After 25 years, the legacy of the September 11 terror attacks continues to shape America's politics and its place in the world.
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legacy → continue → world
A quarter-century on, what lingers in the mind from that world-upending day?
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what → linger → day
Or 9/11, as it quickly came to be labelled, a term previously known as the primary emergency number in North America but now forever associated with an Islamist terrorist attack that killed 2,977 people from more than 100 countries, not including the 19 hijackers.
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that → come → hijackers
Perhaps, initially, it was sheer confusion, as news channels interrupted regular programming to switch to images from Lower Manhattan.
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channels → interrupt → Manhattan
A billowing plume of charcoal grey smoke darkened what had been on that autumn morning almost cloudless blue skies.
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what → billow → skies
Maybe it was the shock of seeing the second plane spearing into the South Tower, when it instantly became clear that terrorism, not pilot or mechanical error, was to blame.
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terrorism → see → Tower
Some will recall President George W Bush reading a book, The Pet Goat, to a group of schoolchildren in Sarasota, Florida, and the sight of his ashen-faced White House Chief of Staff, Andrew Card, whispering in his ear.
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Chief → recall → ear
"A second plane hit the second tower," said Card.
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Card → hit → tower
Not just America, but our world had changed with manic suddenness.
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America → change → suddenness
The first plane hit the north face of the North Tower at 8:46am.
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plane → hit → 8:46am
The second plane crashed into the south face of the South Tower at 9:03am.
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plane → crash → 9:03am
American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into the Pentagon, like New York's Twin Towers, a symbol of US hegemony.
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Flight → slam → hegemony
Shortly after 10am, a plane crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
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plane → crash → Shanksville
Passengers aboard United Airlines Flight 93, we found out later, had fought back against the al-Qaeda terrorists who had hijacked the plane with the intention of flying it into a government building in Washington DC, probably the United States Capitol building or the White House.
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who → find → DC
All these years on, it is traumatising to recall the towers collapsing in on themselves, those sturdy, seemingly indomitable skyscrapers disintegrating into columns of plunging ash.
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towers → recall → ash
By 10:30am, the World Trade Center had ceased to exist.
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Center → cease → 10:30am
So, too, the complacency of the post-Cold War world when America seemed so unassailable.
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America → seem → world
From a day of such momentous history, it is the smaller, personal details that evoke powerful memories.
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that → evoke → memories
The recordings of workers trapped inside the burning towers telephoning loved ones, knowing they were uttering final farewells.
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they → trap → farewells
Coming at the dawning of a new millennium, September 11 was the first major global event of the globalised age.
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September → come → age
Coming in the early years of our new online world, where the information flow was instantaneous, 9/11 became more of a shared, intimate and immediate experience.
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9/11 → come → experience
How did it change America and the watching world?
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it → change → America
'God Bless America'
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God → bless → America
In the immediate aftermath of the attacks the United States of America was genuinely united.
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States → unite → America
A nation already showing signs of its present-day polarity demonstrated shoulder-to-shoulder solidarity.
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nation → show → solidarity
Only the previous year, a disputed presidential election ultimately decided by a Supreme Court voting along ideological lines, had shown America to be a 50/50 nation.
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America → dispute → lines
After the US television networks decided in 2000 to adopt the same colour scheme for their election night graphics, it became more common to split the country into Republican red and Democratic blue.
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it → decide → red
In the hours, days and weeks after 9/11, though, Americans came together at vigils, in long queues that formed outside blood donation centres and in singing of the national anthem ahead of baseball and gridiron matches.
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that → come → matches
That evening, about 150 Republican and Democrat lawmakers gathered on the East Steps of the US Capitol building, where they broke spontaneously into a rendition of "God Bless America".
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God → gather → America
A few weeks later, a poll conducted in early October indicated 79 per cent of Americans had displayed the Stars and Stripes, a burst of red, white and blue patriotism.
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cent → conduct → patriotism
Journalists from many of the US networks affixed flag pins to their lapels.
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Journalists → affix → lapels
As young Washington correspondent at the time of the 9/11 attacks, I saw all of this with my own eyes.
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I → see → eyes
United in war
Since the end of the Cold War, America had lacked a common enemy.
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America → lack → enemy
As the Russian intellectual Georgy Arbatov warned US diplomats as tensions abated between Moscow and Washington: "We are going to do a terrible thing to you.
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We → warn → you
We are going to deprive you of an enemy."
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We → go → enemy
Now, in Osama Bin Laden — the mastermind of 9/11 — and the al-Qaeda terror network he founded, America once again had a shared demon and as a result, a renewed sense of patriotic bipartisanship.
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America → found → bipartisanship
George W Bush, a Republican president who had reached the White House in such contested circumstances, saw his approval ratings soar to 90 per cent.
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ratings → reach → cent
After addressing a joint session of Congress on September 20 — a speech in which he announced the start of a "war on terror" — Bush was hugged by then-Senate Democratic leader, Tom Daschle, a gesture which signalled a partisan ceasefire.
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which → address → ceasefire
Another poll, from the Washington Post and ABC News, found 93 per cent backed military action against those responsible for the 9/11 attacks.
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cent → find → attacks
If that meant going to war then more than nine out of 10 Americans agreed.
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Americans → mean → war
…and 131 more, not listed.
The Aporia
