Near the World Trade Center – Tuesday September 18th, 2001
Hi there,
Some of you will remember receiving my newsletters years ago, and I’ve received repeated feedback over the last few years that I shouldn’t have stopped writing them – seems some of you actually read and enjoyed them. This letter is partially in response to that feedback, though it ignores those unsaid thoughts from others that say “thank goodness I don’t receive those anymore”…
As of today, I have been living in New York City for exactly one year, and given the events over the past week, I thought I would express my views about what has happened here. This is obviously a rather different format than my previous newsletters, which were primarily humorous and informative. Picture this one written in shock, sadness, introspection, anxiety, and deep concern about what will happen next.
I’m writing this from close to the disaster area, where police barricades keep out the people, but are hopelessly inadequate at hiding the devastation beyond. Smoke is still pouring from the rubble, which is several stories high. My eyes keep being drawn back to that pile, hoping it will change back to what it used to be like. Dust and ash are everywhere, and I cannot escape the smell. God knows how strong it must be for the workers on the site.
If I had to take a picture of hell, this would be it.
The events
Two weeks ago, I bought a last-minute Priceline ticket to take a week-long holiday in Zurich to visit some old friends from India (Suneeta‘s sisters). It was my first vacation in two years, and in doing so, I actually cancelled a meeting scheduled at the WTC that fateful Tuesday morning. On that day, along with what seems to have been half the world, I sat in shock in Switzerland watching the events unfold. The next few days were a blur trying to make sure work colleagues, family and friends were alive and well – I knew 17 people that worked there and two cousins, along with numerous others in that locale. All my family is ok, but 6 of the people that I knew there are missing.
Finally, last Sunday, I managed to fly back into JFK with a great deal of trepidation. What would I find? How would I be treated with my questionable name and even dodgier looks? Would they renew my TN work visa, which was about set to expire the next day (!!)? What would the mood be like? What would the skyline look like?
I arrived at JFK and at immigration, the officials utterly surprised me. They were courteous, helpful, and went completely out of their way to renew my visa so I wouldn’t have to bother trying to get back to Canada. They didn’t know how to process my type of visa, as they don’t process them there, so they looked it up in a manual and even accepted a cheque when I didn’t have the administrative fee in cash (though they did grumble a bit at that last straw, especially when I asked them if I could ‘pop’ out to an ATM machine). The full story is destined to become one of my more famous ones.
Coming in from JFK, the first sight of the Manhattan skyline with billowing smoke instead of the two tall towers was like a fist in my stomach. I had so many times taken visitors and friends to the base of the towers just so they could look up in awe.
The economic impact on the city will be severe – tourism has been wiped out for now, hotels are 90% empty, and businesses are suffering badly. For us, several large clients were based in the twin towers and our business is seriously threatened. Despite all this, the city has returned to some semblance of normalcy, and one week after the incident, only in the extreme south is it obvious that something even happened. I have enjoyed this city more than any other I’ve ever lived in, and I’m starting to understand why. The recent economic boom and reduction in crime allowed its citizens’ true character and inherent openness/friendliness to emerge, making it a thoroughly enjoyable place. The city will obviously recover, but it won’t ever forget. While there are a few isolated incidents around the city of racial tension, anger and discrimination, it is very limited. It seems easier for people here in the city to deal with it and get on with their lives – perhaps because there are so many different ethnic groups here that are forced to interact at close quarters on a daily basis. Around the rest of the country, I believe we will continue to have unfortunate incidents involving innocent people.
Some observations that I have found fascinating
• More than 200,000 people watched the second plane hit with their own eyes, and millions watched it live on TV – it must be the most widely seen disaster ever.
• The fact that 6000 people are missing is horrific, but is amazing given that 50,000 people work there every day.
• The way the buildings collapsed indicates a very impressive design – they imploded inwards and didn’t impact others around them. Had they toppled, the devastation would have been infinitely worse. They were built to withstand the impact of a plane (a B52 once crashed into the Empire State building). It was apparently the explosion of the fuel that caused the collapse, as it melted the inner core of the buildings’ support beams. The planes, skidding into the heart of the tower, scraped off the asbestos insulation protecting the inner core and allowed the resulting fires to heat the support beams, which lost their rigidity.
• They have analyzed the dust that billowed out from the collapse. Along with plaster, cement, concrete, asbestos, etc., a surprising percentage was actually steel dust. The implication is that the heat/pressure caused many of the steel girders to completely vaporize, along with much of the rest of the contents. This explains the huge dust clouds, why there are very few bodies and why 110 stories of two massive buildings were reduced to a few percentage points of their initial volume/mass.
• The city’s first reaction was to rebuild them, but this is looking very unlikely. Even ignoring the expense of cleaning up and re-securing the foundations, no one would want to work in them again and rental income would be virtually impossible to obtain.
• NYC lost 8% of its commercial real estate in one fell swoop. About 60,000 people are requiring new working premises. The macabre benefit to it all is that there isn’t a power shortage problem in the city anymore.
• Two percent of the two millions tonnes of rubble have thus far been excavated.
• In the months preceding the attack, a retired FAA agent had repeatedly warned the authorities of lax security at Boston’s Logan airport. He and his team were able to smuggle guns and fake pipe bombs on flights 9 out of 10 times. He wrote a letter to the FAA in July saying “if someone wanted to hijack several domestic flights on the same day, they could easily do it.” They did not react in time.
Some personal thoughts on what’s next
I’ve heard a lot of criticism about the U.S and its policies and how that has contributed to the terrorist response. While this is obviously has some validity, I have a few reactions.
As the largest/most powerful nation in the world, the U.S is often accused (and probably rightfully) of using whatever means at its disposal to bully, economically conquer and coopt other countries to doing things its way. But, it must be noted that any country would do the same thing in its place. Indeed, history shows us that every major empire/country has done so. The Romans did it, the Germans did it, and all the European countries (England, France, Portugal, Spain, etc..) have dominated others wherever possible and with utter impunity. It is not a function of being American, but of being powerful. The distinction must be made between the position of the U.S in the global food chain and its core philosophy.
Throughout history, a powerful country has dominated others through bigger armies, bigger navies, more recent technology etc. In Roman times, it would have been impossible for a distant enemy to attack the heart of Rome. However, with a global village in the information age with today’s technology, we have crossed a watershed. These days, the harm that a few individuals can inflict is almost unlimited, as we have seen firsthand. This incident will force the U.S. to take more account the intended and unintended impacts of its policies. Europe and Asia have been dealing with terrorists since time immemorial, and now the U.S joins that unfortunate circle.
The rights of the individual are at the heart of the American way of life. Although it can be argued that these frequently aren’t respected, it is written into the very fabric of the legal and constitutional basis of the country and can be enforced (if one has the money). It is extremely ironic that the U.S. allows complete religious freedom and tolerates minorities of every kind. It is exactly this aspect that allowed the perpetrators to set up, plan and practice their suicidal missions. For the first time since the War of 1812, the U.S has been attacked on its own soil.
The obvious question is ‘why did this happen?’ But here, currently, the question most often asked is ‘how did this happen’. The shift from ‘how’ to ‘why’ will happen soon enough. My own view is that it is a combination of the perceived U.S. support of Israel, the U.S presence in Saudi Arabia and the fanaticism of people willing to kill themselves for Islam. Aside from being a symbol of financial strength, I opine that New York was attacked because of the large Jewish community here – there are more Jews in the NYC area than in Israel itself. It is clear that the strength and depth of that community make it appear that the U.S is anti-Islamic and very pro-Israel. That apparent lack of objectivity by the U.S. will be very difficult to overcome. I also believe that Osama Bin Laden (if he did this) was covertly supported financially and operationally by many other Islamic countries too scared to take on the U.S explicitly. There might even be support from other Western powers (e.g. Russia or China?), who are not happy about the ascendance of the U.S. As a final point on this topic, I find it extremely ironic that the CIA funded and armed the Taliban, as they did Saddam. They might soon do the same with Pakistan.
[My flat-mate asked me “what should be the U.S. role in the Middle East? While there are no easy answers to this, for me the answer is to create a multi-country peace-keeping force (from the local countries) supported by U.S. logistics and expertise. Then everyone in that area would have a vested interest in a peaceful co-existence. The creation of such an army, of course, is extremely unlikely.]
In my opinion, the most dangerous situation exists in Pakistan. If the U.S. pushes Pakistan to military action, it is possible that the Islamic fundamentalists will rise up and take over the country. Pakistan has nuclear weapons, and this would instantly create the threat of a worldwide nuclear war (the words ‘pre-emptive strike’ come to mind).
In conclusion, I think we are entering perhaps the most dangerous period in the history of civilization. Not that this kind of thing hasn’t happened before – it has, but this time the potential damage that can be inflicted is infinite. In financial-speak, “the downside is unlimited”. Let’s hope the collective intelligence of the world’s leaders is equal to the task and that they’re fully aware of the implications of their decisions. As I write that last sentence, the thought that comes to mind is “oh dear”.
As I save this document, I shall now sit for a few minutes, look at the smoking pile and the numerous rescue workers dotted around and reflect on this past week. How simple things were just seven days ago.
To those who have been directly affected by this tragedy, my deepest condolences – as for everyone else, I truly hope (but do not really believe) you will remain uninvolved.
Love,
Salim Ismail
P.S. If you are interested in seeing some firsthand photos of the tragedy, go here. A friend of mine was at the site and took these poignant photos. The last one, showing the skyline before that fateful day, is especially throat-lumpy.
