Had I stayed awake some 15 more minutes, I might have witnessed the events in real time - every channel in Australia cut to coverage almost immediately. As it was, I got up on the the morning of Sept 12th, and my housemate turned on the television. The first images I saw was a loop of two people being interviewed in front of the burning north town of the World Trade Center, just as the second plane hit the south tower. I can still remember how they ducked in shock.
I said "What film is this from?"
Rebecca (my housemate) said "It's not a film, this happened last night."
"What's happened to the World Trade Center?"
"It's gone, they've collapsed."
I paused and said "There's going to be a war."
I also assumed immediately that it was Al-Qaeda, because they had tried before, back in 1993. That time they only managed to damage the basement, and were only caught because one of the stupider plotters tried to claim his deposit back on the rented van they'd packed the explosives into.
At the time, my sister, who works in international aid, was based in Indonesia. I made at least one panicked phone call to her to check she was alright, in part because unfounded reports from around the world suggested all sorts of related events were taking place. Including air raids in Afghanistan.
Happily, despite knowing a lot of keen travellers and ex-pats, no one I know was caught up directly in the destruction. But a friend of a friend died when the towers collapsed. Because just about every city has at least a handful of Australian's in it.
For more than a week, everything stopped. The FAA ordered every plane in the air in the US or approaching the US to land at the nearest airport. Sporting events and any event of any size were cancelled. We watched as many of the other towers at the World Trade Center collapsed, and then watched as they combed the extraordinarily mangled piles of debris looking for survivors. US Air Force fighter jets patrolled the skies over New York. I still remember a photograph of an African-American man, in a suit and carrying a briefcase, walking through a swirling cloud of dusk and sheets of paper, covered from head to foot in grey dust. For about ten days every television channel in Australia was rebroadcasting American news services. Remember, these are days when we still got news largely from the radio, TV and newspapers. Indeed, somewhere I have a copy of The Age reporting the attacks.
Across the world, there was an extraordinary wave of sympathy towards the United States.
And then what happened... the United States, being the United States and at the time run by neo-cons and cold war warriors, lashed out at the nations it felt were responsible. Within a month they were bombing Afghanistan, and flying in troops, starting a war that was ill-advised and ended in defeat, at least from the US's point of view, only a few weeks ago. It could be argued that Afghanistan was a haven for terrorists, being in turmoil and almost ungoverned. But the US didn't learn from the Soviet Union's pointless war there in the 80's, and thought that if it they just used enough planes and bombs they'd succeed...
The world's empathy was strained to put it mildly.
And then they blundered into another war of choice by invading Iraq.
To quote Senator Robert Byrd at the time:
"Anti-Americanism based on mistrust, misinformation, suspicion, and alarming rhetoric from U.S. leaders is fracturing the once solid alliance against global terrorism which existed after September 11."
and:
"This Administration has turned the patient art of diplomacy into threats, labelling, and name calling of the sort that reflects quite poorly on the intelligence and sensitivity of our leaders, and which will have consequences for years to come."
And indeed here were are, years later, long after Byrd was laid in his grave, suffering the consequences...
I didn't make it to New York until 2009, by which time the World Trade Center site was cleaned up and was largely a construction site.
I loved New York, what an amazing city. Vibrant, multicultural, fascinating. But also a centre of world finance - I was there for the galleries, but it's also the home of Wall Street. If you had to think of a symbolic heart of a nation you hated, the twin towers make sense as a target. But I was retrospectively furious. How dare anyone kill innocent people from all over the world - including many Muslims - in this amazing city? You could argue that the Pentagon and the White house are military targets (in fact the British burned the White House in 1814), but not New York. Not the city which houses the headquarters of the United Nations. Not the birthplace of Rap, Abstract Expressionism and so so many bands. Not the home town of Lou Reed, Basquiat, and thousands of other amazing people. Not the de-facto capital of the world. How dare anyone attack a city like that.
I guess the dust is still settling....
For the record, let me tell you where I was.
It was September 12th in my timezone. On the evening of our Tuesday September 11th, I called it a night and turned off broadcast television about 10.15PM. Had I stayed awake some 15 more minutes, I might have witnessed the events in real time - every channel in Australia cut to coverage almost immediately. As it was, I got up on the the morning of Sept 12th, and my housemate turned on the television. The first images I saw was a loop of two people being interviewed in front of the burning north town of the World Trade Center, just as the second plane hit the south tower. I can still remember how they ducked in shock.
I said "What film is this from?"
Rebecca (my housemate) said "It's not a film, this happened last night."
"What's happened to the World Trade Center?"
"It's gone, they've collapsed."
I paused and said "There's going to be a war."
I also assumed immediately that it was Al-Qaeda, because they had tried before, back in 1993. That time they only managed to damage the basement, and were only caught because one of the stupider plotters tried to claim his deposit back on the rented van they'd packed the explosives into.
At the time, my sister, who works in international aid, was based in Indonesia. I made at least one panicked phone call to her to check she was alright, in part because unfounded reports from around the world suggested all sorts of related events were taking place. Including air raids in Afghanistan.
Happily, despite knowing a lot of keen travellers and ex-pats, no one I know was caught up directly in the destruction. But a friend of a friend died when the towers collapsed. Because just about every city has at least a handful of Australian's in it.
For more than a week, everything stopped. The FAA ordered every plane in the air in the US or approaching the US to land at the nearest airport. Sporting events and any event of any size were cancelled. We watched as many of the other towers at the World Trade Center collapsed, and then watched as they combed the extraordinarily mangled piles of debris looking for survivors. US Air Force fighter jets patrolled the skies over New York. I still remember a photograph of an African-American man, in a suit and carrying a briefcase, walking through a swirling cloud of dusk and sheets of paper, covered from head to foot in grey dust. For about ten days every television channel in Australia was rebroadcasting American news services. Remember, these are days when we still got news largely from the radio, TV and newspapers. Indeed, somewhere I have a copy of The Age reporting the attacks.
Across the world, there was an extraordinary wave of sympathy towards the United States.
And then what happened... the United States, being the United States and at the time run by neo-cons and cold war warriors, lashed out at the nations it felt were responsible. Within a month they were bombing Afghanistan, and flying in troops, starting a war that was ill-advised and ended in defeat, at least from the US's point of view, only a few weeks ago. It could be argued that Afghanistan was a haven for terrorists, being in turmoil and almost ungoverned. But the US didn't learn from the Soviet Union's pointless war there in the 80's, and thought that if it they just used enough planes and bombs they'd succeed...
The world's empathy was strained to put it mildly.
And then they blundered into another war of choice by invading Iraq.
To quote Senator Robert Byrd at the time:
"Anti-Americanism based on mistrust, misinformation, suspicion, and alarming rhetoric from U.S. leaders is fracturing the once solid alliance against global terrorism which existed after September 11."
and:
"This Administration has turned the patient art of diplomacy into threats, labelling, and name calling of the sort that reflects quite poorly on the intelligence and sensitivity of our leaders, and which will have consequences for years to come."
And indeed here were are, years later, long after Byrd was laid in his grave, suffering the consequences...
I didn't make it to New York until 2009, by which time the World Trade Center site was cleaned up and was largely a construction site.
I loved New York, what an amazing city. Vibrant, multicultural, fascinating. But also a centre of world finance - I was there for the galleries, but it's also the home of Wall Street. If you had to think of a symbolic heart of a nation you hated, the twin towers make sense as a target. But I was retrospectively furious. How dare anyone kill innocent people from all over the world - including many Muslims - in this amazing city? You could argue that the Pentagon and the White house are military targets (in fact the British burned the White House in 1814), but not New York. Not the city which houses the headquarters of the United Nations. Not the birthplace of Rap, Abstract Expressionism and so so many bands. Not the home town of Lou Reed, Basquiat, and thousands of other amazing people. Not the de-facto capital of the world. How dare anyone attack a city like that.
I guess the dust is still settling....
