Western Morning News (Saturday)
West remembers 9/11 – 20 years on
On the 20th anniversary of the tragedy, Calvin Woodward says the ‘new world’ that took shape from 9/11’s ashes has been squandered
THE Westcountry is remembering its own victims and heroes from 9/11 today, as the world marks the 20th anniversary of the terror attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon.
The anniversary comes as British secret service chief Ken McCallum warns that recent events in Afghanistan will have “heartened and emboldened” extremists, leading to the threat of future attacks.
The M15 Director General said Britain had to plan for “more risk to flow our way.”
And former Prime Minister Tony Blair said the international community needed to be ready to take action again if Afghanistan became a base for terrorism, while the former head of the UK armed forces, General Lord Richards, said the return of the Taliban raised the prospect of “another 9/11”. In Hayle, meanwhile they will be honouring the memory of Rick Rescorla, the head of security at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Bank, who courageously led hundreds to safety from the World Trade Center after the planes struck on September 11 2001 – but paid with his own life.
Rick, a Vietnam veteran, was born in Hayle and regularly visited family and friends in Cornwall. He was widely praised for his selfless actions which saved around 2,500 lives. He has a GWR train named in his memory and a memorial stone in Hayle.
The anniversary brings back frightening recollections for Devon pilot Ken Hodgkins, from Bideford, who unwittingly trained alongside two of the attack suspects, including ringleader Mohamed Atta, at the Huffman Aviation School in Venice, South Florida.
AWREATH is to be laid at the Mayflower Steps on the Barbican in Plymouth today – the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attack in America, in remembrance of all those who lost their lives.
Almost 3,000 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks after al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners.
Two passenger aircraft were flown into the World Trade Center towers, causing their collapse. Another jet hit the Pentagon in Washington.
A group of brave passengers retaliated against the hijackers of a fourth plane by rushing the cockpit, resulting in it crashing in Somerset County, Pennsylvania before it could reach the capital.
The attacks brought unimaginable devastation, took the lives of thousands, including hundreds of first responders from across all of the emergency services, and has been recognised globally as the start of the ‘War on Terror’ and the invasion of Afghanistan, where the plot ws hatched.
Now, 20 years on, memorials will be held in New York, Washington, and across the rest of the world, in remembrance of all those whose lives were tragically cut short that day.
Plymouth will remember the victims today. The Lord Mayor of Plymouth, Cllr Terri Beer, will be visiting the Mayflower Steps on the Barbican at 10am to lay a wreath of remembrance.
The landmark anniversary of the 9/11 attacks comes as the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan after almost 20 years of conflict in the country, following the September 11 attacks in 2001.
It brings back frightening memories for one pilot from Bideford, who was shocked to discover that he’d learned to fly with the two men suspected of masterminding the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center – which remains the most deadly terror attack in history.
Ken Hodgkins, from Bideford, said he had trained alongside the two suspects, including ringleader Mohamed Atta, at the Huffman Aviation School in Venice, South Florida in May and June of 2001.
Speaking in 2001, after America’s darkest day in which 2,983 men, women and children were killed, he told the North Devon Journal: “There were five or six Arabs based at Venice.
“I knew two Arabs quite well and they are now suspects. I knew them as Ali and Sinbad. They kept themselves to themselves.
“I thought there was something not quite right about one of the guys though, he was very secretive and would always lock himself away in the computer room where the trainees could e-mail and use the internet.
“At the time I thought nothing of it, but now, looking back, you just don’t know. Now it seems surreal that I was training there while they were planning the terrible attack.”
Mr Hodgkins said he only just missed meeting the men who piloted the suicide planes who had moved onto a flying school in Miami.
He was interviewed by Scotland Yard’s Special Branch as part of the investigation into the attacks.
THE terrorist attacks on the United States two decades ago brought profound change in America and the world.
The death and devastation stirred grief, rage and war. It also sparked solidarity, not only in the United States but among its allies – even some rivals.
World affairs re-ordered abruptly on that morning of blue skies, black ash, fire and death.
In Iran, chants of “death to America” quickly gave way to candlelight vigils to mourn the American dead.
Vladimir Putin weighed in with substantive help as the US prepared to go to war in Russia’s region of influence.
From the first terrible moments, America’s longstanding allies were joined by long-time enemies in that singularly galvanising instant. No nation with global standing was cheering the stateless terrorists.
For the US, September 11 2001 meant a chance to reshape its place in the post-Cold War world from a high perch of influence and goodwill. This was only a decade after the Soviet Union’s collapse left America with both the moral authority and the military and financial muscle to be unquestionably the lone superpower.
Those advantages were soon squandered. Instead of a new order, 9/11 fuelled 20 years of war abroad.
In the US, it gave rise to the angry, aggrieved, self-proclaimed patriot, and heightened surveillance and suspicion in the name of common defence. It opened an era of deference to the armed forces as politicians pulled back on oversight as presidents gave primacy to the military over law enforcement in counterterrorism. It sparked antiimmigrant sentiment, primarily directed at Muslim countries, that lingers today.
What most nations agreed was a war of necessity in Afghanistan was followed two years later by a war of choice as the US invaded Iraq on false claims that Saddam Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction. Thus opened the deep, deadly mineshaft of “forever wars”.
Convulsions ran through the Middle East and US foreign policy gave way to a head-snapping change from George Bush to Barack Obama to Donald Trump. Trust in America’s leadership and reliability waned.
Other parts of the world were not immune. Far-right populist movements coursed through Europe, and China steadily ascended in the global pecking order.
Now, President Joe Biden is trying to restore trust, but there is no easy path. He is ending war, but what comes next?
In Afghanistan in August, the Taliban seized control with menacing swiftness as the Afghan government and security forces that the US and its allies had spent two decades trying to build collapsed.
No steady hand was evident from the US in the disorganised evacuation of Afghans desperately trying to flee the country.
In the United States, the 2001 attacks had set loose a bloodlust cry for revenge. A swathe of American society embraced the binary outlook articulated by president Bush – “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists” – and has never let go of it.
Factionalism hardened, in school board fights, on Facebook posts, and in national politics, so that opposing views were treated as propaganda from mortal enemies. The concept of enemy also evolved, to include immigrants as well as terrorists.
The patriot under threat became a personal and political identity. Mr Trump would harness it to help him win the presidency.
For the US, the presidencies since Mr Bush’s wars have been marked by an effort to pull back the military from the conflicts of the Middle East and Central Asia.
The perception of a US retreat has allowed Russia and China to gain influence in the regions and left US allies struggling to understand Washington’s place in the world.
The notion that 9/11 would create an enduring unity of interest to combat terrorism collided with rising nationalism and a US president, Mr Trump, who spoke disdainfully of the Nato allies that in 2001 had rallied to America’s cause.
To be sure, the succession of US presidents since 9/11 scored important achievements in shoring up security. Globally, US-led forces weakened al Qaida, which has failed to launch a major attack on the West since 2005. The Iraq invasion rid the world of a murderous dictator in Saddam Hussein.
Yet deadly chaos soon followed his overthrow. The Bush administration, in its nation-building haste, had failed to plan for keeping order, leaving Islamist extremists and rival militias to fight for dominance.
Today, the legacies of 9/11 ripple both in obvious and unusual ways.
Millions of people in the US and Europe go about their public business under the constant gaze of security cameras while other surveillance tools scoop up private communications. Militarisation is more evident now, while Government offices have become fortifications and airports a security maze.
But as profound an event as 9/11 was, its effect on how the world has been ordered was temporary and largely undone by domestic political forces, a global economic downturn and now a lethal pandemic.