Opinion

If like me, you have something to say about a news story please email them to us and they will be posted here.

08.30.03

How Much More Do We Need To Know?

For some time the New York Times has been battling with the Port Authority to release the transcripts of the tapes relating to 9/11. Personal pleas for help and eerie struggles for survival, peppered with confusion and bewilderment.

The NY Times pressed on with their civil action against the Port Authority and won.

Why? Why do we need to know more of what went on? What did the Times hope to achieve by doing this?

Some may say we have a right to know about what went on that day, where mistakes were made, who we can blame for failures, what we can do to improve our methods for future attacks?

Is there ever a way to prepare for an event so horrific, and act of evil that most normal people could never think of?

I have to side with those who think these tapes should never have seen the light of day. They should be locked away and the families of deceased, the injured survivors, indeed anyone who was connected, affected or simply still have to deal with the memories would not have to relive that day in yet attempt to sell more copies.

Thinking back to the aftermath of that day I was disgusted by the coverage of CNN of the attacks. While reporting what was going on they also tried to ‘sensationalize’ the event by showing the second plane crashing each and every commercial break. Ramming it down our throats! In my opinion they did this for nothing but ratings. How dare they? Stop press! One of the world’s most respected newspapers is doing exactly the same.

Will the editor in chief of the New York Times go on the record and tell us why they pushed for this? Does the Times now think they have made the world a better place, publishing the last cries for help.

I read the transcripts in the papers. The one that hit home the most was about those stuck at the top, the Windows Restaurant. It hurts me to know that those begging for help had no chance, little did they know they just had to wait for in inevitable. I don’t want to have those feelings anymore. I don’t want to forget, but I want to be able to deal with that day better than I have in the past. Can anyone relate to what I am feeling?

It’s been said that we have a right to know about government and official information. I agree. I have said before that the federal government ‘hide’ information in the interest of national security. But these tapes did not breach national security. These were calls for help and acts of heroism.

Some people have said that too many mistakes were made that day. Officers telling people to stay inside, of radios not working, confusion amongst EMS and police officers and so on. Who could have ever been prepared for something like this? Let’s be real about this now.

Only a small handful of people can say that they actually knew what the attacks were like. Those were the ones that were unfortunately there. I was one of them. Let me tell you; when that first plane hit most people simply thought of an accident, horrific as it was. Nothing else. It was not until another aircraft did the same thing that we knew something was wrong. It even went through my mind that a system failure had hit Air Traffic Control.

For those 16 prevailing minutes between strikes I do not think it was unreasonable to be told to stay inside for safety reasons. I am not sure what I would have done if it was me in the position to be directing people what to do. We are only human and suddenly on a beautiful September morning our adrenalin was pumped at rates we have never experienced.

Without doubt the newspapers across the world will be full of stories about 9/11 in a week or so. But instead of raking up the past would it not be better to tell the stories of how people are coping. Nothing good has come out of that day, but life does go on and these constant reminders in the media for nothing less than keeping the sales up is, in my opinion irresponsible and downright disgusting.

-DRS