Also congratulations on this thoughtful piece. The one other post of yours that stands out for me was that you couldn't find Osama faces for your children's paint ball games--or something of that nature. The war on terrorism will be won with humanity and ideas, not by encouraging your children to pretend to fight it in the back yard (which, come to think of it, is not that different from fighting Al Qaeda by invading Iraq). One very sad element of the perpetual grief that hangs over the 9/11 families is that the tragedy is so politicized. Fortunately for me, I lost no loved ones or friends. I only saw the plume of smoke rising above Flatbush Avenue and smelled it for days afterwards. If I had suffered such losses, I would be enraged that the event should have become the impetus for the revived career fortunes of the likes of Bush and Giuliani and their rallying cry ever after. Better a hole in the ground forever than the miserable war that has become its real memorial.
The Face of Sept 11, 2001
There are events in our lives that will forever be entwined with the person who broke the news.
I doubt you can recall the passing of a loved one without remembering who first told you. Any mention JFK's assassination reminds me of an emotional Walter Cronkite informing the nation of the passing of our 35th president. And few Philadelphians can think of the Broad Street Bullies without hearing Gene Hart repeating, "The Flyers have won the Stanley Cup!"
Today, as I have for each of the last five anniversaries, I carry a mental image of Aaron Brown on 9/11. I see him standing on a New York rooftop in brilliant sunshine against a smoldering backdrop while providing an extemporaneous human dimension to the death and destruction whose extent was then unknown.
I just rewatched much of his work at YouTube. I wish all Americans would do likewise. It's the perfect, unifying antidote to the partisan division that fighting the "war on terror" has become.
Sobering. That's how I regard his reports. Brown was always an intelligent journalist. But that day he spoke with an added somber clarity. Typical was this observation after the collapse of the World Trade Center's South Tower:
"There has just been a huge explosion . . . we can see a billowing smoke rising . . . I'll tell you that I can't see that second tower . . . but there was a cascade of sparks and fire and now it looks almost like a mushroom cloud . . . about as frightening a scene as you will ever see."
I've often wondered how Brown himself regards his work that day, and what thoughts he might have now that he is unbridled by the limitations of being a reporter. So I called him to ask.
He'd just started at CNN at the time of the attack, having been hired to create and manage a national newscast and breaking news. Brown was driving to work when he heard radio reports of an airplane hitting the North Tower. He said he assumed it was an accident, but knew he'd be reporting what happened, regardless of the cause.
"I dropped the car [off] . . . and was racing . . . to where the CNN building was and just thought, 'Calm down. Whatever is about to unfold here, you need to be calm,' " Brown said.
When I said I thought his work that day stood apart from that of his "competitors," he was quick to point out that on 9/11 no one was motivated by any thought of competing. On another day, sure, but on 9/11, Brown said, there was an unprecedented level of cooperation among those all trying to do the same thing.
But he recognized that his broadcast had the advantage of being live from a rooftop in sight of Ground Zero, instead of inside an antiseptic studio.
When I asked what he remembered about that perch, he repeated what he'd once said to Peter Jennings: "The thing that stays with me . . . is how I could smell it . . . We were outside and could rarely see the monitor because of the sunlight. We could smell the tragedy. I can still smell it in many ways."
I suspect Brown will never fully shake 9/11. When I replayed audio of his words that day and asked for a comment, his voice quaked as he told me that it was only the second time he'd re-listened to his reporting. The first came in a class at Arizona State University, where his students in a TV course asked to analyze his work. Brown spent three classes reviewing an hour of his 9/11 coverage.
"And I thought I was over the emotional power of it, but I'm clearly not. I suspect that 20 years from now, if God is kind enough to keep me alive that long, I will hear that tape and still have trouble putting together a complete sentence."
Brown recalls the events of 9/11 in three parts: the morning "all-hell-breaking-loose" phase, the middle when "all of us, reporters and citizens," tried to figure out exactly what had transpired that morning, and the end of the day, when the president finally addressed the nation.
That night, Brown stayed in a hotel. The following morning, he recalls the deathly silence that consumed New York City, "as if saying something would have been disrespectful to the 2,500 people or so who died."
Today, just like the rest of us, Aaron Brown tries to make sense of what he reported, and we watched unfold. He thinks we continue to lack a "civil national conversation" about how to deal with this tragedy. "We have been angry, and we should have been, and there were things that needed to be done," he says.
"But we can't kill all of these people, we can't even come close. And so we need other strategies, smarter strategies, more thoughtful strategies, or my kid is going to have this conversation with your kid."
Which makes sense to me. And if we don't follow that script, then no doubt a future Aaron Brown will be standing on another rooftop offering somber descriptions of another smoldering building. *
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And hold on to your hats, here comes Campbell Brown, another right wing water carrier.
Aaron Brown was a class act. He asked penetrating questions. He had a mature view of the war effort- an very overriding skepticism, I believe. His questions reflecting his skepticism and disbelief of why we were there.
Andersen Cooper seems to take the lazy journalistic fallback position that we will not know the outcome of our decision to invade Iraq for another five or ten years, so why judge it? I think this position is a dodge. His news magazine hour has more puff pieces than hard journalism.
Glenn Beck and Nancy Grace are not worth mentioning- so I won't mention them.
Its not that I doubt the true sincerity and profundity of conservatives, like Michael Smerconish, reflecting on 9/11, its how they want to use our strong feelings of this day to steer the country to a very dark and unrecognizable place which scares me.
Michael -
I agree that our ability to have a reasoned national conversation on 9/11 has been destroyed but those responsible occupy the White House, the GOP and work for their capitulant propaganda machines like Fox, the Weekly Standard, the Heritage Foundation etc.
Those of us who dared question Iraq were labeled traitors that don't love their country, the 9/11 families that literally had to battle the administration to get a commission to look into 9/11 were excoriated by the likes of Anne Coulter and Sean Hannity.
It's a sad legacy to those who died that day that our government and the '4th Branch' took advangage of our fear and goodwill to manipulate us into war against a country that had nothing to do with their deaths, justify torture, nullify habeas corpus, revoke the 4th Amendment and divide our nation so.
All that and then our 'fearless leader' tells us that Bin Laden is no longer relevant. Tell that to the loved ones of those that died whose relatives remains were dumped in that landfill at Fishkills, tell that to those 9/11 recovery workers that are dying from lung cancer. Tell that to any real patriotic American. You're likely to get a Bronx salute if not worse.
And yeah....CNN really messed up by letting Aaron go, they should give him Glenn Beck's slot.
During the last few years, the programmers at CNN have made several lousy decisions.
I was the first to defend the channel when colleagues around me would echo the Roger Ailes/Rush Limbaugh inspired chant of Clinton News Network or Communist News Network. But it's grown increasingly difficult these days to even watch the flag waving network, let alone defend it.
Dropping Aaron Brown was only the beginning of string of bad choices. Dismantling Headline News and reducing it to an outlet for Glenn Beck's odious rants, the objectionable Nancy Grace and (heaven help us) re-runs of Larry King is the final straw.
I watched the DVD of CNN Remembers early this morning. How different the network seemed at the time of 9/11. I felt a certain amount of trust 6 years ago. In order to compete with Fox, the CNN programmers have blown it.
As has been stated before, no one can compare to Aaron Brown. Would that we had him back again, perhaps the talking heads would have someone to aspire to.
Either sound bites or screaming .. that is all the MSM has come down to.
Sad.
Thanks Michael for a thoughtful piece. I think everyone became a New Yorker on that day. Brown's reporting was insightful, thoughtful and respectful. You can't get much better.
Compare and contrast to the current talking heads and I don't see many in his league.
I agree that we need respectful bipartisan dialogue. But are you going to tell me that it *hasn't* been the Right who have overwhelmingly pursued division and demonization?
The Karl Rove style of taking no prisoners has been the Republican SOP for years now, and 9/11 didn't change that. How long did it take before anybody who didn't support Bush's invasion of Iraq was a "defeatocrat" and didn't "support the troops" and "blame(d) America first"? Do you think liberals came up with all that?
Until those on the right cease demonizing even the concept of liberalism, we CAN'T have a real conversation about 9/11.
A poignant piece that reminds me how much I miss Aaron Brown.
Howard Stern gave me the news, and (though some will find it hard to believe) did a fine job that day.
I am deeply ashamed by the way Bush and his yes-men have betrayed every decent thing America ever stood for since that day, and utterly disgusted by the fact that they have not only let the perpetrators go free, but given them exactly the sort of victory they were looking for.
I miss Aaron Brown and his professional reporting. Thank you, Mr. Smerconish for a well written and thoughtful piece. It brings to mind the fact that we're fighting a war in a country that had nothing to do with this horrific act, and neglecting to address the group and its leader who are responsible. Thanks a lot, Mr. President-you've succeeded in doing what bin Laden set out to do-ruining the credibility of this great country.
I am reminded of two things: ESPN did not break to report the attacks. I was watching SportsCenter (for the last time), and my sister called to tell me to change the channel. Also, I am reminded of how a cynical, cowardly, manipulative GOP propaganda machine turned this great tragedy into a partisan issue with a speed and cold efficiency that, had it been applied to protecting our country, MIGHT (I stress MIGHT) have averted this tragedy.
And what of the reports of Cheney giving the order to stand down as the plane approached the Pentagon? WHY DON'T WE KNOW WHAT REALLY HAPPENED THAT DAY?
I miss Aaron Brown and his wonderful reporting very much.
CNN made a grave error firing him.
Wolf Blitzer should have been shown the door.
No, Bush will skip to Paraguay and live the rest of his days in luxury, paid for by the eeeeeevil corporations he has enriched.
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Posted September 11, 2007 | 05:17 AM (EST)