Michael Connarty MP Recalls His Washington Memories Of 9 /11

Michael Connarty MP recalls being in the US Capitol building in Washington DC as 9 / 11 terrorist attacks happened.

As the 10th aniversary of the terrorist attrocity of 9 / 11 passes Michael Connarty has been speaking of his own personal expieriences of that day when he lead a delegation of the British American Parliamentary Group to the Capitol Building in Washington DC and how fortunate his diary scheduling proved to be. The events of that day are still etched firmly in the Linlithgow and East Falkirk MPs mind.

Michael Connarty said "On the morning of September 11th 2001 I was in the US Capitol Washington DC leading a delegation of the British American Parliamentary Group".(the inserted picture shows Michael Connarty standing in the centre with the Capitol building behind)" Our itinerary for that morning included a visit to the Capitol Building to meet with Senators and Congressmen.We were being shown round the old debating chamber by our guide - a state department official - (who is in the accompanying picture on the phone) then, abruptly security guards asked us to evacuate the building immediately. We initially thought it was a bombscare but our guide was called on the her mobile phone and told of the unfolding tradgedy - we all heard her say "what - the World Trade Centre in New York - Oh my God! and the Pentagon too. They've hit the Pentagon. "

"As we walked down the stairs from the Capitol building I could clearly see smoke coming from the Pentagon area - the others had been told to leave their cameras behind I still had mine with me in my bag so I tried to take a picture of the Pentagon to identify the place in time.I clicked the shutter but just got fuzz - my camera lens had shattered into a thousand pieces - to this day I have no idea how this could have happened.What was also very strange was that some people who left their cameras behind in the building never got them back either."

"We were then ushered to a nearby hotel where some angry Americans were watching re - runs of the planes hitting the twin towers and saying "Lets nuke the Arabs.""The next day the delegation visited Congress where each Congress Member was given one minute to reflect their thoughts. I shall never forget one brave Congress Member who went against some of the vitriolic comments made to ask "What have we done in the Middle East to make these people hate us so much?"

Michael Connarty was then flown home from a military base on a Hercules aircraft accompanied by many top European Generals. It was the only plane to be allowed to fly over New York that day. "We flew over Ground Zero - looking down at those collapsed burning buildings was quite harrowing as I pondered the human tragedy below. I will always recall my diary entry for September 12th it simply read - visit Pentagon - I will always be thankful we weren't in the wrong place at the wrong time"

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