That’s America for ya… the regular people are the ones who are Always fucked out of safety things compared to wealthy folks.

To me, he seemed very admiring of the effort from all over the country. You need to understand that few countries other than dictatorships are as nationalistic as the US and do not regard the US - or their own country - as exceptional in the way that Americans regard the US. In most developed countries, people do not fly the national flag at their house. In most countries there aren’t national flags in the classroom, let alone have children swearing allegiance to them. Most countries only play the national anthem at international matches. The USA is unusual for its nationalistic ritualism. There was indeed such xenophobic feeling that a Sikh man was murdered by a stranger in the street in NY soon after 9/11 - because an idiot thought his turban meant he was a moslem. It was striking even from overseas how intensely xenophobic and bigoted people became. It was surprising to us, since NY is so cosmopolitan and so many of the WTC victims were first or second generation immigrants. In one thing, the US was exceptional - and still is - with the recurring belief that somehow the US can choose to be separate from and independent of the rest of the world and the forces that shape it. Even when the US intervenes in other parts of the world, there persists this naive belief that the US has some magical immunity to any effect from outside. In the early 90s, I used JFK, O’Hare and some midwestern airports and was amazed at the complacency and lax security. It’s nothing short of amazing that the 93 WTC bombing wasn’t the first of many - that instead, things like the Boston bombing are so rare. back then, in the early 90s, the “emergency” cards on the backs of doors in hotels, in universities etc, used to go on about wildfires and nuclear missiles, and just dismiss terrorism with a line at the end, that “it has never happened”. As if that was a reason to not have a protocol for it! On a safety card of all things, this was so ridiculous that every foreigner noticed it. (Besides we all remembered the Unabomber and many also knew about the Capitol shootings in the 1950s when half a dozen Congressmen were shot.) This interviewee is still a little taken aback, I think, that Americans were so surprised and *offended* at having been targeted, instead of accepting that you had an extraordinarily long lucky streak up till then.

@@eh1702 There were a little less than 330 million ppl in the U.S. Not everyone was xenophobic. You'd have to expect there would be a few. I understand that a lot countries do not like the U.S. I do because all I've ever known here is freedom. That's something that too many countries do not have. You say we had "an extraordinarily long lucky streak" before being attacked. On 9/11, we'd had 225 years before our home soil was attacked. Not luck. We've been greatly blessed! A lot of us actually understand that.

@@nomopms1 “. Not everyone was xenophobic. “ Nobody suggested such a thing.

@@nomopms1 “on 9/11 we’d had 225 years before out home soil was attacked.” I beg to differ. Terrorism isn’t terrorism when it’s home grown, done for decades by the KKK? The 1921 two-day assault on Tulsa that burned down a whole distict and killed somewhere about 300 people wasn’t terrorism? The 1863 “draft riots” massacre of hundreds of blacks in New York? Or the Baptist Street bombings? (Lets overlook a century of KKK lynchings.) There was also the Puerto Rican independence group who shot half a dozen Congressmen in the Capitol building - is that not attacking home soil? The Unabomber certainly attacked on home soil, and the Black Panthers ambushed and killed police a few times. Closer to the point, 1998 saw two almost simultaneous Al Qaeda attacks on US embassies in East Africa: over 200 people killed and over four thousand wounded. There were around 100 terrorist attacks on US interests that year, and over 150 the following year, one of them the bombing of the USS Cole. An A,erican naval ship! Most of these attacks were in just four or five countries. That says a few groups were very determined. And Bin Laden literally promised to attack American soil by declaring “war on America”.

@@nomopms1 It is unfortunate that you used the word “blessed” as if God Himself decreed that the USA had that long run: it implies that He was not so satisfied with other countries who frankly have kept to themselves a lot more.

I’m British and the way I understood it was he was going to get there after 9. He was running late.

I mean, what he heard could've been the south tower being hit at 9:02 but from where he was located he could only see the north tower's gaping whole which would make sense at to the confusion.

My mistake….you’re correct…my class was at 9… I heard the boom several minutes before.

So your class was 8-9 ? because both towers has collapsed by 10:28 before you said you'd got home at twenty to eleven then watched the last one collapse on tv

@@deborahhope3484 good point. He must be the real mastermind behind the attacks.

Agree!

My mistake Deborah… my class was at 9… this was several minutes prior..simon

I guess you had to of been there. His watch could have been off too.

I am amazed and ashamed of a lot of the comments that I am reading all concerning the time that this happened or that happened. Everyone seems to be missing the point! This is not about what time something happened but what good someone did for someone else. It doesn't seem like to me that you were raised with manners and empathy and also sympathy. Please no more. He did his job and try to bring some levity into people's lives and help them. What have you done?

It was 20 years ago at that point.