Incredibly insightful and informative. You expose the dark underbelly of events that your reader is probably unaware of and which has become the foundation of the twisted ideology of the present and driving much of our political insanity and rhetoric.
We are altered now. What we have not realized is we have been in a war for a long time. It’s taken its toll. The genocide is happening now. We’ve been asking the wrong questions. War is trickle up.
I recall a work colleague saying that the "US should turn the ME into a glowing glass parking lot" after the actions on 9/11 were clear. When Trump called for ending a civilization, isn't that what he was implying for Iran? The callous savagery never ends.
Thank you Nina for sharing your day 25 years ago with us.
A Quiet Sky. A quiet sky of deepest blue, A sudden smoke that changed us through. The towers fell, the darkness grew, yet shining courage carried through. We name the lost, we hold the tears, And stand together through the years. No fading time can dim the light Of heroes rising in the night.
And yet trump manages to sleep once again through a solemn service at the Pentagon.
I was in my late 20s, watching it all unfold from across the river in Hoboken. I always view it as a GenX turning point, going from a carefree club kid to a real adult. The end of the 90s in so many ways.
P.S. The August 2001 intelligence brief about bin Laden's determination to strike in u.s. with it's mention of highjackings -- which Condi claimed wasn't "actionable." The June 2001 album cover by the Coup featuring Boots Riley and Funktress Pam blowing up the Twin Towers.
The unctuous Ahmed Chalabi. Susan Sontag lambasted for "Why They Hate Us." Christopher Hitchens (post Rushdie fatwa and 9/11 freakout) telling an audience I was in that everyone in Guantanamo should be summarily executed. I spent three years ghostwriting (literally) a book that had been proposed by a (pregnant) woman who died on Flight 93. Words fail me but yours are wonderful. Thanks.
My first trip to Europe was Paris 2003. We went to rebel against the whole "freedom fries" thing. In the midst of reading this excellent write, I smiled thinking we might have been there at the same time.
I'll never forget that day either. I was working at Yale University's New School of Medicine as a pipe fitter and a plumber who was always joking around had his flip phone in hand at a 9 am coffee break and told fifty or so of us the news. My partner who I rode with to work wife was working in the towers that day and his daughter was attending school in NYC. They were fine and never got a scratch.
There's a special clarity possible when one sees things from away. Your perspective is powerful and I believe spot on. Sadly, with the erasure of the fairness doctrine and the assent of Rush and FOX a large group of Americans can no longer discern the truth. Unless we start demanding truth from our political candidates and call Bullshit when we hear it, there can be no recovery in our future...
For me as a European it is hard to know how it felt for Americans of course (also, at the time I was still a teenager having a really tough time mentally so not exactly the time to process such things well, but I do remember coming home from school and the TV being on (not the thing at this time of day usually, school ends at around 1pm in Germany so it wouldn't have been later than 2pm I think.... that's all if my memory does not mislead me and it was indeed right after school...).
But all the years after have been shaped so much by it and as you say we can see now what it all lead to sadly (well, if only a lot more people were able to see it so clearly!) Thank you so much for this article.
Incredibly insightful and informative. You expose the dark underbelly of events that your reader is probably unaware of and which has become the foundation of the twisted ideology of the present and driving much of our political insanity and rhetoric.
Thank you so much for reading
My hope is that in another 25 years a majority of U.S. citizens will be aware of your story and will learn from it.
Better late than never I suppose.
We are altered now. What we have not realized is we have been in a war for a long time. It’s taken its toll. The genocide is happening now. We’ve been asking the wrong questions. War is trickle up.
I recall a work colleague saying that the "US should turn the ME into a glowing glass parking lot" after the actions on 9/11 were clear. When Trump called for ending a civilization, isn't that what he was implying for Iran? The callous savagery never ends.
A best friend of mine died that day, leaving behind his wife and children. I’ll never forget.
He was working as a bond trader for Lutnick owned Cantor Fitzgerald.
Thank you Nina for sharing your day 25 years ago with us.
A Quiet Sky. A quiet sky of deepest blue, A sudden smoke that changed us through. The towers fell, the darkness grew, yet shining courage carried through. We name the lost, we hold the tears, And stand together through the years. No fading time can dim the light Of heroes rising in the night.
And yet trump manages to sleep once again through a solemn service at the Pentagon.
I was in my late 20s, watching it all unfold from across the river in Hoboken. I always view it as a GenX turning point, going from a carefree club kid to a real adult. The end of the 90s in so many ways.
P.P.S. Would NATO invoke Article 5 for us today?
P.S. The August 2001 intelligence brief about bin Laden's determination to strike in u.s. with it's mention of highjackings -- which Condi claimed wasn't "actionable." The June 2001 album cover by the Coup featuring Boots Riley and Funktress Pam blowing up the Twin Towers.
Forgot about that album cover of I ever knew!
The unctuous Ahmed Chalabi. Susan Sontag lambasted for "Why They Hate Us." Christopher Hitchens (post Rushdie fatwa and 9/11 freakout) telling an audience I was in that everyone in Guantanamo should be summarily executed. I spent three years ghostwriting (literally) a book that had been proposed by a (pregnant) woman who died on Flight 93. Words fail me but yours are wonderful. Thanks.
My first trip to Europe was Paris 2003. We went to rebel against the whole "freedom fries" thing. In the midst of reading this excellent write, I smiled thinking we might have been there at the same time.
What month?
I'll never forget that day either. I was working at Yale University's New School of Medicine as a pipe fitter and a plumber who was always joking around had his flip phone in hand at a 9 am coffee break and told fifty or so of us the news. My partner who I rode with to work wife was working in the towers that day and his daughter was attending school in NYC. They were fine and never got a scratch.
The Coup Guillotine
There's a special clarity possible when one sees things from away. Your perspective is powerful and I believe spot on. Sadly, with the erasure of the fairness doctrine and the assent of Rush and FOX a large group of Americans can no longer discern the truth. Unless we start demanding truth from our political candidates and call Bullshit when we hear it, there can be no recovery in our future...
For me as a European it is hard to know how it felt for Americans of course (also, at the time I was still a teenager having a really tough time mentally so not exactly the time to process such things well, but I do remember coming home from school and the TV being on (not the thing at this time of day usually, school ends at around 1pm in Germany so it wouldn't have been later than 2pm I think.... that's all if my memory does not mislead me and it was indeed right after school...).
But all the years after have been shaped so much by it and as you say we can see now what it all lead to sadly (well, if only a lot more people were able to see it so clearly!) Thank you so much for this article.
Apparently a Don Dello novel also featured towers at this time...I guess makes sense...symbol of American whatever?