I know these forums are largely populated by anti-American, liberal, lefty types, and silly tweenagers banging on about conspiracy theories, but in the real world today is the anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 9/11, an attack which for people of my age is the single most shocking event I have witnessed.
2974 innocent people were murdered at their place of work, and the sight of people jumping from the windows of the World Trade Centre towers, to their death, will haunt me and everyone else who witnessed it for a very long time.
Thought it was worth marking the anniversary with a thread.
I remember the whole thing unfolding, I was decorating at the time, there was a radio on in the background, and the first reports came in - 'a plane has crashed into a building in New York' nothing more than that. Didn't sound like the single most important terrorist attack in history was unfolding. Then the reports started to get more detailed, suddenly it was a passenger liner that had hit the WTC, and we all went to a TV.
Over the next few hours the footage of the 2nd plane hitting the towers was played for the first time, the terrible sight of people jumping from the towers, the collapse of the first tower, and then the second. It was sickening, and obviously you knew that when the dust had settled, the world was going to be changed - America would obviously now pursue the people behind it, and whatever government had aided them in the planning and execution.
6 years on, war in Afghanistan, war in Iraq, the Madrid train bombings, 7/7... all of these events are a continuation of the conflict that was (as far as your average American is concerned) started 11th September 2001.
As soon as 9/11 was confirmed as a terrorist attack, you knew the world had changed. And for me that’s why 9/11 is the single most dramatic and shocking event I have witnessed.
So thoughts at the time? Memories of the attacks as the news came in? Reaction to what has happened since?