Today, September 11th, 2001 “a date which will live in infamy…”
For the first time I open with a quote, and I’m sure you recognise it, most probably if you’ve seen the film Pearl Harbor, or if you study history (and remember it!). To let you know that quote is taken from Former U.S. President F.D.Roosevelt after the infamous Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941. The reason America (eventually) joined the Second World War (too late in my opinion).
[I would like to say right now that this piece I am writing is in no way Anti-American. I am simply stating my own opinions on events, some past, most present.]

I’m sure you are all also aware as to why I’ve put that at the top of this post. Today the USA and the world have witnessed what is being claimed as the “worst terrorist attack in history”, and it probably is. I am sure you have all heard about the terrible events that unfolded early this morning (US Eastern Time) on Manhattan Island in New York. I don’t think I need to explain but I will briefly. Planes were hijacked by terrorists this morning and 2 were flown into each of the famous Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York. Another plane was flown into the Pentagon in Washington D.C. Another plane was followed over America by fighters and eventually came down. As I write it is not known as to whether it was brought down by the fighters or crashed. It is also not known of the number dead and injured or the amount of damage done to the Pentagon, the home of military operations in America. No doubt the casualties and death count will be huge. This is a great tragedy for the American people and has sent
shockwaves around the world. London was evacuated is just one bit of proof for this. But on the other hand, I have to say that I was waiting for something to happen. Of course no one could ever have guessed it would be as horrific as this but when you have someone like George “Dubya” Bush in charge, well I don’t like the guy. In my opinion he is too aggressive to be in charge of such a force as America. It appears to me (and I’m only 16 so I don’t know everything!) that he has been looking for war since he was made President. Look at the ‘Star Wars Missile Defence’ project thingy. If you are trying to obtain peace then you don’t build defences. You build defences if you are planning to go to war. And it appears that is exactly what George Bush is prepared to do. And I quote: “The United States will hunt down and punish those responsible…” Now to me the shock of this attack to President Bush mixed with his aggressive attitude and apparent want for war, and will indeed lead to war. And no doubt this war will involve many nations who stand by their alliances with America, including Britain.

And this is where I will start to get controversial.

Because I greatly agree with the British policy on war, and it has been this for a long time. And that is that we will fight to stand by our alliances. Look at both World Wars for example. The Great War, we go to war with Germany to defend the neutrality and independance of Belgium. Second World War, we go to war to defend Poland, although by that time Hitler had gotten away with too much, but that is a separate argument. Now let’s look at America’s involvement in those same wars…hmmm. Well, in the Great War, they decided to join right at the end of the war, and they joined primarily for a form of revenge on Germany, who had tried to persuade Mexico to launch an invasion of America. Foolish idea, I mean let’s be fair, (and I quote a friend with this first section) “Mexico couldn’t invade a shop”, let alone one of the most powerful powers in the world at that time. And when America arrived on the Western Front in the Great War, they played a very minor role as the British and French troops were already pushing the German army back towards Berlin. So they come in to seek revenge. And then in WW2,
America join the war after 2 years (!!!), bit late really, lots of lives had already been lost. And they only joined to get revenge on the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, not to help their allies. In fact the only reason America joined the war against the Nazis was because she was forced to when Adolf Hitler declared war on America for fighting Japan. So it would appear America were forced into helping their so-called “Allies” in Europe. Bear in mind that at this time Britain was the ONLY country left that was standing against Fascism and trying to help their allies in France and on the rest of the continent. Don’t get me wrong, I realise that the Americans did indeed help fight back the Nazis in the War, but they once again they entered the war ONLY for their own reasons, NOT to stand by their allies in Europe. Put simply, it would appear that America couldn’t give a shit about their Allies. They are too concerned with their own country and not the rest of the world. I mean look at their History syllabus, very little (if any!) of it focuses outside of America. And this attitude reverberates down to the people of America who (in general) seem to know very little of the world beyond America’s boundaries.

And now, returning to the present, it appears as though America will shortly be at war…with whom we don’t know, at least I don’t. Perhaps tomorrow will show more information. But the main problem facing America is that this was almost definately a terrorist attack, all be it a VERY clever and well thought out terrorist attack. And one that must have required huge planning. But in my opinion, I don’t think George Bush cares. He has sworn to the American people to “hunt down and punish” these terrorist and from what I can perceive of him, he will. However, I am sure that this was not an act of war, therefore whichever country or faction is responsible for this will be dealt with quickly by such a force as America. But even so, Britain and NATO have already agreed to help America in stopping this. So once again Britain go to aid an Ally. And that means that British lives are potentially going to be lost fighting for our country’s allies. And I would like to think that America will remember this and perhaps change their attitude to help their allies more eagerly in future. Indeed it hasn’t taken Britain or NATO long to decide to help. I am sure American attitude will change, after such a tragic event, America (and probably the world) has no option but to change. And this change will be permanent. Security measures will be greatly increased and the world will take a long time to recover from this great and horrific shock. It will take a long time until we know the exact number of dead and injured from this attack, but I guess it won’t be a low number. News stations have reported how “The New York skyline has been changed forever”, and I just think ‘never mind the skyline, what about people’s lives?’ That question doesn’t appear to have been put to the stations as they report on the skyline! The financial cost of this will no doubt be huge, but America is a strong and advanced economy and will recover from that. But the human cost of this is inexplicable and cannot be recovered. I feel utmost sympathy for everyone involved in today’s events and I don’t think anyone can imagine to realise what the American people are going through at this moment in time. Fear will no doubt grip the nation for a long time yet, and it will never be easily mended.

I WOULD LIKE TO SAY THAT NONE OF THIS WAS MEANT TO SOUND CHEESEY. I WROTE WHAT I FELT I NEEDED TO SAY AND HAVE DEEPEST SYMPATHY FOR AMERICA. I PRIMARILY WROTE THIS IN ANSWER TO THE PEOPLE ON MSN WHO NO DOUBT THOUGHT ME HEARTLESS NOT TO SET MY STATUS AS ‘BUSY’ IN RESPECT OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. BUT I BELIEVED THAT DOING THIS IS A MUCH MORE WORTHWHILE CAUSE AND EXPRESSES MUCH MORE EMOTION THAN SIMPLY SETTING MY STATUS TO ‘BUSY’. HOPEFULLY THIS CAN ANSWER ANY THOUGHTS YOU HAD ABOUT ME FOR NOT DOING THAT.

PEACE . LOVE . RESPECT

How upsetting it is that those three things couldn’t have been in the minds of the terrorists today….

NOTE: I would like to point out here that this piece was written on September 11th 2001. I have not edited the piece in anyway since then, except for in the font/colours used (and of course this note!). The actual text has not been edited from the original. And I am not going to change any of the text. Any spelling mistakes/grammatical errors shall remain. What I have written was exactly what I felt on the day, I am aware that there are many new facts at hand and indeed some of the views expressed by me here have changed slightly with the benefit of hindsight and that is why I will not correct any errors, because I know if I start to do that then I just end up changing the entire piece – it loses its original ‘feeling’.