By all means, try the alleged 9/11 terrorist in N.Y.

Randi Kreiss

Let us go back to the day, the bright and beautiful September day, when all the promise of a new morning collapsed in on itself like the towers themselves. The images and sounds of the attack — the planes, the falling bodies, the imploding buildings, the gaping maw where New York’s greatest landmarks stood, the dust, the smell, the photos of loved ones taped to windows — are etched in our minds forever.

For us New Yorkers this was not only a great national tragedy; it was a personal and deeply felt catastrophe. If the sky was falling on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, then it was falling on our heads. Friends were killed that day, and colleagues. From the shores of Long Island we could see the smoke.

We New Yorkers experienced the attack differently from people watching them in San Diego or Fairbanks. We all responded as Americans, but the cuts ran deeper here. I imagine people who work at the Pentagon feel the same, as do people who live near the crash site of United Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pa. Proximity matters. We had to travel to California six days after the attacks, and I remember very clearly how the 3,000 miles seemed to buffer Californians from the horror of that day. I couldn’t wait to get home.

The attacks became a life-altering event in New York. It has been eight years, and still the heart beats a bit faster crossing New York’s bridges and driving through tunnels. People who work in the city still worry about terrorists milling through the crowds in Penn Station or blending in with shoppers in our department stores. When you read signs that say, “If you see something, say something,” how can you not feel some anxiety? When you see armed soldiers and dogs on the streets of the city, how can you not feel concern?

For all these reasons, I approve of trying the alleged 9/11 terrorists here in Manhattan Federal Court — here, near ground zero, the great emptiness that reminds us of all we have lost.