Before 2001...
* During the 1990s, a Boston newspaper published an article on the possibility of an air traffic control mishap at Logan Airport. The photo of a passenger jet was superimposed against a background of skyscrapers from Boston's financial district. This image made a lasting impression on me and in retrospect, seemed very similar to real photos of the Sept. 11th attacks.
* Anyone reading this remember the date February 26, 1993? That's when terrorists exploded a truck bomb inside the World Trade Center with the intention of collapsing one tower into the other. That fact seemed to be lost on most people and from then on, I had always looked at the twin towers as being on borrowed time. Almost no one else did.
* Air France Flight 8969 was hijacked on December 24, 1994 by Islamic terrorists from Algeria in an attempt to crash the jet into the Eiffel Tower. It was a very sobering thought to me but the notion of a passenger jet being used as a weapon didn't seem to make much of an impression on the average American. The small amount of media coverage this deadly hijacking did receive in the United States seemed to be centered on footage of French commandos storming the plane with air stairs.
* On Jan. 6, 1995, authorities in the Philippines discovered and later disrupted the Bojinka Project, a large-scale terrorist attack that called for the assassination of the Pope, the bombing of 11 commercial airliners and the hijacking and crashing of an airliner into CIA headquarters.
* In March of 1995, a Japanese cult launched a deadly sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway instilling fears that such an attack could occur elsewhere.
* The bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995 claimed the lives of 168 people and shocked the nation. Many initially suspected Muslims were behind the attack instead of two anti-government domestic terrorists.
* The 1997 film Air Force One had Harrison Ford playing a president who took a hard line against international terrorism. At the time, I thought this seemed out of character since Bill Clinton's presidency focused more on domestic issues.
* Another movie about terrorism from around this time was The Siege. Released in November of 1998, the film's imagery would be eerily similar to a post 9-11 New York City. While it spurred some discussion on fanaticism, profiling, and civil liberties, it also drew intense criticism from Muslim and Arab groups. The film performed poorly at the box office but gained renewed attention after the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks with its director being sought for interviews.
* In 1999, Nightline aired the week-long series BioWar in which Ted Koppel and a panel of experts discussed the hypothetical results of a terrorist anthrax attack on a major American city. The show was presented as if the event was actually taking place and there were even periodic checks on the latest death toll, which eventually surpassed 50,000. Ted Koppel himself stated that a biological attack in a major city in the United States was not a question of if but when. No one on this program mentioned anything about the possibility of hijacked planes crashing into buildings.
* Stories on air rage seemed to be big around this time along with complaints of long lines at airports. Many people expected to arrive at their terminal and board the plane within ten or twenty minutes except maybe during the holidays. (The movie Air Rage starring Ice-T would be released on July 24, 2001.)
* Some say that few of us had ever heard the name Osama bin Laden before Sept. 11, 2001. One person who did a great job trying to put that name into our collective consciousness was John Walsh of America's Most Wanted. That television show profiled Osama bin Laden several times before 2001 and categorized him as a dangerous terrorist mastermind involved in the U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.
* Another person who brought attention to what was going on in Afghanistan with the Taliban was Mavis Leno, feminist and wife of late-night talk show host, Jay Leno. She even appeared as a guest on The Tonight Show in 1999 to discuss just what was happening in that country.
* In October of 1999, a private jet carrying professional golfer Payne Stewart and five others lost cabin pressure and continued cruising on autopilot for about four hours before crashing into an empty field. Air Force jets had been scrambled to follow the doomed flight but nothing could be done to help.
* Terrorists planned a series of coordinated attacks for December of 1999 and January of 2000 but most were foiled in what would be called the 2000 millennium attack plots.
* Just before the year 2000, the big story was the Y2K problem. Dire predictions were made, some commemorative merchandise was sold but humanity survived the new year.
* On May 30, 2000, the Family Guy episode Road to Rhode Island featured a quick scene in which Osama bin Laden sings show tunes while trying to smuggle weapons through an airport metal detector. At the time, I got the joke but wondered if the reference was a little too obscure for the average American. (Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane was supposed to be on American Airlines Flight 11 on Sept. 11th but due to a mix up with his travel agent, he missed boarding the plane at Logan Airport by about 10 minutes.)
* Sometime in 2000, I helped a friend paint his model ex-Soviet Hind helicopter gunship by researching Afghanistan's Northern Alliance paint schemes and insignia at a local book store.
* Al-Qaeda's suicide bombing of the USS Cole on Oct. 12, 2000 killed 17 American sailors.
Months before Sept. 11, 2001...
* While I did have worries in the back of my mind about a significant terrorist attack during Boston's 2000 / 2001 First Night celebrations, I also had some hope that this new century might bring with it an era of peace and cooperation among the nations and cultures of the world.
* After a very close and controversial election complete with “hanging chads” on ballot cards and a supreme court ruling, George W. Bush was sworn in as President of the United States on January 20, 2001. Known for a climate of bipartisanship during his tenure as governor of Texas, he had campaigned on unity and pledged to focus on domestic issues rather than foreign affairs and nation building.
* One of the first shocking news events of 2001 was the February death of legendary NASCAR racer Dale Earnhardt in what appeared to be a minor crash.
* In May, American missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham were taken hostage in the Philippines by the Al-Qaeda supported Islamic separatist group Abu Sayyaf. The story received little continuing media coverage in the United States.
* A story that was grabbing the headlines in May was the disappearance of intern Chandra Levy. The media focused attention on Congressman Gary Condit as a possible murder suspect.
* In the spring, a Fox 25 undercover investigation highlighted security problems at Logan Airport. (This report would later be mentioned by the 9-11 Commission.)
* On TV and in movie theaters, we were seeing a trailer for the new Spider-Man movie starring Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst in which the superhero snares a group of bank robbers fleeing in a helicopter by spinning a huge web in between the two towers of the World Trade Center. (After the attacks, it was pulled.)
* The History Channel's Modern Marvels series aired an episode on the World Trade Center on June 25, 2001. In this documentary, the claim that the towers were built to withstand a crash from a Boeing 707 passenger jet was stated. (The series was aired again after the attacks with added commentary from host Harry Smith and author Angus Gillespie who had been featured in that particular episode.)
* In July, a New York band named I Am the World Trade Center released their latest album Out of the Loop which featured a song called September.
* Also in July, the Fox network debuted a new reality show called Murder in Small Town X, in which contestants had to solve fictitious murder mysteries while avoiding being picked off themselves. The final episode of the series aired on Sept. 4th and New York firefighter Ángel Juarbe Jr. won. (He was killed a week later in the collapse of the World Trade Center.)
* During the summer, the media focused a large amount of attention on shark attacks despite the rarity of such an event. Later dubbed the Summer of Sharks, it highlighted the media's obsession with tabloid sensationalism.
* In August, American missionaries Heather Mercer and Dayna Curry were arrested in Afghanistan by the Taliban for preaching Christianity. Six other aid workers were imprisoned as well. Again, media coverage on this story was sporadic at best.
* On August 4th, Zacarias Moussaoui was arrested by the FBI. Sometimes called the "20th hijacker" his capture would later bring criticism of the government's failure to connect the dots in the weeks prior to the attack.
* Retired FBI counter-terrorism expert John O'Neill started his job as head of security at the World Trade Center on August 23rd. Suspecting Al-Qaeda would “finish the job” they started in 1993, he ultimately perished in the South Tower on 9-11 while trying to coordinate evacuation efforts.
* Call Me Crazy, the memoir of actress Anne Heche, was released on Sept. 4th and entertainment media had a field day questioning her sanity. (After the attacks, Jay Leno lamented the time society spent focusing on such a trivial thing.)
* On September 10, 2001, the town of Amherst, MA voted 4-1 to ban the "excessive" display of American flags except for on approved days. University of Massachusetts physics professor Jennie Traschen spoke before the board and said the American flag was "...a symbol of terrorism and death and fear and destruction and repression."
September 11, 2001...
* It was a very sunny and cool Tuesday morning with no clouds in the sky.
* Upon learning that a plane hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center, many people thought it was an accident. An infamous announcement made over the PA system of the South Tower said the building was secure and people could return to their offices. How many lives were lost because of this?
* I was awoken by the sound of my mother shouting, "They're crashing planes into the World Trade Center!" She had watched the attack live. The first thing I thought was small propeller planes or private jets. When I saw footage of the attack, I got sick to my stomach. For the rest of the day, I stayed glued to the television and really didn't do anything else.
* No one expected the towers to collapse based on the fact that they had been constructed to withstand a plane crash. One news anchor on ABC even said that it looked like the fire inside the World Trade Center was putting itself out. This statement was made just minutes before the South Tower collapsed.
* The airspace over the United States and later Canada was quickly shut down leaving many people stranded in other countries. The night skies were uncannily quiet but we did hear what was most likely two Air National Guard jet fighters fly over the house. I ran outside and spotted two slowly flashing red marker lights streaking across a dark sky. Civilian air traffic resumed on Sept. 13th.
* Horrifying images from that day were burned into America's psyche. We saw things that no one had ever expected to see. Many witnesses initially described 9-11 as surreal or like something out of a movie.
Just after Sept. 11, 2001...
* The French newspaper Le Monde declared in a headline "We are all Americans." There was much sympathy from around the world but one infamous news report showed a group of Palestinians celebrating the collapse of the twin towers.
* All late-night talk shows were suspended for a considerable length of time and news coverage of the attacks dominated the airwaves. For months, the overnight news on CBS showed live footage of the cleanup at Ground Zero as they broke for commercials.
* Ground Zero Illness would become a major concern for rescue works and survivors of the attack. Donations of surgical and filter masks were encouraged.
* Some people placed a single electric candle in their windows in the hope that survivors would be found the in the wreckage of the World Trade Center.
* Blood donations surged to record levels. Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat held a press conference in which he appeared to donate blood for the victims of 9-11.
* Logan Airport was closed for four days and when it reopened, State Police ran the security checkpoints while the National Guard patrolled the facility.
* The security of smaller local airports was called into question and concerns were raised about crop dusters being used as weapons.
* People were on the lookout for suspicious Middle Eastern men driving a white van who had been seen in New Jersey joking and photographing the burning World Trade Center. They turned out to be Israelis working for a moving company and this incident inspired one of the many conspiracy theories and urban legends that would surround the terrorist attack.
* Urban legends of fore knowledge soon surfaced including the story of a Muslim student at New Utrecht High School in Brooklyn who had pointed to the twin towers and told his class the buildings would not be there next week. An Islamic calendar printed in May of 2001 showed a passenger jet on fire and about to crash into New York Harbor for the month of September.
* During his visit to Ground Zero on Sept. 14th, President Bush spoke to the crowd using a bullhorn and promised, "The people who knocked these buildings down will hear from all of us soon." The mother of fallen Port Authority Police Officer George Howard gave the president her son's badge which served as a memorial to 9-11 victims during a speech to Congress.
* On Sept. 15th, Sikh-American gas station owner Balbir Singh Sodhi was mistaken for a Muslim and shot to death in what was the first of several post 9-11 hate crimes.
* There were calls for more world news coverage in the media so Americans would not be so myopic.
* Stories of tragedy and survival soon emerged: The executive chef of Windows on the World avoided being killed in the attack because he stopped to get his glasses fixed before going to the restaurant. Longtime window washer Roko Camaj, who had been interviewed in 1999 about his job, perished in the attack but another window washer, Jan Demczur, who was trapped in an elevator, escaped by using a squeegee handle to cut through drywall. Four people above the impact zone of the South Tower survived by descending the only intact stairwell. Sixteen people managed to survive the collapse of the North Tower. Just before passengers of Flight 93 attempted to regain control of the aircraft, Todd Beemer said, "Let's Roll.” The catchphrase gained popularity for a time after 9-11.
* Another catchphrase that emerged was: “If you see something, say something” as government officials urged us all to be on the lookout for suspicious activities.
* Enya's song "Only Time" became very popular around this time in addition to Lee Greenwood's "Proud to Be an American". I had wondered why Don Henley's 1990 tune "New York Minute" wasn't played too. Contrary to what the internet says now about that tune being associated with Sept. 11, 2001, it was not. (Perhaps it was too depressing?)
* American flags were very popular again and one prominent television ad around this time was for the American Freedom Collection. It consisted of two flags that clipped onto a car's side windows. One was an American flag and the other was a blue flag with the phrase God Bless America on it.
* Flag stickers were added to many MBTA transit vehicles and some buses and trolleys featured large "United We Stand" signs in their side ad card holders.
* American flags appeared on many products...some in good taste and in bad. I remember going out to eat and receiving a wet nap with a flag on one side. The other side had a pledge from the company that a portion of sales would go to charity to help the victims of the attack on America. Later on I saw a local dollar store selling Chinese-made filter masks with a photo of the twin towers on the package. Bad taste indeed!
* Bob Kaufman from Bob's Discount Furniture put out a cheesy ad in which he said he really didn't know how to respond to the new threat America faced. Blaine Beauty Schools also had a slightly tasteless ad in which they asked if people were reexamining their lives and wanted a more meaningful career. Ads for the Jewelry Exchange claimed "now more than ever" it was time to show that special someone how much you loved them.
* Patriotic billboards and television public service announcements appeared. One PSA urged parents to talk to their kids about their feelings and featured a sad boy with a drawing of the attack being comforted by his mother.
* President Bush warned the war on terror would not take years but perhaps decades and due to the sensitive nature of intelligence gathering, many victories would never be publicized.
* Some in the media predicted casualties for the invasion of Afghanistan would reach the tens of thousands within the first year due to heavy house to house combat.
* The lesser known part of the war on terror brought the United States to parts of Africa and the Philippines.
* A panel chair on the show Politically Incorrect was left empty for a week to honor frequent guest Barbara Olson, a lawyer and conservative television commentator who was killed on American Airlines Flight 77 en route to a taping of the television show. Host Bill Maher was soon caught up in controversy when he criticized past U.S. military policy and refuted President George Bush's claim that the 9-11 terrorists were cowardly.
* Letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to the offices of two politicians and several media outlets killing five people. During one news broadcast, Tom Brokaw famously held up a bottle of antibiotics and said, "In Cipro we trust." A government scientist named Bruce Edwards Ivins was suspected but he overdosed on Tylenol in an apparent suicide before formal charges could be filed.
* Tom Ridge, the head of the newly created Office of Homeland Security was advising us to buy duct tape along with other supplies as a precaution against a possible biological attack.
* Some in government called for a loosening of policies that tied the hands of law enforcement. (The controversial USA Patriot Act was later signed into law in October.)
* After the attack on Pearl Harbor, America demanded much from its citizens...everything from enlisting in the military to the rationing of a whole host of items on the home front. After the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks, the only thing that seemed to be demanded of me is that I go shopping to stimulate the economy.
* From my own personal experiences, people seemed to be nicer to each other on the roads but that only lasted for about 3 months.
Months and years after Sept 11, 2001...
* Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed bin Talal offered Mayor Rudy Giuliani a $10 million check for the Twin Towers Fund but later publicly criticized America's policies in the Middle East prompting the Mayor to return the check.
* 9-11 widow Kalahasthi Prasanna, who lost her husband on Flight 11, died of an apparent suicide on Oct. 19th. Patricia Flounders, whose husband was killed in the World Trade Center took her own life on Dec. 9th. (In 2009, outspoken 9-11 widow Beverly Eckert would perish in the crash of Colgan Air Flight 3407.)
* Hillary Clinton was booed during the Concert for New York City but oddly enough Bill Clinton was not. The booing was edited out and replaced with cheering in subsequent broadcasts and the DVD version of the event.
* Fears of another terrorist attack arose again on November 12, 2001 when American Airlines Flight 587 crashed into a neighborhood in Queens, New York shortly after takeoff. The National Transportation Safety Board would later rule out terrorism as a cause for the disaster.
* Missionaries Heather Mercer and Dayna Curry were rescued by the U.S. military on November 15, 2001.
* Also in November of 2001, the Leonids produced one of the most spectacular meteor showers in years. I found it odd that something so beautiful could occur just weeks after something as ugly as the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks.
* Some made the claim there had been a spike in the number of marriages (and later a post 9-11 baby boom) but this was false.
* In December, The Amazing Spider-Man Volume 2 #36 debuted with an all black cover and a storyline that showed various Marvel Comic super heroes and villains helping first responders at Ground Zero. The terrorist attacks influenced many other comic books and weekly comic strips.
* On December 22nd, Richard Reid attempted to detonate a shoe bomb while traveling on American Airlines Flight 63 but was stopped by passengers and crew. In response to this failed terrorist attack, U.S. airports required passengers remove their shoes during pre-boarding security screenings.
* Actor James Woods revealed to the public that while on a commercial flight from Boston to Los Angeles in August of 2001, he noticed men of Middle Eastern descent (who were later believed to be some of the 9/11 hijackers) acting suspiciously and informed a flight attendant of their behavior.
* After minor controversy, an American flag recovered from the World Trade Center was allowed to be carried by athletes during the opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Honor guards made up of members of the NYPD and FDNY were also present and NYPD officer Daniel Rodriguez sang God Bless America.
* A color-coded terror threat level scale was unveiled in April of 2002 but many people did not understand its meaning.
* On June 7, 2002, the Philippine Army conducted a raid to rescue hostages held by terrorist group Abu Sayyaf. Gracia Burnham survived but her husband, Martin and a nurse were killed.
* For those of us living on the east coast, the one year anniversary of 9-11 took place on a very dark and windy day.
* In 2003, ABC debuted Profiles from the Front Line...a series where camera crews followed actual members of the Special Forces in Afghanistan. It lasted only six episodes.
* New York City saw a strangely familiar mass evacuation during the Northeast blackout of 2003 which occurred during the afternoon of Aug. 14th. Some credited 9-11 for an improved emergency response and a relatively calm reaction from the general public.
After the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks, we were told life in this country would never be the same and for those who lost loved-ones, this is true. However, I can't help thinking that our culture has become more self-absorbed than ever over the years since. Please take some time this month to remember the victims of 9-11 and try to do something selfless in their honor.
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