The Fall of the World Trade Center
Interviewer: Baraka Kiingi
Interviewee: James Butler
Instructor: Ms. Freeman
February 14, 2017
Table of Contents
Interview Release Forms…………………………………………………………………… 2
Statement of Purpose………………………………………………………………………. 4
Biography…………………………………………………………………………………... 5
Historical Contextualization Paper………………………………………………………… 7
Interview Transcription…………………………………………………………………….. 17
Interview Analysis…………………………………………………………………………. 38
Works Consulted…………………………………………………………………………… 41
Interview Release Form
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Statement of Purpose
The purpose of this Oral History interview is to understand what 9/11 was like from a first person perspective like that of James Butler, a Secret Service Support Technician. By writing a paper about 9/11 using multiple primary and secondary sources, people will comprehend and absorb information about the background of 9/11 as well as the events that took place on that tragic day through the first person perspective of James Butler.
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Biography of James Kenneth Butler
James Kenneth Butler was born in 1956 in Charles County, Maryland where he attended
La Plata High School. After he graduated from High School he moved to Washington D.C in
1978 when it was in a rebuilding stage. Washington D.C was in reconstruction after the riots of
1968, which were triggered by Martin Luther King Jr’s. assassination on April 4th 1968. James started working for The Secret Service as a Support Technician/Secret Service Driver. As a
Support Technician, James makes sure that the Secret Service fleet of vehicles is operational and in good working order. He also drives many important people like heads of state, kings, prime ministers, and presidents while they are visiting the United States. The Secret Service protection
Kiingi 6 detail helps with the United Nations General Assembly meeting, which is why James travels to
New York every year. As part of his job covering the UN assembly, he organizes vehicles for foreign heads of state’s that are coming into the country, sets up rental cars, and gets equipment like radios that are needed for the detail. James Butler is a member of the Knights of Columbus, which is a charitable organization. James Butler is currently living in Washington D.C with his wife and two children.
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Historical Contextualization Paper The Tragic Terrorist attack on US Soil
“In an instant, the Trade Center was a pile of crumpled metal. Fragments of buildings and pieces of wall lay everywhere. Fires burned in piles of trash and debris. Automobile gas tanks exploded every few minutes. The area was plunged into complete darkness, a soot-blackened, desolate horror where almost nothing moved.”1 This image illustrates the horror that occurred on
September 11, 2001. On the morning of September 11, 2001, 19 hijackers found a way through airport security checkpoints at three airports on the east coast. They were able to get control of the planes by taking advantage of air crew and cockpits who were not ready for this situation.
2(History in an Hour) In order to avoid any suspicion that something was wrong, the terrorists
“staggered their boarding times and seating, with an individual who had enough training to keep the plane in the air seated in first class.”3 There were four planes that were scheduled to terminate their targets, but only three were successful. The first plane was targeting the North
Twin Tower, and at 8:46 AM the plane dove into the North Tower killing all 81 passengers and
1,402 people who were in the North Tower. At 9:03 AM the second plane crashed into the South
Tower killing 56 passengers and 614 people inside the South Tower. The third plane was targeting the Pentagon, and at 9:37 AM the plane crashed into the mall side of the Pentagon, killing 58 passengers and 125 people associated with the military inside the Pentagon. Lastly, the
1 The Washington Post Staff, "Terror Hits Pentagon, World Trade Center," The Washington Post (Washington D.C), September 11, 2001.
2 "9/11 - a Summary," History in an Hour, September 11, 2013, section goes here, accessed November 21, 2016, http://www.historyinanhour.com/2011/09/11/911-summary/.
3 "9/11 - a Summary," History in an Hour, September 11, 2013, section goes here, accessed November 21, 2016, http://www.historyinanhour.com/2011/09/11/911-summary/.
Kiingi 8 fourth plane was scheduled to reach its destination, which was not clear, but passengers on the plane at the time heard news about the other three plane crashes and made an effort to stop the terrorists who were in control of the plane from reaching its destination, so the terrorist finally gave up and rolled the plane flying into the ground near Shanksville, Pennsylvania killing everyone aboard the plane. 4 This event triggered fear of terrorism that the citizens of the United
States still feel today.
To recognize what gave the terrorists motivation and reason to execute this plan, there needs to be an understanding of who Osama bin Ladin and the Taliban were. Mohammed bin
Laden, Osama bin Laden’s father, emigrated from his home in Yemen to Saudi Arabia in the early 1900s as a young brick layer with little money. Thirty years later Mohammed was the head of Saudi Arabia’s largest construction company. His 17th son Osama bin Laden was born on
March 10, 1957. He graduated from a Saudi university in 1979 with a degree in civil engineering, but he was really interested and passionate about his Islamic studies class taught by his teacher Abdullah Azzam, who was a Palestinian leader of the Muslim Brotherhood Party. 5
In 1979 the Soviets decided to attack Afghanistan, in retaliation, “Azzam and bin Laden eagerly joined the Afghan mujahaddin’s (jihad) efforts to fight back.” 6 Through the battles
Osama bin Laden fought, he stated that everything he did was because of his religion, and he believed that his God, Allah, would accept and justify the violence that he committed. “While the
4 "9/11 - a Summary," History in an Hour, September 11, 2013, section goes here, accessed November 21, 2016, http://www.historyinanhour.com/2011/09/11/911-summary/.
5 Mitch Frank, Understanding September 11: Answering Questions about the Attacks on America (New York: Viking, 2002), pg. #109-111.
6 Mitch Frank, Understanding September 11: Answering Questions about the Attacks on America (New York: Viking, 2002), pg. #110.
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United States and other governments were funding the mujahhadin and other groups, Arabs like bin Laden were working to bring money and supplies to all of them. To help obtain more money and resources, bin Laden and Azza founded Maktab al Khidmat (MAK), also called the Afghan bureau. The two men traveled all over the world, visiting mosques and calling on the young men to fight for their faith.” 7 Because of how faithful and respected bin Ladin was, the jihad, who were a group of extreme Islamists wanting to maintain their religion, recognized him as a holy warrior. After being seen as the holy warrior, bin Ladin told his supporters that he knew one day they would use that power against America. 8 After the Afghan war ended, bin Laden changed
MAK into al Qaeda, which means “the base”. After this modification, bin Ladin really wanted to build a terrorist dynasty. Even though MAK was specifically fighting against the Soviets, “al
Qaeda provided money, weapons, and a worldwide support network for Islamists.” 9 Bin Ladin was making a name for himself worldwide, grabbing the attention of Islamists who agreed with his beliefs. According to the 9/11 Commission Report, “The history, culture, and body of beliefs from which Bin Ladin shapes and spreads his message are largely unknown to many Americans.
Seizing on symbols of Islam’s past greatness, he promises to restore pride to people who consider themselves the victims of successive foreign masters. He uses cultural and religious allusions to the holy Qur’an and some of its interpreters. He appeals to people disoriented by
7 Mitch Frank, Understanding September 11: Answering Questions about the Attacks on America (New York: Viking, 2002), pg. #111.
8 Mitch Frank, Understanding September 11: Answering Questions about the Attacks on America (New York: Viking, 2002), pg. #111.
9 Mitch Frank, Understanding September 11: Answering Questions about the Attacks on America (New York: Viking, 2002), pg. #111-112.
Kiingi 10 cyclonic change as they confront modernity and globalization.” 10 The 9/11 Commission Report also stated that he “built an infrastructure and organization in Afghanistan that could attract, train, and use recruits against evermore ambitious targets. He rallied new zealots and new money with each demonstration of al Qaeda’s capability. He had forged a close alliance with the Taliban a regime providing sanctuary for al Qaeda.“ 11
“The Taliban were strict Islamist Afghans who formed a government made up of old mujaheddin from the Soviet war and young religious students. They ruled Afghanistan for six years, leading the country into further misery and allowing al Qaeda to operate training camps for thousands of terrorists. Osama Bin Ladin couldn’t have built al Qaeda without the Taliban, who allowed him to operate freely in Afghanistan.” The Taliban were in control of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. 12 The leader of the Taliban was Mohammad Omar. Even though there was no specific time period when the Taliban commenced, Omar and a group of men, who consider themselves “students of Islam”, followed Omar’s Islamic beliefs as they slowly took control of
Kandahar province in 1994. At this point in time, Afghanistan was a country separated by warlords who controlled different parts of Afghanistan. Some warlords even kidnapped children
10 Thomas H. Kean, "The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Report)," The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Report), August 21, 2004, section goes here, accessed November 21, 2016, http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GPO-911REPORT/content-detail.html.
11 Thomas H. Kean, "The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Report)," The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Report), August 21, 2004, section goes here, accessed November 21, 2016, http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GPO-911REPORT/content-detail.html.
12 Mitch Frank, Understanding September 11: Answering Questions about the Attacks on America (New York: Viking, 2002), pg. # 84.
Kiingi 11 and abused them. This made Omar very disappointed and ashamed, so he “gathered 30 men and went to the warlords and killed them and hung them saying it was immoral – what the people were doing. As Omar kept fighting against warlords he was recruiting men to help his cause.”
Islam was the main religion in Afghanistan, and many people believed in not judging people spiritually, but, on the other hand, the “Taliban believed in a more strict version of Islam that brought a new harsh tone to Afghan religion life.” 13 After the Taliban had killed 523 Soviet soldiers during their retreat from Afghanistan, it was on February 15, 1989 where all Soviets were removed from Afghanistan.
The Taliban wanted to take over Afghanistan because of what they believed in, and they needed more people and money to help their cause, so they got help from Pakistan. Pakistan was enemies with India, so they saw the Taliban as a tool to help them fight against India. In return,
Pakistan sent troops to join the Taliban and they gave money to Mohammad Omar’s men. The
Taliban also got money by robbing truckers who were smuggling drugs or goods. The smugglers
“understood how much power the Taliban had, so they bribed the Taliban to keep the roads open.” All of the money Pakistan and the smugglers gave to the Taliban, along with the Pakistani men, allowed the Taliban to “spread their power throughout Afghanistan.” 14 In 1996, the
Taliban controlled the south part of Afghanistan, so Omar believed that he had enough power to go after Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. The Taliban were able to conquer the capital of
Afghanistan, so the people who were against the Taliban all fled to the northern part. It got a lot harder for the Taliban to keep control of the country because more ethnic groups became
13 Mitch Frank, Understanding September 11: Answering Questions about the Attacks on America (New York: Viking, 2002), pg. # 84.
14 Mitch Frank, Understanding September 11: Answering Questions about the Attacks on America (New York: Viking, 2002), pg. # 85.
Kiingi 12 suspicious of each other. The North fought against the Taliban if they tried to spread their power there. Also, followers of the Taliban became sick and tired of the harsh Islamic government being forced upon them, so many of them rejected it and left. In 2001, the United States helped the Northern part of Afghanistan with attacks on the Taliban, but the Taliban failed to build up loyalty because of how harsh and strict they were on their people, so two months later the
Taliban had given up and lost the battle, leaving Omar and the followers, who were still with him, fleeing the country and finding a place to live. 15
There many reasons and causes that lead up to the terrorist attacks on 9/11. Starting from
February 1997 through September 11, 2000, the U.S made great efforts in first using “diplomatic pressure to persuade the Taliban regime in Afghanistan to stop being a sanctuary for al Qaeda, and to expel Bin Laden to a country where he could face Justice.” These efforts did not make a difference and they ended up failing. 16 Second, “Permeable borders and immigration controls were not taken seriously by the United States. In fact, neither the State Department’s consular officers nor the Immigration and Naturalization Service’s saw protecting borders as a security national issue.” 17(Commission Report) Third, the legislative branch of Congress did not take
15 Mitch Frank, Understanding September 11: Answering Questions about the Attacks on America (New York: Viking, 2002), pg. # 85.
16 Thomas H. Kean, "The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Report)," The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Report), August 21, 2004, section goes here, accessed November 21, 2016, http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GPO-911REPORT/content-detail.html.
17 Thomas H. Kean, "The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Report)," The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Report), August 21, 2004, section goes here, accessed November 21, 2016, http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GPO-911REPORT/content-detail.html.
Kiingi 13 transnational terrorism as a threat, the legislative branch did not alter the way of doing things after knowing about threats, and since Congress did not take these threats seriously prior to 9/11, after 9/11 national security became more apparent in the security and protection of the United
States. 18 Although there were other issues that could have contributed to not being able to prevent the attack, these are the main three.
There were many reactions to the attacks that affected the American people negatively.
New York Times reporter R.W. Apple jr. said, “The whole nation – to a degree the whole world
– shook as hijacked airliners plunged into buildings that symbolize the financial and military might of the United States. The sense of security and self confidence that Americans take as their birth right suffered a grievous blow from which recovery will be slow.” 19 President George
Bush “vowed [on 9/11] to retaliate against those responsible for [the] attacks on New York and
Washington, declaring that he would – “make no distinction between the terrorist who committed these acts and those who harbor them.” 20
After this tragic event many people asked the question “Are we Safer”? Although terrorism around the world is very near impossible to stop, many of their leaders and role models have been killed. Violence is now a part of life and the only thing that can be done is prevent more of it from happening. According to the 9/11 Commission Report, “the United States and its allies have killed or captured a majority of al Qaeda leadership; toppled the Taliban, which gave
18 Thomas H. Kean, "The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Report)," The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Report), August 21, 2004, section goes here, accessed November 21, 2016, http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GPO-911REPORT/content-detail.html.
19 R. W. Apple Jr., "U.S Attacked," The New York Times (New York), September 12, 2001.
20 Bumiller, Elizabeth, "Cannot Prevail," The New York Times (New York), September 12, 2001.
Kiingi 14 al Qaeda sanctuary in Afghanistan; severely damaged the organization. Yet terrorist attacks continue. Even as we have thwarted attacks, nearly everyone expects they will come.” 21 The
President at the time George W. Bush passed the “USA Patriot Act,” which stands for, “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct
Terrorism Act of 2001". 22 After this catastrophic event many “Americans were united by patriotism and by a strong desire to help. Stores sold out of flags within a few days as everyone hung the Stars and Stripes to show that they still believed in America.” 23 American people stood up and fought for their country at a time when many Americans feared terrorism.
Now 15 years after 9/11, two well-known foreign policy experts express how America has changed. Zain Ab Salbi, of Huffpost originals, said, “the U.S. was always known for being relentless in its protection of freedom and diversity. Now, these values are at risk.” Rosa Brooks,
Georgetown University Law Center, said, “Before 9/11, targeted killings, indefinite detention and government surveillance of communications would have been considered shocking and illegal. But in our new era of boundless war, almost anything goes.” I agree with what both experts have to say about how 9/11 has effected America. Freedom and diversity are at risk, for example when going through airport security, people who look like they are from the middle east are questioned and searched more than other citizens. The second expert said that “anything
21 Thomas H. Kean, "The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Report)," The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Report), August 21, 2004, section goes here, accessed November 21, 2016, http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GPO-911REPORT/content-detail.html.
22 "9/11 - a Summary," History in an Hour, September 11, 2013, section goes here, accessed November 21, 2016, http://www.historyinanhour.com/2011/09/11/911-summary/.
23 Mitch Frank, Understanding September 11: Answering Questions about the Attacks on America (New York: Viking, 2002), pg. # 90.
Kiingi 15 goes”, which I believe is true knowing Guantanamo, and other programs to keep suspected terrorists in holding, still exist. Lastly, Ivo H. Daalder, from Chicago Council on Global Affairs, said that “Today, America is safer—and more fearful—than at any time since 9/11.” This statement is true but sad because the government wants to make people feel safer, but at the same time, people are suspicious all of the time through watching news of wars, terrorism, and violence.
The significance of this episode in America’s history, is very crucial towards people’s understanding of 9/11, since the notion that America was invincible and unbreakable was deterred and now people understand the reality of the world and that terrorism happens everywhere. The attacks on 9/11 was the most horrific terrorist attack in the United States, but it acted as a lesson that the people of United States need to learn from and the people did. In fact, security was a lot more serious and crucial, so the chances of another attack terrorist attack occurring in the United States without a warning are very slim. Not only did the attack effect the
United States, but it also made other countries aware of how dangerous the Taliban were, other countries like the Soviet Union took action to help take down the Taliban. Looking forward, people have learned how much violence occurs in the world and how it can lead to terrible casualties, so countries should start to end terrorist groups, so that there can less violence in the world.
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Works Cited
Frank, Mitch. Understanding September 11: Answering Questions about the Attacks on
America. New York: Viking, 2002. Print.
Kean, Thomas H. "The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National
Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Report)." The 9/11 Commission
Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
(9/11 Report). Nation Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, 21 Aug. 2004.
Web. 21 Nov. 2016.
New York Times Staff. "U.S Attacked." The New York Times [New York] 12 Sept. 2001:
1-2. Print.
"9/11 - a Summary." History in an Hour. N.p., 11 Sept. 2013. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.
Thompson, Stephanie. "15 Years after 9/11, This Is How the US Has Changed." World
Economic Forum, 9 Sept. 2016. Web. 11 Dec. 2016.
The Washington Post Staff. "Terror Hits Pentagon, World Trade Center." The
Washington Post [Washington D.C] 11 Sept. 2001: 1-2. Print.
Wright, Lawrence. The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. New York:
Knopf, 2006. Print.
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Interview Transcription
Interviewee/Narrator: James Butler Interviewer: Baraka Kiingi Location: Baraka Kiingi’s house, Bethesda MD Date: December 21, 2016 This interview was reviewed and edited by Baraka Kiingi
Baraka: Morning, so we’ll go right ahead into the questions. So what was it like growing up in the D.C. area in the 1990’s?
James Butler: Well I grew up in Charles county down in the plate of Maryland actually. I came to D.C in 1978. Back when I came to D.C it was kind of nice it was after all the you know riots and everything over on U street back in the 60’s and it was kind of rebuilding in certain areas. In the early 80’s it started with the, you had the big drill epidemic in the Nation’s capital that was kind of a low point in the city, but after that the city made great strides. I’ve enjoyed living here I know my way around the city pretty well. Overall, this is a pretty good city.
Baraka: So how did you come to live or work in New York city?
James Butler: Well, being in New York city I was up there for the United Nations. Every year there is a United Nations meeting where all of the countries come together and this particular day
I just happen to draw the assignment to be in New York to work that day. So that is how I got to be in New York city
Baraka: Ok. What was your job?
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James Butler: I am what you call a support technician. My job entails of making sure the secret service fleet in my department is operational. I also drive for heads of state like, any kings, prime ministers, presidents of any other country that comes to the United States. My job is to go out and to drive on the detail, be on the detail.
Baraka: Ok. What was the typical day like during your job in New York?
James Butler: That day, I was there to do equipment. To get vehicles set up for the foreign heads of state that were coming into the country. And we were in the World Trade Center One garage. We were getting rental cars that were coming in. Setting up the rental cars, setting up all the equipment that was going in the cars that include the radios and all that. We were just there that morning. I remember that morning. We were getting ready to set up.
Baraka: And is that the only time you were in New York?
James Butler: No, I’ve been in New York several times for my job. As far as I can say when any head of state comes in the country. Where they go I go. And New York is a spot that a lot of foreign dignitaries come because of the United Nations, so I am in New York an awful lot driving around. So as far as me in New York, I am in New York maybe out of the year maybe three to four times. Yea.
Baraka: Ok. So what can you tell me about 9/11? How did the day begin?
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James Butler: Ok. That morning began like any other morning I guess it was very, it was a bright sunny day lovely outside. Me and my co-worker left our hotel room. We stopped and got some breakfast. I remember after we got breakfast we went to the World Trade Center down in the garage. One of the other guys who was with me, one of my other partners he said he was going to out and grab some breakfast, so he left to go get breakfast and it was me and my other partner we was sitting in the office in the garage and we was eating breakfast, clowning around and we had got finished eating breakfast and I got out to go out of the office when I hear this loud boom. Kind of felt the building sway a little bit, so I looked at my partner and we looked at one another like what was that. So I made my way around to go to where the elevators were and when I went to the elevators, there was guys who were coming out who were engineers at the building and they asked we was looking at each other like what was that you know. We all thought that maybe a transformer had exploded. Then all of a sudden the elevators came crashing down. [5 mins] So when the elevators came crashing down, one of the doors hit one of the guys legs broke his leg and I remember me and my partner grab him a took him back to where our office was. At this time you got to remember other people were coming in the building, other agents were coming to the garage to get ready to go to work. And none of us knew at that time what had happened, but we got to doctoring on the gentlemen’s leg, bandaged him up. My partner got on the phone called upstairs to our command center and that’s when they told us to evacuate the building. So we helped all of the injured people down in our area where we were.
Put them in the vehicles and told the guys to drive them out. They drove them out. As we were going out of the building the police officer was coming in the building telling us to stop. Because at that time when we was coming out, the second plane was hitting the second tower. So, as that plane hit debris was falling, so we had to stop and wait and we got the all clear and we drove out.
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Again I mind you that morning we was down on the ground and we didn’t know what was going on. So they told us that the plane hit the tower that we was in, so we got out of the towers and we was up on the street and you could look up and you could see where the planes had went in. It was as you can imagine chaotic, so as we were preceding to move away from the buildings, the further we got you could look and see people jumping out of the building. That day I would say… that day if you were there you would never forget what you seen what you experienced. I watched the first building come down. People… like I said it was chaotic people were running, screaming. We tried to help as many people as we could, but we was told to evacuate the area and go to a central location where they could take a head count of all the secret service employees that were there that day. Also we lost a young man that day at the tower, so he was a
EMT and he was probably there helping the other EMT’s that were there because of his experience and training, and we lost him, but I would say it was like any other day. Started off normal, pretty. I mean that was, it was a perfect day. It was a perfect day.
Baraka: Wow, so what happened after like you said it was chaotic and you evacuated the building, so from there you went to where?
James Butler: From there we were told to meet up on the west side up at Chelsea’s pier. That was where we all met. Now my partner and I we grabbed… We had an SUV that was loaded with weapons, so we grabbed that vehicle and another vehicle and we made our way up to
Chelsea’s pier. That’s where we were located for the headcount for all secret service personnel, was there at Chelsea’s pier. We were, we all met took a head count. Like I said we lost that one guy. Another guy he got trapped on the other side of the building, so he made his way over to
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Brooklyn. But besides that everybody was accounted for. They put all administrative people on boats and they shipped them across to the Jersey side where buses were waiting and the buses brought them back to D.C. Me, my partner, and two other guys had the vehicles. We were allowed to go through the tunnel and leave New York city to make our way back to D.C. Also we left some stuff there for the agency. Because like I said we didn’t know what was going on, so we gave some of our equipment to the agents that were there in New York, so they could secure and do what they needed to do because where the field office was is one of the building that went down. Everything that they had operational wise was in the building. So we left a few things that they might use to do, to take care.
Baraka: So, How did that day end? [10 minutes]
James Butler: Well that day ended like I said we were, the secret service personnel they were all put on buses and they made their way back to D.C, we drove back to D.C. We was listening to the radio on the way back down on the road as we heard the second tower had fallen. Got back to
D.C and everybody’s families was concerned who was in New York. We made sure that the families were all ok and everybody was safe. That’s how the day ended pretty much leaving New
York City.
Baraka: Yea, so how do you feel about 9/11? Like now…when you think about it?
Kiingi 22
James Butler: I think about as it was something that like I say you would never forget. If you were there it was one of those days where people ask you where were you on this day? You will remember where you were and what things that you did. It was
Interruption phone:
James Butler: Yea it was a day that you just will never forget. I mean I can’t put it into words, or anything like that.
Baraka: Yea, so, when did you realize you needed to find safety and that your life was in jeopardy?
James Butler: Well after we had found out that the plane had hit, and it was just we couldn’t leave the people who were hurt behind, so if it was his will that something that I wouldn’t have made it then that was something different to be discussed, but our thing was the people who was hurt and after we had found out that a plane had hit and we had to get out of the building, our main objective was to get the people who was hurt, to get them out of the building also, not just to load up and go, but make sure they was stable and they were moveable and that’s what we did to get out of the building. After I got out and got home, I look back on it. I was blessed that I was one that you know that was blessed to be able to get out get out alive. Just thank the lord that he was looking over me.
Baraka: Going back to where you were, how many people were there where you were?
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James Butler: Oh. That day with us I want to say it was close to maybe, with the secret service agents that were there, the administrative people, I want to say that it was close to maybe 200 people.
Baraka: In the basement?
James Butler: No Oh. In the basement it was me it was maybe about 10 or 12 people. In the general time, when it first happened. We had people that were coming in the building that had gotten into the city and was coming. I would say there’s was maybe about 20 people that were down in the garage that day. 20 people with maybe 5 that was injured.
Baraka: But everyone made it out?
James Butler: Everyone made it out. Yes Everyone made it out.
Baraka: Do you rethink about how this day could have gone?
James Butler: What do you mean how it could have gone? How could have been different?
Baraka: Yea
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James Butler: It could have been a lot worse. If they had uh… When the plane struck the observation tower. If they had waited maybe an hour later there would have been a lot more casualties, a lot more death in New York that day because you have tours that go up on that observation deck. And up on the… If you have ever had the chance to go up there before. You go up on the top of the world trade center there is an observation deck. Where you can look out and see the whole city. If they had waited until that observation deck had opened, there would have been a lot more chaotic and a lot worse than what it was.
Baraka: So, one of the historians that I wrote about on my context paper, Zain Ab Salbi, said,
“The U.S. was always known for being relentless in its protection of freedom and diversity.
Now, these values are at risk.” Do you agree or disagree with what she has to say? [15 mins]
James: Butler: You have in this world… you have people whose ideas are different than your own. And those people try to impose their will on other cultures. Now, they say that the United
States gets involved in a lot of stuff that they shouldn’t get involved. We try to impose our will, our democracy on other countries. You have other countries like Islam, Islam is not a country but
Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran those countries. They have their own philosophy on how they should live their life. To say that our values… Are good for us… We can’t impose our values on other countries. We have a state of war now against the radical state of Islam. All Islam is not bad, but you have those who want to impose their religion right. On how they feel that they should. You know, they don’t want their women to be educated. They don’t want certain things that we have here to be imposed on them. Now, right or wrong, no one should take anyone’s life for their belief. I kind of sort of agree with her, but not a 100%. And again, you have to be alert now
Kiingi 25 because other things are going on with ISIS and Al Qaeda and any other little fascist groups just jumping up. They want to impose instruction because it’s not God’s way of doing… because he doesn’t believe in killing and mass murder. I don’t think our values are at risk as long as we hold true to what we believe.
Baraka: Another reporter, well another historian from Georgetown University Law said,
“Before 9/11, targeted killings, indefinite detention and government surveillance of communications would have been considered shocking and illegal. But in our new era of boundless war, almost anything goes.”
James Butler: Yea, I agree with her. Pretty much anything goes now. You gotta now what they’re playin’… What they’re thinking. We can’t have another 9/11, we can’t have another one so, to be in out there in the intelligence community you gotta have surveillance and listening devices. Now should you go into… Like I said again all is not bad, all Muslims are not bad people. To impose, to go to a synagogue or to a Mosque and install listening, I don’t agree with that, but you do need to have some type of surveillance on people who you know was been radicalized that way we have to keep an eye on them. I do believe in that.
Baraka: What do you think the legacy is of 9/11?
James Butler: The legacy? It woke America up. They’re vulnerable to attack. Hopefully we have learned that it won’t happen again. That’s about it the legacy… It was just… hopefully we have learned from 9/11. Yea, that’s all. [20 mins]
Kiingi 26
Baraka: Is there anything you want to talk about that we haven’t talked about this day?
James Butler: Not that I can recall… Not that I can think of. If they are any questions you want me to answer, I will to the best of my ability.
Baraka: One question I had was… So after 9/11 ended… Like the next day… You woke up - what was it like?
James Butler: Well I didn’t sleep that much that night. I stayed up most of the night, but you know it was just… for that week it was… I just couldn’t believe what had happened. What I had been through, but on the same sense I think that I had a job to do. And I was back in New York city… maybe three weeks later. Two weeks later I was back in New York city. Because the UN was still going to go on. And that’s what I went back up there to do. I went back up there to do the UN again. Because it was a job. We was there… We was located… they have the morgue set up not far from where we were located. Yea, I went back to New York about two or three weeks later. I was back in New York City.
Baraka: Was it different?
James Butler: New York city. People in New York city are very resilient. They take… That day that it happened, the first couple days that it happened, New York City was like a ghost town.
The first time I had ever seen New York city when the streets were clear, but New York bounced
Kiingi 27 back. And they went about their normal routine. But they still knew about 9/11, it was in the back of their mind - what had just happened. But they revived and they went on doing what New
York does. It shook em, but they bounced back terrifically. They went on about their normal lives. That world let em know that you was no going to have us hiding in our houses and shaking of fear. They went back to their normal way of life in New York.
Baraka: So you said it was like a ghost town?
James Butler: Yea that day of 9/11 it was pretty much like a ghost town, people got off the streets.
Baraka: This is you… This is you after.
James Butler: So we went back there in two weeks, people were going about their normal business, but at night you could tell it was different. Sometime at night, there wasn’t a lot of hustle and bustle on the streets like there usually was in New York. New York was kind of more subdued I would say, but they were a little more subdued and they were going about their business. There weren’t as many people on the streets as you were used to seeing in New York, but people still went about their business.
Baraka: So, do you have any further questions that you want to ask me?
Kiingi 28
James Butler: I can’t think of none. I mean the story that you got your readings from… especially this lady here talking about surveillance.
Baraka: Rosa Brooks.
James Butler: The surveillance keeps an eye on people’s comings and goings. Who is coming into the country and who is going. After 9/11 people trying to get on the airplane with shoe bombs and stuff like that people were really scared, they didn’t want to fly with somebody who was Muslim. We had an agent who going on a detail and they put him off the plane because he was a Muslim. And right after that there was a fear of flying with anybody who didn’t look like them. [25 mins]
Baraka: Also there was a third plane that hit the Pentagon.
James Butler: You have two that hit the World Trade Center… There were four planes. You have two that hit the Pentagon… Not the Pentagon, you have two that hit the World Trade
Center… One that hit the Pentagon… And you have the one that went down… The passenger took over and crashed in Pennsylvania, so that’s when they wouldn’t allow anything to fly. If you remember… Nothing on that day after when that was going on… They made every airplane in the sky land. The only plane that was in the sky I want to say was air force one. Because they had to take the president to a secure location, but all other planes were grounded. Nothing else was in the air for a good little while, so people who had to get home. They had to drive, catch a train, or some other means of transportation.
Kiingi 29
Baraka: So this is an image (see Appendix A) … We had to choose an image to show you. So when you look at this image, what come to mind?
James Butler: What comes to mind was the first tower falling down. This look like the first tower, when the first tower fell, all that smoke, all the dust, all that stuff just,… yea I remember that.
Baraka: So like…
James Butler: In this perspective from here, I want to say this is… let me get my bearings. This would be the west side highway. I am trying to think of what side I would have been on. This is like the old telephone building. I may have been on this other side. The other direction. I want to say this is side going towards the Brooklyn bridge. On this side here. The other side you are going up the west side highway. Going up towards Chelsea’s pier. Yea I remember all that soot, dust, and debris.
Baraka: So you couldn’t see?
James Butler: Yea you couldn’t see anything. You couldn’t see anything. Like I said, when that first building fell we were on our way to Chelsea’s pier and you could look back behind you and you could see it; all this dust and debris just rolling towards you. It was just like if you were outside and you saw a dust storm or something. It was just rolling yea.
Kiingi 30
Baraka: So, you were driving the car leaving, right?
James Butler: There… Actually we were going to Chelsea’s pier to meet the rest of the Secret
Service people.
Interruption: (phone call)
James Butler: What was the question again?
Baraka: When you driving out…
James Butler: Oh yea, when we were heading up to Chelsea’s pier the building fell. People were covered with dust, but when we were given the ok to leave, we… we were the only two cars that left the city that day. If I remember correctly. We went through the Harlem tunnel and… another thing about that… When we was coming home driving there was no other cars on the road. We didn’t pay any tolls that day coming through back home. There was nothing else on the road.
Everything from Philadelphia on up was heading up towards New York. All the emergency vehicles were going North Bound, but there was nothing on the South Bound. So there was nothing… Nothing on the highway.
Baraka: Wow, so when you were driving out of the tunnel, was there fog in front of you too?
[30 mins]
Kiingi 31
James Butler: No, no, no. All that was behind us. Because like I say you could go over on the other side of the river. New Jersey, and you could see it all. I am sure that people were standing over there in horror. Seeing the towers fall there because they had tried to bring the towers down once before. It was back in… when president Clinton was in the office. There was a car bomb in the garage of one of the World Trade Center buildings, so they had tried before, but they didn’t succeed.
Baraka: So when you think about 9/11 and this happening to the Twin Towers… Like before
9/11 do you think people thought the Twin Towers were invincible?
James Butler: Yea, they didn’t think they’d ever be brought down. Even after the car bomb in the early 90’s that went off in the garage, they didn’t do anything to the destruction of the buildings, so when uh… the planes hit, I guess it was different because of all that Jet fuel and the heat… I guess it bent or melted the steel, that caused the building to implode. You know you hear where people say well… they imploded the building themselves, so we… so somehow or another, another bomb exploded the buildings was just conjecture or theory of people who want to blame somebody else for bringing the building down. But it was because of the planes hit, where they hit.
Baraka: Like earlier you were saying like there was a mogul… or a mol. When you went back to New York…
Kiingi 32
James Butler: Oh. When I went back t New York. It was kind of different… it was kind of different. People was going about their day to day business, but at night it seems like there were a little less people on the street. Because like I say New York is a busy city. Times square was… down around Times square there wasn’t a lot of tourist in the city for those few weeks. The streets was a little quitter. You could get around a little better. It was like a little ghost town, but it was still people out and about.
Baraka: When you went back to D.C, was it different at all after the two planes had hit… Well one plane hit the Pentagon.
James Butler: The Pentagon was traffic, people were walking all over the places… people had to walk across the bridges to get home. I think my wife… she walked home I think. If I remember right she was telling me, she walked because there wasn’t nothing moving. There wasn’t no traffic. The subway wasn’t moving. It was just chaotic especially after seeing the
Pentagon. You know a lot of the congestion was they were looking for the White House…
Saying they was maybe looking for the White house, maybe looking for the Capital… They could have been looking for Camp David. So we don’t know really… I mean the way everything sets around downtown it is hard to pick out the White house and certain building, but they say they may have been looking to run the plane into the white house… The one that hit the
Pentagon. They may have been looking for the White house. They couldn’t get it. Those guys… they just want to learn how to… they didn’t want to learn how to take-off or land, they just wanted to learn how to fly the plane. You remember all those planes that hit all these sits were headed towards the West Coast… The plane took off from Boston… The plane I think that took
Kiingi 33 off from Boston. I want to say the plane that hit the Pentagon, all those planes were headed towards the West coast because they were filled with fuel. Full of Jet fuel. That was another factor that they were looking at also.
Baraka: So you say they don’t exactly what they were looking at when they were going for the
West coast? [35 mins]
James Butler: It was just a normal day. The planes, the airlines were going just had passengers that were going to California, places like that, so they picked the planes ahead that were filled with Jet fuel to do that. They did.
Baraka: So after you went back to your house-
James Butler: We got back to D.C. I went home. The next day I had to report to the office.
Okay… We went to the office the next day because they had grief counselors there that wanted to talk to me, to make sure that everybody’s was alright, but we went back to work the next day.
Like I say… dignitary protection… We were getting prepared to go back to New York to do the
UN, so we had to… I guess shake it off and go back to work. That’s what we did. You know I grieved, but it was like I say… Thank the lord and everybody who… that made it home, made it home, and I pray for the souls that didn’t make it. But I had to go back to work the next day. The next morning, I got up, took a shower, got dressed, went downtown to go to work. I didn’t do a whole lot the first couple days. We had to show up at work.
Kiingi 34
Baraka: So when you got home, Was your wife at home too?
James Butler: Yea
Baraka: Did you talk about what happened?
James Butler: Yea, we kind of talked about it, but she knew that… She didn’t get the phone call about… I am sorry to inform you. She was ok. We had discussed what happened. She asked me how I was doing and stuff, it was pretty much it…we didn’t harp on the situation. It was on the
News all day long, all night long. You look at it so much until you don’t what to look at it. That’s how I felt. I looked at it, so I didn’t want to look at it, talk about it, so that’s pretty much it.
Baraka: For your work when did everything become normal after that situation… Like how long did it take before?
James Butler: Two weeks later and I was back in New York. We were driving up the road…
We had two of the counselors with us because the counselors were going up to New York to talk to the people form the New York field office. At this time to they were relocating up to JFK. At the JFK airport, so we were driving back up to New York. I remember going across the bridges and just imagining you know… Planes and something coming towards the bridge, while we were on the bridge. I had various thoughts going through my mind, but we couldn’t go through the harbor tunnel, you had to go across the Verrazano bridge to get into the city. And they had a special lane for the law enforcement, so there wasn’t a whole lot of backup for the law
Kiingi 35 enforcement. But yea it was two weeks later… I had to go back to New York, so I didn’t have time to think about other than going back to work.
Baraka: So when you went back there two weeks later, the World Trade Center? There was nothing there?
James Butler: People was there. They were digging… there was a big hole in the ground.
People were down in there digging pulling stuff out and going down underneath making sure they could recover all the bodies of people who fell that day. [40 mins]
Baraka: So your feeling about this event was like… You don’t want to like-
James Butler: I could talk about it because like I said… I just remember when we was outside the building standing around before we for the word to make our way up to the Chelsea pier we were standing out there looking… And I was looking up and I was seeing people jump out of the building. That kind of sticks with me from time to time. I think about that a lot.
Baraka: We’ll that’s it for me.
James Butler: That’s it for you all done?
Baraka: Do you have any questions?
Kiingi 36
James Butler: No
Baraka: Thank you
Kiingi 37
Appendix A
Kiingi 38
9/11 Interview Analysis Paper
On December 21st 2016 Baraka Kiingi conducted an interview with James Butler who had a first-hand experience in being part of 9/11. E.H Carr believes that when writing history, the historian should have their views and opinions on the history. He states that the historian selects biased information and decides what is important to the event. The context paper on 9/11 provided background information and opinions that contributed to the interview questions. The difference between having an oral history interview and reading about an event from a book is that an interview allows the interviewee to really capture what happened on that specific day and understand even the smallest details like the weather, scenery, and emotion. Although the context paper provided a good initial understanding about 9/11, having a personal interview added a realistic version of 9/11.
In the interview, James Butler gave his insight and personal experience of what happened on 9/11 2001. He started by saying, “That morning began like any other morning… it was a bright sunny day lovely outside.” 24 James Butler was in the garage of the first Twin Tower when the first plane struck. He described that he “felt the building sway a little bit.”25 James Butler and his partner helped all of the people in the garage of the first tower get out to safety. Butler said,
“all of a sudden the elevators came crashing down one of the doors hit the one of the guys legs and it broke.”26 All of these little details allow the reader to understand and imagine what it was like to be in the garage of the Twin Towers.
24 Butler, James. Personal interview by Baraka Kiingi. 21 December 2016 25 Butler, James. Personal interview by Baraka Kiingi. 21 December 2016 26 Butler, James. Personal interview by Baraka Kiingi. 21 December 2016
Kiingi 39
Another aspect of the interview focused on how 9/11 effected people especially the people in New York. Butler described New York as being a ghost town after the attack and he said, “I had never seen New York City when the streets were clear.”27 Even though this attack was very shocking and terrible in the eyes of people, Butler emphasized how the people of New
York are “resilient” and said that “they bounced back terrifically. They went on about their normal lives. That world let them know that you was not going to have us hiding in our house and shaking of fear.”28 The New Yorkers were able to go back to living their normal lives, and they also weren’t going to let terrorists control them and make them feel scared their entire life.
James Butler’s final point was that “We can’t have another 9/11.” Butler was asked about his thoughts about Rosa Brooks statement when she said, “Before 9/11, targeted killings, indefinite detention and government surveillance of communications would have been considered shocking and illegal. But in our new era of boundless war, almost anything goes.”
After 9/11 the United States has been very protective towards its people and security is tight and
Butler stated, “You gotta know what they’re playin’… what they’re thinking.”29
This interview fits into history by providing a first person perspective of the event.
Secondary sources give background information about what led up to 9/11 and the people who caused it, but James Butler presented the emotion and factors that occurred on this day. The context paper offered a lot of information about Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban. For example, the “Taliban believed in a more strict version of Islam that brought a new harsh tone to Afghan religion life.”30 Instead of the background information as given by books and articles, a first-
27 Butler, James. Personal interview by Baraka Kiingi. 21 December 2016 28 Butler, James. Personal interview by Baraka Kiingi. 21 December 2016 29 Butler, James. Personal interview by Baraka Kiingi. 21 December 2016 30 Mitch Frank, Understanding September 11: Answering Questions about the Attacks on America (New York: Viking, 2002)
Kiingi 40 hand account or person can describes certain incidents that occurred like “people jumping out of the building… If you were there you would never forget what you seen, what you experienced. I watched the first building come down.”31 When hearing what the event was like from a person’s interview, it gives the reader or interviewer a more authentic feel to the event.
The strengths of the interview were the clear memories he was able to sustain from 9/11, the different episodes that he experienced, and understanding what it was like to survive a terrorist attack. If I were to have another interview on 9/11, I would have questions prepared that would ask the interviewee specific details on the causes of 9/11 and the intelligence he had being in the secret service. I would also have more pictures that were taken on 9/11 to see what other information would be beneficial in understanding his interpretation of the pictures.
I learned that in order to understand everything about a certain event in history you need to research what led up to the event and also find primary sources and secondary sources, so that you can converge all of the information into an accurate representation. One of the lessons I learned was how difficult it is to be an historian. A lot of research needs to be done including making sure that the interviewer is finding good reliable sources. I found being an historian interesting because I got to learn a lot about a topic that I thought was important.
31 Butler, James. Personal interview by Baraka Kiingi. 21 December 2016
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Works Consulted
"9/11 - a Summary." History in an Hour. N.p., 11 Sept. 2013. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.
Frank, Mitch. Understanding September 11: Answering Questions about the Attacks on America.
New York: Viking, 2002. Print.
Kean, Thomas H. "The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on
Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Report)." The 9/11 Commission Report:
Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
(9/11 Report). Nation Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, 21 Aug.
2004. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.
New York Times Staff. "U.S Attacked." The New York Times [New York] 12 Sept. 2001: 1-2.
Print.
Thompson, Stephanie. "15 Years after 9/11, This Is How the US Has Changed." World
Economic Forum, 9 Sept. 2016. Web. 11 Dec. 2016.
The Washington Post Staff. "Terror Hits Pentagon, World Trade Center." The Washington Post
[Washington D.C] 11 Sept. 2001: 1-2. Print.
James. Butler. Personal interview by Baraka Kiingi. 21 December 2016