Brian Monteith: New York’s salvation is in its swagger

The famous rudeness to one another that is not spared on tourists and can take some getting used to is part of the everyday psychological defence mechanism for dealing with the hard knocks that come in such a vibrant, brash and yet alluringly classy city. The proud chutzpah and self-belief was important in coming to terms with the scale of the deaths, the bravery, the cruelty and the challenges public servants faced with such an overwhelming onslaught.

When I first visited New York in 1984 it was not a pleasant place and it took many visits to other cities in the United States before I felt inclined to go back there, but I was glad I did several times since then. Gone was the sense of violence just waiting to happen, the grubbiness of the sidewalks, the shabbiness of the buildings and a feeling the US economy had deserted the city to a slow debt-ridden death.

Instead, their was a pride in the city and its neighbourhoods; streets and buildings (not just landmarks) were wearing a brighter, cheerier face and the innate dynamism could be seen again, as once down-and-out areas became gentrified. The physical and spiritual recovery had started before 9/11, but that heinous crime was not allowed to halt or deflect it, instead civic leaders at all levels, from the mayor through fire and police chiefs to community leaders paid tribute, as they must, to the fallen and by continuing New York’s revival dedicated it to them.

It is in the nature of the US, such is its size, its accessible and ubiquitous technology and its belief in the sanctity of freedom of expression that conspiracy theories abound about what really happened to cause 2,753 deaths at the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre, the 184 that died at the Pentagon in Washington DC and the 40 on United Airlines Flight 93 bound for San Francisco that crashed after it turned towards Washington DC.

The suggestions, for instance, that President Bush secretly planned the assault to provide a pretext for the Iraq war, that “the Jews” were behind it to solidify support for Israel in the face of Arab aggression and that it was a missile that hit the Pentagon, not an aircraft, would be laughable were it not for the disrespect they show for those that perished, given the overwhelming evidence for it being a coordinated al-Qaeda attack.

For many of these conspiracy theories to work there needs to be a place where passengers of various aircraft that must have disappeared are still held against their will or a number of mass graves are waiting to be discovered.

For me, the proof that the tragedies we saw before our very eyes, as the towers crashed to the ground taking many still inside with them and the Pentagon naval command and control centre burned to the ground, was the unpreparedness at every level of American government for what was happening.

I have heard many people say many things about President Bush, but never have I heard it said that he was a great actor or at least a better one than Ronald Reagan. Yet he would have had to have pulled off the performance of his life, as would his wife Laura and other staff, were they all to convince so many witnesses around them to their shock, distress and disbelief. One only needs to look at their eyes as they recall that day.

Most notably confusion abounded. Despite the many fictional and non-fictional films, books or papers made about the internal threat to the United States, there was no scenario-based response on how to protect the President. The two jet fighters that were the sole air defence for over 20 eastern seaboard states (yes, just two) stationed themselves facing the Atlantic because the default expectation of attack was from outside the US rather than from within.

New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and his team had their own practical problems to overcome with no pre-set crisis plan available while the fire and police services used communications equipment that prevented the exchange of vital information that could have saved the lives of their own personnel, never mind the people they were trying to help.

The scale of the confusion was understandable and even excusable given the magnitude of what was happening. No amount of foresight could have saved people on the floors above the explosions where the aircraft and their exploding full fuel tanks erupted into the building, yet the standard of service of the New York Fire Department was to at least make an attempt.

The NYFD lost 343 personnel that day, and more since from the after-effects of the toxic dust cloud that many could not avoid after the towers came down. To give some perspective, contrast that with the seven brave Ukranian firefighters that died directly at Chernobyl in 1986. That the first NY firefighter to die never reached the building, but was hit outside by someone who jumped was especially tragic.

Visiting Ground Zero is a harrowing experience and as with the spectacles and shoes of holocaust museums it is the small everyday mementos of those that died that move one to tears thinking of the fate that so many of us witnessed through the live TV transmissions. Cell phones that work but whose owner can’t answer and photos and messages from grieving loved ones make it a very quiet memorial to visit – but visit one must if only to find the resolve to believe that the solidarity that comes from humanity will ultimately triumph over evil intent.

The attack on the World Trade Centre was not an isolated assault on western commerce but a strike against western values that are based upon freedom of expression and action. New York, and indeed America, is now a safer place being alert to the terrorist threat we have known in Britain since the Seventies, but our freedoms remain what terrorists most abhor.

Thank goodness New Yorkers can still be rude – I wouldn’t have it any other way, it’s part of what makes the city great and it’s their right.

l Brian Monteith is policy director of ThinkScotland.org