Differences (Attacks on America)

Name: awalsh

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Product:	Attacks on America
Date:	12/09/03 (33 review reads)
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The events of 9/11 are our generation's "JFK". They say everyone can remember where they were when they heard about the assassination of President Kennedy - I'm sure we can all remember where we were when we heard about the planes crashing into the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon.

I know I can. I was at work. It seemed like any other day at first. I had the usual stock count, customer queries and the like, then I went to the canteen to get a coffee, and there was a news bulletin on the TV.

I remember feeling numb as I watched it, with cold shivers running up and down my body. I can still feel it now, and its 2 years gone. I'm actually sitting here with the same shivers as I write this, which is totally unexpected...

What happened that day was, and is, a tragedy. I know people who have lost loved ones who worked in the WTC buildings, and I feel for them. We held remembrance services at work, and people were genuinely moved, despite the fact that they may well not have known anyone who was involved.

As time went on, and the initial shock wore off, there were other opinions coming to the fore. I should say here that I am from the UK. I'm sure a lot of people will have heard about the backlash that occurred a while after 9/11, with some voices saying that America had brought it on themselves.

My own feelings by then were mixed. I guess this is where I might start treading on toes - I don't think my views are going to be particularly popular.

So do I think that America and the American people deserved this? Definitely not. No country or people could deserve what happened, and I sincerely hope to God it never happens again.

I don't even think that Americans particularly brought it on themselves. In all honesty, my feelings at that point were more to do with a comparison of what happened at the WTC site, and my own country's experiences with terrorism in the form of the
IRA.

Before seeing the news bulletin in the canteen at work that day, the last time I had those same chills was when I was a teenager watching the news one Saturday afternoon. My father had gone into London for the day, and suddenly I was watching a report on two bombs going off in Central London - right in the area he was going to.

As it turned out, he was unharmed, but I won't forget the three hours I spent trying to get hold of him, phoning hospitals, police stations, relatives and incident hotlines.

The bombs were planted by the IRA or one of its numerous splinter groups. And the biggest source of funding for these terrorists? The USA.

I sympathise with the American people for what happened on 9/11, I really do. But while I will always remember being in the canteen watching the images of planes crashing into the World Trade Centre, I'll also remember the less publicised events of that Saturday morning in London.

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