Twenty-five years ago, I was driving across the overpass at Barataria, near Maritime Plaza, heading north toward Morvant Junction on my way to St Ann’s Hospital.
A radio station kept me company. Savage Garden’s “I Knew I Loved You” was playing, setting the mood for an otherwise ordinary morning.
Then, without warning, the music stopped.
A male voice broke into the broadcast and announced that a plane had crashed into one of the World Trade Center (WTC) towers in New York.
At first, the tragedy felt distant. I was more surprised, wondering how something like this could have happened. I must be honest: I was also a little annoyed that my music had been interrupted by a plane crash more than 2,000 miles away.
I had no idea then that these were the first fragments of news about an event that would change the world—and that, years later, I would still remember exactly where I was, what I was listening to, and how ordinary everything had seemed just moments before.
Seventeen minutes later, the reality of what was unfolding began to sink in when it was announced that a second plane had hit the South Tower. A deep sense of bewilderment and fear came over me. It became clear that something far more terrible was emerging.
Within 77 minutes, 19 terrorists hijacked four commercial planes, flew two into the WTC and one into the Pentagon, while the fourth crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. The attacks brought down the towers and killed almost 3,000 people, including 441 emergency workers.
In the weeks that followed, the US and the rest of the world were gripped by fear. Then US President George W. Bush tried to calm his citizens, claiming that things were safe and urging them to let life return to normal.
Those attacks reshaped travel security worldwide. The US created the Department of Homeland Security and passed the Patriot Act, which expanded the government’s surveillance powers.
A 9/11 Commission later concluded that there had been failures of “policy, capabilities, and management across American institutions.”
Six days after the attack, President Bush met with Islamic leaders and spoke out against Islamophobia, saying, “The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam.”
Yet, 25 years later, we are still witnessing the fallout from 9/11.
This week, a petition signed by nearly 100,000 people called for Zohran Mamdani, New York’s first Muslim mayor, to be excluded from the Ground Zero anniversary ceremony. This was despite the fact that on September 4, Mamdani signed an executive order designating September 11 as an official annual Day of Remembrance.
A Pew Research study released in May 2026 showed that 51% of Americans believed Islam was more likely than other religions to encourage violence, while six months after the attacks, in March 2002, the figure was 25%.
But the mayor also has his share of detractors. He has criticised the Israeli government’s treatment of Palestinians and spoken out against the concentration of wealth and the political influence of billionaires.
In the years following 9/11, numerous conspiracy theories emerged, fuelled by a deep mistrust of government and allegations of its involvement or foreknowledge.
Four days ago, this mistrust again reared its head when Mamdani released a previously withheld file concerning the toxic air and health risks following 9/11. This revealed evidence of asbestos and other hazardous substances in the environment, while people were told they faced no risk.
Mamdani said, “…people got sick because the leaders they trusted lied and told them they were safe to breathe in toxic air.”
This would not only expose the city to costly legal liability, but Mamdani has also politically destroyed any previous mayor seeking to resurrect himself politically.
Unfortunately, the number of new cancer cases among 9/11 responders continues to rise. The WTC Health Programme has certified more than 57,000 cancer cases as related to 9/11. Dr Craig Devoe, of the Northwell Cancer Institute, said, “There are many more cancers than you would expect to see in the general population, and they tend to be more advanced and aggressive in nature.”
WTC patients, on average, develop lymphoma 10 years earlier than other Northwell patients with the cancer.
The episode represents the failure of those entrusted with public safety to fully disclose known risks and protect the people they were sworn to serve. Transparency, accountability, and the truth should never have taken 25 years.
Regrettably, the fallout from 9/11 continues.
