The legacy of 9/11
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is Ira Glass. On This American Life, we tell stories about when things change. Like for this guy, David, whose entire life took a sharp, unexpected, and very unpleasant turn. And it did take me a while to realize it's basically because the monkey pressed the button. That's right. Because the monkey pressed the button. Surprising stories every week, wherever you get your podcasts.
It's Monday, September 10th, 2001. President George W. Bush is in Jacksonville, Florida.
There's too many of our kids in America who can't read today. Maybe not in this school. But around the nation, there's just too many. And now it's time to wage war on illiteracy for the young and to whip this problem early.
He's there promoting early childhood education, one of his key campaign issues when he ran for president in 2000. Afterward, he goes to Sarasota, Florida, on the state's Gulf Coast. The next morning, he's at Booker Elementary School for another education roundtable. He's in a class with students as they're going through a reading lesson.
What do these
two letters say? All of them. Open your book up to lesson.
That morning, there are reports of some kind of plane crash in New York City, but details are pretty scarce. Then, White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card comes over and whispers something in the president's ear. Camera shutters capture the
moment. Breaking news from New York City, where planes, two planes, have hit both towers.
What events led up to the September 11 attacks and how were they first reported?
of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan, the upper floors of the World Trade Center, 110 stories high, each tower. Bush leaves the classroom,
goes to the school library and gives a brief statement. Today we've had a national tragedy. Two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center. in an apparent terrorist attack on our country.
Two other hijacked planes would crash that day, one into the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and one in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people were killed. Bush talked to the nation that night with more reflections from the day, but he also made a promise.
The search is underway for those who are behind these evil acts. I've directed the full resources of our intelligence and law enforcement communities to find those responsible and to bring them to justice. We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them. What
exactly that meant, though, was an open question. This broad notion of fighting terrorists, fighting those who harbor them, and fighting really anyone who threatens the United States has defined much of the American foreign and domestic policy since. It's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Myles Parks. I cover voting. I'm Greg Myrie. I cover national security. And I'm Ryan Lucas. I cover the Justice Department. And today, I'm sure I am not alone. Basically, the first thing I thought of this morning was just kind of remembering where I was 25 years ago, also remembering all the people who lost their lives, people whose lives were forever changed by that day. But it's also just a day, guys, that still reverberates almost every day, all of us covering politics in this country, starting with the sea change, Greg, of going from fighting a traditional war against one country or against a couple of countries towards this more nebulous thing, fighting terrorists, people associated with terrorists.
Is that a fair characterization?
Oh, absolutely, Miles. I mean, there had never been an attack like this. And it presaged a war that the U.S. had never fought before. I mean, some people compare it a little bit to the shock of the Pearl Harbor attacks in 1941 that brought the U.S. into World War II. But you knew who was responsible. And we just heard President Bush say, we're going to find out who did this. They didn't know for sure. They suspected Al Qaeda, but didn't know. And you You're fighting a group, not a country. It's led by Osama bin Laden, who's from Saudi Arabia, but his group was primarily based in Afghanistan. They didn't have a fixed army. They were being hosted by the Taliban.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–1:31
2
What events led up to the September 11 attacks and how were they first reported?
1:31–26:34
3
How did the U.S. government justify the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) after 9/11?
26:34–34:53
4
What was the experience of U.S. journalists and troops on the ground in early Afghanistan?
34:53–38:08