‘I am not saying World War III is about to break out, but if the administration knows who is behind this, then it might well lead to open warfare.’
Those were prophetic words of the late Conseiller Mike Torode, who was at a postal conference when he learned of the 9/11 terrorist attacks 25 years ago today.
He was right. The devastating attacks on the Twin Towers, and the Pentagon, led to Nato’s joint defence clause being triggered for the only time in the organisation’s history.
Soon a multilateral force was hunting down Al-Qaeda in its strongholds in Afghanistan.
But the long-term geopolitical consequences of the audacious act of terrorism were not top of the Guernsey Press agenda in the immediate aftermath.
Our reporters were busy tracking down and talking to Guernsey people who were close to the scene at the time, and to Americans living in Guernsey who were traumatised by what was going on back home. To mark a quarter of a century since the seminal events of that day, I too have been asking some of those with local connections, who were strongly impacted by those events, for their recollections and emotions 25 years on.
Without exception, those memories reveal what a seminal event the Al-Qaeda attacks were in their lives.
Lawyer who watched Twin Towers fall says bonds of friendship in NYC continue to this day
Young lawyer Mark Smith was in New York on 11 September, and spoke to Press reporters that day, offering a graphic, first-hand account of the scene.
‘I saw the building just a minute or two after the plane hit. The towers were billowing with smoke and there were gaping wounds in the sides,’ he said.
His narrative back in 2001 described an understandable sense of bewilderment in New York in the immediate aftermath.
‘It was a day of utter incomprehension, panic and total devastation.’
Despite that state of shock in the hours immediately following the attacks, looking back now, Mark was full of admiration for the amazing resilience shown by New Yorkers.
‘The abiding memory of that day and the aftermath was the enduring and indomitable spirit of the city to urgently attend to the unimaginable atrocity which the city was left to endure. For the ordinary city folk on the street it was all about camaraderie, relentless effort to help in any way possible, to comfort the grieving and distressed, and to offer friendship and comfort, to laud the emergency services and to know somehow that the city would and will always recover.’
Thinking about it today, Mark is convinced that the spirit of defiance engendered completely negated everything that Al-Qaeda was trying to achieve through their acts of destruction.
‘All of this was seemingly the antidote to what the terrorists were trying to sow among us and the immediate hubristic aggression shown by the political class.
‘Of course, someone or some nation was going to pay for this, but really my sense was New Yorkers – and it was an honour that day and for a number of years prior to have been a New Yorker – it was about showing the traits and sentiment outlined above, more than exacting revenge on a faceless enemy.’
The Guernsey-born lawyer left Elizabeth College in 1992 and went to New York at the height of the first internet boom.
He became a US Attorney and stayed for four years, working in cross-border asset finance.
He left the country about a year after 9/11, returning to the island for a while, before spending time working in Canada, Bahrain and Qatar, and he now works between Gibraltar and London.
Understandably Mark did not really want to go into graphic detail in recalling the gruesome events of 25 years ago.
But he said that however bad they may have been, they also forged something positive for him.
‘Every year at this time I recall the events I saw which I don’t need to recount, or wish to, because it is so vividly caught on film. I’m still incredulous that it happened in front of me. But my bonds of friendship in NYC continue to this day.’
Guernsey-born political lobbyist was in Washington DC
Patrick Pannett was a young political lobbyist from Guernsey who was based in Washington in September 2001.
A quarter of a century on he described what it was like to watch the Pentagon burn.
‘It doesn’t feel like 25 years since the September 11 attacks,’ he said.
‘I have a clear memory of that day, starting with watching the smoke at the Pentagon from the roof of my office on U Street and then the rumours that more jets or attacks were coming and happening in the District, Capitol complex, Department of State, and beyond.
‘The confusion, and how everything unfolded over the hours and days that followed, stays with me and yet it was a remarkable day for how we all felt, whether born in the US or a latecomer, like me.
‘I recall not being able to call Guernsey for hours because mobile networks and landlines were at capacity, the roads were jammed, and people didn’t know what to do or where to go.’
Patrick said that a feeling of dislocation continued for some time. But he also noted that it was not long before Washington was displaying its defiance and resilience.
‘The next evening saw an impromptu gathering at the reflecting pool below the Capitol building with spontaneous singing of patriotic American songs.
‘A group of us who spent the afternoon and evening together still text each year.
‘It feels like a different time with everyone coming together, and today, I worry we’re forgetting the lessons of that time. Our world, and big cities in the US, remain changed because of September 11.
‘Some things never went back to normal or are even impenetrable now in the name of security, like entering the Supreme Court via the front door, or visiting the Capitol without a tour guide – the memory of 9/11 lingers in the region even after 25 years.’
‘All these years later, it remains as shocking now as it was then’
While 9/11 was obviously traumatic for first-hand witnesses, it was almost as bad for Americans abroad, petrified about the fate of their loved ones back home.
One Guernsey resident who went through such a period of intense worry was the then head of the Channel Islands Stock Exchange, and native New Yorker Tamara Menteshvili.
The day still lives fresh in her mind today.
‘The news reached me shortly after switching the screen in my office at 1.56pm – “Breaking news, an aeroplane has hit the North Tower”. Ten minutes had passed since the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center.
‘It seemed time stood still. I could only stand and stare at the screen in total disbelief but somehow regained composure to telephone my mother in New York to check on my two brothers, both of whom worked near the Twin Towers, as did the girlfriend of one of my brothers. I hung up in case they tried to call home and waited.
‘Moments later, another plane flew into the South Tower. I sat down shaking. I phoned my mother back immediately and managed to get through.
‘She told me one of my brothers had witnessed the first plane from his office and was safe. The circuits were overloaded after that call and it was not until much later that evening when I was relieved to learn, thankfully, that my family and friends were all safe.
‘By this time, NYC was under strict emergency restrictions with people being evacuated, and closures of bridges, tunnels and public transport.
‘These were remarkable buildings in every aspect – devastation beyond comprehension. Ground Zero.
‘All these years later, it remains as shocking now as it was then. God rest their souls.’
Reporting the news from a tiny TV set
In researching this feature one of my starting points was the Guernsey Press editions of 12 and 13 September 2001.
Having no association with the newspaper back then, I’m free to state how blown away I was by how well the editorial team of the day responded to the events on the other side of the world.
Before the days of social media, or everyday internet discussions, they did an amazing job in finding Guernsey people living in New York and Washington, and those with connections to those cities living here in Guernsey. One of the linchpins of that coverage was Katrina Bray.
‘I don’t recall what was happening that particular Tuesday before the news broke. The news agenda would have been returning to normal after the summer “silly season” and by early afternoon, as news editor, I would normally have had a clear idea of what was going on across every page, with copy beginning to come in from the morning’s jobs,’ she recalled.
‘In 2001, the Guernsey Press newsroom was upstairs in our old building at Braye Road, now part of the premises of Colour Monster printers, and we had a tiny television at one end of the room, tucked between the sports desks and the kitchen, which normally broadcast Teletext headlines or the cricket, depending on the season. As the news unfolded, I remember all of us gathering around it, watching in disbelief.
‘Then, as journalists, we somehow had to put the emotion to one side and switch into work mode. How could we make this relevant to our readers in Guernsey, an island thousands of miles from New York?
‘Who did we know who might be able to tell us what was happening? Could we find a Guernsey person living in New York who could speak to us?
‘This was, of course, long before social media, when finding someone on the other side of the world was not simply a matter of being a few connections away. We had to think about who we could contact, what we could report, and how we could bring the story home to our readers.
‘You have to try and switch off the emotion and concentrate on the job, but in this particular situation that was incredibly difficult as one of our journalists had lived in New York fairly recently and had many friends there.
‘I can still picture where she was sitting in the newsroom and remember her distress as the events unfolded.
‘What happened for the rest of that day, and quite how we managed to put a newspaper together, I can’t remember. What I do remember is that we used a large photograph of the Twin Towers which I presume is one of the very few editions of the Guernsey Press to carry such a prominent photograph of something that had not happened in the Bailiwick.
‘What also stays with me is going home that evening and finally being overcome by the emotion of what had happened.
‘It was one of those rare moments when history stops being something you read about and becomes something you are living through. It was a day that changed the world, and one that, as a journalist, I will never forget.’
‘The day the world seemed to stand still’
I am sure most of us remember exactly where we were when news of the Al-Qaeda attacks broke.
In my case it was the car park of the Coop in Nocq Road.
But those who neither witnessed the events at close hand, nor genuinely feared for the lives of their loved ones, will never be able to fully appreciate the sort of visceral memories shared by those who did.
I think I have some small insight into such feelings, having been a survivor of another defining tragedy of modern history – the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004, when more than 220,000 people died across 14 countries. I understand how deeply-buried and awful memories can suddenly surface without warning.
I warmly thank those still carrying the events of 25 years ago around inside their heads for sharing their emotions and recollections with me for this article. September the 11th 2001 truly was one of those days when the world seemed to stand still.