The Attack came out of the blue. But the hatred behind it did not. When the Ayatollah Khomenei called America the Great Satan it seemed like laughable if frightening rhetoric, a generation on we know that some take the phrase literally.
In a wide arc of territory from North Africa to Pakistan, in the narrow streets and bazaars, people have met the enemy, and it is us. Why us, some Americans ask in innocence as we continue to count our dead not knowing that in the conflict between the Israeli’s and the Palestinians, we are seen as Israel’s friend and hence an enemy. In the Gulf region, we are seen not as the liberators of Kuwait but as the perpetuators of sanctions against the innocent people of Iraq, and in the mind of prime suspect Osama Bin Laden and his sympathizers we are seen as the occupiers of Saudi Arabia, home of the holy sites of Islam: Mecca and Medina.

Guests:

Cameron Barr, Middle East Correspondent at the Christian Science Monitor

Dr. Marc Gopin, PhD, Assoc. Professor of International Diplomacy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University

Shibley Telhami, Anwar Sadat professor of peace and development at the University of Maryland

and Larry GoodsonAssociate Professor of International Studies, Bentley College, and author of “Afghanistan’s Endless War”.

The country is united. A single horror, a single conversation, and, now, a single sorrow. Though it will likely take months to know the human toll, and forever to grasp the magnitude of Tuesday’s terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, the work of repairing shattered souls begins.

In silent vigils, where the inadequacy of words is understood. In well-intended dialogues, where the cold comfort of a shared disbelief has to suffice, and in homes and schools and communities around the nation, where a new mindfulness reigns.

We hug our children just a little bit harder, linger together in the quiet before sleep just a little bit longer, and behold our loved ones with a renewed urgency. Nothing, we were so violently reminded, is forever.

Guests:

Diana Eck, Professor of Comparative Religions and Indian Studies at Harvard University

Rabbi Earl Grollman

Forrester Church, Senior Minister at the All Souls Church in New York City

and Edward Linenthal, Professor of Religion and American Culture at the University of Wisconsin and author of the upcoming book, “The Unfinished Bombing: Oklahoma City in American Memory.”

The question on everyone’s lips on this: The first day of the rest of America’s violently altered life: How? How could it have happened? Counter-terrorism officials in the United States have warned of, and prepared for, some kind of attack. But not this.

Sophisticated in its coordination, but almost low-tech in its execution: Hijack passenger planes. Crash them into the icons of America’s financial and military power. Seize the world’s attention. Put everyone in the Intelligence world on alert; that while they look the other way, at biological, digital, and nuclear threats, a deadly attack can appear out of the clear blue sky on just another work day
America’s shattered security, what went wrong, and what it means for national defense. Next, on The Connection.

Guests:

Guests: Barry Posen, Professor of Political Science at M.I.T. and Larry Goodson, Associate Professor of International Studies, Bentley College, and author of “Afghanistan’s Endless War”

and General Wesley Clark (Retired), author of “Waging Modern War”.

It’s the day after the bloodiest act of terrorism in history. America is going back to work. But the conditions are far from normal.

Rescue teams continue to comb the smoldering rubble of the Twin Towers for survivors. In hospitals and makeshift morgues in New York and New Jersey, the grim task of saving the wounded and counting the dead goes on. The military remains on the highest state of alert. As we go to air commercial flights are still suspended. Wall Street is shut down, as is all of lower Manhattan. Along with the smoke still rising from the pentagon and the ruins of the World Trade Center are the questions: How? Who? Why? Some of these are beginning to be answered. Events are still unfolding.

Guests:

Robert Pfaltzgraff, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University

Juliette Kayyem, Executive Director, Executive Sessions on Democratic Preparedness at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University

and Ashton Carter, Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Two planes have struck the towers of the World Trade Center in York. Both towers have collapsed. Three explosions have rocked the Washington DC area, and a fourth plane is reported crashed in Pittsburgh, PA. The White House and Capitol Hill have been evacuated. All FAA flights have been put on hold across the nation. The Connection will follow this developing story as the United States faces a devastating attack.

Guests:

Jessica Stern, Expert on Terrorism and weapons of mass destruction at the Kennedy School of Government Harvard

Jeffrey Taliaferro, national policy expert, Tufts University

Micheal Corgan, professor of International Relations at Boston University