Review: "The Only Plane in the Sky: an Oral History of September 11, 2001" by Garrett M. Graff
I had high hopes that this book would be a true oral history and not fall into the hands of patriotic and nationalistic propaganda purposes.
My hopes were heard. Most often.
This book is built on the words of people who have some kind of relation to the events of 11 September 2001. Many people were interviewed and gave their witness of events as they unfolded. The book is built in chronological order, divided into briefly and tastefully described sections, where each section is filled with short quotes from different people, which altogether forms a very powerful narrative.
Garrett M. Graff has done the world a service by collating this fascinating, horrifying, heartbreaking, visceral, human, breathtaking, hopeful, beautiful, and ultimately, politically misdirected collection of quotes.
This book does not set out to try and be 'definitive', whatever that would be, nor is it pretended to be something akin to 'what actually happened.' To me, this book will last as a very human and soulful—in lieu of a better term—collective memoir of an extremely tragic event.
Jared Kotz, Risk Waters Group: One of my friends came out of an office, yelling, “Which building is the conference in?” I thought, Gee, what are you so excited about? You’ve got plenty of time to get down there. I yelled, “It’s One World Trade Center.” He replied, “No, no! Which building is it? Is it the one with the tower on it?” I walked down to the south side of my office and looked out to verify that indeed it was the Tower with the radio tower. At that moment, I realized something terrible had happened. I saw a large gaping hole and the sky full of what could only be described as confetti—millions of sheets of white paper, floating like confetti in the sky, floating east from the World Trade Center.
It's the little pieces of stories that struck me over and over as I read this book. Some times I just had to pause, as the book took my breath away.
Richard Eichen, consultant, Pass Consulting Group, North Tower, 90th floor: I saw off my left shoulder an Asian man coming toward me—he looked like he had been deep-fried. He had his arms out, and his skin was hanging like seaweed. He was begging me to help him. He said, “Help me, help me,” and then did a face-plant right between my legs. He died between my legs. I looked down, and that’s when I saw my shirt was full of blood. I didn’t know before that I had been hurt. You could smell fuel. I had no idea what happened. I could see in the elevator shaft—floor-to-ceiling flames. It looked like a shower curtain shimmering. It’s funny the things that you do in the situation—I put my bagel down in the entranceway and said, “I have to remember when it’s over, I have to pick up the bagel and throw it away.”
In the final minutes of the flight, United Flight 175 passengers phoned family members and left voice mails of care and concern. Brian Sweeney, a 38-year-old former F-14 pilot in the Gulf War, left a voice mail for his wife, Julie, back in Massachusetts. Peter Hanson, 32, traveling with his wife, Sue Kim, 35, and their two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Christine, called his father. Christine would be the youngest victim on September 11th.
Brian Sweeney, passenger, United Flight 175: Hey Jules, this is Brian. Ah, listen. I’m on an airplane that’s been hijacked. If things don’t go well, and it’s not looking good, I just want you to know I absolutely love you, I want you to do good, have good times—same with my parents. I’ll see you when you get here. I want you to know that I totally love you. Bye, babe. I hope I call you.
Peter Hanson, passenger, United Flight 175: It’s getting bad, Dad. A stewardess was stabbed. They seem to have knives and Mace. They said they have a bomb. It’s getting very bad on the plane. The plane is making jerky movements. I don’t think the pilot is flying the plane. I think we are going down. I think they intend to go to Chicago or someplace and fly into a building. Don’t worry, Dad. If it happens, it’ll be very fast. Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.
Sheila Denise Moody, accountant, Resource Services Office: September 11th, 2001, was my first day here at the Pentagon. There was also another lady who started work with me that same day, Louise. She and I were both laying out our personal items and getting acquainted with the job. Louise Rogers, accountant, Resource Services Office, Pentagon: Our office was in the section that had been completed with renovations. Everything was brand new, nice, and neat. Sheila Denise Moody: Louise came to my desk and told me about the World Trade Center. She left my cubicle and went around to the front of the office, toward the portion of the offices that faced the window, and went to fax some paperwork.
Louise Rogers: I started the fax machine—put the papers in the fax, dialed the number—and at the exact moment that I hit the start key, the plane hit.
Sheila Denise Moody: A burst of hot air hit my face. The burst was so strong—it had so much force—that it forced me to close my eyes. When I opened my eyes there was a ball of fire shooting right to the right of me. I was in shock. The building was shaking—there was debris and things falling from the ceiling. The ceiling opened up, and I was covered in some liquid. To this day I still really don’t know what it was.
Louise Rogers: At first, I thought I’d blown up the fax machine. It’s like the initial stage of shock—I thought, My God, what did I do? Then I realized it wasn’t me. I smelled the jet fuel. Being around the air force for 30-some years in one way or another, I recognized jet fuel when I smelled it.
The clear-headed audacity of some of the passengers of the hijacked planes will never cease to shock me.
Deena Burnett: The phone rang again and it was Tom and he said, “Deena.” I said, “Tom, you’re okay,” thinking that he had survived the plane crash at the Pentagon. He said no. I said, “They just hit the Pentagon.” I could hear people talking and spreading the news in the background and I could hear their concern and I could hear people gasping as if they were surprised and shocked. Tom came back on the phone and said, “I’m putting a plan together. We’re going to take back the airplane.” I asked, “Who’s helping you?” He said, “Different people, several people. There’s a group of us. Don’t worry. We’re going to do something.” Then he said, “I’m going to call you back,” and he hung up.
Rescue workers gave their lives while trying to save non-rescue workers.
Lila Speciner, paralegal, Port Authority, North Tower, 88th floor: That will stay with me forever. They were going where we were running from.
Rick Rescorla, in a phone call to his wife, Susan: I don’t want you to cry. I have to evacuate my people now. If something happens to me, I want you to know that you made my life.
Det. David Brink, Emergency Service Unit, Truck 3, NYPD: There were a lot of bodies that were coming down. I saw daisy chains of four people holding hands, just leaping out of the buildings. I kept looking up, saying, “I want to help you guys. Hold on. Please hold on,” but I knew there was nothing I could do. I felt so helpless and powerless.
Above the impact zone, victims phoned friends and family members, sharing final thoughts and love. Melissa Harrington Hughes, director of business development for a communications network service who was only in New York for a one-day business trip and became trapped in the North Tower, called her father in Massachusetts.
Bob Harrington, father: She was a little hysterical and I couldn’t understand what she was saying, so I said, “Slow down a minute and tell me what the problem is so I can help you out.” I said, “You get to the stairwell and get out of that building as fast as you can.” I told her that I loved her. She said, “I love you too, Dad,” and she said, “You have to do me a favor. You have to call Sean and tell him where I am and tell him that I love him.”
Minutes later, Melissa Harrington Hughes called her husband, Sean, still asleep in San Francisco, and left him a voice mail: Sean, it’s me. I just wanted to let you know I love you and I’m stuck in this building in New York. There’s lots of smoke and I just wanted you to know that I love you always.
Howard Lutnick: My brother, Gary, was in the building. Later that night, when I spoke to my sister, she told me that she spoke to my brother. She had said to him, “Oh, my God. Thank God you’re not there.” He said, “I am here, and I’m going to die. I wanted to tell you I love you.” He said goodbye.
This paragraph truly shocked me:
Beverly Eckert, wife of Sean Rooney, VP of risk management, Aon Corporation, South Tower, 98th floor: I suddenly heard this loud explosion through the phone. It reverberated for several seconds. We held our breath. I know we both realized what was about to happen. Then I heard a sharp crack, followed by the sound of an avalanche. I heard Sean gasp once as the floor fell out from underneath him. I called his name into the phone over and over.
Every time I stopped reading this book I thought 'I'm lucky to be alive.' I also immediately felt extreme amounts of gratitude for the persons whom I love: my wife, my friends, certain co-workers.
If there is one bad thing about this book, it is how history-less it is; while George Bush's administration's gung-ho attitude against its enemies are described touchingly humane at best and macho mindlessly and nationalist at worst, and while Rudy Giuliani's crimes are left behind, this is a hagiography where US politics are concerned.
Osama bin Laden's death is described as though he deserved it. Barack Obama's speech to the nation, delivered after bin Laden was murdered, is included in this book.
Despite that, there are no descriptions as to why the terrorists did what they did. There are no words that describe how the USA has molded and abused Afghanistan, for example.
To put that in perspective, here's a quote from Violence, interviews by Brad Evans and Natasha Lennard:
One way of looking at 9/11—let’s call it the standard way— is that the United States was at peace with the world and then terror came from the sky and the twin towers tumbled. In that view, 9/11 was a single act that required a justified reaction, namely war in the Middle East, the infinite detention of suspected “terrorists” in places like Guantánamo Bay, and the construction of the vast institutional apparatus of Homeland Security.
But another way of looking at 9/11 is looking at what Osama bin Laden said about the matter. In a 2004 video called The Towers of Lebanon, where he first accepted responsibility for Al Qaeda’s role in the 9/11 attacks, he justifies the attacks by claiming that they were a reaction to the persistent violation of Arab lands by the United States, especially the use of Saudi Arabia as a base during the first Gulf War. Bin Laden even adds that the idea of 9/11 came to him as a visual memory of watching TV footage of the Israeli bombardment of West Beirut’s high-rise tower blocks in 1982. If the “Zionist-Crusaders,” as he pejoratively puts it, could put missiles into towers, then so could Al Qaeda. Thus the idea for 9/11 was born.
That's one part of it all; another, very important part, is here quoted from Noam Chomsky's Power Systems: Conversations on Global Democratic Uprisings and the New Challenges to U.S. Empire:
The United States didn’t invade Afghanistan because we were viciously attacked. It’s true that there was an attack on 9/11, but the government didn’t know who did it. In fact, eight months later, after the most intensive international investigation in history, the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation informed the press that they still didn’t know who did it. He said they had suspicions. The suspicions were that the plot was hatched in Afghanistan but implemented in Germany and the United Arab Emirates, and, of course, in the United States. After 9/11, Bush II essentially ordered the Taliban to hand over Osama bin Laden, and they temporized. They might have handed him over, actually. They asked for evidence that he was involved in the attacks of 9/11. And, of course, the government, first of all, couldn’t give them any evidence because they didn’t have any. But, secondly, they reacted with total contempt. How can you ask us for evidence if we want you to hand somebody over? What lèse-majesté is this? So Bush simply informed the people of Afghanistan that we’re going to bomb you until the Taliban hand over Osama bin Laden. He said nothing about overthrowing the Taliban. That came three weeks later, when British admiral Michael Boyce, the head of the British Defense Staff, announced to the Afghans that we’re going to continue bombing you until you overthrow your government. This fits the definition of terrorism exactly, but it’s much worse. It’s aggression.
Right after the assassination of Osama bin Laden, amid all the cheers and applause, there were a few critical comments questioning the legality of the act. Centuries ago, there used to be something called presumption of innocence. If you apprehend a suspect, he’s a suspect until proven guilty. He should be brought to trial. It’s a core part of American law. You can trace it back to Magna Carta. So there were a couple of voices saying maybe we shouldn’t throw out the whole basis of Anglo-American law. That led to a lot of very angry and infuriated reactions, but the most interesting ones were, as usual, on the left liberal end of the spectrum. Matthew Yglesias, a well-known and highly respected left liberal commentator, wrote an article in which he ridiculed these views. He said they’re “amazingly naive,” silly. Then he expressed the reason. He said that “one of the main functions of the international institutional order is precisely to legitimate the use of deadly military force by western powers.” Of course, he didn’t mean Norway. He meant the United States. So the principle on which the international system is based is that the United States is entitled to use force at will. To talk about the United States violating international law or something like that is amazingly naive, completely silly. Incidentally, I was the target of those remarks, and I’m happy to confess my guilt. I do think that Magna Carta and international law are worth paying some attention to.
The USA violated countless international—and some of their own—laws when declaring "war on terrorism", which is truly ironic, seeing how the USA is, by international definition, a terrorist country.
On September 11 2001, the USA was attacked by a ruthless organisation that killed without trial. The very same can be said for the USA.
The victims of 9/11 (naturally) did not deserve what happened to them, nor does anybody who was affected by that incomprehensible atrocity. It is, however, very important to contextualise what happened before and after the event.
The stories about survivors—both persons who were at the attacks and people whose loved and dear ones died—are truly wondrous.
The book gives room to afterthought and is a very well-edited tome that will stand the test of time, apart from the political stuff. The wonderful, helpful, supremely kind and radiant aspects of humanity are what makes this book shine and stand out.
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://niklasblog.com/?p=23721