Round Table Discusses the Decade After 9/11

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-1-2011

Abstract

Round Table Discusses the Decade After 9/11

In the decade since the September 11 attacks, much has changed in the United States both in foreign and domestic policy, but also has affected our view of ourselves. For those who witnessed the attacks, either in person or through the non-stop coverage during and after the event, the scale of the horror is still difficult to comprehend.

UND.edu asked four professors from across campus--and from varied disciplines--to weigh on on the significance of the September 11 attacks, ten years later. (Editor's Note: Jack Weinstein was suffering from a back injury and needed to stand occasionally.)

In Their Own Words...

“Now, we have inscribed a new memory alongside those others. It’s a memory of tragedy and shock, of loss and mourning. But not only of loss and mourning. It’s also a memory of bravery and self-sacrifice, and the love that lays down its life for a friend–even a friend whose name it never knew.“

-- President George W. Bush, December 11, 2001

"Ten years later, I'd say America came through this thing in a way that was consistent with our character. We've made mistakes. Some things haven't happened as quickly as they needed to. But overall, we took the fight to al-Qaida, we preserved our values, we preserved our character."

-- President Barack Obama, September 11, 2011

"But at the same time, in making ourselves safer, there was a period of time when we started to act as if we were afraid of everything, and so it made it hard to get visas. We made it harder to come here to the United States, to go our schools, to go to our hospitals for care. And my point then -- and it's still my point today -- is that terrorists have been dealt a serious blow. They're still there. They might get through again. But the one thing the terrorists cannot do -- not one of them, not 10 of them, not 10,000 of them -- they can't change who we are."

--Former Secretary of State Colin Powell

"A hundred questions raced through my brain as I hurried to my office for a council-of-war with my key staff. I had just witnessed one of the worst terrorist atrocities of all time. The first thing was to find out who had been responsible and what Britain could do to help."

--Christopher Meyer, former British Ambassador to the U.S.

"I only wish I could have gotten to know each and every one of you under different circumstances. We lost too much."

-- Gordon Felt, brother of Flight 93 passenger Edward Felt, speaking to the families of the other victims

"So many names, there is barely room on the walls of the heart."

-- Former Poet Laureate Billy Collins

Craig Garaas-Johnson

News & Features Editor

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