Friday 11 September 2020

9/11 Consequences

Strange how clearly i can remember being stood in the car park beneath our building having a smoke with a couple of people from the DVLA offices opposite in 2001 when an out of breath researcher came running over and told me to get back to the office quick.
When i meandered my way back up, i saw the whole office staring at the TV screens watching the first World Trade Centre Building smoking and then a huge gasp as the plane went into the second one.
That moment set the tone for the 19 years since which must have surpassed even Bin Laden's wildest dreams and it hasn't finished yet as it spawned the 'War on Terror' and left so many people dead that the number is counted in the millions.
George W Bush invaded Afghanistan and Iraq which led to the rise of Al Queda which led onto Islamic State who landed in Libya leading to a war there and as well as invading Syria which bought Iran into play and the debacle which is now Syria.
In the UK Tony Blair foolishly backed the Americans wars which saw him leave for the unpopular Gordon Brown who soon went the same way with the Labour Party struck down for a generation to be replaced by David Cameron who gave us the Brexit vote and Theresa May and now Boris Johnson for who the word incompetent just isn't strong enough as he makes a horrendous mistake of Brexit and the Coronavirus crisis.   
The resulting War on Terror has bought terrorism to the shores of Madrid, Bali, Mumbai and London amongst many other nations on the globe and while Bin Laden was last seen slipping off the side of a US Warship, Blair and Bush are retired in luxury absolving themselves of what they unleashed.
What Bin Laden did that warm, September day in 2001 while i was smoking in a car park changed everything and the roots can be traced back even further but mostly because of that day and what followed, there are millions and millions of people around the World who are not with us today because of what happened that day and even while Bin Laden sat in his cave plotting the attack, he couldn't have thought that would happen.

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