It will always be known as the day the world changed forever.
Everyone old enough remembers where they were on September 11, 2001, when brainwashed fundamentalist murderers launched their terrorist attacks on the US, killing nearly 3,000 innocent people and injuring some 25,000 more.
Working as a journalist for the Press Association (PA), I was covering a court martial (military court trial) at Bulford Camp in Wiltshire when a colleague called and alerted me to what was happening.
During a break in the proceedings, most of us present, including both prosecution and defence counsels, crowded around a television in a small room opposite the chamber and watched aghast as the horror unfolded.
It transpired that what was initially believed to have been a tragic accident involving an unspecified aircraft was in fact part of the largest and most lethal terrorist attack in history.
Some 19 members of Osama bin Laden’s fanatical Al-Qaeda organisation had hijacked four commercial airliners and flown three of them into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York, and the Pentagon, close to Washington. The fourth plane (United Airlines Flight 93) crashed into a field in Pennsylvania following brave attempts by passengers and crew to seize back control.
Once the court martial proceedings had concluded, I returned home and watched dumbfounded, along with many others, as the day’s events, including the collapse of both towers, were relayed on a huge screen in a local bar.
Having had barely any sleep, I was then despatched to London’s Heathrow Airport, during the early of the following day, to speak to the huge numbers of New York-bound travellers who were stuck due to their cancelled flights.
One particular and highly emotional interaction with the brother of a man believed to have been killed in one of the towers will remain with me forever. However, I will save the details of that specific encounter for another time because it deserves to be written about separately and independently to fully convey the significance of the moment.
My memories of that 48-hour period remain vivid, including my observations of the desperation, deep distress, and uncertainty in the airport terminals as friends and relatives frantically tried to establish contact with family and loved ones back in the US, including many who had been in the WTC.
Tragically, the brutal consequences of those attacks are still being lived out in the present, as has been illustrated most recently by the terrible events in Afghanistan.
Has the world learned from the tragedy? In some ways, such as in terms of security in transit, the answer is ‘yes’. However, in many others, it hasn’t.
In fact, it could even be argued that the divisions, intolerance, and prejudice between different nations and cultures has actually increased. Some of that, of course, has been as a direct result of the backlash associated with the events of that day.
As society seeks to deal with such ramifications, the full magnitude of what happened 20 years ago continues to serve as a brutal indication as to what can happen when vile extremist rhetoric is allowed to permeate inside the minds of weak and susceptible individuals to the point of radicalisation.
Of course, the US eventually achieved its aim of locating and killing Osama bin Laden, but all they did was cut the head of the snake.
Fanatics and counter extremist groups continue to battle it out in their attempts to divide and conquer, so they can force their evil, racist, and suppressive views on the lives of the masses. And with that in mind, it is unlikely that, in reality, we will ever see a true end to the so-called ‘War on Terror’.
That said, it is essential that the September 11 atrocity, its causes, effects, and impact on modern life is used to educate future generations in a non-radical and progressive form in the hope of, at the very least, reducing some of the associated hatred and tension.
The people who were killed on that fateful day (and later as a direct result of their injuries) will never be forgotten.
However, we must honour their memory in a way which aspires to eradicate the hostility, fanaticism, and abhorrence that led to their deaths in the first place.
May each and every one of them rest in peace.
Personal website: http://pauldbull.com
