15 years on from 9/11

[Ginger Piglet]

It was my birthday. I was 16. I came home from school and my mother told me that it was on the news that some loonies led by this rich religious nut called Osama Bin Laden had just crashed planes into the World Trade Centre.

Next thing I knew, we were invading Afghanistan.

This was the real end of the 1990s with their carefree "we've beaten the Soviet Bloc, go us!" and the beginning of the 2000s proper. It's probably likely to be seen in the far future as the day when the 21st century began for real. We went in to Afghanistan, overthrew the brutal regime of the Taliban and replaced it with a corrupt and ineffectual government that was only democratic on paper. We went into Iraq, defeated the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein, and let the locals battle it out amongst themselves. Now we've got ISIS to contend with. And once they're destroyed there'll be some other regime of bloodthirsty loonies that run things there.

Honestly, I'm thinking that the only way forward for Iraq and Syria and Afghanistan would be some sort of UN mandate, but the UN is too ineffectual and bureaucratic to make it work properly and would be seen as some sort of colonial proxy government for the Americans. And that would take decades. It took over 30 years for the Normans in England to be seen as proper English people and not a French ruling class.

It still gets right up my nose that there are still 9/11 truthers out there and they still believe it was an inside job.

 

[Henry Bemis]

Actually several think tanks tasked with predicting future Terrorist attacks and how to prevent them produced a report for the Government suggesting Civilian Aircraft would be used as a means to conduct attacks similar to a missile.

See also: Sam Byck's attempt to assassinate Nixon.

 

[TopCat]

Happy Birthday, 9/11!
I remember I didn't know about it until about noon that day. In the mornings in high school was a working a internship type thing until about then.

 

[Jewelsmakerguy]

CGI is a wonderful tool.

 

[charmaide]

9/11.

A set of numbers that brings sadness for those that were lost on that day, 15 years ago. It was an event that put the forward motion in place for G.W. Bush's "War on Terror," a military campaign that brought more trouble to the world than a viable solution. Sure, this forwarded more hate and fear towards Muslim individuals, but those came after the attacks. (Try explaining some users on tumblr before they stick their fingers in their ears.)

However, in some sense, 9/11 could've been prevented in a way, or its effects minimized. There was a huge disconnect between the CIA and FBI, where the CIA was keeping tabs on the attack ringleader for months. When news hit that the ringleader was in the US, the FBI was essentially powerless to do anything without the CIA. (According to a documentary on the subject; a Seconds From Disaster special on 9/11 if I recall correctly.)

 

[ToroidalBoat]

I remember reading this overly optimistic comic shortly after 9/11. IIRC, 2 characters are at a 9/11 memorial in the future (as of 2001). One of them tells the other that after 9/11, the event was so shocking that it led to a new era of world peace.

 

[waffle]

My impression about 9/11 is that the islams won.

We changed our entire society and way of life in pretty major ways based on, what? About three thousand people being killed? That is fucking ridiculous. The whole point of terrorism is to get you to change your way of life based on their actions. If we want to go bomb the caves they live in that's fine. Shit, it's good we did it so they don't get any big ideas about doing it again. But, this enhanced security, patriot act, "9/11 changed everything" shit is fucking us all. One of the biggest divides in our society today, IMO, is weather or not you can remember the way things were before 9/11 and this fucking culture of fear and safety-first bullshit we live in today.

 

[Ntwadumela]

All I can say is that this is a reminder that danger lurks in the darkest shadows and can strike at any time. Now that people are more aware of what goes on in the world, I'm sure it won't be repeated.
Also, to be honest, I'm very glad that fucker Bin Laden is dead.

 

[Bob Page]

I know it's a day late, but what the hell.

I remember quite a lot from that day, 15 years ago. I was in the 2nd grade at the time, waiting a bit until i walk to school.
My brother was watching the news when he said "Hey, A building in New York got hit." I looked at the TV and saw the smoke from the north tower.
Then i went to school and most of my classmates were talking about what had happened. When it was class time, our teacher turned on the radio and we got informed that the south tower got hit. We didn't do much that day, apart from reflecting on what was going on. After class, I was called to the principal's office where my dad was there with a worried expression. We then left to go pick up my mother, who was working at a hospital as a nurse. I asked my dad: "Hey dad, I don't understand. what's going on?"
He then said: "I think we're at war." I usually know him to be quite level-headed, but he was a bit worried about the situation, due to in part, working at Fort Irwin. Later that day, we heard the towers started collapsing. It was a terrifying time.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

Soon after 9/11, I remember hearing that some people from India were attacked in the USA by idiots because they thought the victims were Muslim.