Did 9/11 put the US on a permanent war footing?
episodePreviously titled “Christiane & Jamie's emotional memories of 9/11” — renamed by the publisher on Sep 10, 2026
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What personal memories do Christiane and Jamie share about experiencing 9/11?
This is a global production.
It was really, really, really, really, really quite scary, quite extraordinary, and you just were filled with this sense of absolutely not knowing what was going to happen next. Even though my whole job and your whole job was reporting on crises and the world, you know, wars and famines and disasters, somehow this was something completely different. Really, really e extraordinary time. And I just couldn't believe it. I mean even now. Wow, I didn't expect that ri that reaction for myself. Very, very, very emotional. Hello everyone, and welcome to the latest episode of the X Files with me, Christiana Manpoor, in London.
And me, Jamie Rubin, here in Amsterdam, the lovely country of the Netherlands.
And an important one when it comes to US allies, and we'll talk a little bit about that concept coming up. But this is our episode, which will drop about three days before the actual anniversary of 9-11, 25 years on. So we're gonna tell you about where we were, how we experienced that day, and we're gonna ask a very vital question. Is 9/11 and the aftermath shaping the World today, a quarter century on. I think it is, and we'll we'll discuss. So, Jamie, let's go back to the very beginning. The truth of the matter is that I was on a foreign news assignment for 60 Minutes at a time when I was still doing my joint work between CNN and 60 Minutes, uh chief international correspondent, and this thing was happening and CNN.
CNN couldn't reach me. I was in Sierra Leone, Jamie, as you know, because you were at home manning the fort, and then you were put you know, pressed into action in terms of commentating and trying to make sense of what was going on. But I just remember it so, so vividly, and I'll get into it in a second. What do you m remember, Jamie, as a first reaction?
Well, I remember to tell you the truth it was your sister who called me up 'cause she was uh uh working for one of the other channels and she said, Jamie, turn on the T V. There's a you know a an attack in New York and I was minding the store, meaning Darius was home or he was, I don't know what he was, one year old at the time, not a year. One and a half, yeah. It was morning New York, so it was afternoon in London. And she was rushing back to work. She asked where you were, I told the her to where you were, that you were off on an assignment. And then I turned on the TV and it was stunning because um uh let's uh be Clear to our audience, Osama bin Laden wasn't a new figure for me or for us because uh during our wedding, the week of our wedding, there was the first major attack, major attack by Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda on two U.S.
embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. And I was working in the government at the time for Madeleine Albright, and she uh had come to the wedding, flown to Italy to attend our wedding. And because of this tragedy, uh she turned around and uh uh flew right back to Washington and allowed me to continue doing what we thought was right, which was to continue the wedding. We had hundreds of guests. Osama bin Laden genuinely interfered with our wedding. Um so I had my eye on Osama bin Laden. I had begun to be made aware of him uh in government. So the moment I saw this attack on the World Trade Center I I just knew this was Al Qaeda because they had once tried to attack the World Trade Center, I think in nineteen ninety three.
uh decade earlier and I knew that they were on a mission now to attack uh the United States. And the attack to me wasn't just an attack on the United States. It was an attack on the world. One, the World Trade Center. Two, the people who were in the World Trade Center were from all over the world. New York is and was, you know, a real world capital. And as it turned out, many of the thousands of deaths were not Americans. They were not Americans Americans from all over the world who were working in that building. And I felt it was important uh to make clear that This was an attack on the the heart of Western civilization. Um and and in a sense that was my diplomatic instinct kicking in because I I thought it was important that the world see this as not just an attack on the United States.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What personal memories do Christiane and Jamie share about experiencing 9/11?
0:02–7:33
2
How did Christiane learn about the attacks while in Sierra Leone and manage to get back to London to broadcast?
7:33–13:52
3
What was Jamie’s first on‑air reaction to the attacks and how did he frame them as an attack on the world?
13:52–22:33
4
How did the United States and its allies respond militarily in Afghanistan and later in Iraq after 9/11?
22:33–31:14
5
Why did the initial global consensus for the war in Afghanistan collapse when the Iraq War began?
31:14–38:34
6
How have the overreactions to 9/11 influenced current conflicts with Iran, Ukraine and the rise of far‑right politics?
38:34–43:59
7
What books, films and other resources do the hosts recommend for understanding the legacy of 9/11?
43:59–44:33
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Christiane Amanpour Presents: The Ex Files
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