9/11 - 5 years on...

Bugger. It's November already, and I missed Bonfire Night...

But seriously, I can't believe it's been 5 years already. Damn, how time flies. And how little things change...

9/11 is our generation's JFK moment, I certainly remember where I was on that day. I was living in Newquay at the time and I had blagged the day off. I was in Comet, vaguely watching all the TVs in the shop. I remember trying to work out which film they were playing because it looked ace. After about 5 minutes, I suddenly realized it was real and not a film at all. I spent the rest of the day at home, glued to the TV.

I have to admit, my initial reaction was one of excitement and delight that finally the Yanks had got a taste of their own medicine. It was only as the actual details of the event started to emerge that my initial pleasure turned to horror.

For a start, I had assumed that the terrorists would have tried to hurt as few people as possible. I assumed that the World Trade Center would have been empty, as would have been the planes. I assumed it was simply a gesture, a protest, much in the same way as the IRA used to do, when they would give coded warnings to give the Police just enough time to evacuate the area.

I was horrified that it all happened at Rush Hour, when the buildings would have been full. I was even more horrified that the planes were full. I just could not get my head around that.

Many people have questioned my admiration for Che Guevara, calling him a terrorist. In fact, some have called Che Guevara the Bin Laden of the 60s. Their enemy was certainly the same, and neither can be called a pacifist.

However, I think there is a key difference in the two. Che's targets were always military or political. I am also sure that Che valued human life and would never have tried to kill as many people as he could in the manner that Bin Laden did.

And I think for me, that was the hardest thing of all to accept... It was the fact that they quite simply tried to kill as many people as they could. It wasn't about raising awareness or protesting. It was simply end the lives of as many people as was physically possible. The time and manner chosen was for maximum loss of life. It was perhaps the first time in my life I have encountered true evil.

I grew up in the 80s, when we were all convinced that the world was going to end in a nuclear holocaust. It was the age of CND, Greenham Common and Ban the Bomb. The 90s was different, we all relaxed a bit... No one in their right mind would think about something like that, we thought. Having the bomb is actually a deterrent. If you nuke us, we'll nuke you and that sort of kept the balance. MAD, but it sort of worked...

But now I have absolutely no doubt. If they ever get their hands on it, they'll have no qualms about using it. And it scares the shit out of me, truth be told. And what do we do? Do we build bridges? Do we ask the people why are they protesting? No... we bomb the fuck out of them. The Yanks (and us) talk tough and both sides just end up digging trenches.

Bush has done more in recruiting new members for Al Qaida than Bin Laden or any other Muslim extremist. Scary but true. And you know, the scary thing is... I absolutely cannot see any way out. All I can see is more and more freedom being taken away... and both sides becoming more and more hardline. I tell you now... If we get through the next five years without a nuclear atrocity I will be amazed.

And it makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck to even write that last sentence, let alone think about it.