Peter Bergen (W80) wrote a book: ‘Holy War, Inc: Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden’ [published in Britain by Weidenfield and Nicolson £18.99]. When he first completed the book in August 2001 an initial print run of about 20,000 was arranged, but by the afternoon of 11 September 2001 the print run was increased to a quarter of a million, and later nearer a half million for the first printing, with planned second and third editions to follow. The book has been translated into 14 languages. In November Peter was appearing daily on TV shows to discuss the book. The book was featured on BBC Newsnight Review on 16 November 2002, in a discussion in which Charles Wheeler spoke of the value of the book.  The book was serialised in The Daily Telegraph [12 and 13 Nov 2001].  Peter Bergen was the first Western journalist to interview Osama bin Laden.  Peter Bergen has worked with CNN for about 20 years, but since early 2001 works with them on a contract basis as an independent TV producer.

Prof Fred Halliday’s (T63) book Two Hours that Shook the World - September 11, 2001: Causes and Consequences [Saqi].  Fred Halliday has been Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics since 1985. In Two Hours that Shook the World Professor Halliday dispels the idea that the Muslim and non-Muslim world are poised for conflict. He explains the cause and rise of Islamic fundamentalism, and how terror became an instrument of political and military conflict. Fred Halliday has spoken on a number of TV programmes on the war. He is a member of the Advisory Council of the Labour Party’s Foreign Policy Centre. Other recent books include The World at 2000 [2000], Nation and Religion in the Middle East [2000] and Arabia without Sultans.

Anthony Fitzherbert (C56) has been working with the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation [FAO] in Afghanistan, and was in Afghanistan until just 10 days before 11 September. He has a lifetime background in agricultural and rural development, and a long association with Afghanistan since his first visit in the late 1960s. In the 1990s he was responsible for the Afghan and Pakistan desks for FAO, based in Rome and visiting Kabul. In early 1994 in the province of Quandahar he was one of the first (if not the first) foreigner to meet the Taliban, a new and mysterious unarmed movement of “mullahs for peace” that had started to manifest itself in the villages west of Quandahar city. Since 1995 he has worked mainly in the Central Asian Republics of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, and has continued to return on a regular basis to rural Afghanistan, both to those under the control of the Taliban and to those controlled by the Northern Alliance. Recently he went on a three-week mission deep into the valleys of the northern Hindu Kush south from Mazar-i-Sharif for an international aid agency involved in providing aid to families displaced by drought and conflict, planning a long term strategy in an area then controlled by the Taliban, a visit concluded 10 days before 11 September. On 20 November 2001 Anthony Fitzherbert visited Ampleforth, and spoke at a meeting of The Circus, a political society.

Witnesses to the events of 11 September

Rupert Everett (W75), who lives in Greenwich Village, witnessed the events on 11 September - he rushed to ferry food to hospitals and help teams witnessing the horror “I could not stand by and do nothing” [Hello! 2 October 2001].

Tom Bowen-Wright (H97) also witnessed the collapse of the Twin Towers from a close distance.

At Ampleforth

Six hours after the Twin Towers were hit on 11 September 2001, monks and students prayed in the Abbey Church in a special time of Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. On 14 September 2001 Fr Abbot celebrated a special Mass with monks and students.

Fr Abbot spoke to the Ryedale Gazette and Herald [13 Sept 2001] “As I watched the television pictures from New York on Tuesday, my blood went cold.  I could not believe what I was watching was real. I realised round the world we were united in that moment of shock. We held our breath, time stopped and we prayed.  For us, it is a moment for prayer, prayer of petition, prayer of anguished incomprehension, prayer of silence. In that incomprehension and numb shock, we struggle to reaffirm our faith”.