Painful memories return
MORIAH College graduate Julian Robinson said Osama bin Laden’s death this week brought back painful memories of September 11, 2001, when he was sitting in his 100th-floor office in New York’s World Trade Centre.
MORIAH College graduate Julian Robinson said Osama bin Laden’s death this week brought back painful memories of September 11, 2001, when he was sitting in his 100th-floor office in New York’s World Trade Centre.
“All the events of that day came flooding back, but I think I felt sense of relief that they had finally captured him after all this time,” Robinson told The AJN.
Robinson was working in the South Tower when the first plane hit during the bin Laden-planned terrorist attack. He was halfway down the emergency stairs when the second plane hit the building he was in.
He said bin Laden’s death would not end the war on terror, but felt it was a significant nail in the coffin for terrorists.
Robinson thought some of the celebrations by Americans after the assassination was announced by US President Barack Obama were “over the top” and he questioned the decision to bury bin Laden in line with Muslim customs.
“I found it strange that they cared about giving him a dignified burial, because he killed thousands of people and they didn’t get a dignified burial.
“I was completely surprised that any US Government official expressed concern about the Islamic requirements.”
While Robinson still lives in New York, Les Margulis left his home across the road from the World Trade Centre and moved to Australia less than a year after the terror strike.
“The memory from that attack is too vivid so I couldn’t live there, and to this day I can’t watch any footage of the planes hitting the building because I saw people jumping out of those buildings,” Margulis said.
“I can still remember standing on the street watching the second plane hit the building. It was like watching a car wreck in slow motion.”
He said the news this week brought back memories, and while it was good news, it wasn’t a cause for celebration. “The fact that bin Laden is dead is a grand thing and whoever was responsible should be extremely happy that that has happened.”
JOSHUA LEVI
Smoke billows from the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001
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